Today I was back at my favourite Mexican restaurant with my Mexican friend. Here to judge their taco for this year’s Vancouver Foodster Taco Challenge, and to convince my friend to name this as his favourite Mexican spot as well.
I always enjoy entering their space, hidden at the basement of a community centre and hard to find if you don’t know what you are looking for.
We started our afternoon with a couple of their margaritas. The Mango Margarita is made with mango juice, triple sec, and tequila. And the Pineapple Margarita with pineapple juice, triple sec, and tequila. It made for a festive and refreshing start.
We then followed that with a couple of shots, served in their own branded tequila shot and salt set. It is hard to look at their handsome bar and not take advantage of their fantastic tequila selection.
We started with their Birria Tacos aka Quesabirrias, a popular item and their entry for this year’s competition. Slow-braised beef in a golden corn tortilla alongside melted cheese. Served with a consommé for dunking.
These were the best Birria Tacos I have had to date. Each taco densely packed with saucy meat, where I have had others too dry and in much need of the broth. Here, each bite was juicy and cheesy. The addition of their creamy hot sauce really sealed the deal for me, offering the tang I am always looking for.
And since we were here and it was my guest’s first time, we ordered a couple of dishes that I have never tried.
The Enmoladas is four soft corn tortillas stuffed with your choice of chicken or vegetables then topped with a cocoa based mole sauce, and onion. Served with white Mexican cheese with rice, beans, and sour cream on the side.
I appreciated how the server warned us that the sauce would be on the sweeter side. However, I found it more savoury than sweet. You couldn’t really taste the chocolatey flavour outside of the chicken. It reminded me a little of an Asian sesame sauce, as is. The fun was in how saucy and messy this all was to slurp and eat. Once again I would have liked to have some hot sauce to contrast and highlight the cocoa, like how you use coarse salt.
Another New Mexican dish for me were these Gringas. Two large flour tortillas stuffed with cheese and pastor pork, marinated in adobo sauce. Served with a side of mildly spiced crema verde, crema, and salsa taquera. This is the kind of dish I want after some drinks. Salty and cheesy with the minced texture of ground beef. I just could have used some vegetable or avocado for freshness, where the creams left off. I was able to get what I needed from the soup below.
Hearing that my guest loved torta soup, we had to order their Tortilla Soup, seeing as I love theirs so much. A tomato-chipotle broth with tortilla chips strips, onions, cilantro, sour cream, and white Mexican cheese. It was as bold, warming, and tangy as I remembered it. Great for dipping into with the Gringa above.
And for dessert it has to be their giant deep fried cinnamon and sugar churro. Large enough to share between two. So crispy and crunchy. Hot tip, order it with both the caramel and chocolate sauce, as well as the vanilla ice cream for a choose your own dip adventure.
In short, never a bad meal, and still my favourite place to recommend for Mexican cuisine. I just wish they were closer to my home in Burnaby for me to be able to enjoy them more and more often. Bonus, my friend declared them in his top two!
Salsa & Guacamole
13483 72nd Ave, Surrey, BC V3W 2N7
604-597-0202
salsaandguacamole.com
I could not have described this experience better than this. You did a great job Maggi!! Your mexican friend is a lucky one 😉 Can’t wait to read about who won the taco challenge!