Más Guadalajara

Two Mondays ago, we visited Taqueria Guadalajara, a newish Mexican restaurant on the outskirts of town, with Billy and Shawn and we were favorably impressed enough to return.

Ann Loves Her Margaritas

Monday was a chilly, dreary, rainy evening and we were tired. After work, Ann and I had a meeting with our financial adviser and then Ann had a board meeting to attend. We just weren't in the mood to cook, so we decided to go for a late dinner and see if the teenage offspring was of the frame of mind to be seen in public with his parents. He said he would go out with us, a bit to our surprise. I was looking forward to a family dinner rather than just date night for a change. We parents really don't hate teenagers as much as they suppose we do.

Decent Beer in a Mexican Restaurant

Last visit, I saw that they had Sneaky Pete Imperial IPA from Laughing Dog brewery on their menu. It's a beer we sell a lot of at the restaurant and a beer that I really like, so I got one when Ann ordered her margarita. Ann also asked for chips and salsa, which you can see that they make an effort to present nicely. The salsa was much, much better on this visit, with a nice charred flavor. It still needed salt, but the salt shaker was handy.

Chips are OK; Salsa is Really Good

For some reason, Ann decided she wanted to have an empanada as an antojito, so she asked the server to bring one with the filling of her choice. The server picked carnitas, I guess so as not to risk offending Ann, but with a carnitas-stuffed burrito as a second course, she might have chosen something more interesting, such as birria.

Really Large Empanada, Stuffed to Order

Carnitas Burrito

Ann and the offspring had carnitas burritos for dinner, while I had a big bowl of posole. When it is dark, cold, and dreary out, I can think of nothing better than a hearty soup or stew for dinner, such as posole, menudo, caldo de pollo, or caldo de mariscos. This bowl of posole was pretty good. I've never ever had a bad bowl of posole; I'm not sure such a thing exists. I would grade this about a B+. The fatty cubes of pork in it were outstanding; the posole itself was kind of so-so.

The brick red salsa that they serve in squeeze bottles, always accompanied by a mild green tomatillo salsa in a sister squeeze bottle, has a great chile seco flavor coupled with some intense spice. It seems to be based on chiles de árbol, but with something else added for heat. A healthy dose of this earthy spicy salsa, cilantro scavenged off Ann and Carter's plates, and raw onions and lime from the garnish tray really perked this soup right up. I was a happy camper.

Posole, Ungarnished from the Kitchen

And, then there was Carter. At 5:00, he was all gung ho to have dinner with us. When we were ready to leave, we called him out of his pig sty. He came down and asked where we were going. When Ann told him we were going to Guadalajara, he scowled, "I don't want Mexican!" When given the choice to stay or come with, he chose to come with anyway, but made us pay for it in the usual teenage manner. He was especially offended when his mother told him to put his cell phone away, that there would be no phone during dinner. This isn't a new or even unusual thing, but what's a kid to do if he can't bitch via text to his friends about having to have dinner with his parents?

In Full-on Teenage Jerk Mode