We were walking along the boardwalk in New West recently and came across a sandwich board advertising a Mexican street food restaurant in the River Sky complex.
I had some initial difficulty finding it as it’s new and is located in a spot recently occupied by another restaurant. I did find it though and I’m sure glad I did.
We popped in on Sunday for dinner and it was packed. With Latinos. A very good sign.
The atmosphere feels pretty authentic, not exactly like I’m sitting in a small cafe in Puerto Vallarta, but a pretty good effort. Mexican football on the telly, plastic stools to sit on, and plenty of Spanish being spoken by the staff and patrons alike.
Now when it comes to Mexican food, one thing I’d never consider authentic is a hamburger. They are on the menu here though.
Yes, you can pile all the classic Mexican meats onto said hamburger. Or hot dog for that matter.
One thing I do not do when I’m in Mexico is eat American food. I’m not going to start that here either.
Not really knowing what we were ordering, both Merilynn and I chose our preferred proteins in the Volcano format. I won’t do that again. It’s basically a quesadilla. But you can also get everything as a straight up taco, which Sophia did. Definitely the way to go.
My lengua was fantastic, tender and flavourful. I just felt like an 8-year-old eating it.
Merilynn’s Campechano, a mix of Asada and Chorizo, was just as tasty.
Sophia had Pastor and Birria tacos. While she offered me a taste for review purposes, I declined. She did, however, enthusiastically give two thumbs up to her food.
We washed all the great food down with a refreshing Horchata.
Good, authentic Mexican food is certainly available in Vancouver. La Taqueria comes to mind. We also have Bordertown Mexico and Grill just across the line in Blaine. But it sure is nice to see some really close to home.
I’m giving it a 7/10 this time, only because I wasn’t particularly fond of the volcano version. But I’m sure next time we get just the plain tacos it’s going to score much higher.