Something to Blog About
I was really, really glad when I read this week's blog topic!
Post #17: Review it
Chantelle writes: It's always comforting to have someone try something before we do it ourselves. Review a book/tv show/product/blog/anything. Consider making it a weekly post.
I don't know about making this a weekly post, I've got enough on my plate to begin with! Still, I was very happy to have a chance to review something since we are just back from our trip to Albuquerque and the Balloon Fiesta.
While we were there, we had to have some really great Mexican food. I am so, so happy to be in the 2nd trimester and in love with food again. Can you imagine being nauseated all the time and having to see all this delicious food around you but be unable to try any of it? Horrible. We went to a recommended Mexican restaurant, El Pinto, on Saturday night and met up with a Carthage ex-pat and his wife. It was really, really good, but they didn't have chicken mole on their menu.
Ever since we visited Milwaukee this summer and tasted mole at Cempazuchi, Jake has been on a quest to find mole as good or better. After eating a delicious meal at El Pinto, Jake and my sister decided to find Albuquerque's best chicken mole via my sister's iPhone.
The search result gave them El Norteno on Wyoming Blvd in Albuquerque and we decided to check it out on Sunday evening. It was obviously a local place, situated in a little corner of a strip mall and we descended on them at 730 Sunday evening. Ben, poor boy, was too tired from all the balloon site-seeing that he fell asleep on the car ride there and slept cuddled in a blanket on the floor the whole time we ate dinner.
Let me tell you, the Google search result did not lie. This was some of the best food I've ever tasted, Mexican or not. Oh.My.God. ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR. They had a lot of interesting options on their menu (my mother got the beef tongue and we all tried it: pretty good)! Jake got the chicken mole (of course) and we tried it but decided the mole in Milwaukee was actually better. This mole was good, but there was more of a chocolate flavor to it, so the sauce became a little too sweet. In Milwaukee, there was just enough cocoa to make the sauce rich, but then everything else in mole was also able to activate every.single.tastebud in your mouth at the same time, causing you to have seizures of delight. No, really. It was that good.
As is tradition when eating out with my family, everyone tries everyone else's dinner. We all ordered something different and spent a great part of the meal passing around forks and portions of everyone's dinner so we could try a bit of everything. It's one of the best things about my family and I'm so glad we do it.
Here's what we ordered (and you can refer back to the menu if you want to see what's in everything):
Dad got Monturas
Mom had Lengua (the beef tongue)
Jake had Pollo en Mole Enchiladas
Karen had Carne Abodaba
David got a pork dish that I'm blanking on. Help me out, Dave!
I had Pollo en Crema Chipotle
I was in heaven trying everything. Since everyone got to taste everyone's dinner, we could decide who got the best meal and it turned out to be mine! The chicken with chipotle cream was decadent. The cream was smooth and rich and just a hint of spice at the end. Perfection. I had it with a side of rice & beans (also amazing) and corn tortillas which were perfect for piling everything into so you could have all the flavors at once!
We ordered a portion of flan and tres leches cake to-go for dessert and enjoyed them in our hotel suite the next day along with all the leftovers.
I absolutely cannot recommend this restaurant enough. Not only was the food delicious, but the wait staff and owners were so sweet and helpful and accommodating. They brought out an extra tablecloth for us to cover Ben with in case he got cold sleeping on the floor. We were the last people in the restaurant on a Sunday night and they were obviously hoping to clean up and go home, but we never felt rushed by them or that we were imposing on them at all. Fantastic place, great people, and delicious food. How could you go wrong?
So here's a review for El Norteno on Wyoming Blvd in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you're ever visiting that city, be sure to stop by!
Post #17: Review it
Chantelle writes: It's always comforting to have someone try something before we do it ourselves. Review a book/tv show/product/blog/anything. Consider making it a weekly post.
I don't know about making this a weekly post, I've got enough on my plate to begin with! Still, I was very happy to have a chance to review something since we are just back from our trip to Albuquerque and the Balloon Fiesta.
While we were there, we had to have some really great Mexican food. I am so, so happy to be in the 2nd trimester and in love with food again. Can you imagine being nauseated all the time and having to see all this delicious food around you but be unable to try any of it? Horrible. We went to a recommended Mexican restaurant, El Pinto, on Saturday night and met up with a Carthage ex-pat and his wife. It was really, really good, but they didn't have chicken mole on their menu.
Ever since we visited Milwaukee this summer and tasted mole at Cempazuchi, Jake has been on a quest to find mole as good or better. After eating a delicious meal at El Pinto, Jake and my sister decided to find Albuquerque's best chicken mole via my sister's iPhone.
The search result gave them El Norteno on Wyoming Blvd in Albuquerque and we decided to check it out on Sunday evening. It was obviously a local place, situated in a little corner of a strip mall and we descended on them at 730 Sunday evening. Ben, poor boy, was too tired from all the balloon site-seeing that he fell asleep on the car ride there and slept cuddled in a blanket on the floor the whole time we ate dinner.
Let me tell you, the Google search result did not lie. This was some of the best food I've ever tasted, Mexican or not. Oh.My.God. ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR. They had a lot of interesting options on their menu (my mother got the beef tongue and we all tried it: pretty good)! Jake got the chicken mole (of course) and we tried it but decided the mole in Milwaukee was actually better. This mole was good, but there was more of a chocolate flavor to it, so the sauce became a little too sweet. In Milwaukee, there was just enough cocoa to make the sauce rich, but then everything else in mole was also able to activate every.single.tastebud in your mouth at the same time, causing you to have seizures of delight. No, really. It was that good.
As is tradition when eating out with my family, everyone tries everyone else's dinner. We all ordered something different and spent a great part of the meal passing around forks and portions of everyone's dinner so we could try a bit of everything. It's one of the best things about my family and I'm so glad we do it.
Here's what we ordered (and you can refer back to the menu if you want to see what's in everything):
Dad got Monturas
Mom had Lengua (the beef tongue)
Jake had Pollo en Mole Enchiladas
Karen had Carne Abodaba
David got a pork dish that I'm blanking on. Help me out, Dave!
I had Pollo en Crema Chipotle
I was in heaven trying everything. Since everyone got to taste everyone's dinner, we could decide who got the best meal and it turned out to be mine! The chicken with chipotle cream was decadent. The cream was smooth and rich and just a hint of spice at the end. Perfection. I had it with a side of rice & beans (also amazing) and corn tortillas which were perfect for piling everything into so you could have all the flavors at once!
We ordered a portion of flan and tres leches cake to-go for dessert and enjoyed them in our hotel suite the next day along with all the leftovers.
I absolutely cannot recommend this restaurant enough. Not only was the food delicious, but the wait staff and owners were so sweet and helpful and accommodating. They brought out an extra tablecloth for us to cover Ben with in case he got cold sleeping on the floor. We were the last people in the restaurant on a Sunday night and they were obviously hoping to clean up and go home, but we never felt rushed by them or that we were imposing on them at all. Fantastic place, great people, and delicious food. How could you go wrong?
So here's a review for El Norteno on Wyoming Blvd in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you're ever visiting that city, be sure to stop by!