Category: Reviews: Other

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Zia Taqueria

Made the first of what is likely to be many more visits to the new Zia Taqueria that opened a few weeks ago in the former Fez location.

This place is full of yummy. The atmosphere is casual, and very conducive to just hanging out. Most items on the menu you can order a la carte, or you can choose from a few platter dishes instead. Order placing is kind of a hybrid between a fast food place and traditional sit-down. You go up to the counter, place your order and go grab a seat. After a reasonably short wait, during which you can munch on tortilla chips and salsa, one of the servers brings your meal out to you.

The salsa, while very fresh tasting was pretty heavy on the cilantro. I probably would have enjoyed it if not for my anti-cilantro gene or if there was no cilantro in it.

I opted for the Beef Barbacoa platter with the Borracho Beans and Mexican Rice as the sides and wasn’t disappointed. With the New Mexico Red Chile sauce, I could have easily stuffed myself with 3 or 4 more. The enchiladas were stuffed with tender, flavourful shreds of beef, and the chili sauce provided a nice chile flavour without a lot of mouth-searing heat.

The Borracho Beans were just as tasty. Kind of like a bean soup, it had a rich tasty broth and a little bit of spicyness for kick, but not too much. The Mexican rice was a little under seasoned, but was good as well and helped cut the heat from the Habanero sauce (one of 3 hot sauces you can choose from at the cutlery/iced tea table) I added to my enchiladas.

Tables outside provide additional dining space, perfect for the milder fall temperatures these days. Now when I’m craving Mexican, I can save some gas and just walk up the road to get some.

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Fez for dinner

Up the road from me Fez opened up a little while ago in the space formerly occupied by Lulu’s Bistro. The food is billed as French-Moroccan, so the wife and I tried it out tonight.

It’s nicely decorated inside, although a tad on the dim side. We suggested to the staff that they consider using taller candles on the tables because we were quite literally eating in the dark at our table off in the corner. Next time I’m going to make sure to grab a table underneath one of the lights so I can see my food.

At least the food was tasty. I started with the Moroccan style mussels while the wife had the kefta (2 skewers of a spiced veal meatball type thing). A little small for the price ($7), but I thought it was pretty good. The mussels were excellent in a rich tomato-citrusy broth.

For the main course we each tried one of the tagine dishes. She had the braised short rib tagine, which was well prepared but was seasoned with something she didn’t care for too much. I had the lamb tagine, which was a definite winner. The lamb was tender and flavourful and nicely enhanced with figs and apricots adding some sweetness to the dish.

Dinner was rounded out with a sugar coma-inducing chocolate and sesame cream and creme brulee. The chocolate sesame cream was excellent – pudding like (much thicker though) layers of rich dark chocolate and light sesame with some really strongly cherry flavoured something at the bottom of a martini glass. The chocolate pretty much overwhelms any sesame flavour, but since I’ve never met a chocolate I didn’t like, I didn’t mind. The chocolate combined with a little bit of the cherry was really good. The creme brulee came out with a nice solid top of brulee and was well made but turned out to be infused with lavender, not a flavour the wife is fond of.

Fez is definitely a place to check out if you’re looking for new flavours to try. I’m looking forward to going back to try some of the French style dishes. It’s a little on the pricey side ($15+ for the entrees) and I didn’t end up with any leftovers. You do get some really good food though and a cozy, albeit dim, atmosphere to enjoy dinner in.

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Maui Luau

Thursday in Maui we went out to the Old Lahaina Luau.

The commercial luau seems to be one of those quintessential Hawaiian tourist activities, but it’s basically a big outdoor restaurant with a show to watch while you’re eating dinner. There were some interesting dishes, some pretty tasty, others not so much.

The food I sampled at from the luau buffet

Some awesome banana bread was available along with a pretty tasty ahi (tuna) poke. There was purple poi there too, which was a lot more watery than I was expecting. I was expecting poi to be something more of a mashed potato kind of consistency, but this poi was more like a salad dressing consistency. Didn’t taste like much either and didn’t really add anything to the meal at all.

Just before dinner started, people gathered around the imu to watch the roasted pig being uncovered.

Uncovering the pig roasting in the imu

The roasted pig served at the luau (I don’t think it was the same one that was uncovered) tasted pretty good – tender, flavourful and not too dry. I thought it would have a little more smoky flavour than it did, but it was pretty mild. Since I was still recovering from whatever flu-like thing I had contracted, I didn’t eat a whole lot of food, although I did manage to pack away a few yummy desserts.

The dessert selection

The white squares were some kind of coconut square which I thought were very good, as were the macadamia nut tarts.

The dinner wrapped up with more dancing telling the history of Hawai’i

The luau hula dancers

Old Lahaina Luau is an attractive setting once you get inside, and there’s plenty of things to check out while you’re waiting for the buffet to open up. You can check out people making Hawai’ian totems and other crafts, or learn basic hula steps from one of the staff. Or just wander around with a fruity drink in hand and enjoy the scenery or the expansive ocean view.

It’s a little on the pricey side, but if you’ve got room in the budget and looking for your first luau experience, it’s worth a try.

Food: 3.5 out of 5

Ambiance and entertainment: 4 out of 5

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Numb3rs

Anybody watch Numb3rs? Finally managed to catch an episode of it last night while waiting for Battlestar Galactica to come on and rather enjoyed it. It’s nice to see Rob Morrow and Peter McNichol back on TV again. Yesterday’s episode was about trying to figure out a pattern to blackouts some guy was causing so that some bad guy drug dealers could get into a prison and eliminate someone that was going to testify against them. Some of the math technobabble stretched things a little, but overall it seemed pretty realistic. The slide rule Peter McNichol’s character was playing around with in a few scenes was a nice touch.

Now that I know when it’s on, I’ll probably try to tune in a little more regularly.

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Zappo’s

There’s this new pizza place called Zappo’s at King and Race St that we tried out yesterday. The wife says it’s the best New York style pizza around (she ought to know). She’s never been a fan of Andolini’s, the perennial City Paper Best of, because she thinks the dough is too sweet.

Zappo’s was a pretty decent pie. Thin crispy crust, slightly chewy (not as chewy as Andolini’s) and not too sweet (just the way the wife likes it). Being a deep dish kind of pizza guy, Zappo’s pizza didn’t seem too different from the others I’ve had around here. Reasonably priced though. Haven’t gotten around to trying the other items on the menu yet. It’s located pretty much on the way home from the dog park, so I have a feeling we’ll be stopping by on a quasi-regular basis.