Category Archives: Mexican

Acuyo Mexican Restaurant

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I would describe this as New Mexican food. It’s based on traditional recipes, and many of them carry the names of classic dishes, but their takes on most of them are fairly imaginative.

I make a good classic margarita, so that’s the first checkbox ticked. Has a lot of other interesting cocktails.

We started with tableside guacamole, which was a modest serving of very nicely seasoned guacamole. They asked if we wanted it spicy, and we said yes. They did indeed deliver on that, with plenty of jalapenos mixed in and lots of cilantro.

ceviche
aguachile

Next, we had the ceviche of the day, which was octopus, and the aguachile. These dishes are quite different from one another. The ceviche is finely diced and has very complex seasoning. It almost seemed like it had some Indian spices in it. I really liked it. The agua chile was indicated with three red peppers on the menu, and they weren’t kidding about it being spicy. It consisted of thin slices of scallop and shrimp, both raw, cooked only by the spicy lime juice they were swimming in. It was a very good dish, but definitely not one for people who don’t like super spicy food.

Finally, we had a quesadilla. This is one of the better quesadillas I’ve ever had. They’re a dish we often make at home, but this was made with the authentic Mexican white cheese, which seemed like it had been seared to have a nice crust on it and then somehow was enfolded in a housemade tortilla. This is the opposite of the way that I usually make them, where the cheese is between two tortillas that are flipped during the grilling process, so the sear ends up on the tortillas rather than the cheese. I thought this was an innovative and very tasty way to approach the dish.

If there’s a downside to Acuyo, it’s the pricing. I think it’s perfectly reasonable for dinner, but they’re also open at lunchtime. However, there is no lunchtime menu, so our lunch for two, including tip and one margarita, came to $130. We’ll certainly go back when we’re next in the mood for elevated Mexican food.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/acuyo-vancouver

Yuyo’s Pizza & Mexican Kitchen

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We were on a tour in Sitka, and our guide told a story about how he had a friend who grew up in Sitka and was in college before he figured out that pizza wasn’t Mexican (because the only place that he’d had it had been at this Mexican restaurant). This restaurant does indeed serve an excellent pizza, although we opted for the Mexican food, which was great too.

It was delightful to find so many authentic flavors so far from Mexico. The enchiladas and chile relleno were both excellent, and the pastor served in a crispy taco was unusual but very tasty as well. Top marks to the refried beans also, which are difficult to do right. There’s no liquor license, so no margaritas.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/yuyos-sitka

El Taquero – Tacos and Tequila

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We came here on the Taste of Kelowna Food Tour and loved it so much that the next year we came back on our own. This place has the best Mexican food I’ve had in Canada, and that is high praise considering that I grew up in Southern California and live in Vancouver now.

The street tacos are absolutely authentic. My favorites were the vegetarian Rajas Poblanas with poblano chilies, the pork Cochinitas Pibil, and the fish Pescado Veracruz. The chilaquiles were also the best I’ve had, with half green and half red sauce to make them even more interesting. Margaritas here are great, too.

By complete coincidence, we ran into Andrew, the wonderful guide from our Taste of Kelowna tour last year, who was escorting another group around and happened to arrive as we were eating. He even remembered my name, and was so kind that, after he left, we discovered he had comped us a delicious order of churros served with a wonderful chilled caramel sauce.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/el-taquero-tacos-and-tequila-kelowna

TacoRiendo

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TacoRiendo serves traditional Mexican food ranging from tacos and enchiladas to burritos and chile rellenos. The nachos and guacamole are quite incredible, and the red sauce is appropriately spicy on all of their main dishes. I particularly like the fish tacos with the green sauce. The margaritas are excellent, and the price for a pitcher is quite reasonable. You can get quite busy, especially on Friday nights, so don’t go when you’re in a hurry; enjoy it.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/tacoriendo-oliver

Cielito Lindo

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This is probably the most authentic Mexican restaurant we’ve yet tried in Vancouver. It’s in a somewhat seedy section of Gastown, but the interior is absolutely gorgeous, with lots of hanging lanterns that create a magical mood. The food is definitely authentic Mexican, not Tex-Mex, but the real thing. I particularly enjoyed my Enchiladas Sauza, which is a recipe I have not seen anywhere else except in Southern California. The chicken enchiladas were doused with a wonderfully piquant green sauce that was perfect.

We also enjoyed the assortment of guacamole, refried beans, and salsa that was served with chips as an appetizer.

The margaritas are interesting here because they are served as a cocktail, shaken, not stirred, and presented in a coupe glass, which I actually really liked a lot because you get much more margarita and a real purity of flavors.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/cielito-lindo-vancouver

Anajo

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It’s hard to believe that this is part of a chain, because this is some of the best Mexican food that I’ve had in Canada. In particular, the table-side guacamole was the best I’ve had anywhere, with the perfect mix of onions and jalapenos in super fresh avocados. The tacos were also very good, in particular the fish taco. Service was friendly, and the atmosphere was decidedly Mexican Cantina. A pleasant surprise for a tourist area.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/anejo-banff

Davie Social

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This place has a great atmosphere. There is a long bar with terrific artwork and fanciful trees above it, plus high top and booth seating, and an expansive outdoor patio.

I went at lunch, which has a fairly short menu but hits a lot of favorites. There’s a Mexican slant to many of the dishes, but it is definitely not an entirely Mexican restaurant.

I had the nachos, fully loaded, which was very much like ones that I would make at home. I also tried the chicken wings in two different styles: one tossed in salt and pepper and the other tossed in a habanero mustard sauce. The habanero mustard sauce was particularly interesting.

The margaritas are good, and the service was friendly.

Taqueria Jalisco

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It’s hard to find authentic Mexican food in Vancouver, so I was delighted to come upon this place on Davie. I’d walked past it quite a few times, but somehow or other it just didn’t draw my eye. I tried the one down on Denman, and it was pretty good, but it was more of a counter-service place. When I realized this was a full sit-down restaurant with a bar, I decided to check it out. I’m glad I did.

The space is nicely decorated. I guess it could be pretty loud and noisy when it gets crowded, but I was there at a quiet lunchtime.

The menu is short but has lots of authentic dishes on it. I was torn between the molcajete, mole, or the enchiladas, but I decided to go with the enchiladas because pastor was offered as one of the fillings, and that’s not all that common to find in enchiladas. They were really terrific. The pastor had more of a ground meat consistency to it, but was the right flavor, and the green sauce was the best that I’ve had in Vancouver, with just the right amount of bite from the peppers. The refried beans and rice were also decent.

I really liked the complimentary chips.

The margarita was a standout, hand-shaken and at a reasonable price. Probably the best margarita I’ve had in town.

Service was friendly and attentive since I was alone.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/taqueria-jalisco-vancouver-2

Mi Casa Mexicana

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I grew up in Southern California, and so I’m pretty picky about Mexican food. I wanted authentic, not Americanized. It matters whether the corn tamales are fresh and the right kinds of cheese are used. The quality of the jalapenos. The variety of the salsas. And especially the way the meats are seasoned and cooked.

It seems like the farther I get away from Mexico, the more unreliable the Mexican food becomes (although I must admit, I did once have a great Mexican meal at a hotel in Sweden!) Anyway, Vancouver is pretty far from Mexico. And so the results are pretty dicey at a lot of the Mexican places around here.

But Mi Casa really blew us away.

It’s a little hard to find, it’s just a door with stairs going up. But once you’re up there, it’s quite, spacious, with picture windows lining two walls.

I was pretty sure things were going to go well when I got my Margarita. None of that fake Margarita flavored syrup here, just real lime juice and a generous two ounces of tequila and a rim half salted without my having to ask.

Then the enormous pile of nachos showed up, thoughtfully layered and covered in the right kind of cheese. Plentiful pickled jalapenos with just the right spice level. A mound of delicious guacamole. And an incredible chorizo. I’ve never even been much of a fan of chorizo, and if I’d known it was going to be on there, I’d probably have had them leave it off, but it really made the dish. It was complex and smoky, and its flavors infused everything. Honestly, these were the best nachos I’ve ever had anywhere.

I also had the lunch special, which was two tacos. I chose pastor and cochinita pabil. Pastor is a longtime favorite of mine, and this was prepared in a very traditional way. It was excellent, but the cochinita pabil was even better. Succulent and plentiful. Some of the best I’ve had.

My wife had two tamales with chicken filling. You could tell they were homemade with perfectly done cornmeal wrappers and served on corn husks.

Service was friendly, and the server verified our suspicion that the owners were from Mexico City. I’ve dined in hundreds of Mexican restaurants, but I have to say this was the biggest surprise and was among the very top of all that I’ve been to. It really exceeded our expectations and will become a regular on our rotation.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/mi-casa-mexicana-vancouver