Posted by Sheryl Kirby in mexican, restaurant review on September 25, 2008 at 7:47 am

Tortilla Flats
458 Queen Street West
416-203-0088
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and margaritas: $80

This was supposed to be a review of Tattoo Rock Parlor. But when we arrived to an empty restaurant, then waited for a server who never appeared while bad rock music blared on the sound system, we bailed. “Let’s go to Tortilla Flats!” sez the husband as we found ourselves on the Queen West sidewalk. “I haven’t been there since about 1989!”

While sharing his sense of nostalgia and spontaneity, I was worried. Tortilla Flats doesn’t have the best reputation for its food, and the things we like when we’re twenty often don’t translate well when we’ve advanced to middle-age. But Tortilla Flats has a small spot in the nostalgic "remember when we were 20" place in my heart, so in we went, hoping to be wrong.

Posted by Susan Hu in mexican, restaurant review on May 14, 2008 at 7:44 am

La Tortillaria
68 Wales Avenue
416-546-5516
Dinner for two with all taxes tip and soda: $20

La Tortillaria, is a recently opened take-out place on the edge of Kensington Market that has received a lot of buzz. What's so special about it? Freshly made corn tortillas.

The closest I've ever gotten to fresh corn tortillas was years ago, watching David Rosengarten's show Taste on the Food Network during which his subject, the mysterious sounding masa (corn dough) and masa harina (the dried version), intrigued me. Watching him knead that dough and take perfect steaming circles out of a hefty silver tortilla press, I marvelled that corn could be flat bread.

Posted by Sheryl Kirby in mexican, restaurant review on December 9, 2007 at 8:17 am

Johny Banana
181 Bathurst Street
416-304-0101
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and beer/juice: $35

So I was at one of the many restaurant opening media thingies we get invited to. And while the booze was flowing, the food was sparse, and small when it actually appeared. On an empty stomach, a couple of glasses of merlot can hit a gal (even a strapping lass like myself) pretty hard, and it wasn’t long before I was past the point of tipsy. Not quite at plastered, but in that window where Mexican food is the ONLY thing that will fit the bill.

My husband Greg had been bugging me about checking out the reworked menu at Johny Banana. We had tried to go there once when it was a lounge, but it was loud and kind of obnoxious and we’d never actually eaten there. With Suresh and Nina from Spotlight Toronto in tow, we stumbled to the corner of Queen and Bathurst in search of great Mexican food. We’d have taken passable or even mediocre Mexican food at that point, but fortunately there was no need to compromise. Johny Banana rocks in the manner of a hurricane.

Posted by Corey Mintz in mexican, restaurant review on July 22, 2007 at 7:29 am

Perola's
247 Augusta Avenue
416-593-9728

In Perola’s market, where I get my tomatillos, chilies, and Oaxaca, in the very back, with the racks of bottled mole, sickly-sweet Mexican sodas, and horchata, is the pupusa lady. On Friday, Saturday, and Sundays Irma (or "Signora", as she answers to) can be found in the back of the Spanish market forming balls of masa de maiz dough with her thick, old hands, stuffing them with cheese, beans, and meat, and flipping them on the flat-top grill, also with her hands.

I stay away from Kensington on the weekends so it was only at a friend’s behest that I made it there at pre-yokel 9:30am Sunday. After a few minutes of watching Irma slapping dough to palm with no trace of interest in me, I piped up and asked for a pupusa. Disinterestedly she told me that it would be ready in a minute and kept on flipping and chatting with a friend. The pupusa ($2.50) was a great way to start Sunday morning. Crispy exterior, soft, doughy, cheesy interior. To say any more is a disservice to how simple this treat was. I followed it up with a fried oval of plantain stuffed with sweetened condensed milk ($1). I kind of wish I spoke Spanish so I didn’t sound like such a goon saying “gracias”.

I felt a tinge of sadness for anyone who was going to spend that morning stuffed into an overcrowded patio waiting 45 minutes for some cold eggs benedict. If people are complaining about food in Toronto they aren’t digging deep enough. Word on the street is that Irma is only going to be at Perola’s for a few more weeks. So go get a pupusa before she’s gone. ‘Nuff said.

Posted by Paul Wernick in mexican, restaurant review on July 19, 2007 at 2:29 pm

El Sol Restaurant and Galleria
1448 Danforth Avenue
416-405-8074
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and beer: $40

Authentic Mexican? The place is filled with the aroma of cumin and chile. Mariachi music blares from the stereo. After a lengthy explanation of my desires, Ernesto closes his note pad and replies “No habla Inglese” before storming away. Ernesto is my latest psychoanalyst.

Caveat emptor I guess. And the session wasn’t a total loss. I find the phrase “No habla Inglese” is useful in dealing with telephone solicitors and my wife. It also provoked a craving for Mexican food which I satisfied at nearby El Sol Restaurant and Galleria.

Posted by Peter Liu in mexican, restaurant review on July 3, 2007 at 7:25 am

Hernando’s Hideaway
545 Yonge Street
416-929-3629
52A Wellington Street East
416-366-6394
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and cocktails: $48

Having been to both Hernando's locations I can now compare the two, from the taste buds of someone relieved to eat Mexican food that didn’t originate from a drive-thru. My trip to the first Hernando’s was actually a fluke. A communication misunderstanding between friends brought us to the location on Yonge, and it became something I'll never be allowed to live down.

I couldn’t find the place when it first came time to capture the restaurant on camera. Not till I crossed the street did I realize that Hernando’s Hideaway lives up to its namesake. The restaurant sinks into the ground off of the street. A flight of stairs led me deeper into the rabbit hole. The atmosphere was a bit stifling; by that I mean the overall environment of the restaurant. The décor was rustic, and the furniture painted in gaudy colours. The giant lizards on the wall were a nice touch. I wondered what it’d feel like to sit right under one of those, and whether he would flick off bits of my meal as I ate it.

Posted by Sheryl Kirby in mexican, restaurant review on June 26, 2007 at 6:56 am

El Jacal
1056 Bloor Street West
416-244-4447
Diner for two with all taxes, tip and soda: $60

“Hey, what’s this place?”

It’s a steaming hot Saturday afternoon, and my husband and I are standing on the sidewalk on Bloor Street, just east of Dufferin, about to have one of those relationship meltdowns provoked by a foolish misunderstanding. Our intended destination was A Touch of Convenience to try out the brunch offerings from chef Christopher James, but both of us left the house firm in the knowledge that the other knew where we were going. The husband wanted to go south on Gladstone, I was pretty sure it was north, but there was nothing in sight that looked like a convenience store, so we wandered the hot city streets in search of sustenance like so many Mexican immigrants wandering the desert on their way to the US.

Posted by Salpy Kelian in mexican, restaurant review on June 4, 2007 at 7:52 am

Rancho Relaxo
300 College Street
416-920-0366
Dinner for two (mains only) with all taxes, tip, and beer: $45

The venue was Rancho Relaxo and we were there for a show; the second in a trilogy of fundraisers to send York University playwright Melissa Major to the IDEA festival in Hong Kong. We hadn’t had Mexican food in a long time, so my companion and I decided to have a bite. The waiter told us we weren’t allowed to order food upstairs where the event was being held. Strangely enough, later on we saw other people being allowed to order food at the show when served by a different staff member. When I think about it, this was the moment that foreshadowed an evening of bad service.

Posted by Greg Clow in mexican, restaurant review on April 24, 2007 at 7:48 am

Chimichanga
335 Yonge Street
416-977-1616
lunch or dinner for two with juice/pop & tax: $20

The last time I can recall seeing a chimichanga on a restaurant menu was at Chi-Chis, the awful Mexican family dining chain that went bust a few years ago. I remember going to the Toronto location as a university student and ordering one, not really knowing what it was, and receiving a deep-fried burrito-type thing that was soggy, greasy and generally disgusting.

With that memory in mind, I was a bit concerned when I heard that a Mexican take-out joint called Chimichanga had opened on Yonge Street just north of Dundas. But when I walked by around lunchtime one day and saw that the restaurant's namesake grease-bomb was not to be found on the menu, my confidence level was raised somewhat, and I decided to give them a shot.