Tatas Tacos

We really liked Tatas Tacos the first time we went in September, so we went to check it out again. I had gotten a salad last time. This time I got three tacos and was really impressed with how big and full they were! Very tasty. Dallas tried a burrito for the first time and really liked it. It was huge! Tatas was not very crowded and the owner was very friendly. At the end of our meal she gave us some Mexican cinnamon tea on the house. I loved the traditional mug!

Beers for Boobs (and Burrito House)

Burrito House
Burrito House, Lakeview, Chicago

Last night Abby and a few of her friends hosted an event called Beers for Boobs at Gannon’s Pub. For $25 we got all of the wine, beer and liquor we could drink for 3 hours and Gannon’s donated 10% of the proceeds to Abby’s fund raising effort for a 3-day walk she is doing to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures.

Abby is doing well and is about 60% of the way to her goal of raising $2,200.00. I think it’s so great that she’s going to be walking 60 miles over the course of 3 days to support the cause. It seems like hard work, but not if you compare it to what lies ahead for anyone with cancer. Still, 60 miles is far. I think we’ve all been affected by some sort of cancer, if not breast cancer, so if you’d like to help Abby reach her goal, you can donate to her fund raising effort here.

Ok, so back to last night: After doing our philanthropic duty by drinking our faces off, Dallas was really hungry so we went to Burrito House, a place that all of my friends have been visiting late-night for years. Somehow I managed to have never gone until last night. I have a feeling that it won’t be my last visit! I had a junior California burrito that was filled with shredded beef. I could only eat half of it so I took half home. It was really great. And close enough that we could sober up on a walk home afterwards.

lolrachelle

2007_05_lolrachelle.jpg

Entirely necessary because our office is currently obsessed with lolcats (one of the most popular of the blogs, I Can Has Cheezburger, is a client of ours who we’ve answered support questions for), and also because one day this week I came in from lunch and half the guys here were giggling because they Google image searched for “burrito” (don’t ask) and came up with this photo of me. It’s in the last row of the first page of results.

Pupus With Friends, La Playita Azul, Barbecue Inn


Larry, Eleanor, Kathy, Dallas


George, Caroline


Pupus


Pupus


Pupus


Kathy, Dallas, George


Larry, Eleanor


Larry


Eleanor


Eleanor, Gary


Larry, Eleanor, Kathy


Mountain Apple Tree


Mountain Apple Tree


Mountain Apple Tree


Mountain Apple Pit


La Playita Azul


La Playita Azul


Kathy at La Playita Azul


Smoked Meat at BBQ Inn

That night we went to Larry & Eleanor’s house in Kalaheo for pupus. Larry showed us his mountain apple tree and we tasted the fruit from it – kind of sweet, with a kind of bitter skin and was much smaller than a normal apple. Eleanor and Larry had prepared and purchased a ton of pupus. Everything was so good, I wanted to eat a ton, but I also wanted to save room for the dinner I knew we were having later on at one of our favorite restaurants, La Playita Azul.

We dropped off Dallas’ dad, George, and his sister Caroline at Barbecue Inn in Lihue for a night out with George’s cronies. Then Dallas and Kathy, his mom, and I went over for mexican seafood in Kapa’a at La Playita Azul. This was a place we fell in love with last year and HAD to go back to.

Later on, back at Barbecue Inn, George’s friends peer pressured me into eating some smoked meat of some sort.. I think they said it was wild pig? I don’t know. It actually wasn’t as bad as it looks. It’s the pride of Kaua’i, I’m told.

La Playita Azul – Kapa’a, Kaua’i


Seafood Fajitas (Photo by Kristin)


Dallas’ Burrito


Dallas’ Burrito


Rob’s Burrito


Our waiter, Jeffrey


Dallas’ Burrito is gone!


Kristin, Cousin, Jeffrey the waiter, Dallas, Rob, Sarah, Rachelle

So a couple of months ago I was in Texas with Nick and Walt eating some average tasting TexMex. Nick, just back from a vacation in Hawaii, tells us that he’d recently eaten the best Mexican food he’s ever had in his life and that the place he ate it was in a shopping center in Kaua’i. This is a bold statement coming from Nick, who’s lived in Southern California his entire life and knows good Mexican food. Nick went on and on about it and some sort of secret sauce they serve and I let it go as a “whatever” and it was forgotten.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I confirmed my plans to visit Kaua’i. Nick recommends that we all go to La Playita Azul (the little blue beach) and try the Mexican food there… and that we HAD to ask for the special citrus sauce. I somehow convince Dallas that we have to try this place out even though he’s never heard of it and rightfully questions why the best Mexican food would be in Hawaii. When we got there I was a bit leery. This place is in a mini mall and looks very unimpressive. But let me tell you, the food was phenom. Kristin and I split the seafood fajitas, Cousin had the seared ahi flautas and Dallas had the biggest burrito I’ve ever seen. Somehow he managed to eat it all when Sarah and Rob shared the same order between them. Our waiter, Jeffery, was hysterical. I’m pretty sure this is the waiter that Nick & his friends had when he visited a few months prior because I remember Nick imitating him and me asking if he was high. Some memorable quotes from Jeffrey:

Kristin and I had to switch some seats so we could share our seafood fajitas. When Jeffrey served our food he said “Move over so you guys can Lady & the Tramp it!”

As Jeffrey gave Cousin his flautas, which he highly recommended over everything else on the menu, he said to Cousin under his breath, “Here buddy, get your rocks off!”

While we were leaving Jeffrey was outside admiring the moon. Many people on the trip mistakenly assumed that our group was 3 couples, because there were 3 women and 3 men, so Jeffrey says “The moon is so beautiful! Get in your car, take your honeys to the beach, dig a pit and build a fire. Throw your TV in the ocean! Moi! (kissing fingers action here) That’s all you need!” For the rest of the trip, the ladies will be collectively known and “the honeys”.

I would highly recommend La Playita Azul to anyone and everyone who visits Kaua’i. It was one of the best meals we had on the island and it is not too expensive either. Oh, also, after a fair amount of probing, I got the ingredients for the secret citrus sauce and instructions on how it was made. Kristin and I are going to try to replicate it but I’m doubtful whether it will turn out as well as the sauce we had in Kaua’i.