Memphis Foodie

Your tool for delicious, local cuisine right in the heart of Memphis, TN.

Taqueria Los Picosos July 12, 2012

Filed under: East Memphis — Shannon R Little @ 12:00 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I was craving Mexican food one night, so I ventured to the area of Memphis that seems to be the mecca of Mexican: Summer Avenue. Summer has some of the greats, so I could only assume there were more undiscovered gems to try.

 

I stopped at Taqueria Los Picosos. This place seemed very authentic. Everything was written in Spanish. From the signs outside to the menus inside, not one word of English could be found (minus the “OPEN” sign outside). There were also lots of handwritten signs on the windows and walls. I could only hope they weren’t about a food born illness of some sort.

 

 

The place looks like your average Mexican joint: hard booths. colorful walls, etc. You order from the counter and they bring it to you.

 

They started us out with your usual chips and salsa. They were good, but pretty average. The chips were thin. The salsa was very sweet, with not much kick. You could add the extra sauces in the bottle for more of a kick, but it still didn’t add much flavor. Just hot.

 

 

We also ordered guacamole, as I am a guacamole fiend. It was also pretty average. Not much flavor other than the avocado was present. I was hoping for some more pepper, onion, and/or tomato.

 

 

For dinner, Scott opted for the Steak Fajitas. They came out on a sizzling skillet. They were huge! He said they were pretty good, with a lot of flavor. The peppers and onions tasted fresh.

 

 

I ordered the Chicken Quesadilla, mainly because I knew what I was ordering. I wasn’t in an adventurous pick-something-off-the-menu-then-find-out-later-what-it-is mood. Mine was also gigantic. The quesadilla, rice, and beans tasted just like something you would find at El Porton or El Mezcal. It was decent, but it didn’t knock my socks off.

 

 

In the end, we boxed up over half of our food to go. They don’t want you to leave hungry, that is for sure. I don’t know if I will be back to Los Picolos, especially if I have options like Las Delicias. If am in the area again and super hungry, though, it might be worthwhile to stop in and share something.

 

For more reviews on Taqueria Los Picosos, visit Urbanspoon or Yelp. You can also read Dining With Monkeys’s write-up as well.

 

Taqueria Los Picosos on Urbanspoon

 


View Larger Map
 

La Michoacana May 14, 2012

Filed under: East Memphis — Shannon R Little @ 12:00 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

La Michoacana is one of those small known-unknown places.  Nobody talks about this place, yet all local Memphians seem to known and love it.  I visited La Michoacana for the first time a few weeks ago.  It has been on my list to try for quite sometime, as I have heard nothing but rave reviews about.

 

 

When I pulled up to the building, my heart filled with excitement like a five year old child.  The place even looks exciting. The writings on the outside of the windows make it seem like a fun place to be.

 

 

The inside of the building is just as fun as the outside.  Brightly colored walls, kids drawings, and photos of customers having fun all make the place inviting.  It seems like they drew their inspiration from a preschool or Sunday School classroom.

The main difference is that preschools don’t smell like corn.  Yes, this place smells like corn.

La Michoacana has many sweet options for you to choose from.  They have paletas, which cost $2 a piece.  Many swear by these popsicles.  They also have ice cream.  The commonality between it all is that you will find flavors here that you cannot find anywhere else.  Tequila, Rose, Corn, Jalapeno, etc.  The ice cream flavors go on.

I opted for a small papaya ice cream.  Scott, who tends to shy away from weird sweets, opted for strawberry.  My papaya ice cream was fantastic. You can tell that they make the ice cream in house.  It’s the perfect consistency.  It has a rich sweetness to it, but overly-fruity sweet.  It’s also very creamy.  Scott’s strawberry was above par as well.  It was also sweet, without being overly fruity.  They seem to have the right flavor and texture recipes to all of their ice cream.  I was amazed.

I live so close to this place, that I cannot believe I have not tried it yet. I will be back soon, that is for sure.  Jerry’s Sno Cones now has some competition for my love.

La Michoacana does not have a website or social media presence, but you can find more reviews at Yelp and Urbanspoon.  You can also find write-ups by I Love Memphis, Dining with Monkeys, Whining and Dining, and WMCTV5.

 

La Michoacana on Urbanspoon

 


View Larger Map
 

Casa Mexicana March 18, 2012

Filed under: Bartlett,Collierville,Cordova,Southaven — Shannon R Little @ 12:00 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

This is was my first time at Casa Mexicana.  In fact, I have never really given the place a second look. I had never considered eating at this establishment before, because I always just assumed it was another average Mexican restaurant.  Don’t be fooled, it really is just another average Mexican restaurant.

 

What drew me to Casa Mexicana was the convenience factor.  The Cordova location is situated very close to Wolfchase Honda, where I take my car to get serviced.  My usual routine is to drop off my car, walk to the Wolfchase area to run errands while they are working on her, and then walk back to pick her up when ready.  This was my plan on this particular day.  Only, I had not eaten before I dropped my car off.  There are not many favorable dining restaurants in this area.  They all tend be mediocre chain establishments.  The only options otherwise are Casa Mexicana and Eat Well Sushi.  Eat Well is yummy, but I wasn’t in the mood.

 

Casa Mexicana was pretty empty when I walked in, but it was during the week.  I took a seat, and they presented me with my chips and salsa, like you get at pretty much every a-typical Mexican dining establishment.

 

 

The chips were really thin and greasy.  The salsa was pretty average, with a little bit of kick and not a lot of spice.  I munched on them, mainly because once I start eating tortilla chips, auto-pilot kicks in and I keep munching.

 

I ordered a margarita while I waited too.  I read on FourSquare that they have super strong margaritas.  These people did not lie.

 

 

Warning! I could taste some of the neon green, lime-y goodness in the glass.  However, I mainly tasted tequila.  To put this in perspective, all of the ice in my Margarita on the Rocks was melted in less than five minutes.  I had to ask my server for a glass of ice.  I used every single ice cube in a tall drinking glass to keep this thing cool while I drank it. It was strong. It was also awesome.  It was not too overwhelming for me, but I definitely did not order a second one either.

 

My food finally came, thankfully before I was able to finish the chips and salsa.  I ordered an enchilada, beans, and chile relleno combo, but I got a tostada instead.  This actually worked out perfectly, because I would rather have the tostada anyway.

 

 

There is not much to say about the food, other than it was pretty average. Nothing had an incredible amount of flavor or impressed me, but nothing was bad either.  It tasted a lot like going to any other average Mexcian restaurant in Memphis.

 

Overall, I will probably be back to Casa Mexicana eventually sometime in the future.  Not because it blew my socks off, but mainly because I will be hungry at some point when my car is being worked on.  If you are stuck in the same situation as me and need some place in walk distance, Casa Mexicana is not a bad choice.  Otherwise, skip it and go somewhere else.

 

Casa Mexicana does not have a website or social media presence, but you can find more reviews on Yelp and Urbanspoon.  You can also find photos of their menu there as well.  They have an extensive menu, with every possible Mexican option you could ever want.

 

Casa Mexicana on Urbanspoon

 


View Larger Map
 

Las Delicias January 22, 2012

Filed under: East Memphis — Shannon R Little @ 5:00 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Las Delicias is a family owned and run mexican restaurant in East Memphis.  It’s great food, relaxed atmosphere, smiling faces are trying very hard to win that spot of “Favorite Mexican Restaurant” in my heart.

 

I have been to Las Delicias a handful of times, and I have never had a bad experience.  It has become my go-to mexican joint in town.  First, they have the absolute best guacamole in the city.  It is made fresh to order for everyone.  Unlike most places where it is a solid green goop, their guacamole is chunks of fresh avocado, tomato, onion, and cilantro.  They serve it with their chips, which are hands down the best tortilla chips in the city.  Thick, crispy, buttery, flaky, and always hot, they can never disappoint.  If this does not convince you, many local groceries and stores, like Miss Cordelias, have started selling their chips and guac.  That means something, right?

 

They also have killer margaritas.  I do not know what they put in their standard margarita to make it better than most, but they do something for sure.  I could suck down 8 of these, if you let me (please don’t).  If you are not incredibly hungry, I highly suggest stopping by here at least for a margarita and some guacamole as a snack.

 

This time, Scott and I stopped in for a full-on dinner.  We got chips and salsa to start, as is typical with every mexican restaurant.  The chips were “delicias”, as always.  The salsa is sweet with a hint of kick.

 

 

Then we, of course, ordered guacamole.  Scott got a margarita, which he let me sip on a little.

 

 

 

For his dinner, Scott ordered the Fajitas Alambre, which is “Grilled steak, green pepper, onion, bacon and cheese with 7 small corn tortillas”.  They were full of flavor, and I love that the tortillas are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.  It makes them easier to load up, and overall, you get a better filling-to-tortilla ratio.

 

I ordered a pork tamale, chicken tamale, rice, and beans.  I knew I was not going to be able to eat it all, but I was anxious to have leftovers for lunch the next day.  Las Delicias has awesome tamales, and I order at least one every time I go.  They have a thick layer of masa, which is always very moist.  The beans are typical refried beans, but they have freshly grated cheese on top.  The rice is very fancy is display and very moist in texture.  It is also full of flavor.

 

 

 

 

Overall, Las Delicias is a guaranteed great meal.  I have never had anything I did not like.  The chips, guacamole, and margaritas are enough to make a consistent customer.  All of the extra yumminess is just a bonus.  Another bonus? The incredibly cheap prices.  You can dine on a budget with no sweat.  If you have never been there, you need to go. Right now.  Seriously, they do not close until 9pm, so you have plenty of time.

 

Las Delicias does not have any official website or social media pages.  However, you can find reviews at Yelp, Urbanspoon, and Trip Advisor.  You can find their menu on Marks Menus.  To prove me right even more, you can find more awesome write-ups from I Love Memphis, Dining With Monkeys, and The Memphis Flyer.

 

Las Delicias Mexican Bar and Grill on Urbanspoon

 


View Larger Map
 

Molly’s La Casita May 31, 2011

Filed under: Midtown — Shannon R Little @ 10:06 am
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Molly’s La Casita is one of the surviving restaurants in the Overton Square area. I have heard wonderful things about them, yet I had never made it on over to try them out until recently. With my love for Mexican food, I was extremely excited.

Scott and I went in during the afternoon on his birthday to grab a drink and snack after leaving the Memphis Zoo. Since it was an odd hour, we were one of the only two tables in the place.

We both got margaritas, because it was happy hour. I got mine frozen, and he got his on the rocks. We shared a second one, because we had to try the half and half margarita. The combination of half frozen and half rocks packed all of the flavor, but none of the brain freeze.

To eat, we started with the queso. This is one of Scott’s favorite foods, and it WAS his birthday. It was pretty good, but nothing special.

We also split the hot wing and bacon wrapped shrimp combo. You may be questioning the validity of my opinion at this point for ordering hot wings at a mexican joint. However, their hot wings are SO GOOD. My boss, the self-proclaimed “hot win connisseuir” told me I had to get them, so obviously I had to. She was right. Totally worth it. The bacon-wrapped shrimp were also good, but nothing compared to Cafe Ole’s. I probably will not order them again.

Keep in mind when you go into Molly’s that it is not authentic Mexican food. It’s Tex Mex. I am normally not a big fan of Tex Mex, as I prefer the authentic stuff.

Overall, the margaritas were fabulous, and the hot wings as well. The server was also very nice and friendly. When I go back, which I will, I’ll order actual Mexican food. I hear they have wonderful homemade tamales. My fav! Let’s see if they can compare to some more of the authentic places.

I will let you all know how that goes.

For more information on Molly’s, visit their website for Facebook fan page. You can also find them on Urbanspoon, Yelp, Google Maps, or the Memphis Restaurant Association website.


View Larger Map

Molly's La Casita on Urbanspoon

 

Rio Loco May 18, 2011

Filed under: Downtown — Shannon R Little @ 5:55 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rio Loco is not one of those talked about restaurants downtown. It’s pretty subtle and pretty humble. It’s not where you go for a lively night out. It’s where you go to grab a bite to eat before a downtown event. It’s where you go for good Mexican food.

Rio Loco is not perfect. It seems like every time I go, something goes wrong. The food takes forever. Our margaritas are the wrong flavor. Etc. However, their food is always consistently good. Their beer is consistently cold, and their margaritas are consistently strong.

This particular time I went, they did not seem prepared for Memphis in May. They were very understaffed. Our server worked his little tushy off, but it still took 20 minutes for our drinks to get to the table.

This time we went, we split a pitcher of Dos Equis Amber. We were grabbing a quick bite before Music Fest. Scott, Laura, and I split some white queso with chorizo and the shrimp and beef fajitas. The food hit the table fast, and it was sizzling. It was all really good. The cheese dip was thick, so you had a really good chip to queso ratio. There were lots of yummy veggies mixed with the fajitas.

Though I did not get it this time, I highly recommend the chicken flautas. They are amazing here.

My favorite thing about Rio Loco, though, is the salsa. It is perfect. It’s the right combination and sweet and spicy. You can taste the actual tomatoes, and it still leaves a kick in your mouth. I usually end up filling up on chips and salsa and have to take my food with me. It’s a good idea to split an entree and share the chips and dip.

Rio Loco is in a convenient spot downtown, on Union between Main and Second. If you park in Parking Can Be Fun or a nearby lot, it is directly en route when heading to the FedEx Forum or Beale Street. Stop in to have a margarita and a snack.

To learn more about Rio Loco, visit their website, Google Maps page, Urbanspoon, and Yelp.

Rio Loco on Urbanspoon


View Larger Map
 

Cafe Ole March 5, 2011

Filed under: Midtown — Shannon R Little @ 12:00 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cafe Ole is located in my favorite area of Memphis: the Cooper Young District. Right next door to Young Avenue Deli, right on the corner of Cooper and Young, is this Mexican-American infusion restaurant with some of the best margaritas in town.

I have had a couple bad experiences at Cafe Ole in the past, but I was willing to give it another shot. The service has always been great, but the food has always been sub-par. This experience has changed my mind though.

We walked in on a Tuesday night at 6pm, and the place was half empty. The hostess told me to sit wherever I felt and she would follow with menus. We sat down and were greeted within a couple of minutes by Hunter, who was cool. I asked if they had a beer list, and he said the beer fluctuates a lot so they don’t. They have the same draft beers, and a huge selection of bottled. I ordered a Dos XX, which came to me in a frosty cold mug.

We ordered some white cheese dip to start. The great thing about the cheese dip here is that you can either get white or yellow, and you have the choice of adding spinach or chorizo to either. I was recommended by someone on Four Square to get the white cheese dip with spinach, so that is what we got. It was delicious. Scott told me he was skeptical when I ordered it, but he thought it was “a nice touch” too.

For dinner, we split the bacon-wrapped shrimp and a plate of nachos. The nachos were pretty good, but nothing special. However, the bacon-wrapped shrimp were AMAZING. They are possibly one of the best appetizers I have ever had. I took one bite, sank back into my chair, and declared, “Oh my god these are soo good!”

They are jumbo shrimp, stuffed with cheese, wrapped in two pieces of bacon, and deep fried, served with a side of bbq sauce. Oh my god. Warning: You might have a heart attack after consuming, but man it would so be worth it.

Though I did not consume any margaritas on this round, I highly recommend them when you go in. They are delicous. Cafe Ole also has this wonderful thing called Margarita Monday, where margaritas are 2 for 1 ALL DAY.

Cafe Ole also has wonderful happy hour deals all week long. From 4-7 you can get different drink and appetizer specials, depending on the day. They also do brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. You can find these different deals on the calender on the website. Since we went on a Tuesday, my beer was discounted and all of our appetizers, minus the shrimp, were half off. With the discount, our tab ended up being $22.00, which was $10.00 off the original price.

Cafe Ole regulars enjoying drinks at the bar

Cafe Ole regulars enjoying drinks at the bar

Overall, I recommend skipping the fish tacos (not good) and nachos (average), and enjoying some bacon-wrapped shrimp and a few margaritas on the patio. This patio is what the place is known for, and it is consistently voted among the top patios in the city.

Below, Denise talks about her experiences bartending at Cafe Ole.

For more information on Cafe Ole, you can go to their website. You can also visit them on Google Maps, Yelp, and Urbanspoon, where all of the reviews seemed to be mixed.

Café Ole on Urbanspoon

 

Pancho’s February 19, 2011

Filed under: East Memphis — Shannon R Little @ 11:00 am
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pancho’s is a staple in Memphis. Most Memphians have memories of eating here. I remember growing up and going to Pancho’s with my mom. We would rave over their special sauce they put on the food. We always had a container of the cheese dip in our house, as they sell it in all of the local Kroger grocery stores. My mom has memories of growing up with a friend, whose mom worked for Pancho’s and kept the house stocked with container-upon-container of dip. This was obviously the cool house to hang out at.

What is in Pancho’s cheese dip that makes it so good? I do not know the exact recipe, but I would love to dig deeper and find it! There must be some secret, addictive ingredient. I have watched my boyfriend polish off an entire container in one sitting.

Pancho’s has a couple of locations in Memphis, but I recently went to the one on South Perkins, close to American Way. The location on Summer is a sit-down restaurant, where they bring each table a bowl of cheese dip after being seated(!!). The South Perkins location is more fast food. They have tables, but it is counter service and has a drive through.

They have every dish you could hope for at a Mexican restaurant. I ordered one chicken taco, one tamale, and a small cheese dip (of course). I am a bit of a tamale snob, so I can say that I have had better tamales. However, the taco was excellent, and the cheese dip was as well (obviously). When you eat here, the thought of it being fast food does not even cross your mind, and this is coming from a girl who avoids fast food at every possible turn. Not to mention, my lunch only cost me $4.03. Lunch for under five bucks? Yeah, I’ll take it.

When you need a quick, cheap lunch or a snack fix, I highly suggest trying this place out.

This man has lived in Memphis for 10 years, but had never tried Pancho’s. His shocked coworker brought him to Pancho’s for the first time while I was there, and he share’s his opinion below.

For more information, you can check out Pancho’s website or Google Map page, and if you don’t trust solely my opinion, you can check out more reviews at Urbanspoon or YellowPages.

Pancho's on Urbanspoon

 

 
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 2,128 other followers