TRAVEL: La Velvet Margarita Cantina - Hollywood, CA

Over the weekend I went down to California with my best friend to visit our friend Jill. She took us to this excellent restaurant called La Velvet Margarita Cantina. The decor alone is awesome in this place. They have cool skull painting on the wall, sombreros on the ceiling, and cool metallic wallpaper throughout. I started my meal with the VMC House Salad. It was a nice mixed greens salad with mama Carmelita's special vinaigrette orange dressing. This was a very tasty and refreshing salad. For my entree, I had the Chicken Asada Taco Platter. This consisted of grilled chicken served open faced on corn tortillas topped with salsa, guacamole, onions and sour cream. The tacos were served with rice and beans. All of the food was delicious.

One of the drinks I had with dinner was their Pina Colada which was served in a shaved coconut. This was honestly one of the best Pina Coladas I have ever tasted. It was so smooth and creamy.

The second drink I had was their Velvet Margarita. This was served in a fresh pineapple. This too was one of the best margaritas I have tasted. I highly recommend it!

REVIEW: Paddy Coyne's

If you love fish and chips you have to try out Paddy Coyne's. Located in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, Paddy Coyne's is one of Seattle's great Irish bars. Their fish and chips is Alaskan cod dipped in Paddy's own ale batter and rolled in bread crumbs. The coating is perfectly crispy and the fish is flakey and tender. I highly recommend checking them out, especially if you like a good Irish bar. The service is always great, and you can pet the owner's dog who is usually hanging out on the sidewalk by the front door.



REVIEW: Barrio Brunch

Today I had Brunch at Barrio restaurant in Seattle. I have been to Barrio once before for dinner and it was pretty good, so when I was told their Brunch was really good I decided to try it out.  I ordered the Breakfast Taco. It is served make-your-own fajita-style, which I really like. It is served with tortillas and includes scrambled eggs, housemade chorizo, habanero salsa, Manchego cheese, guacamole, fresh tomato salsa, and house hot sauce. You also receive a side of fried potatoes.

I really liked the Breakfast Tacos. Lately I have been really loving chorizo and Barrio's homemade chorizo is very tasty. I like the make-your-own style tacos. That way you can put as little or as much of the ingredients as you wish. The scrambled eggs were cooked perfectly and the hot sauce had just enough kick to wake me up.  If there was one thing I had to choose that I didn't like, it would have to be the fried potatoes.  I like my fried potatoes to be crispy, but these fried potatoes seemed to be a bit under-cooked.  A nice touch to the meal were the three little slices of lime that were just the right size to squeeze some fresh lime juice on each breakfast taco.

The Breakfast Taco meal costs $13.00, which I feel is a fair price for the amount of food you get, and the meal is pretty filling. The service at Barrio was excellent. Our server was very attentive, but wasn't over-bearing.  I will definitely go back to Barrio for Brunch.

http://www.barriorestaurant.com/