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Maggie's Blue Rose

417 Crescent Ave. 

Avalon, CA 90704

Okay, so if you have been following along with this blog, you know that our last restaurant review was also from Catalina Island. We were on the island for a mini-vacation with Katie's family. They had me write out a bunch of places to dine at, then as soon as we got off the boat, they threw away my list and ate at one of their favorite spots, Mi Casita. You can see how that visit was by clicking here.

Not wanting to rehash an old wound, Katie and I set out on our own for lunch after spending some good quality family time at the beach. I was looking forward to getting out of the sun for a while, and we headed towards town. There were six places on my restaurant wish list, but we decided to have Mexican food again, hoping that Maggie's Blue Rose was going to be better than our last visit to a Mexican restaurant in Avalon. 

Maggie's Blue Rose is located directly across from the beach, directly below their sister restaurant, Steve's Steakhouse. There was plenty of foot traffic passing by this place, but we got right in at just before 1pm on a Saturday. Opened for just about a year and a half, Maggie's is one of the highest-rated restaurants on the island, receiving four stars on Yelp, and they also won an award at the Taste of Avalon in their first year in business. 

The menu here could definitely best be described as modern Mexican. Not heavy on combination plates, instead they offer Mexican favorites with a twist. Mole and duck seem to be a big draw at Maggie's, and maybe coming from the same kitchen as the restaurant above, their lunch menu has three different steaks on it, along with crab, lobster, and something that you always see in a Mexican restaurant, pasta alfredo. After lounging around in the sun all morning, I was definitely ready for some food, let's see what came out for us. 

First things first, I want to apologize in advance for these not so great pictures that I took at Maggie's. I had left my usual camera back at the beach house and shot these with my phone, which I hate doing, but I had to make do with what I had. Again, I'm sorry. Anyways, let's take a look at the Chips and Salsa that they brought out after we had ordered. These chips were pretty solid. They were thicker than most and had a great crunch to them. They tasted freshly made. I liked that they offered two salsas. The chunkier of the two was good, with a very good texture to it. It was mild and was definitely Katie's favorite. The habanero salsa had a great kick to it and is one of the spicier that I have had in a restaurant recently. 

No big table side mixing of the guacamole here at Maggie's, but it did not matter, because this Guacamole ($6) went very well with the chips and salsas. Not overly seasoned, it had a good texture to it, with just the right amount of chunk. It could have used some jalapenos to spice things up, but otherwise a much better version than what we had at our first Mexican restaurant on Catalina.

Entrees made their way out of the kitchen rather fast at Maggie's, and within 5 minutes we were eating. Katie selected the Chicken Verde Tacos ($11), which contained shredded chicken, pickled onion, a little jicama slaw, and cilantro crema, all wrapped in a homemade tortilla. She threw out adjectives like delicious, tender, and flavorful to describe these tacos. She really enjoyed whatever the chicken was sauteed with. The tacos come with your choice of rice and beans, Katie got the cilantro rice with the vegetarian black beans, which she said rounded out the meal nicely. She'd definitely get this again.

Visually appealing for sure, I was pretty excited to try these Mole Braised Duck Enchiladas ($16). I really enjoy duck, but it kind of got overwhelmed by the mole. This mole was a good version, with plenty of complexity to it. Maybe if there was a little more of the duck meat in these enchiladas, it would have stood out more. The refried beans and Mexican rice were lighter than expected, but also could have used a little more seasoning. Still a very good lunch though.

Maggie's Blue Rose blew away our first restaurant experience on Catalina. Not really much of a contest though. The food at Maggie's at least tasted like something, which is sometimes a challenge in touristy areas. I really liked their take on modern Mexican food, and I did not think the prices were too crazy out of whack, as they can be in Avalon. Our server was right on top of things during our stay, and like I said, the food came out rather quick. We'd definitely eat here again on future visits to Catalina. It's easy to see how this place made it on our list of restaurants to eat at this weekend.

Out of five crowns, (because in some cultures the blue rose symbolizes royalty), five being best to zero being worst, Maggie's Blue Rose gets 3 crowns.

Maggie's Blue Rose does not have a website, but you can find out more info about them on their Yelp page here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/maggies-blue-rose-avalon?sort_by=date_desc

26 Miles Across the Sea for This?

Mi Casita

111 Claressa Ave. 

Avalon, CA 90704

Sometimes you have everything mapped out, and then there's a big wrench thrown in the machinery. The wrench in this scenario is Katie's family. Yes, I love them with all of my heart, but they are very loyal to some pretty mediocre restaurants. When I first met them, they had a rotating restaurant routine of Cedar Creek, Mimi's Cafe, King's Fish House, and El Ranchito. Don't get me wrong, there are some okay restaurants on this list, but when you eat at them almost anytime that you go out, it kind of gets a little monotonous. So when we were headed to Catalina Island for a weekend getaway, they asked me to come up with some new places for them to try.

One problem, they have their favorites on Catalina also. Sadly, my list of restaurants to try would be discarded, until Katie and I snuck off for a lunch on our own. One of their favorite spots is Mi Casita, which is about a block away from the harbor, and located on the same street as our beach house rental was situated. I had read about this place, while doing research, and had an idea as to how it was going to be. I did go in with an open mind, and because I was pretty hungry, I did not put up much of a fight that they wanted to eat here.

Mi Casita has been around forever it seems. I do not have an exact date on how long they have been in business, but their first Yelp review was 10 years ago, and I know they were around a long time before that. The decor here is bright and happy, with every color of the rainbow represented inside the restaurant. Our party of nine was seated in the back of the restaurant, right near the bar. The menu here is rather large, and mostly what you would expect a Mexican restaurant in a touristy area to serve. We made our selections rather quickly, or as quickly as 9 people can, and waited for our food to come out. Let's see if I had made a mistake by not adding this restaurant to my list of must-try places in Catalina.

As is customary when we eat in a Mexican restaurant, we have to show you the Chips and Salsa. The chips here were pretty good. nice and crisp, with a slight amount of grease on them, (not a bad thing in my book). The salsa was another story. Kind of bland, and really watery. Not a lot of chunk to it. which is the way I prefer my salsa.

I usually do not partake in alcohol when dining out, preferring to save money and space in my stomach for food, but we were on vacation this weekend, and I didn't want Katie's mom to be the only one drinking. I tried the House Margarita ($9.00) to help ease the pain of being with Katie's family for over 48 hours straight, (just kidding, kind of). This 18-ounce margarita was actually pretty good. Made with Cuervo 1800, it had a nice base of sweet and sour, and the tequila went down real smooth. Their signature drink might be the wine based cazuela, but it would be hard to beat this margarita.

After six years of knowing this family, I know that guacamole is always ordered when Doyle's sit down for Mexican food. That was the case on this night for sure, This was a different Guacamole Appetizer ($6.95). It came with three small scoops of mashed up avocado, and had onion, tomato, and chopped up Serrano chili's on the side. This kind of do it yourself guacamole was kind of flat. First, it was kind of awkward mixing the stuff into the guacamole on the plate provided. The guacamole itself was under-seasoned, and basically just mashed up avocados with no seasoning added. Not a big fan of this.

With a group this big, we needed to try the Mi Casita Sampler ($19.95). This appetizer sampler featured a bunch of the appetizers from the Mi Casita menu. There was a cheese quesadilla, buffalo wings, beef taquitos, and calamari included here, along with jalapenos escabeche, sour cream, and another scoop of the lackluster guacamole. The menu says that this feeds four people, but it fed all nine of us because it was very mediocre. The wings, like the calamari, was overly breaded, the taquitos were average, and the best thing included here was the quesadilla, which was your basic version. After eating this, it's easy to imagine them just opening up a big bag of frozen appetizers and dumping them in the fryer.

Entrees made their way out next, and first up is Katie's selection, the Panela Chicken ($15.95). This used a boneless chicken breast as a base and is then topped with panela cheese, a tomatillo sauce, and corn niblets. It also comes served with rice and beans. Katie really enjoyed this dish. She felt the chicken was tender, the panela cheese was lighter than expected, and the tomatillo sauce tied everything up neatly. She would definitely get this again and is looking for a similar version in OC.

My brother in law Kevin is not really a picky eater. He once told me that a burger from Wendy's is the same as him as one from let's say G Burger. Crazy to a food guy like myself, but I can kind of understand this. He's more of a car guy, and knows the ins and outs of cars, and loves everything about them. I just want a car that's dependable enough to get me to work every day. Kevin did not really give me much as to whether he liked this Beef Burrito ($11.95) or not. I know it had shredded beef, red sauce, beans, rice, and cheese in it, but he kept pretty tight-lipped about his impression of this good sized burrito. We did think it was odd that the burritos at Mi Casita come with fruit, which kind of seemed out of place on the plate. He left the fruit behind when he hurried home to his wife with food to go.

Everyone else, besides myself, had tacos at Mi Casita. I don't recall who had this Two Item Combination ($13.95), but it looked real average from across the table. You have your choice of beef or shredded chicken, and this was definitely shredded chicken. No rave reviews for his plate though. The taco shell looked and tasted like something from the grocery shelf. The chicken was okay, with nice crispy tips to it. The best part of this plate for me was the refried beans, which were a little overcooked, but made better with plenty of melty cheese on top of them.

It's probably no surprise to long time readers of this blog what I got on my first visit to Mi Casita. It's my custom to try Carnitas ($15.95) at a Mexican restaurant that I'm trying for the first time. This version was a little all over the map. Some pieces were tender and moist, while others were a little on the dry side. Kind of lackluster in the flavor department also. Not the worst version I have had, but definitely not above average.

Needless to say, I was a little disappointed with our visit to Mi Casita. This was very plain, boring, and uninspired Mexican food. Not anything that was awful, but it's easy to see why this was not on my list from the start. Katie's mom claims that they wanted to eat here to cut down on costs from other restaurants on my list, but I'd argue that this was way overpriced for mediocre food. An ala carte taco goes for five dollars here, and the eleven dollar burrito are just two of the prices that jumped out at me as being a little out of whack. I know this is a tourist area, and prices are always higher, but I don't mind higher prices if the food is better. We had no issues with the service on this evening. Our server Martin had everything under control during our stay. After eating here, I decided Katie and I would stick to my list for the rest of our visit to beautiful Catalina Island.

Out of five pieces of chewing gum, (because Catalina Island was developed as a tourist destination in the 1920s by chewing gum magnate, William Wrigley), five being best to zero being worst, Mi Casita gets 2 pieces of chewing gum.

There's no website for Mi Casita, but you can find out more info from their Yelp page here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mi-casita-avalon