Early Dinner at Cafe Matinee - CLOSED

Cafe Matinee

23532 El Tor Road

Lake Forest, CA 92630

It seems like we have been on a real Lebanese kick lately. It all started because Katie wanted to find a great garlic sauce, like the one she had at a Lebanese restaurant right by where she used to work in Ontario. She claims that the garlic sauce there had crazy medicinal powers that could cure anything from headaches to sinus infections. She has yet to find her OC counterpart to this garlic sauce and was hoping to find it at Cafe Matinee.

For those of you that know the area, Cafe Matinee is located in the same shopping center as El Toro Meats, Nina's Indian and British Grocery, and one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Cocina de Ricardo. From what I have gathered online, this small restaurant has been here for a long while. It's a family restaurant with Owner and Head Chef, Gus Naddour in the kitchen, his wife, Suzane Naddour running the front of the house, and daughter Grace working here as an Assistant Manager.

This restaurant is not large, maybe 15 or so tables, with what I assume to be Lebanese music playing softly over the speakers. We were here on a recent Saturday night, and there was a steady stream of customers walking in the door, most of whom were known to the family. The menu here is not too large, with only seven entrees listed, a little more variety on the appetizer selections, and some salads offered. A pretty standard menu for Lebanese cuisine. We were ready to eat, so let's see what Cafe Matinee had in store for us.

When we first started looking at the menu, Katie zeroed in and ordered this cheese pie, which is known as Jibne ($5.99). The menu states that its fresh baked bread topped with tomatoes and a blend of cheeses. Not sure what the cheeses were, but it kind of had a jack cheese kind of taste to it, but was a little on the thicker side. the bread was soft but held up to the cheese. Not overly flavorful, but pretty filling.

Looking at the Yelp reviews for Cafe Matinee, everyone commented on how good their Hummus ($5.99) is, and for once, those Yelp people got it right. This was one of the best hummus appetizers we have had. Creamy garbanzo beans, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, which is topped with olive oil, made this dip a winner. This had big-time flavor, with almost a little too much oil on top, but it was still good. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the pita bread, which was nice and fresh. The appetizers here come with pickled turnips and olives. Katie took down a good number of the olives, while I munched on the turnips.

Entrees come with a side salad, which came at the same time as our appetizers. This simple salad was dressed in an oily, but subtle minty dressing. A little on the larger size for a side salad, the produce was very fresh here. Not a salad I would normally order, but it was good for what it was.

Katie always gets the same thing when we eat at a Lebanese restaurant, Chicken Shawarma ($14.99). The chicken is cut into bite-sized pieces, then cooked with onions and tomatoes, and served with a tahini sauce and rice. Even though they did not have garlic sauce here, Katie was very pleased with her dinner. The chicken was very tender and marinated well, and the tomatoes and onions really worked well here. She called this plate, "real good".

Whenever I can't make up my mind at a restaurant, I always order the thing on the menu that has the most stuff on it. At Matinee Cafe that was the Skewer Combo ($19.99). With this combo, you get a skewer each of kafta (ground lamb), filet mignon, and chicken. I was a little taken aback when they asked how I wanted my beef prepared here, I'd never been asked that at a Lebanese restaurant before. This came out just as I requested, a perfect medium-rare. The beef was of definite high quality, and very tasty. Even the chicken, which is almost always overcooked in restaurants, was tender and juicy. The ground lamb was spiced very well here. A real good plate of meat skewers. The rice was good and moist, and I liked using pieces of the grilled onion with bites of the meats.

Even without the presence of garlic sauce, Katie and I were very happy with our time at Cafe Matinee. Sure I thought they were a little on the high side with their prices, for the amount of food that you get. Also, the service was a little on the spotty side, but when we did see someone, they were very friendly but leisurely. Even with these minor gripes, we would definitely come back to Cafe Matinee and would recommend it to anyone that likes Lebanese food. The food was that good. Our search for a great garlic sauce continues, so if you know of a place, leave us a comment below, and let us know about it.

Out of five Scooby Snacks, (because Scooby's best friend Shaggy was voiced by the late Casey Kasem, who was born to Lebanese parents), five being best to zero being worst, Cafe Matinee gets 3.5 Scooby Snacks.

For more information about Cafe Matinee, go to their website here: http://cafematinee.net/index.html

Holiday Weekend On the Island

Wilma's Patio

203 Marine Ave.

Newport Beach, CA 92662

It was the end of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, and we had made plans to meet up with my parents, sister, and her family for breakfast. Without even thinking, I mentioned meeting them on Balboa Island. I should have thought that parking was going to be horrible on a holiday weekend, but parking is almost always awful on Balboa Island. We had made plans to meet at 10 AM, so I made Katie get up a few minutes early, and we headed out to battle the Balboa Island holiday traffic.

Actually, we found a spot rather quickly. Katie's not the world's best driver, but the one thing she has going for her is that she can parallel park with the best of them. This was on full display on this particular morning. She got us in a very tight spot and helped make us only five minutes late to meet my family. A major accomplishment for us, since my family is almost always early to everything, and this was the case this morning as well. They had already put our name in at Wilma's Patio, so we had just a little bit of a wait.

When I did a search of sit-down breakfast restaurants on Balboa Island, three restaurants popped up. One was the Village Inn, which I had been to before, another was a place I had never heard of, Picante Martin's, and the third was Wilma's, which I had seen many times, and have wanted to try for a good many years.

Wilma's Patio has been in business on Balboa Island since 1982 and is run by the Staudinger family. This is truly a family restaurant, as a lot of the workers here are part of that family, with many returning to help out during the busy tourist season. The namesake of the restaurant is beloved Balboa Island icon, Wilma Staudinger, who unfortunately passed away earlier this month. Wilma left the day-to-day operations of the restaurant in 2007, but her legacy will live on through her family and restaurant.

After about a ten-minute wait, we were seated on the enclosed, open-air patio. It was a hot and humid day, and that weather followed us out to the patio. The menu at Wilma's is pretty straightforward for what you would expect to see on a breakfast menu. A lot of egg options, Mexican breakfasts, and of course pancakes and waffles are well represented here. Our order was taken promptly, and we waited for our food. This is how it all came out for us.

I was pretty hungry, and luckily, my meal came out of the kitchen first. I went with the Jalisco Scramble with Shredded Beef ($12.75). I had wanted carnitas, but they were out. This scramble was made with two eggs, tomato, onion, cilantro, and Serrano peppers. This was a pretty good version of machaca, and very filling. It was not really on the spicy side until I added some of the provided Tabanero, which is Tabasco's version of hot sauce. It was pretty good, but I'm still a Tapitio guy. This was served with some pretty average hash browns, which I would have liked better if they were crispier. You also have the option of getting toast or cornbread with your breakfast here. I liked this cornbread. It had a slightly sweet taste and did not crumble, like a lot of the other cornbread I have had lately. I also enjoyed that it came with honey, without even asking for it.

Katie was feeling like having a Mexican breakfast as well, so she ordered these Egg Enchiladas ($12.50). I can't recall seeing egg enchiladas on any other breakfast menu before. These are simply scrambled eggs wrapped in a tortilla, then topped with enchilada sauce, and cheddar and jack cheeses with sour cream and guacamole on the side. Katie felt this was a solid and filling breakfast, but felt it was missing something, like maybe some chorizo or another breakfast meat. She would probably forgo this on future visits here.

It's always a crap shoot if Lillie, my youngest niece, will eat all of her food. She had the Pancakes ($7) with a side of Bacon ($2). This morning she ate all of her breakfast meats but left most of the pancakes. I wouldn't say this is because she didn't like them, but she is pretty finicky when it comes to eating. I tried the pancakes, and they tasted fine to me. She was probably saving room for the candy she was hoping to buy after breakfast.

Both my mom and Kaylie, (my middle niece), had the Light Breakfast ($5.25 or $7.25 with the choice of fresh fruit). This is just the right size for people with smaller appetites. This breakfast comes with one egg, a choice of bread, and a choice of bacon, ham, or sausage. Pretty standard stuff here, but they both enjoyed their breakfast this morning.

My niece Gracie might be entering junior high this fall, but this morning she ordered this French Toast Combination ($6) off of the kid's menu. This plate came with two slices of french toast, one egg, and two strips of bacon. Gracie liked that the french toast was dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar, and the egg was nice and buttery. She said she would love to come back to Wilma's Patio again for breakfast.

My dad almost always has an omelet when he goes out for breakfast, and being so near the ocean must have inspired him to have this Seafood Omelette ($18.95). These omelets at Wilma's are made with three eggs, and this one included real crab, shrimp, Swiss cheese, onion, and tomatoes. Along with the provided toast and hash browns, this kept my dad stuffed until dinner. He really liked that the seafood was fresh, and he would not hesitate to get this again.

At Wilma's, they have six kinds of Benedicts to choose from, and my brother-in-law Jarrod went with the Crabby Benedict ($18.95). Predictably this one featured the same real crab that was on my dad's omelet, along with all the other components of a typical Benedict; two English muffins, poached eggs, and a good amount of hollandaise sauce. Jarrod felt this was a rich dish, he loved the seafood on this, and the egg was poached just right for his taste.

The last meal this morning was my sister's. She ordered the #1 Breakfast ($10.95) which includes two scrambled eggs, (she added cheese to these), a choice of breakfast meats, hash browns, and toast. Just like the light breakfast, but with an extra egg, and $3 more. This breakfast was just the right size for her, and she still had plenty of pancakes to pick off of Lillie's plate.

Wilma's Patio is a pretty solid breakfast place, and way better than the breakfast that we had at the other Balboa Island spot we have been to for breakfast, the Village Inn. Yes, the prices are kind of on the high side, but this is a touristy area, with high rents, so that is to be expected. The food is not going to blow you away with its originality, but eating here is a good way to start your day. Service was very good for how busy they were. The restaurant was run well, as they tried to get people in and out, without feeling too rushed. All in all, this was a good trip to Balboa Island on a holiday weekend. Good food, it was great seeing my family, and we even found a great parking spot.

Out of five boy scouts, (because the main thoroughfare to Balboa Island is Jamboree Road, and this road was named this because the Boy Scouts held their 1953 National Scout Jamboree where Fashion Island and Newport Dunes are presently located), five being best to zero being worst, Wilma's Patio gets 3 boy scouts.

For more information about Wilma's Patio, go to their website here: http://www.wilmaspatio.com/

Looking for a Purr-Fect Meal at Bosscat Kitchen

Bosscat Kitchen and Libations

4647 MacArthur Blvd.

Newport Beach, CA 92660

I feel that I have a pretty good sense of what's going on in OC restaurant wise, but there's always that spot that slips through the cracks. When we were planning a dinner with our good friends Minerva and Duc, she brought up Bosscat Kitchen, and I totally acted like I knew what she was talking about. She's a fellow food blogger, (read her great blog Much Ado About Fooding), and I wanted to seem like I was, "in the know", about this new spot she wanted to try. I might have even told her, "yeah, I've wanted to try that place out", even though I had never heard of it. She bought it, hook, line, and sinker. Good old, gullible Minerva. Of course I guess now that she's reading this, the cats out of the bag, but oh well.

Bosscat Kitchen has only been open since April, and has a very strong 4 and a half stars on Yelp, with close to 200 reviews. I usually like to review a restaurant after they have been open for more than six months, but Minerva really wanted to eat here, and the menu looked pretty good. Manning the kitchen is Chef Peter Petro, who has worked at Charlie Palmer, and is a Chef Instructor at the Art Institute of California. At Bosscat he has created a menu that uses ingredients and techniques inspired by the South. I was very excited not only to enjoy his food, but enjoy the great company of Minerva's better half, Duc.

We got to Bosscat Kitchen and Libations on the Thursday before the July 4th holiday weekend. The restaurant is located at the corner of MacArthur and Campus, just down the street from John Wayne Airport, and it shares a common wall with Ten Asian Bistro. In fact the owner of Bosscat has a partial ownership in that restaurant as well. We were seated on the very comfortable patio. I really liked the large comfy booths, and could imagine this would be the hip spot to be at on Sundays during brunch. The menu is not going to overwhelm you with choices, but there's enough variety on it to keep most people happy. I was happy that the food was on its way out, so let's see how everything worked out for us here at Bosscat Kitchen and Libations.

If you are a frequent reader of our blog, you know I do not usually drink too much, but it was the day before the holiday, and Bosscat features a whiskey tasting room which is stocked with 100 plus whiskey, bourbon, and scotch options, as well as a cocktail menu which features many interesting sounding beverages. Duc got one of the whiskeys neat, so that left Minerva and I to sample from the cocktail menu. She selected their namesake drink, the Bosscat ($14). This drink uses basil hayden bourbon as a base, then its mixed with rosemary, a dash of bitters, basil, and fresh lemons. We were kind of indifferent to this drink. It was a little on the plain tasting side. The bourbon was definitely the focal point of this drink, and that was about all I got out of this. It needed a little something else.

My beverage was a lot better than Minerva's. I had the Caprice ($14). Fresh strawberries, basil, agave, a splash of balsamic vinegar, and Hudson whiskey combined to make this concoction. This was sweet, but was tempered a bit by the splash of balsamic vinegar, which I thought was ingenious. Definitely a drink that was much more to my liking.

I hate starting the food portion of this post with the best thing we ate here, but that's the way things hit the table. As crazy as this sounds, this was my first poutine experience, and after inhaling this, it won't be my last. The Duroc Pork Belly Poutine ($11) of course contains one of my favorite ingredients of all time, pork belly, but it also includes cheese curds, gravy, and a duck fat fried egg, all on a bed of secret recipe fries. I loved the use of the egg on this, which when broken released the rich yolk all over this poutine. The fries were well made and crisp, and the pork belly could not have been prepared better. Whenever I've heard about poutine, I always wondered how the cheese curds interacted with the dish, and they are definitely an essential part of it. It's been well over a month since we have been here, and this is the item that I have been craving ever since.

Minerva went to school at Duke in North Carolina, so she knows a thing or two about southern foods. When we were ordering starters, she made a beeline straight to these Collard Green Poppers ($7). These cornbread battered collard greens were pretty tasty. Kind of a corn dog crunch on the outside, then the well done collard greens, with bits of meat on the inside. These were served with a Carolina mustard sauce for dipping. The mustard was not overpowering, and this kind of had more of a gravy feel to it, which was fine with me.

It was entree time, and the first one we will take a look at will be Minerva's selection, the Cajun Brick Chicken ($17). During cooking they use a brick to weight down the chicken to insure that the skin will be crispy. This was definitely the case with this chicken. Not only was the skin nice and crispy, but the chicken was moist and very tender. The chicken was placed on top of a bed of Carolina dirty rice, which met to Minerva's approval. She seemed to really enjoy this plate, and we all liked that this meal kept her busy, so it gave someone else a chance to talk.

Duc took no time at all to order the Barbecue Porchetta Sandwich. Since they are going for the southern style of cooking at Bosscat, they definitely need to have a pork sandwich on their menu. This was another winner. They use a mixture of dry rubbed pork loin and belly, which came out tender and flavorful on its own, and was lightly brushed with a barbecue sauce which still allowed the natural flavors of the pork to come through. The sandwich was then topped with a cabbage slaw for texture, and a potato bun. Really a good pork sandwich.

Katie had narrowed down her dinner options to two when we sat down, but ended up having the 12 Hour Beef Short Rib ($21). This short rib was fork tender, with a very nice, but not overbearing black pepper sauce poured over it.  At the base of this cast iron skillet was a potato au gratin, which was the size of a brick. Katie had mixed feeling about this dish. She liked the deliciousness of the meat, but felt it was too fatty in some sections. She really liked the potato cake, which soaked up the juices of the short rib admirably.

I swore I was not going to have a burger when I walked into Bosscat, but as you can see, I did not keep my word. It was so hard when the waitress mentioned how amazing the burger is, and the owner came by and said the same thing. I had to see what all the fuss was about with this Bosscat Burger ($15). This burger is made from Midwestern beef, topped with bacon, cheese, and a black garlic sauce. I liked this burger, but was not enamored with it. The beef was great, and very clean tasting. The bacon and cheese kind of got lost here, because of the strong black garlic sauce. The bun did a great job of staying together, but there was too much produce on this burger. A good solid burger, but not something I crave, like the poutine we had earlier.

Not the most photogenic of desserts, but something you must try at Bosscat Kitchen are these Red Velvet Churros ($7). I've never seen this on any other menu, so I applaud their originality. These were dusted with sugar and cinnamon, and served with a cream cheese icing ganache. I really liked the sweet flavor of these churros, but they were a tad too doughy inside. The cream cheese ganache was the perfect dip for these.

The only other dessert on the Bosscat menu is this Chocolate Bourbon Pot de Creme ($8). The base of this dessert is a chocolate bourbon custard, with sweet cream and sugared pecans. This was a very well done pot de creme. It was extremely smooth, with just a hint of the bourbon flavor coming through. It seemed like everyone at the table liked this more than the churros, so I had a few bites of this and ate my fair share of churros.

I don't want to give you the wrong impression about Bosscat Kitchen. Just because the best thing I ate all night was the first thing I ate, does not mean this is not a good place to eat. I thought all of the food we had on this night was above average. I did not think the prices were totally out of control, except for maybe the cocktails which were all priced at $14. The service we experienced was excellent. Our server was very knowledgeable, and kept great tabs on us all night, along with her other tables. I really liked the atmosphere here too. They got the southern charm part down. It reminded me a little of Hopscotch in Fullerton. I'm glad we have a place like this closer to South OC. I'm glad Minerva had mentioned coming to this restaurant, even if I had never heard of it.

Out of five lions, (because I could imagine that in the jungle they are probably the bossiest cats around), five being best to zero being worst, Bosscat Kitchen and Libations gets 3.5 lions.

For more information about Bosscat Kitchen and Libations, go to their website here: http://www.bosscatkitchen.com/

You'll Go Crazy for Taco Asylum's New Menu - CLOSED

Taco Asylum

2937 Bristol St., Suite B102

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Sometimes, you just have to start all over with a clean slate. That's the feeling I got returning to Taco Asylum. A new head chef, a new general manager, a new menu, and a new owner. Before May of this year, Taco Asylum was part of the Haven Collective, which included Haven Gastropub and Provisions Market. Former partial owner of Taco Asylum, Ace Patel, has now taken over the entire reign of this restaurant and brought in his own people, including new Executive Chef Carlos Anthony.

Chef Carlos has quite the restaurant pedigree. He's worked at the critically acclaimed Searsucker in San Diego and at Michelin-starred Redd's in Northern California. He takes over the kitchen at Taco Asylum with a lot of energy. We had the privilege of speaking with him at this new menu preview at Taco Asylum, and his personality is definitely infectious. Katie and I could sense his excitement for the tacos here, and he assured us that he had many taco ideas running around in his head. He excited both of us about what was coming out of the kitchen shortly.

One big thing they have changed here at Taco Asylum is doing away with the small, street-sized tacos. All tacos are served on a 6-inch tortilla. The menu features 11 specialty, four vegetarian, and four classic tacos. I'm glad they included classic tacos, including carnitas, chicken, carne asada, and a fish taco. When we were here before, we saw two parties looking at the old menu and walking out. This new menu allows less adventurous eaters to eat here and be more comfortable with the food. I was also pleased to see they got away from their sides of lentils and quinoa, which they amusingly called "beans and rice." Not sad to see those items go. If you'd like to see our old review of Taco Asylum and how far they have come, click here. 

Back to the present day, though. For those of you who are not aware, Taco Asylum is located on Bristol in Costa Mesa, inside the Camp shopping center. For all the changes to the menu and staff here, the inside of Taco Asylum is the same. In a small space, a tiny bar seats four or so, facing a large HD TV above their six rotating craft beer tap handles. Let's see if all these changes are positively impacting Taco Asylum.

While waiting for the other food media to arrive (slackers), we munched on some Chili-Lime Tortilla Chips ($3.50). These were served with salsa verde and salsa rojo. I'm always a little more partial to red salsa, and that was the case here at Taco Asylum. The chips were crisp, and they had just the right amount of seasoning on them to not overpower the chip. I managed to eat these sparingly, as I knew there were tacos in my future.

I know I promised you tacos, but the beverage program at Taco Asylum is definitely worth mentioning first. They, of course, have their six rotating taps, but they also have a great selection of canned beers, which range in price from $6 to $8, and $2 off of those during happy hour, which is Monday through Friday, 3PM to 5PM, and a late night happy hour from 9PM til closing. I was impressed with the beer selection, and I liked that they were listed on the menu from light to dark, so even a beer novice like myself could act like I knew what I was doing. Sydney runs the beverage program here and does a great job. She steered me to this Bikini Blonde Lager by the Maui Brewing Company. It was a lighter beer but still had plenty of taste. A perfect pairing with the tacos that were coming up next.

With 20 tacos on the menu, it was hard for me to pick three to try at Taco Asylum. I went with the Carnitas, Bacon PB and J, and Duck Mole. Let's examine each of these tacos closer.

The first one was what others called Chef Carlos's "baby," the Duck Mole Taco ($7.50). He got his mole recipe from his grandmother, and he has definitely made her proud with this. This is an Oaxacan mole with braised duck leg, queso fresco, and salsa crudo. It was not as sweet as other moles I have had, but it was a great compliment to the very tender duck. They definitely did not skimp on the amount of duck they used in this, either. An excellent taco, and it's easy to see why the staff here has such an affinity for it.

I was happy that they had some classic tacos on their new menu, so I had to try one of them. Carnitas Tacos ($3.75) is my usual barometer for judging Mexican restaurants, and this taco passed with flying colors. They use bone-in braised pork, salsa rojo, and pico, garnished with a lime wedge. A straightforward take on a pork taco. The carnitas were moist and flavorful, the pico was fresh, and the hint of citrus the lime added gave this taco a pop of flavor. Nicely done.

When I saw Bacon PB and J Taco ($4) on the menu, I had to try it. You might not think this would work like Slater's Peanut Butter and Jealousy Burger, but you'd be wrong. Included in the flour tortilla were roasted peanut butter, a carrot-ginger jam, greens, a strip of sweet and spicy bacon, and pickled Fresno chili. This was a very balanced taco. The carrot and ginger jam added a nice sweetness, while the plentiful amount of bacon here added a smokiness. It was all evened out by the smooth peanut butter. This is a taco I can see myself getting on every trip to Taco Asylum.

Katie also selected three tacos this evening. The Paneer ($4.25) was listed under vegetarian tacos, so I had a bias against this one even before it hit the table. I can admit I was wrong. This Indian-inspired taco contained a curried paneer, raita, and a crispy herb salad. I almost did not miss the exclusion of meat in this taco. The paneer was very well made, and the raita, which I learned is a yogurt-based Indian condiment, helped smooth out the flavors of this taco. The Banh Mi Taco ($5.75) takes the whole fusion thing from India to Vietnam in a few time zones. This one is stuffed with spiced pork, mint, cucumber, cilantro, carrot, radish and ponzu sauce. This was probably my least favorite of the night, but one of Katie's favorites. I expected a little more from this. The pork got lost here, and I would have liked a little more ponzu sauce. The third taco on Katie's metal tray was the Shrimp Pad Thai ($6.75), but she's no fan of shrimp, so she substituted chicken. The chicken was pan-fried with Thai basil, crushed peanuts, onion, sprouts, crispy rice noodles, and red Thai chili. Katie felt this taco lost its way by not getting the pad Thai experience. Maybe because she changed it up from shrimp to chicken. She still liked this taco, as the contents were fresh, but she just expected a slightly different experience with this one.

I lied earlier when I said I only had three tacos. Chef Carlos has a rotating taco, which he has dubbed The Chef's Prescription. That night, it was a Pork Head Cheese Taco (Market Price). Many people have a squeamish reaction to head cheese, but this is not like the head cheese you have seen in the lunch meat section of your local grocery store. They took all the delicious parts of the pig's head and threw it in a taco with some blackberry Cabernet salsa, Stilton cheese, and a little Dijon. The result was a delicious pork that was a little more dense than normal carnitas and flavorful. The blackberries were an excellent add-on, giving this taco a Thanksgiving feel.

On our first visit to Taco Asylum, I lamented that they did not have traditional sides here; instead, they served lentils and quinoa as their version of beans and rice. Yeah, I didn't get it either. Anyway, I am happy that they have expanded their menu's side items area to include black beans and rice and other offerings like Brave Potatoes ($3) and Corn Off the Cob ($3). Both of these were much better than the old sides. The potatoes were fork-tender, with plenty of flavoring from the garlic, mint, lemon, and fantastic fire-roasted aioli topping. The corn was also a favorite, with bits of bell pepper, onion, garlic, and a corn crema. Big improvement.

I would be remiss if I did not mention their awesome hot sauces at Taco Asylum. Honestly, I only tried one this time because it was so good, the Roasted Ghost Chili. During this visit, this bottle was my best friend and did not leave my side during my meal. It had a good amount of heat, but it was tempered a bit by the smokiness, which was definitely evident. This allowed for a slow buildup of heat to accumulate, which grew during my use. I planned to sneak this out of the building when I was given a bottle to take home. Thanks so much, Sydney. You saved me from a life on the lam of being a hot sauce thief. Since I got this home, I have used it almost daily for everything.

Another new addition to the Taco Asylum menu is dessert, which is always a nice thing to add. The first of the two desserts was these Dessert Nachos ($7). These tortilla chips are dusted with cinnamon, orange zest, sugar, and chili, then drizzled with Mexican chocolate and topped with red chili anglaise. This was not a sweet dessert nacho. The sugar and cinnamon provided enough sweetness, but the chocolate was not as sweet as American chocolate, and the chili added a bit of spice to this, which woke up the taste buds. Really a well-done dessert.

As much as I liked the dessert nachos, the Churro Bites ($7) fell flat. These are described on the menu as Mexican donuts rolled in cinnamon and sugar, then drizzled with a dulce de leche. I would have liked these better, but the insides were too dense and needed to be lighter, with more sweetness. It was not exactly what I had expected when I heard churro bites.

All of the changes at Taco Asylum have made this an even better restaurant than it was before. They are more mainstream for less adventurous eaters but still have some wild, over-the-top tacos for people who want to step outside their comfort zone. We loved Chef Carlos's exuberance, and his passion is shown in the tacos he created. We look forward to seeing the other hundreds of tacos he said he has in his head. Owner Ace Patel says they want people to eat here every day, and with the variety on this menu, that will be easy to do.

We thank everyone at Taco Asylum for sharing their new menu with us. General Manager Jenelle, Beverage Coordinator Sydney, and Chef Carlos could not have been nicer and answered our crazy questions without hesitation. Thanks also to the man behind Taco Asylum, Ace Patel. You have something special here, and we look forward to returning many times. Lastly, we thank Bryn Mohr at Food For Thought PR for inviting us. We had a great time, Bryn, and it was fantastic meeting you.

For more information about Taco Asylum, go to their newly launched website here: http://www.tacoasylum.com/