Cholita - Revisit

While hubby and I are vaccinated and can be a little looser with the rules about where to eat now, the kids still aren’t and we’re still on the quest for good patios (please continue to share your favorites), Cholita is a good option because it is enclosed with plastic sheeting, but there are still large gaps of fresh air, and the tables are pretty well spaced (although when we were there, there were several patrons walking about one end of the patio
without masks).

It has been quite a while since I have been here, definitely over a year—and I was looking forward to trying it again. I will admit the last time we went (probably at least 18 months ago), things had fallen off a bit—there was a lot of cabbage and not a lot of the meat/veggie stuffing or other more interesting toppings. We started out this visit with some chips and salsa ($3) and the queso fundido ($8). We also had a couple different margaritas. The chips and salsa hit the spot and I like their salsa. It has a nice flavor without being too spicy. The queso fundido is tasty too, although a little challenging to eat with the little wedges of soft tortilla on the side-they taste good together but eating it with the chips was easier. The cheese is super rich and I appreciate the spicy salsa chile morita (smoked jalapeno) they serve with it to cut through the richness and add a kick of heat. The margaritas are tasty, but I recommend the top shelf because the regular house margarita is a little tart.

The menu is pretty much tacos after that, and they have a lot of good options including a rotating monthly special. Hubby and I shared a fish taco, a fried avocado taco, a shrimp taco, and the special chicken tinga taco (a “side piece” includes three tacos and beans for $13.50—you can also buy a la carte and the tacos range from $3.75-$4.25). The fish was so, so good. It is fried cod topped with shredded Colby cheese and cabbage and has a “California wine sauce” and pico de gallo. This was my favorite of the night. The fish was a light tempura-type batter and tasted fresh and super crunchy. All the toppings were just right. 

The fried avocado also really good, and is topped with baja sauce, pickled vegetables, cabbage and pico de gallo. I really like the additional of crunch in the texture of the fried items in the tacos. That combined with the creamy avocado was tasty and I think the pickled veggies add a great hit of acid to balance all that. 

The shrimp is fine, but not as good as the others. It was topped with all the same things as the avocado, but maybe the lack of texture variation made it not as interesting. The shrimp was cooked properly though and had an adobo taste. It definitely brightened up with a hit of lime. 

The special chicken tinga was the last one and probably the least favorite. There was nothing wrong with it, but not as much creativity in the toppings—mostly cabbage and sour cream.  I am intrigued by the hot fried chicken version and will try that one the next time. 

All in all, it was a very tasty meal and a good place to go eat on a patio and be protected and warm if necessary. I am glad to see they have made it through the pandemic (and it was about as full as it could be). Who has been lately? What’s your favorite flavor?

Cholita

1001 Broad Ripple Ave

Indy  46220

317/389-5555

www.cholitatacos.com 

Cholita

Hubby and I were looking for something new and decided to try Cholita. It’s in the ill-fated 10 01/Miss Behavin spot (what a terrible name). We went in slightly worried just because of the past experiences but were pleasantly surprised to see they have revamped the interior and that it was comfortably crowded even before 6:00. There is a large bar area in the restaurant that was full, and there is a good-sized seating area that was about half full with families as well as groups of adults. Our server was prompt and got us a drink quickly. I also liked that she didn’t have us order everything at once, as the food comes out pretty quick.

We each got a Cholita margarita (regular is $8, grande is $13). They were very tasty. They had a nice tart taste and weren’t overly sweet, which I appreciate. They use a bit of seasoning in the salt on the rim, which make it have a little kick. We also started with the queso fundido ($8) and added the chorizo option ($2). They serve this extremely hot bubbling cheese with tortillas to fill with the cheese and meat. It was really good. The edges of the cheese kind of burn on the little bowl it is served in. That crispy edge peeled out and put in a tortilla was delicious. I liked the chorizo, and appreciated that it was ground so it was easy to eat, but I thought there was maybe just a little too much of it. It sort of overtook the cheese in quantity. It all tasted really good though. The salsa that they served with it was also really tasty. It has a smoky flavor and we saved it to use on everything else. It added a nice extra dimension to the cheese and tortillas. We did not get any chips, and I am curious to know how they are. If you’ve had them, let me know. 

The majority of the items on the menu are tacos, so we got a bunch of different ones and shared them. They make all the tortillas in house and it shows. They are really good. The two seafood choices were great. Probably my two favorites. The shrimp one ($4.75) was amazing. It has bite sized pieces of shrimp (it has been cut up), cabbage, pickled onions (lots of pickled onions here), pico de gallo and baja sauce. I loved, loved the acid from the pickled vegetables. And I don’t know exactly what the baja sauce is, but it was really good. It was a great balance of flavors. The baja taco was also delicious ($4.50). It is a large piece of beer battered fried cod with cabbage slaw, pico de gallo and pickled tartar sauce.  Great crunchy taste and again, plenty of acid to make me happy. And did I mention they give you a bunch of limes to squeeze on top too? And not those dried out things you get sometimes.

The Brussels sprout taco was probably my next favorite ($4.50). They also offer a fried cauliflower veggie option that is intriguing as well. Next time. Anyhow, the Brussels sprouts version had roasted and grilled halved sprouts with melted cheese, caramelized onions, chili cream, pickled veggies and pico de gallo. Seriously, this was great. Loved the cheesiness. This was one of hubby’s top picks for sure. Really interesting and really well done.

Meat-wise, we had the skirt steak ($4.75) and the al pastor ($4.25). I have to say, after the acid and pickled veggies and all the flavor of the others, the meat ones were my least favorite. The steak was good though—it has pinto beans, guacamole, salsa and cactus pico de gallo. It is a hearty one for sure with the steak and beans, and the steak was nice and tender. Lime helped jazz it up. Don’t get me wrong, it was very good, just didn’t wow me as much as the others. The al pastor had chunks of pork, chipotle salsa and pineapple (which is the classic accompaniment). You’d expect a lot of acid with this mix, but you’d be wrong. For whatever reason, this one just fell a little flat for me. Compared to the others, it was just kind of bland. The pork was well done though and a couple of bite of just the pork showed that it was well cooked and seasoned. 

Brussels Sprout taco

I am so excited to have this place in Broad Ripple. Other than a couple of notable exceptions, I feel like Broad Ripple restaurants are just so so over all. This is a place that will certainly go into regular rotation, assuming they keep quality at the level it was on our visit. Oh, and downstairs, they have a tiki-style bar where you can order the same food, but where they offer a range of more tiki-inspired drinks. It’s cozy and nicely decorated, and I can see sitting down there and eating tacos when the kids aren’t with us.

Yay! A new place. It’s reasonably priced and they have tasty margaritas. I can’t wait to taste all the other taco flavors too. If you have been, what have been your favorites? Oh, and they have a mighty fine looking all you can eat brunch menu. 

Cholita

1001 Broad Ripple Ave

Indy  46220

317/389-5555

www.cholitatacos.com 

Sangrita - Quick revisit

A girlfriend and I were taking our tequila-loving trainer out as a Christmas gift, so we decided to go to Sangrita. I knew they had an extensive tequila menu and I liked their food on my first couple of visits.

They have expanded their menu to include more than it used to, which was just tacos and sides, but it was Taco Tuesday ($2.50 tacos and $5 house margaritas) so we went mainly with tacos.

Actually, we started with the salsa tasting, which came with three salsas, including a tomatillo based one and a habanero salsa, as well as some cowboy caviar. To be completely honest, I was a little underwhelmed with the platter. The salsas were a bit lackluster and I wished for more acid with the cowboy caviar (which is a dip made with beans, avocado, corn and red pepper) and the chips themselves are pretty standard. I wished we had ordered the queso that hubby and I had the first time because it is much more interesting.

The tacos though were just as good as I remember and I thoroughly enjoyed mine. I had two of the chicken ones—which are made with chicken thighs marinated in tequila and topped with house crema, onion and cilantro. They are fairly simple, but mighty delicious. They have just the right amount of crema to give you a tender taco. And I was glad to learn about taco Tuesday, when the tacos are $2.50 rather than $4. And the house margaritas, which are quite tasty as well, are reduced from $7 to $5.

I would certainly return for drinks and tacos and I would like to try some of the other appetizers and possibly some of the newer main dishes as well, even though I really enjoy the tacos.

Sangrita Saloon

834 East 64^th Street

Indy 46220

317/377-4779

www.sangritasaloon.com 

La Parada - Revisit

Quickie post—met a friend for lunch at La Parada the other day. He was craving Mexican food so we ended up there. I have been several times for tacos, but if I’m quite honest the last couple of times the tacos have let me down a bit. Not sure what it was, but they just didn’t wow me like they did the first couple of times.

So, since one of my current favorite things to order in a Mexican place is chilaquiles (this should surprise no one since they involve eggs generally) and they had them on the menu (really though, is there anything remotely Mexican that is not on this menu? It’s ridiculously huge), this is what I ordered--chilaquiles with eggs ($8.99)

Anyhow, the server asked me if I wanted green or red sauce and I couldn’t decide, so she did it half and half for me. That was nice. And as it turned out, I liked the green side better, a bit of acidic flavor and just a little more flavor in general. The only thing a little weird was that the eggs were just fried and placed on the side. I kinda like ‘em mixed in with my tortillas and sauce. I did it myself, but it just wasn’t the same. Tasted ok, but not my favorite version.

We also had chips and salsa (I mean you get that free). They salsa they give you is good, just the right amount of fresh flavor and chunkiness. We had some queso dip as well. It was just average. And not quite hot enough to start. But she happily microwaved it for us.

Friend's burrito

Overall, it was fine, but not something I am going to crave to try again soon. So where can I get some good chilaquiles in Indy? I mean besides Delicia at brunch, because those are delicious.

La Parada

1642 East New York Street

Indy   46201

317/917-0095

Indy Tacos

My friend @wibia and I had a quick lunch the other day at Indy Tacos. So many people have been talking about this place and it is so close of my house, I needed to try it.

It’s a total bare bones kind of place—very little ambiance at all—mostly just painted white with some letters on the wall spelling out “TACOS.” They take your order at the counter, and the woman who took our order was very pleasant. The menu is pretty small—some tacos, some burritos and a couple of other things. We started with some chips and salsa and queso dip. The best thing of these was the salsa—it tasted pretty fresh and had just a bit of heat. The queso was very ok and wasn’t even particularly warm. It’s hard to know what makes some queso better than others (besides obviously putting interesting things into it like chorizo or meat or maybe some peppers), but I have certainly had more interesting tasting queso at other local places.

I ordered tacos, because, well, it’s a taco place right? Wibia ordered a burrito. I ordered two of the specialty tacos—the mole and the steak poblano ($2.50 each) I also ordered just  regular al pastor (pork) as well ($2.00). My favorite was definitely the straight up al pastor—it was jus the meat topped with onions and cilantro. The meat had a decent flavor that you could really taste. The corn tortillas were nice and soft. I can’t say I was a huge fan of the mole—it had a little bit of a funky taste for me and I am not a big fan of rice in a taco. Honestly, I don’t usually even eat the rice at Mexican restaurants, it’s usually too bland. In a taco, it’s just too much filler for me. The chicken inside seemed tender, but hard to say how much flavor it had on its own, as it was pretty well just a vehicle for the mole sauce.

The steak poblano was a little weird to me—the meat was a bit tough. There were grilled peppers and onion on the bottom, which were nice to add moisture. There was also melted mozzarella cheese and some other peppers on top—they were odd though—almost like they were formerly dried peppers that weren’t quite rehydrated all the way. The overall flavor was kind of like a fajita though—with the grilled peppers and onions.

The burrito ($6.99) was pretty straightforward—again, a fair amount of filler here—a lot of rice and lettuce. It also had more of the queso drizzled on top—I guess it just depends on your preferences whether this is a good or bad thing. It was fine, but that’s about it. A pretty big taco for the price—and you can choose which kind of meat you have. But with all the other stuff in there, it’s hard to even taste the meat that much.

I think all in all, I would in the future stick with the basic tacos—the one I had was clearly my favorite thing. The service was pretty quick and like I said, the woman working the front register was very nice and gave us lots of opinions about her favorite things. And it’s nice to have something new in this area as well. I think the food is fairly average though.

Indy Tacos

2196 East 54^th Street

Indy 46220

317/929-1424

www.indytacos.com 

Sangrita Saloon

Hubby and I wanted a kind of light, early dinner the other night after traveling all day and he mentioned Mexican food (not exactly light) and Sangrita popped into my mind. I didn’t know a ton about it, but I knew it was more of a cocktail place (saloon they call it) with small dishes and a somewhat limited menu, so we headed over there. Plus, it’s NEW! 

First of all, as I said, it isn’t a huge menu—a few appetizers and 4 kinds of tacos and sides pretty much, but I really appreciate the fact that the kitchen is focusing on these things and not trying to do too much. The drink menu in this is way bigger. They have a huge list of Agave-based choices.

We did get a couple cocktails because, you know, research and all. Hubby started with the Margarita classic ($7) and I got the Margarita Jardin ($9) just to be different. Both were very good—lots of fresh juice and nice quality booze being used here. I liked the addition of the grapefruit and basil in mine—it really did make it sort of taste like my garden, which is full of basil. I can’t stand mint in drinks, and this was a nice variation. The only knock I have for either was that they were on the small side (lots of ice) for the price. But it didn’t stop me from ordering a second. And they were very good drinks.

The food, though, wow, I really enjoyed it. Especially the tacos. We started with a bowl of the queso fundido ($6) plus Smoking Goose chorizo ($2). I liked their version of cheese dip—it had a nice flavor from the sautéed onions and poblano peppers that were mixed into the queso blanco. They then throw some pieces of the sliced chorizo in there. I liked the taste of the chorizo in there, although I would probably prefer more, smaller pieces, rather than the 4 or so slices that were in there. I just cut mine a little smaller to make them go farther. It’s not a super spicy chorizo, but added some heft and smoke to the cheese. Then the top was drizzled with red chili oil. We added a bit more of the chili sauce they provided on the table and we really enjoyed it. The chips are also good—light and crisp, but hold up well to the cheese. I would like to try the salsas as well next time.

They have a selection of 4 types of tacos. The way they are listed on the menu, you choose two (of the same type) and get 2 sides with them (the meal is $12 for the meat tacos and $10 for the veggie version). I really wanted to try more than just one type of taco, so we ordered them a la carte and got one each of the meat varieties. I think they charged us like $3-4 bucks per taco this way.

The tacos were really, really good. The meat is the star here, as it is supposed to be in straightforward traditional tacos, but they really know what they’re doing. My favorite was actually the chicken ones, and after we tried them all, I got a second one of these. The chicken thigh meat is marinated in tequila, citrus, garlic, and jalapeno and is wonderfully tender and you can really taste the marinade. It isn’t dry at all, and then with the addition of crema, onions and cilantro, it was just the perfect combo of creamy with the meat shining through. Loved them.

Our second favorite (and hubby’s first favorite and the one he got a second one of) was the pork—it was spiced Coca Cola braised pork belly and shoulder with Pasilla salsa, onions and cilantro. The salsa was a little spicy, but mostly smoky and added even more moisture to already super tender meat (like I said, they’re killing it with the meat here).

Second round--1 chicken, 1 pork

We also had the skirt steak taco, and don’t get me wrong, it was mighty tasty too—it was super tender and is marinated in Chipotle seasoning, which gave it nice depth of flavor too. This taco is topped with poblano crema, charred scallions, cilantro and radish. I liked the variation of toppings in each version, and I liked that they all added not just extra flavor, but extra moisture to the tacos. They were small, and only used one corn tortilla shell (which I prefer so it doesn’t dominate the flavor of the meat so much).

They’re a cross between very traditional tacos with just the meat, cilantro and onions and the super gooey ones with all kids of stuff added. For me, it’s the perfect middle ground—not overwhelming (or hiding) the meat, which here is wonderfully seasoned and cooked, but also adding just some complimentary things that just take it to another level of deliciousness. 

We also sat outside on a gorgeous day—they have a lovely deck (it’s not huge though) right on 64^th Street in Broad Ripple. Our service was very attentive and the food and drinks arrived promptly. Seriously, this is one of my favorites of the new places that have recently opened in Indy (that I have been to, of course). I can’t wait to go back and try the other things on the menu. And next time, I will likely get a platter so I can try the sides now that I have a favorite taco. Although, I really need to try the veggie taco too….

Sangrita Saloon

834 East 64^th Street

Indy 46220

317/377-4779

www.sangritasaloon.com 

La Mulita

Hubby and I had not been to La Mulita together—and I had only tried it only one other time when I was in the depth of my broken wrist and just didn’t have the energy (or ability) to write about it. So we headed over there again to try it out.

La Mulita is Delicia’s more casual little sister—and they are open for lunch. There is a bar though, so you can still enjoy a cocktail or beer if you want. The menu isn’t huge, but it was still hard to choose what to get. I got excited when I saw the “Pick 2” option because it meant we could get four different items and try even more. 

We started with some guacamole and chips ($5). We both enjoyed it—it was mainly avocado with a fair lime kick, but it was tasty. There were nice big chunks of avocado in there, and even though I would have added salt if it had been on the table, we still liked it. Not a lot of heat to it, but when you added their house hot sauce (you should really add it to pretty much everything), it was super delicious. I really enjoyed the chips—they seemed to be housemade fried tortillas—there were both corn and flour tortilla versions. I really liked the way the flour ones kind of puffed up and became really light. The corn ones were your basic corn tortilla chips, and I picked through the basket for the flour ones (sadly there were fewer of them). I think we would order this again because we also liked doctoring up other stuff with the guac.

We got two “pick 2s” ($7.50 each) and got to try the shrimp taco, the carne asada taco, the pork Milanesa cemita, and the Conchinita Pibil cemita. (You’ll notice an extra cemita in the pics because they accidentally brought us one wrong thing.) Hubby and I were split on our favorites—he tended to like both of the tacos best and I sort of liked the pork Milanesa cemita and the carne asada taco best.  The taco was filled with nicely tender marinated skirt steak, onions, radish and cilantro in a corn tortilla. There was also a lime on the side, which I promptly squeezed on. It was in a soft corn tortilla. There was enough meat to it to keep the taco tasting meaty and moist. A little guac and hot sauce just made it even better.

Cemitas are little sandwiches—at La Mulita, sort of the size of sliders—that come on these wonderful eggy buns sprinkled with sesame seeds. They have just a touch of sweetness and are really soft. The pork Milanesa version had fried pork cutlet, chorizo, egg, oaxaca cheese, chipotles and cilantro mayo. I liked all the varying textures and flavors. My only complaint is that there wasn’t enough (any?) of the cilantro mayo to keep it from seeming dry. Once I ordered some on the side, it was delicious. That sauce is delicious period. I would just get a side of it to put on everything.

The Conchinita Pibil cemita was more of a pulled pork-type of feel but with a smoky flavor (and red color) from achiote. There were pickled red onions, avocado and a black bean paste as well. I liked this one too, but just wasn’t getting enough flavor variation (more pickled onions please) to make me love it.

Hubby really liked the grilled shrimp taco, but a couple of the pieces of shrimp had a texture problem for me that made me feel like they were almost undercooked (that is so unusual too). Maybe because they made it really fast because that was the part of our order that was forgotten. It was served with lightly pickled cabbage, cilantro and honey chipotle sauce. I liked the addition of the sauce here. I would try them again though.

All in all, we really enjoyed the experience. I love the opportunity to get to try lots of different things. I feel like I would happily try just about anything on the menu. So tell me, what have you had there that you really liked?

La Mulita

5215 North College Ave

Indy  46220

317/925-0677

www.lamulitaindy.com