Have you Hurd... Everything is hotter in Texas.

I know it has been a good while since I had taken the time to post anything for my small, but dedicated readership.  I might not even be doing so now, if not for the near begging of a couple of rabid fans.  One who hails from the soon to be snow covered Arctic wasteland  winter wonderland commonly referred to as Minnesota has been on my case for weeks.  A second one closer to home (who also expertly tends to my wife's coiffure) gave me the smack down just a few days back.  I made the mistake of telling both of them I was going to try a new restaurant soon as part of our annual DINK beggar's night dinner and shopping extravaganza.  We discovered not long ago that on the night when most folks are are either at home passing out candy to the neighborhood or escorting their own costumed kids around, the local restaurants and shops tend to be much less crowded.  In the city of Columbus, Thursday October 29th was the night.  We departed before the witching hour, so as to avoid dodging ghouls and goblins as we made our escape.  A relatively painless 15 minute drive to the Easton area for some much awaited authentic Tex-Mex.

I used the word "authentic" as Chuy's originated in Austin, Texas or so the story goes.  Since I have never been to Austin or visited their original location I can't attest to the veracity of their story, but hope to be able to soon.  Although the parking lot was somewhat full, we were pleased to be seated immediately upon our arrival.  They put us at a table right outside the kitchen.  Is it possible they know the Dining Scout and Shade Tree Chef?  Not much chance at all, really.  (Dare to dream.)  Aside from the enormous painted metal palm tree towering over our table, the most striking feature of the dining area was a large neon sign that read:

At first, I wasn't quite sure what to make of this.  I prefer not to think of my food as being angry or revenge-seeking.  I do not have nightmares about cows chasing after me with a burning desire for payback for all of the beef I have previously consumed.  The bright red lettering on the sign was definitely intended to send a message.  Perhaps a warning to those unfamiliar with the premise of Tex-Mex cuisine.  Suffice it to say I got the message really quickly when I slathered a tortilla chip in their house salsa and realized the salsa was just a little hotter than I am used to.  I am far from an expert in Tex-Mex, but have visited a wide variety of other restaurants around the area that offer similar fare and I would rate the entry level heat (house salsa, queso, a preponderance of the menu offerings) to be mild/medium at most.  Unless you request something with a kick of extra heat - which I DO NOT.  (smile)  It seems being from Texas, Chuy's entry level heat is more a solid medium.  By no means overpowering, but a bit of a surprise on the first taste.  After the initial shock, I warmed up to it.  In addition to the heat, I found a good range of flavor.  

Another bonus we discovered on our first visit was the $5 Happy Hour margaritas.  Not exceptionally generous in terms of the pour, but still satisfying.  Chuy's also offers the Happy Hour Nacho Car.  That's right!  A complimentary nacho bar served off the back of what looks like an old car (nice touch).    It included beans, ground sirloin, queso, warm salted tortilla chips (emphasis on warm & salted), jalapeno slices and house salsa.  Chops to any place that takes the time to mist and salt the chips and warm them.  Makes a world of difference in the flavor.  Only downside is that they were a bit on the fragile side and didn't stand up well to the queso.  Messy, but delicious.  My wife thought the queso was a bit too spicy for her palate, but she loved the flavor otherwise and was able to power past her normally mild comfort zone.  I found that mixing it with a little ground sirloin and beans reduced the heat level to a pleasant tingle too.      

I know this isn't a real car, but I am
left wondering if this may be possible
in a real car trunk.  Trunkgating
instead of tailgating?

Some artists mix their own paint.  I mix
my own hot cheese dip.

We were still polishing off the nachos when our entrees arrived.  I had to go for the Elvis Green Chile Fried Chicken and she stuck with her tried and true chimichanga or as they like to call it the "Chuychanga."  Funny thing is that I always thought of green chiles as mild.  In Texas, maybe not so much.  The green chile sauce and green chile rice was on the hot side of medium.  I was able to finish it, but my nose was running like a faucet by the end.  Apologies for the visual.  (mischievous grin)  The chicken was crispy with a light, but flavorful breading.  It was accompanied by a generous portion of the aforementioned rice and refried beans.  My wife enjoyed the beans too, which is not typical for her.  So they must have been first rate.  (big smile)  She said the heat level for her entree was more to her liking.  Maybe next time I will steer that way too.

Elvis would not leave the building
if he saw this coming out of the
kitchen.  Great chicken.

The famous Chuychanga in repose.

One last oddity.  Do all restaurants in
Texas give you your utensils in a bag
marked "Sanitized for your Protection?"

I mention that I may steer that way next time because we got our money's worth out of the Nacho Car for sure and enjoyed the entrees and $5 margaritas.  The atmosphere was lively and somewhat eclectic and felt just a bit oversized.  Maybe that is the way everything is in Texas?  (chuckle)  I am sure we will be back to Chuy's again soon.  If you find yourself over in the Easton area on a weeknight before 7, I would encourage you to check it out too.

Your Dining Scout and Shade Tree Chef,
Michael Hurd, aka "Big Mike"

https://www.chuys.com/locations/columbus/columbus

Chuy's Tex-Mex
4154 Seward Street, Columbus, OH 43219

Have you Hurd... No TV's = Reasonable Crowd During March Madness...

If I haven't mentioned before, I am a Purdue alumni.  Since my team was eliminated earlier in the tournament weekend, I had no particular interest in watching the latest tournament action over dinner on Saturday night.  Neither of us is particularly fond of the usual Saturday night crush of people either.  Thankfully, we landed a dinner invite with a small group of good friends to visit a local Mexican restaurant that didn't list sports TV viewing as one of it's central features.  Aside from that, I expect the Saturday night crowd would have been a bit crazier at 6:00 pm, given the Blue Agave's proximity to the Polaris Fashion Place.




We were the last to join the party, so the table was already secured and chips and salsa were all around.  The waiter immediately appeared and took everyone's drink order.  The margarita prices were reasonable for the weekend, so I had to sample a jumbo house margarita on the rocks.  They had a wide variety of flavors and others at our table were more daring and opted for a pitcher of frozen mango and a pitcher of watermelon on the rocks.    Judging by the others pleasant responses, the other flavors were a hit.  If I visit again, I may sample another flavor, but since this was my first time...  I had to go with the standard for comparison.The house margarita was good, but not great.  Certainly as good as most any I have had recently, but I miss the Meltdown Margaritas from Don Pablo's.  I know some people consider it sacrilege to mention a chain restaurant, but I have to give them chops for the margaritas.  The only other place I can think of where I have had one that good since Don Pablo's left town are Senor Antonio's in Lewis Center.

(Clockwise from top left) Mild,
Hot, and Salsa Verde.  Salsa
Verde Remains a mystery
as the Scout passed on it.

Enough about the drinks...  Back to the food...  The chips and salsa take a more colorful turn at Blue Agave with a trio of choices accompanying the chips- mild, hot, and salsa verde.  The waiter also offered queso.  We followed the lead of others in our party and set up some queso in addition to the salsa trio.  It was a good call.  Queso was excellent.  Not sure whether it was me or someone else that licked the bowl clean, but it was all gone.  I am sure the dishwasher made light work of it. Probably even wondered if it had really been used for anything.  -smirk-  I sort of dipped my toe in the waters with the hot salsa.  Thankfully, it wasn't super hot and the mild had good flavor too.  Is there such a thing as fashionably hot salsa?  I skipped the salsa verde.  Green salsa just isn't my bag, baby.  -smile-  The chips were plentiful, light and crunchy.  Only suggestion would be to hit them with some salt.  That didn't seem to hold back any others at the table, so maybe I am the only one that likes a salty chip.



I expected with the size of our party (8 plus a child), the speed of service might be a little slower than usual.  I was off-base on that.  Our waiter and the rest of his supporting cast kept things moving all night.  Drinks and food arrived at the table at breakneck speed.  It seemed like someone was always checking with us to see if we needed anything.  Made me wonder if somehow we ended up at the VIP table or something?  Not too likely they have heard I am a food blogger yet, so it couldn't be that they were trying to impress me to ensure a good write up...  Have I mentioned that I am a sucker for that?  -smile-  Hats off to the staff for first class service.

Why didn't I remember to substitute something
else for the rice?  It's not what you are thinking.
I only had one margarita.  And I let my sweetest
have a sip or two as well.  OR were you thinking

old age?  hmmmmm...

My wife and I don't normally order the same thing, but tonight we were in total sync.  We both enjoyed the Chimichangas Supremas.  You get a choice of chicken or beef tips. She elected one of each.  After she finished ordering, I told him I would have exactly the same thing.  I paused and looked skyward for a moment.  Whew!  No lightning bolt.  Life is good.  -smile-  When it arrived at the table, I mixed it all together and I tossed the last of the salsa in the mix too just for kicks.  That's just how I roll.  The tortillas were crisp and filled with a generous amount of meat (and other fillings) and blanketed with queso.  The beans and the mixed salad were a bright spot as they had more flavor and texture than many other places I have visited.  At some other Tex-Mex establishments (you know who you are), it feels like the beans are from a can and the lettuce is from a bag.  I don't think that is the case at the Blue Agave.  If I had thought about it, I would have skipped the rice.  Even still, we both enjoyed the food.  Much like the margaritas though... We found it was good, but not great.  If we received an invite to return in the future, we certainly wouldn't pass it up.  If we are choosing the location though, it's more likely we would go somewhere closer to home like Rancho Alegre.




So if you find yourself at the Polaris Fashion Place mall and hankering for Tex-Mex, head east on the Parkway to Blue Agave.  The folks there will take good care of you.  If you should happen to be in some other part of town, my bet is that you already have another favorite place that is closer.  No reason to drive out of your way to throw yourself headlong into the craziness that is Polaris unless it far exceeds your favorite neighborhood Tex-Mex.  Anything short of that will cause you to hate yourself in the morning.  Save the Blue Agave for when you are already sucked into Polaris' vortex of rampant consumerism or you get a chance invite from some good friends to join their already rockin' party.  Blue Agave is just far enough away from the throngs of shoppers to provide a welcome oasis and help you take the edge off before heading home.

www.blueagaveohio.com

Your Dining Scout and Shade Tree Chef,
Michael Hurd, aka Big Mike

  

Have you Hurd... Taco Tuesday + 2 = Throw Back Thursday!!!

7/16/2015 UPDATE: If you are a Local Cantina fanatic, you may have know this for some time, but Throw Back Thursdays is no longer in the mix.  Burritos are still good, but no longer priced at $5 on Thursdays.  Felt particularly bad about my blunder as I discovered this only AFTER taking two new customers there who were excited about the deal.  I guess prices are going up everywhere.

As anyone familiar with The Lego Movie knows, Taco Tuesday has become a mainstay at many local eateries in Central Ohio.  As much as I enjoy a good taco or three, I really favor the taco's big and sometimes overbearing cousin... the BURRITO.  I am excited just to type it and now I am hungry too.  -smile-  I like them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I make a wide variety of them in my kitchen and fill them with just about anything you could imagine.  Just ask the guys who share the duck blind with me on Alum Creek every year and they will tell you.  They probably can't remember all the different things I have stuffed in those 10" flour tortillas, but they are always tasty.

Another cell phone fail...
Didn't scan the QR code.  
Maybe next time.

Every once in a great while, the stars are in alignment and my favorite also happens to be a restaurant's daily special.  Our lunch stop at the Gahanna Local Cantina happened to be on Throw Back Thursday.  $5 Burritos and $2 Mexican cans.  I think that is what they call a "win, win."  My boss reads this, so I feel compelled to disclose that we DID NOT avail ourselves of the $2 cans.  (We didn't even joke about it.)  With the burrito, you get a choice of ground beef, chicken or steak with refried beans, fried potatoes, and queso, lettuce, sour cream, and pico sauce over the top.  The fried potatoes were a nice change from the usual rice you get at most other places.  They were coarsely diced and cooked to golden brown.  I opted for the steak, which was well-seasoned, tender, and flavorful.  And they didn't go crazy with the refried beans or queso either.  It was just right for lunch.  And the $5 price is hard to beat too.  They offered self-serve chips and salsa.  The chips were warm and crunchy, with a good coating of coarse salt and the salsa was tasty too. It had just a little bit of bite.  My lunch time compadres tried the other two burrito options - ground beef and chicken - and both were well received.  Three empty plates went back to the kitchen.  Actually, mine wasn't completely empty.  The fresh slices of jalapeno pepper on the top of my burrito went back.  Have I mentioned I am only a medium-hot kind of guy?  -smile-

It was a light crowd at lunch time, which I attribute to the miserable winter weather.  Both on and off-street parking (public garage) are available within a block of this Local Cantina.  The decor definitely adds some color to the experience, but isn't overdone.  Service was prompt and friendly.  The side of the Cantina that faces the creek has glass panel garage-style doors that can be opened on pleasant days to give it an open-air feel.  I look forward to coming back when the weather is nicer and perhaps enjoying an after-work libation.  I am glad to have found the Local Cantina in Gahanna, as most other Tex-Mex style fare is a much greater distance from my office and is a challenge at lunchtime.  Maybe we'll even come back on Taco Tuesday and take turns singing The Lego Movie theme song. ("Everything is Awesome...")

A link if you want to check out their website:
http://localcantina.com/

In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the post...  Next up will be some good stuff from my kitchen...

Your Dining Scout, Shade Tree Chef, and Author
Michael Hurd, aka Big Mike.