Wednesday started with about 6 hours of tennis-watching. Even if things didn't go my way thanks to stupid Andy Roddick not choking down the stretch, it was nice to not be at work on a day when such awesome tennis was being played... For lunch I met up with Maggie for another trip to Kennedy School. It was another beautiful day out on the restaurant's patio:
and I decided to mix things up by ordering the Ahi Steak Sandwich featuring "wasabi mayonnaise":
For the fourth straight time at a restaurant on this trip, I was... disappointed. The Ahi was actually cooked perfectly, but the wasabi mayonnaise was non-existent and when I asked for a bit more, I was brought a slightly green mayonnaise that tasted... like mayonnaise. I realize the average American restaurant-goer doesn't like spicy food, but you should be able to taste some wasabi if the word appears in the menu description of the item... I make a pretty awesome version of this at home, which was maybe also part of my problem (since I knew my version is better and cheaper), but it still made me sort of cranky. This streak of disappointing experiences was starting to make me worry that I was becoming too much of a food snob to go to lower-end restaurants anymore. I didn't want to think that this was the case, but damned if I wasn't finding myself constantly disappointed when I ventured out to eat...
and I decided to mix things up by ordering the Ahi Steak Sandwich featuring "wasabi mayonnaise":
For the fourth straight time at a restaurant on this trip, I was... disappointed. The Ahi was actually cooked perfectly, but the wasabi mayonnaise was non-existent and when I asked for a bit more, I was brought a slightly green mayonnaise that tasted... like mayonnaise. I realize the average American restaurant-goer doesn't like spicy food, but you should be able to taste some wasabi if the word appears in the menu description of the item... I make a pretty awesome version of this at home, which was maybe also part of my problem (since I knew my version is better and cheaper), but it still made me sort of cranky. This streak of disappointing experiences was starting to make me worry that I was becoming too much of a food snob to go to lower-end restaurants anymore. I didn't want to think that this was the case, but damned if I wasn't finding myself constantly disappointed when I ventured out to eat...
For dinner we had been pondering trashy Mexican food, but Stanley suggested that we go for a sit-down meal at Chez José instead. We used to grab lunch there from time in high school, and it had been probably about 15 years since I'd eaten there, but my brother (quite the connoisseur of the chimichanga) said that they make the best chimichanga in town, and I was game to check it out... The chimichanga is indeed pretty impressive-looking:
and the margaritas are pretty darn tasty as well:
I went with a combo meal of Chile Relleno (one of my favorite foods on the planet) and a prawn taco:
The relleno was good (not quite as awesome as the version my mom makes, but a vast improvement over the last one I tried in Waltham), and the prawn taco was ridiculously delicious. As I ate my meal, I realized that I was thoroughly enjoying it, without any annoying disappointment creeping in to ruin the experience. So, maybe I wasn't broken after all... Maybe I just needed some good (semi-)trashy Mexican food to get back on track...
7/3 UPDATE: For lunch before our insane Indian Feast on Thursday, Stanley and I ran over to Santeria Domingo Taqueria Oaxaca for a quick bite of trashy Mexican food. As you can see if you stare really hard at the picture above, this fine establishment is located across the street from Ole Frijole, of which I am also a fan, but which featured a very long line when we arrived, thus sending us across the street. 
We were a little dubious, judging simply from the complete absence of customers (especially in comparison to the long lines across the street), but we gave it a go. Stanley went with a pair of soft tacos (chicken and steak), which he said were quite good:
I went with a carnitas burrito (carnitas being the item I like to use to judge trashy Mexican restaurants), and it was the bomb. Made with a really nice flour tortilla, the filling was about 90% perfectly seasoned, super-moist carnitas with a little pico de gallo and a bit of guac. Awesome.
This is my new favorite trashy Mexican restaurant within one mile of my parents house is now Santeria Domingo Taqueria Oaxaca. If only I had a few more days to explore the menu before heading back to Boston...
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