HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!

In the US it is also Veteran’s Day. Here in the UK it is Remembrance Day, and if you want a little taste of what’s being done here check out my post on the Tower of London poppies. And finally it is also Ryan’s twin brother’s birthday. Happy birthday Aaron! I wish I had a cute baby twins photo of them to show you, because they were adorable. I don’t so here’s an adult picture of them from Red Rocks in Colorado. Aaron, if you’re reading, and have a cute photo of you two like maybe in costumes or karate outfits, let me know. People need to see how adorable you two were. 

Anyway I love celebrating birthdays and am terrible at keeping surprises, so I tend to stretch out the festivities. Ryan has been allowed to open one present a day since Sunday. Last night we went out for a celebration dinner with our friends Alessia and Raffaello. And today we’ll have cake and a steak dinner. I’ll post the cake recipe later this week, but today’s focus is on last night’s dinner at Cantina Laredo.

Cantina Laredo is a Mexican restaurant in the Covent Garden/Leicester Square area of London. People say London doesn’t have good Mexican food and so far Ryan and I have had some mixed experiences. Chipotle is still yummy, while nachos at a bar are a big mistake. But, I had heard such good things about this place from both British and American people that I thought we should try it since Ryan loves Mexican food. Let me say upfront the pictures I took are rubbish. I apologize and to make up for the abysmal photos, Ryan has graciously allowed me to share this picture he drew when he was a little kid. It has nothing to do with anything, except for that it’s Ryan’s birthday.

Anyway, I’m so glad we tried Cantina Laredo because the food was really delicious. For me, good Mexican food is fresh and lets the individual ingredients speak for themselves. I don’t think Mexican food needs to be perfectly plated, overly fancy, or made too prissy because the food is good enough on its own. I also want Mexican to be satisfying. It doesn’t have to be overly indulgent like a giant burrito, but I want to feel like I’ve eaten something substantial and won’t have to stop for a pizza on the way home.

When we go to the restaurant, we were all totally impressed by its size. The restaurant is huge by London standards. It takes up most of its block. Also the tables aren’t next to each other. We could not see, or really hear, the nearby tables. Most importantly, our booth was huge. It was like the kind of booth you’d find at TGIFridays in the US. There was four of us and we probably could have fit 2-4 more people if we had wanted to.

 On the whole, the restaurant totally delivered on our Mexican food needs. We got chips and tomatillo salsa first. I’m sorry now I didn’t take a picture, because the chips were lovely. They were hot and felt like they had been made recently from actual tortillas (and not just processed somewhere in a factory). The salsa was nicely spicy but not over the top.

 I got carne asada. The meat was cooked medium, it was tender, flavored with lovely cilantro, and piled fairly high on a small tortilla. I also got arroz verde, which tasted very strongly of lime, which at first was weird but then turned out to be really pleasant. It made the rice a little citrusy and sweet, which nicely balanced some of the spiciness in the tacos.

Ryan and Raffaello got fajitas which is always a big hit. Their platters came sizzling out on the table, which is always a showstopper. I was actually a little jealous because their fajitas came with refried beans, guacamole, salsa, thick luscious sour cream, and a mound of cooked onions.

Alessia had tacos but instead of carne asada like me, she had carnitas. She said were really well cooked with a little bit of crunch that she liked. 

We all ended with a plate of churros. They came with a citrus cream and a chilli chocolate dipping sauce. Sometimes I find chilli chocolate sauce so spicy that I miss out on the chocolate flavor. But this wasn’t like that. The heat was subtle and was in harmony with the rich chocolate – not at all overpowering. The cream was really good too. Once we ate all the churros, Ryan had the brillant idea of using a spoon to dip the cream into the chocolate. I was jealous of his innovation and it was clear that his birthday has made him wiser.

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