On a cold and snowy evening....

Los Chilitos is basically a restaurant in a house. It’s so tiny inside it must only seat 30 people. The good thing though is that even though it is on 17th ave, it’s tucked away and inconspicuous enough that it’s never very busy. This entry is sort of cheating as we’ve been here once before but I didn’t have a blog then. I figure I’ll probably write mostly based on this experience, but throw in a few that I remember from our first venture.
Well we thought this was a good idea as we left our house down in the south end of town. It was snowing lightly and quite pretty out actually. Huh. That shit changed real quick. This is Calgary so at any given time the weather will change, then change again, and be different yet again in a different part of the city. So downtown is blizzarding almost. Good plan, right?
We came all this way, might as well eat, drink and be merry! I was not feeling a beer so I threw down for a Mojito! My Goodness that’s freaking tasty!!!! Mike does the Beeragrita. It’s basically a margarita with a beer in it. An iceberg, if you will, or a Fishbowl if you’ve been to Julios Barrio. I notice the menu has changed a bit since we were last here, but based on the good food we had I wasn’t concerned. I come up with an order of enchiladas, and he gets the taco sampler. This is one that we had the first time, and we both enjoyed it so much we did it again! Except this time it’s different. Shit I hate when places change things. Our first trip there we had the sampler platter and the meats were excellent, as are the tortillas. Reminds me of a few friends long ago who would make tortillas fresh at home, and truly authentic. Yummy. The dips, or salsas, were good as well, but a few were too spicy for me.

Mike always tries everything first hey. I’ll sit back and watch as he takes a small taste of each thing and then he’ll point out which ones I’ll like and which ones I’ll hate/are too spicy. What a guy hey?!  He’s accurate probably 95% of the time too. But even though he says don’t try this one, I’ll eventually want to. Then I’ll dip my finger in and have a taste. Then I make a horrendous face, while shaking my head and spitting my tongue out and reaching for my drink to wash it down. Every time. With out fail.

You’re laughing out loud right now, hey babe?

Anyway, back to our dinner. So this sampler comes out and this time around 4 out of the 5 are too gross/spicy so I dig in to my enchiladas. This dish looks amazing! It is a huge portion with beans and rice as the sides. Oh that bite was great, and the second and third. Ok now I’m a bit tired of these. Let’s try the beans. What the hell? I’m sure I didn’t read the menu right because in hindsight, I’m sure they were refried beans. The looked like a pile of shit. Tastes like beans, but shittier. The rice was just blah. It has peas and carrots in it too, which I am not sure is truly authentic. I’ve never seen it served that way in a Spanish home. I guess I was more disappointed because our first trip here was soooooo good.
Apparently I was showing a bit of displeasure on my face so we decided to do some tequila shots!! Wooohoo!! Waittaminute….I’m not 18 anymore man, this stuff doesn’t go down nearly as smooth as it once did. May I remind you I’m turning 30 in a few weeks? But now I’m on to my second Mojito.

T: Will you taste this? I can’t taste the booze.
M: Yup it’s in there. You can’t’ taste it because you’re half in the bag.
T: True Dat. Good point. Let’s have dessert!

Most people reading this know I’m not much of a dessert person, but because I wasn’t filled up from dinner I had room to squeeze in a Pastel de Tres Leches. According to the menu this is a “Deliciously moist three milk cake” that was fairly tasty business. I thought for a moment it was a store bought cake, but I have faith that they are genuine, and this was made by a 90 year old granny who doesn’t’ speak a word of English.

So on a cold and snowy winter night we cuddled over a cozy table in a comfortable restaurant and ate some excellent Mexican dishes. I know we will be back. How do I know? We like it enough that we’re considering it for our wedding reception venue…!!