Tag: tacos

Food Review: Mockingbird Bar and Taco in the SOMA District

I finally tried Mockingbird Bar and Tacos (previously known as Dos Rocas), a new-ish restaurant in the South On Main district of Little Rock. Here’s the breakdown:

Atmosphere:

The restaurant looks small from the outside, but is rather large. It was very modern, yet homey inside, with many plants and colorful features.

I was dining with two companions and around 6:00 p.m. on a Saturday, it only took about 5 minutes to get a booth.

Menu:

You can find a link to their menu on their website or here on their Facebook page: Menu. There are many options, but mostly it consists of Central/ South American cuisine. What I love about the menu is everything served is local or in-house. There are also plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, as well as plenty of meat-lovers options.

Food:

We started with two appetizers:

Orange Salad ($5)
Description: Slices of orange seasoned with cumin and paprika, topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and shaved pickled red onion

I ordered this dish because it was nothing I would have ever thought to create on my own, and I am so glad I did. It was delicious and refreshing! I would definitely get this again.

Deviled Eggs ($6)
Description: Locally farmed eggs with Farmer Fin with arbol hot sauce and tortilla crunch

My friends agreed this may be the best deviled egg in Central Arkansas. It was flavorful, only slightly spicy, and the crunch added a nice texture.

Our meals:

2 Taco Plate ($9)
Description: Served with a side of beans and a small side salad
Taco: Chorizo: spiced pork sausage from Rabbit Ridge Farm
Taco: Fried Fish: masa tossed AR  striped bass with tomatillo chow chow, chipotle crema, cilantro, and onion

I ordered the chorizo taco and fried fish taco. I can’t pick a favorite. They were both delicious! The house-made tortillas held together perfectly and the fillings were very tasty. I can’t pick a favorite. It would be hard to not order these again.

The side salad was delicious, topped with a homemade dressing and pickled onions.

The beans were very flavorful and I devoured them.

Butternut Squash Salad ($9)
Description: Raw and pickled butternut squash on a bed of fresh local greens with avocado, queso fresco, toasted coriander, pickled onions, and cilantro-lime vinaigrette.
*vinaigrette contains fish sauce

My friend ordered this HUGE salad. It was definitely the item worth it’s price. There were so many fresh spring greens with delicious toppings, that it was hard to mix the salad on the given plate. My friend even had to get a large to-go box to take her leftovers home. I may have to order this next time!

Taco, a la carte ($3.50)
Smoked Tofu: smoky grilled tofu, grilled pineapple pico, and guajillo adobo

My friend ordered these and enjoyed them, but said the seasonal vegetable empanada was better. Sorry, no pic.

Empanadas: ($3 a la carte)
Description: Ground Beef: traditional street-style recipe with cumin-spiced ground beef from Rabbit Ridge Farms, green peppers, onion, and chopped eggs from Farmer Fin
Description: Seasonal Veggie: Local vegetables grilled and tossed with arbol salsa

I REALLY wanted to try the empandas, but was full, so I ordered three to go. 2 beef and 1 seasonal vegetable.

I love that these are fried! (The only way to really enjoy empanadas). The beef was good, but a little on the bland side. The seasonal vegetables was surprisingly flavorful and my favorite of the two. The green salsa on the table and the pickled onions that came with the order really helped the flavors pop.

Overall:
This dinner took about 2 hours from start to finish, so this is no place for a quick meal. However, the food was delicious and priced well. I will say, that after the orange salad and two taco place, I was not full. That’s not a bad thing. However, you may want to purchase more than a two taco plate to get your fill.

Food Reviews: The Wild Cow- Vegan Food in East Nashville

Despite its name, The Wild Cow is an all vegan restaurant located in East Nashville. On the search for something healthy and delicious, I decided to give this place a shot. Here’s the breakdown:

ATMOSPHERE

 

     

The Wild Cow is located in a posh area of East Nashville, in a sleek new-ish building with other cafes and shops.

 

The inside immediately reminds you that this is a vegan place to eat. There’s always a hippie-type vibe in these places: casual, but clean, a wait staff with dreads, many flavors of tea to choose from, etc.
Furthermore, there were adorable pictures of cows, dogs, and other animals framed all over the walls.
Everyone that worked here was super friendly and helpful. We felt welcomed right away.

THE FOOD

Their entire menu can be found here: menu
Also, here are vegan baked goods located on the front bar. I abstained, but they looked delicious.
Finally, there’s a refrigerator by the bakery bar that has a few options of healthy sodas and juices. They also serve beer!

TACO SAMPLER PLATE, $12
Description: Comes with each of the signature tacos and one side. NO MODIFICATIONS ALLOWED.
Tacos:
Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tacos: mashed sweet potatoes,
black beans, lime slaw, homemade jerk sauce and toasted
pumpkin seeds. (GF w/ corn tortillas)
Chipotle Seitan Tacos: spinach, carrots, tomatoes, vegan ranch
and BE Hive chipotle seitan.
Peanut Tempeh Tacos: sautéed kale, peanut sauce, avocado, carrot-                  daikon slaw, sesame seeds and peanut tempeh. (GF w/ corn
tortillas)

When a hear a taco cannot have modifications, that scares me. Because usually they have cheese. However, at a vegan place, there are no modifications needed for me! And they all came on corn tortillas, so they were gluten free as well, if anyone cares.
Anyway, we loved this plate! The chipotle seitan taco was the best. It had tons of great flavor with some heat from the chipotle, but then was cooled off with the veggies and vegan ranch. So good!
My second favorite was the sweet potato one. It was very sweet, with a little savory bite from the jerk sauce and pumpkin seeds to even it out. While the texture was a little one-toned, with mashed sweet potatoes being the main component, it was still delicious.
The peanut tempeh tacos were pretty much the Far East Bowl in a shell…you can read about that disappointment below.
Finally, the side of mixed seasonal veggies with aioli was delicious! The veggies were vast: mushrooms, carrots, onions, cabbage, bell peppers, and possible more that I missed were all charred perfectly while still having a good bite. They were smokey and delicious, though the aioli was pretty bland.

Far East Bowl, $10
Description: sautéed garlicky kale, grilled tofu, carrot- daikon slaw, peanut sauce, and sesame seeds served over organic brown rice.

First thing to note, I ordered this dish with no organic brown rice, but extra garlicky kale instead. This did not cost extra.
While I was very excited about this dish, overall, I was pretty disappointed. In one word, this dish was BLAND.
I love garlic and I couldn’t taste a lick of it in the “garlicky” kale.
The tofu was extremely under-seasoned, if seasoned at all?
The veggies were nice, though they could have been more crisp.
The peanut sauce was good, but the dish overall was watery, which made the sauce watery.
We added chili sauce for heat, which helped some, but didn’t save the dish. We didn’t even finish it. I would not get this again.

OVERALL

I would definitely come back to The Wild Cow. There are so many other things on their menu and bakery bar that I want to try. The people were so nice and helpful, and it wasn’t expensive, considering everything is vegan. We left stuffed, even after not finishing one of the dishes. And I would definitely get a couple of those tacos again!