Chubby’s Tacos…Not Texas, but close

Two friends invited me to join them on a taco adventure, and I must thank them for helping me branch out from my regular Mexican grub haunts (Armadillo, Montey’s, El Rod, La Fiesta, Chipotle). Chubby’s Tacos opened a Raleigh location recently, a second establishment of the original in Durham. And judging by the crowd (in this nondescript strip mall) word has quickly traveled about the bangin’ salsa bar, variety, fresh ingredients and relaxed atmosphere. Check the menu here. Chubby’s has acquired beverage permits now, too, so you can partake in a beer or a margarita.

What’s so great about Chubby’s? The menu is simply priced, with items served à la carte. This is especially satisfying for me because I like variety, picking and choosing a few things to try. Fresh ingredients: salsa bar, veggies, herbs. Flavors: a variety of flavor combos, beyond the traditional.

this is a proper taco meal

My order: two tacos (Carne Asada—diced seasoned steak with onions & cilantro; Grilled Tilapia—citrus marinated with chipotle cream sauce and pico de gallo). Plus, I made it a meal for an additional $2 to include rice, beans and chips. LG, what do you think? This looks like Houston food… so while you might be a little jealous, I know you’ve got at least five places down the street that offer this grub.

The carne adasa taco is my standard order, so no surprises there. The combination of spicy steak with cilantro and onions is simple, but the bright cilantro and crispy onion go great with the meat. And here’s what really makes it: soft corn tortillas…far superior to the flour.

The grilled tilapia taco was nicely balanced with a delicate chipotle sauce, not too smokey, and lightly fried fish. The pico burned so good.

The beans and rice represented the standard for most restaurants, but I add a heaping spoonful of salsa to pep it up a bit and make it spicy. Rice and beans makes it feel more like a meal, but I’ll get another outrageously good taco instead next time.

On to the salsa…

don't make me commit, i'll try them all

From top to bottom, left to right…I will do my best to remember…1. Salsa Verde 2. Habanero (Spicy!) 3. Can’t remember, but It looks like I liked it 4. Salsa Fresca 5. Guacatillo (Avocad0-Tomatillo) 6. Roasted Pepper? This bloggie got seriously distracted by consuming the salsas, and forgot their names.

Here’s a look at the day’s special: The Chubbychanga (fried tortilla, stuffed with chicken, onions, peppers), plus a side of queso dip, chips and a classic margarita on ice.

Chubby's Changa

Mas tacos

Check it: more tacos, because Chubby’s is all about variety. That’s a Chicken Fajita (seasoned chicken with lettuce and cheese) and Al Pastor (marinated pork & pineapple with cilantro and onions). In corn tortillas!

Finish it all off with something sweet.

fried plantains with sweet cream sauce

If you’re in search for an upgrade or just something different from your more frequented Mexican restaurants, why not try Chubby’s. It’s local, plus prices are reasonable. The ingredients are fresh. You’ll find tofu, tilapia and ahi tuna alongside traditional steak, chicken, shrimp and pork. And you can have it anyway you want it: taco, taquito, gordita, torta, burrito (the size of your head!), quesadillas, taco salads and nachos.

I have a feeling I’ll be going back this weekend. Any takers?

BOOM—chubby's tacos

A weekend of recipe stalking

Nothing says “ghost weekend” to me more than curling up with several good recipes and seeing which ones stick. This weekend was my attempt to use up the more uncommon items in my fridge. First up was the Fontina cheese I used for my pizza. I scoured myrecipes.com looking for something that I could make with minimal ingredients other than the fontina, since I already had a big weekend planned for other dishes and other ingredients. I found this Onion and Fontina Beer Bread and immediately started making my grocery list. Turns out it sounded delicious and familiar because my mom has made it before. Great minds think alike! It was really quick and easy (in fact, the bulk of my time spent making it was spent on the phone) and it turned out great. I made mine with Blue Moon’s seasonal Pumpkin Ale. It added a nice sweetness to the bread. The outer parts had a nice crunch and the inside was moist and studded with onions throughout. Success.

Naturally because the recipe introduction says it goes great with stews, I made a stew to go along with it. Mom’s beef stew to be exact. It’s one of the many recipes that signifies home to me. I had never made a stew before (I hate chopping things- don’t write me off as a foodie though), and as I’ve always heard, once I got done with the dreaded chopping, it was pretty much hands off. The hardest part was waiting 2+ hours to eat it. Sucess Numero Deux.

Recipe number three was an attempt to use up the remainder of the ricotta cheese from my pizza adventures. I wanted to find an out-of-the-ordinary use for ricotta- that means no Italian. I settled on this recipe for Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Sauteed Apples from Gourmet. I woke up on Saturday morning and went to work, and darn it if this recipe was not fussy. The apples turned out well ( I would have added more cinnamon though, but what can I say? I’m a junkie), but the pancakes were a failure. I had hoped that they would be fabulous after all the work I put into them (beating egg whites for pancakes? really?), but they were just… not. The lemon was way too subtle, and they tasted mostly like ricotta. They also had the texture of ricotta, which can only be described as wet. I was hoping that the ricotta would act to make the pancakes moist and fluffy- and they did- but not in a good way. I’m saving the rest of the apples to snack on throughout the week, but after making a stack or so of cakes, I threw the remainder of the batter out. Waste of time. Oh, and after all that I was ultimately still hungry. Talk about a fail.

Look who came out to play!

Only the apples were photo-worthy

My little foodstalker- always on the watch for any dropped morsels

Eyes < Stomach

I‘ve had some pretty promising foodstalking opportunities lately, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to adjust to my new, bloggy self and bring a camera with me. I picked up a Chocolate Chai cupcake today from The Path of Tea, a local tea shop (I know, strange place for a cupcake). I have read several times that they make some of the best cupcakes in town, and since I happened to pass by it while running errands, I thought I’d give it a try. Too bad I remembered to take a picture only after I devoured the yummy morsel in 3 bites. The cake was a little on the dry side, but the icing was amazing. Sweet- but not too sweet- and plenty of delicious chai spices. I’m on a mission to recreate the recipe at home. I think I could do the cake part better than they did. After doing some research, I found a recipe for Chai buttercream icing that requires you to make your own chai spice mixture. No big deal, except for the fact that it has FENNEL in the mix. Excuse me? If I could have a spice nemesis, it would be fennel. Or maybe dried dill. Either way, I refuse to believe there is fennel in my beloved chai tea!

The remains

Earlier this week, I picked up a burger for dinner from one of my favorite places in Houston- Christian’s Tailgate. The location I frequent is a total dive bar- just picture the fact that I was the only female in there at the time, besides the biker chick taking orders (they also have a yuppie-fied Midtown location… but do yuppies know good carne? I think not). Once again, no picture, because I tend to forget these things when there is a huge hunk of beef waiting to be eaten. Their onion rings are top-notch too.

I’m having a hard time getting recipe inspiration for this week. Suggestions are welcome!

“I’m going as bacon for Halloween.”

Happy Halloween, foodstalkers. I’m stalking food-related Halloween costumes today while I try to stay awake post-MoJoe’s for lunch. I’m doing the impossible.

Here are some of my favorite examples.

just add bacon.

"fulla?" really?

hunk of carne.

unless he's got his friend margarita mix, this guy needs to get lost.

ha. you're a pickle.

aw.