Abuelita's Mexican Kitchen in Westridge Mall

Shopping always makes me work up an appetite and this holiday season I have the perfect place for those mid-shopping snack attacks. Abuelita's Mexican Kitchen is conveniently located in the Westridge Mall food court and it is sure to fit any shopping budget out there. They even offer $5 lunch deals that come with a drink. I pay more in taxes sometimes when I'm shopping and thought this was a good price.

Today, I went to the mall to do some light shopping for Christmas because it's that time of year, of course. I've been meaning to stop by Abuelita's for awhile now, but I really don't go to the mall that often. I have heard great things about the food so I ventured up to check it out. I already mentioned the $5 meal deals, and really the rest of the menu is not much more expensive than that. I got loaded carnitas nachos for $6 and couldn't hardly finish them all. That's what a shopping buddy would be perfect for.

The menu is split up by the type of meat you want and listed below are prices for tacos, burritos, tostadas and bowls. I went for the nachos with carnitas because I saw someone with the nachos before and knew they looked good. I always get carnitas because pulled pork nachos is one of my favorite things to eat and I went for it. Normally I'd at least get a salad, or something healthy, but not today.

The nachos came with a white cheese queso, queso blanco, pico de gallo, lots of carnitas and sour cream. I also asked for mild salsa. The toppings were piled on and the chips were crispy and plentiful. The white queso had chunks of chiles in it and a nice kick to it, but not too spicy. The pork was juicy and the queso blanco was the perfect touch. These nachos could also be shared with someone as a

snack if you're not wanting an entire meal, especially while out shopping.

The menu also has a few desserts, but I've been trying to avoid sugar as much as I can. I saw where they have chimis, smores and a couple types of cheesecake. I almost got a hot chocolate but it just wasn't cold out today so I couldn't justify it. I hear it's about to get cold again, though so I may have to return just for some of that.

I enjoyed my first visit and plant to return, and probably soon because it's the holiday season and I'm sure I'll find myself at the Westridge Mall again in the next couple of weeks.  Even if you're not shopping, go ahead and stop by, it's worth it.

Bunker Coffee Co. and NOTO Burrito

For lunch today, I went to Bunker Coffee Company and NOTO Burrito in NOTO. I saw a post on Facebook yesterday that Bunker delivers shakes, and I wanted to check it out before I had one delivered. While I was there, I decided to try a burrito from NOTO Burrito because I've been hearing bad reviews from there lately, and I wanted to form my own opinion. (Feel free to do this yourself!)

I haven't been for quite awhile, not since the two businesses joined up. Now, there is a booth on the north side of the restaurant where Bunker Coffee Co. set up. There are still quite a few tables and chairs to sit and eat at.

I ordered a Planting Peace and Love burrito, to go. There weren't any people in line so I was helped right away, the lady making my burrito was friendly and she put my burrito together quickly. I waited probably five minutes for her to build my burrito, grill it and package it up for me to take it to go. I watched her make it and I made sure to look at the ingredients. I've heard some bad reviews on the ingredients being dry or unavailable. I was there at 1 p.m. on a Saturday, and everything looked fresh and stocked.

My Planting Peace & Love burrito
(no chips pictured)

The burrito was huge, so huge I couldn't eat the entire thing. The Planting Peace & Love burrito comes with a choice of two meats, so I chose chicken and pork. (The third choice is ground beef.) The meat was good but the pork was a little salty for my taste. With everything else in the burrito it wasn't that bad or noticeable unless you got a huge mouthful of pork, which happened to me once. The guacamole had good garlic flavor, the pico was fresh and the three sauces added lots of flavor. The guac was good, I just wish it was spread around more -- but that's just burritos in general, it's hard to get a little bit of every ingredient. The rice was soft, the beans were tender and the meat was shredded and maybe just a little greasy. I don't mind a little grease, but some people might so it's worth noting. I think the meat was being held in a fatty liquid so it wouldn't get dry and hard. I made a huge mess because I chose to pick up my burrito and eat it -- a fork and knife just wasn't working on this one, you just gotta pick it up and dig in. I recommend leaving it wrapped as long as possible. The burrito is grilled so that helps seal it together, but by the end, the insides are everywhere.

Sweet Salsa

Mild salsa

The burrito comes with a couple handfuls of chips, fried in-house. I chose a couple salsas off the salsa bar, one mild and the other sweet. I, unfortunately didn't write down the names, but you can probably figure it out from looking at what's available. Both salsas were good. The sweet one tasted like sweet tomatoes, with no real spice at all or any other flavors. I liked it because it was simple and something in my burrito was spicy and it helped counter that spiciness. The mild salsa was mildly spicy with a jalepeno and dried oregano flavor. I liked it.

I paid $10 for my burrito and tortilla chips, which is a little high. The burrito was huge, though, and I couldn't eat the entire thing. It could be two meals, or you could split it with someone for lunch. I do like supporting local and sometimes local can be little pricier, which is fine by me. I love spending my dollars locally.

Strawberry shake

I also ordered a strawberry shake from Bunker Coffee Company and chatted up the guy working there. I found out they deliver within a 5-mile radius (woohoo! I can get delivery where I live), and it's a $12 minimum with a 17 percent delivery fee. So, it would therefore cost around $14 to have two shakes delivered to your house, because I payed $5 for my shake, but it was also the smaller size. NOTO Burrito items are also available to be delivered, too, so that's cool.

The strawberry shake was thick, creamy and cooled me off on a warm day. I was offered a chocolate base, or vanilla base and I chose vanilla, but I think the chocolate would be good, too. There weren't really any strawberry chunks in this shake, but I did see little flecks of strawberries. I liked the lack of chunks because I like using a straw and sometimes chunks of fruit get stuck inside the straw and make it hard to suck it all through. I enjoyed my shake, and I look forward to trying a coffee shake next time. I might try delivery and see what's that is about, but I'll have to be feeling VERY lazy to pay extra for it to be delivered.

Here's a link to their menus:
https://www.facebook.com/NotoBurrito?sk=menu. Bunker Coffee Co. has all kinds of coffee drinks to choose from and NOTO Burrito has a variety of burritos, tacos and salsas to choose from. I plan to return and next time I might get their delivery and see if it's worth it. Follow Bunker Coffee Co. on Facebook for their latest deals and discounts, too: https://www.facebook.com/bunkercoffeecompany?fref=ts.

El Mezcal - 21st & Fairlawn

Usually, I am truly happy with my experiences at El Mezcal, but this last visit, not so much.

For the most part, I go to the El Mezcal on 5th and Topeka Blvd., but this time was for a friend's celebration so we went to the one on 21st and Fairlawn. It was a busy Friday night, right at 7 o'clock.

Cold, still-shredded cheese inside :(

We were seated pretty quickly and served drinks and chips and salsa. We ordered and didn't have to wait that long for food. This was surprising because it was pretty busy and there weren't many open tables around the restaurant. The only thing we had to wait for awhile for was our checks.

Then, we got our food.

Mine was cold. All of it. And I don't think it was because it sat in the window and cooled off, (at least in the case of the quesadilla) I think it wasn't even cooked in the first place. I ordered ala carte because I wasn't very hungry. I got a cheese quesadilla with a side of sour cream, a small order of guacamole and a beef enchilada, which turned out to be two, not one like I thought.

The quesadilla consisted of cold shredded white cheese inside a cold, un-grilled tortilla. I mean, I opened it up and the cheese wasn't even melted, it was still in little shreds (pictured to your left). I also never got my sour cream. I sent the quesadilla back, though, and asked for them to grill it for a minute because it was cold. I got back an entire new quesadilla that was hot and melty, but the tortilla was still not grilled enough to my taste. At least this time the cheese was melted and the quesadilla was hot.

The enchiladas were not what I was expecting, but they weren't bad. They were beef enchiladas smothered in a white cheese sauce. I was expecting a red sauce but this was alright. But, it was cold, too. This, I think, may have sat in the window for a minute. I didn't ask for this to be warmed up, I just ate it.

I understand the place was busy, but getting cold food always sucks no matter the case. I chose to send one item back instead of both, mostly because I wanted something to eat while the rest of the table chowed down. I usually don't like to send items back, but the quesadilla was unacceptable.

I've been to El Mezcal many times over the years and this was probably my worst experience. That being said, the good have outnumbered the bad so I will be returning, just probably to the one on 5th street.

Margaritas Jalisco

 I was finally able to try the newest Mexican restaurant in Topeka: Margaritas Jalisco. It's right across from Washburn's campus on 17th Street and has been open for two months. The location was closed for years and I'm happy to see it's finally re-opened and this time as a Mexican restaurant pretty close to my house.

Guacamole Mexicana

The atmosphere is warm and inviting, especially on a cold day. The walls are painted bright shades of yellow and orange. Various shaped gourds are arranged around the room. The building has been slightly remodeled with an added wall in the middle. The bar is still on the west side with booths set up around the rest of the walls and tables scattered throughout the room.

The server brought chips and salsa immediately. The chips were good, not the thin, greasy ones you sometimes get. These were thicker and fried fresh. The salsa was thick and pureed, with a noticeable cilantro flavor that I love.  It wasn't spicy so I could scoop quite a bit on my chip -- I'm pretty sensitive to spicy food and this wasn't spicy in the least, but it still had good flavor.

Chips and salsa

When I try new Mexican restaurants I always like to order the guacamole and this time I chose the Guacamole Mexicana. I must admit, I assumed I knew what I was ordering but when it came out it was something completely different. What I thought I was getting was mashed guacamole with pico de gallo added to it. Nope. What I got was chunks of avocado marinated in lime juice with pico de gallo and grilled jalapeños on top. It reminded me of a deconstructed guac and I loved it. The grilled fresh jalapeños were crispy on top of the smooth avocado and crunchy tomatoes and onions. If you like guacamole you gotta try this dish, it was one I'll be ordering again.

The only thing I don't really understand is the green tomato. 

Normally, I order a chimichanga or burrito but tonight I was feeling like something different. For my entree I got cheese enchiladas smothered in a red sauce with bell peppers and pork. It was served with a guacamole salad (small scoop of guac, lettuce and tomato) and rice. The rice was some of the best I've found here in town, soft with just enough seasoning and none of those hard peas and carrots that I usually pick out. This was just rice and I loved it. The enchiladas were stuffed with white stringy cheese (YUM!) and the sauce on top was tangy. I only wish there was more pork because it was so good. The pulled pork was not greasy or overdone and complimented the dish nicely, but like I said before, I wish there was more. I loved the cheese, even though I'm not supposed to eat it. But if I am going to take a chance and eat cheese, it better be good cheese. This made the cut.

The service was fast and friendly. There are specials every day, which, being right across from Washburn University is a necessity. Hopefully students will go there and the place will stay open because I enjoyed it and plan to return.