NYC 2 BIG D: Day 5 – A Day for Mom: El Tiempo Cantina and Mi Luna

Our Mom’s birthday also fell during this week, and it’s a rare event to have all 3 of her daughters together at one time, so NYC thought it would be a great idea to find her a new clothes because she never does that for herself, and then give her a little make-over for dinner that night. To fuel us up for the long shopping spree, we took her out to lunch for some good Mexican food and margaritas at El Tiempo Cantina on Richmond. Then, after we were able to locate and put together a great looking outfit at Chico’s for my mom, we brought her back to H-Town’s house, and dolled her up for the evening. She looked amazing! I’ve never been fond of shopping because it’s extremely tiring, and consequently, always makes me ravenous, so I was ready to eat (and drink heavely). NYC had the perfect suggestion for dinner, which was Mi Luna in Rice Village for tapas!

El Tiempo Cantina
Rating: A
Location: 3130 Richmond Ave., Houston, TX
Category: Mexican, Tex-Mex
Pricing: $$
Favorites: Margaritas, Fajitas, Outdoor seating
Comments:
If you need a place to satisfy that hankering for Mexican food then El Tiempo is your spot. I can never find a Mexican restaurant that completely fulfills my every desire with all of the dishes, but this one is not too far behind. To start, the chips are fresh, thin and crispy, the salsa has the right amount of kick to it, and the big highlight is they have green sauce!! Not too many places have it and theirs is fantastic with the perfect green tint, creaminess and a slight tang. The margaritas are great and quite strong in my opinion, but they could never beat El Patio’s, which I’ll have to review another time. Our family is huge avocado lovers, so we had to have some guacamole, which was ok in my opinion. I like the fact that they separate the ingredients and then you get to mix them together, which makes a fun task for the table, but I didn’t think the avocados were that fresh. I am convinced they buy the vacuum packed bags of mashed up avocados instead of fresh whole ones. I love fajitas and they are such an ideal dish to share, so we usually order about a pound of them as our entree. Mixed beef and chicken, of course. I was really impressed with the presentation of them! They came out in a heaping pile on this really tall and raised chaffing dish looking thing, with a parade of sides including the grilled onions underneath, charro beans, rice, pico de gallo, sour cream, shredded cheddar, and tortillas. The meat was perfectly grilled, including the onions, and very juicy with a good amount of spice, the charro beans were excellent and nicely seasoned, and shockingly, the rice was really tasty. I’m not quite sure what was in it, but it had flecks of green, which I think was cilantro, and then it may have been cooked in chicken broth and finished off with some Mexican white cheese. Whatever was in it….it was good! We had a wonderful meal and left completely stuffed, and my mom was a little toasty after 2 margaritas!

Guacamole

Chicken and Beef Fajitas

Mi Luna
Rating: B
Location: 2441 University Blvd., Houston, TX
Category: Spanish Tapas
Pricing: $$$
Favorites: Pincho de Carne (Beef Skewers), Garlic Marinated Mushrooms, Plato de Queso
Comments:
Tapas are always a fun and an interactive experience because you get to order a ton of dishes and share them all with the table. I am the type of person that enjoys trying a little bit of everything, instead of hording in on one dish, so this restaurant was perfect for me, and for our big group, which was added by H-Town’s boyfriend and our stepfather. As we arrived, my mom, H-Town and I began with mimosas to refresh our senses, and get us off to a good start before the meal, and NYC ordered a bottle of wine, which we had no problem helping her finish after our starter drink. Next, I have to say that our make-over on my mom made quite an effect because her husband was taken aback when he met up with us and saw her. He made a little sound that started off in a low tone, then went up a notch and then down again. It was a sound of impression, and we were rather proud of ourselves and very happy for her. After that reaction, we proceeded to order about 10 dishes ranging from Plato de Queso, Marinated Mushrooms, Scallops, Beef Skewers, Empanadas, Patatas Bravas, and Salmon to get us started. The server brought us some bread and dipping oil, which was fantastic, while our dishes came out one by one. We polished off those first 10 plates pretty quickly, and ended up requesting the Spanish Potato Omelet and Meatballs to finish us off. Most everything was especially appetizing, but my favorites were those Marinated Mushrooms and believe it or not that bread dipping oil! Both of which had great garlic flavor leaving me with bad breath for the night, but that was okay because my husband was at home in Dallas.