23532 El Toro Rd #11
Lake Forest, CA 92630
(949) 586-1477
http://www.lacocinadericardo.com
Another great find because of Groupon. I bought a $20 Groupon at La Cocina De Ricardo for $10. I wanted to try this place because all the Mexican restaurants near our area are the corporate owned chain restaurants. The food is good at chained restaurants, too. But food at privately owned small restaurants always taste more homey and authentic.
La Cocina De Ricardo is a small place. The restaurant was divided into two sides. One side is brighter with lots of window, the other side was darker and maybe for people out on a date. The restaurant is located next to a cigar shop. So one thing we didn't really like was the strong cigar smoke smell in the air.
Chips & Salsa
Our friendly waitress brought us some salsa and chips to start the meal. The salsa was very fresh, and very addicting.
Sopa de Tortilla ($1.95)
Tortilla Soup
You can add a soup or salad to your entree for $1.95. Dr. P added a tortilla soup. It was a small cup of soup, but so full of things like shredded chicken, tortilla, melted cheese, and avocado. There was also an extra plate of add-on ingredients like chopped onion, cilantro, and chili pepper. It tasted like homemade soup. Dr. P liked it a lot.
Ensalada Verde ($1.95)
Lettuce, shredded carrots, red cabbage, tomatoes, cheese & dressing
I added a salad with their house dressing. All the vegetable in the salad was very fresh. I like the cheese in the salad a lot.
Camarones con Tequila y Limon ($13.95)
Shrimp sautéed with tequila, lime & butter and seasoned with granulated garlic and cilantro. Served on top of rice.
For entree, Dr. P ordered Shrimp with Tequila and Lime from their specialty section. The shrimp was very full of flavor and tasty, but I wished there was more sauce. It was just shrimp without any sauce sitting on top of the rice. The rice would taste so much better if we could get some of that tequila lime sauce all over it.
Pollo en Mole ($11.95)
2 Pieces of chicken (thigh & leg bone in) or Chicken tenders. Cooked in our delicious mole sauce.
I ordered Chicken Mole because I've never had mole before and really wanted to try it. From Wikipedia: "Mole sauce contains about twenty ingredients, including chili peppers and chocolate, which works to tame the heat of the chili peppers." So I imagined the sauce would be spicy and sweet. But it was neither spicy nor sweet. I don't even know how to describe it. It had more of a "nutty" taste to me, and it was a strong sauce. Since I've never had mole before, I can't really compare to tell if it's good or not. But I guess mole is not my thing. I don't really like the taste of mole at all. They did a really good job cooking the chicken though. It was very tender, and meat just fell off the bone. No knife needed.
The small restaurant got really busy on Saturday night. But our waitress was still very attentive to us the whole time. I would like to return again to try their other dishes. I think I want to try their lengua (tongue) next time.
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great idea about trying the lengua. let's go back sometime. I love mexican food!
ReplyDeleteOk.
I tried mole only once, when I was in Mexico, and I found that I didn't like it either. Maybe it's an acquired taste?
ReplyDeleteI think so. But since I've only had it this once, I wonder if that is how all mole tastes like?
I might try it one more time, just so I can compare.
I've driven by El Cocina de Recardo before - thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteIf you're looking for a Mexican place, I would highly recommend Taco Mesa - we just went there for dinner tonight! There is one in Ladera Ranch and another in Mission Viejo.
I heard of Taco Mesa before.
Dr. P's friends also recommended that place.
We will definitely give it a try soon.
After our dinner at El Cocina de Recardo, we walked around the plaza a bit.
There's Mexican grocery store with really fresh looking meat and produce.
The marinated meat looked really good for BBQ. And their price is pretty cheap.
There's also an Indian grocery store with a little cafe in the back that looked quite interesting.
You can get 2 or 3 items combo over there.
I'm also going to go back to try El Toro Meat. I bought a Groupon for that butcher shop.
We even walked into the Chinese buffet to see what kind of food they are serving.
It's cheap (about $10/person for dinner), and the food looked greasy and good. haha....