Strong Taco Game

I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD! Enough to go to a restaurant that doesn't take reservations and the wait is about 2 hours long? Ummm...no. So we strategically picked a Saturday afternoon on a long weekend during an off-peak lunch hour and prayed we could get into Grand Electric right away. The taco gods were with us! Got in and seated in no time! On offer were 7 tacos (they ran out of the beef cheek [cue sad music]), so we got the baja fish, spicy arbol chicken, pork belly, and chorizo and queso. 

The baja fish was a fried filet drizzled with crema under shredded cabbage and radish; it was a delicious balance of warm and crunchy (fish) and light and refreshing (accompaniments). A great start! The least messy and, one of my favourites, was the chorizo and queso. I always found queso pretty salty so I was a bit worried, but, hot damn!, this was bursting with mad flavour. The smokiness of the chorizo definitely balanced the cheese - one more, por favor! Swinging onto the other side of the spectrum, the spicy arbol chicken - my least favourite. Nothing wrong with it, per se, but didn't have that wow factor that the other tacos did. Caution to those who can't handle spice, this taco means business. Lastly (for this round at least), the pork belly. Cubed pork along with some type of mango and turnip relish, made for a perfect summertime nosh.

Round 2 consisted of our favourites - the pork belly, chorizo and queso and, a new addition, the roast pork. Not a fan of roast anything, I reluctantly tried it. Okay, Grand Electric, you win. It was tender, moist, sweet, pickly and now I'm running out of adjectives.

Tacos, aside. Let's talk about the magnificence that is the mission wings. DO NOT MISS OUT ON THESE! They serve the entire wing including the tip, which is doused with crema, hot sauce and sesame seeds. Perfect crisp on these, no skimp on the meat and not half as messy as I thought they would be. Even then, I would probably lick my fingers. Yep, they are that good.

Devouring this entire meal, I kept reminiscing to our time at Big Star (in Chicago). Guess what? I learned that the chef here did a brief stint at the windy city establishment. They sure taught him well. You do what you do Grand Electric, because you sure do it well.