Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Date: Cabo Fish Taco

Since we heard that Cabo Fish Taco was on Triple D, Chad and I have been dying to go. Good Baja-style Mexican in Charlotte is a rarity, and it also happens to be the one of our favorite types of food. However, Cabo Fish Taco is a good half hour drive from our house, so we just never took the time to go. We finally went there for a date over Christmas break, and we were not disappointed.

Well, I take that back. We were disappointed with their chips and corn salsa. Fresh tortilla chips can be one of my favorite things in the world, and these were hit and miss, all in the same basket. The corn salsa was tasty by itself, but on corn tortilla chips? Just wasn't quite right.

Chad got the BBQ Mahi Tacos - "Grilled mango BBQ Mahi-Mahi tacos stuffed with Cabo slaw, tomato, avocado, mixed cheeses & finished with our cilantro white sauce." Oh my. A lot of different flavors were stuffed into those tacos, and the pay-off is a taco unlike any taco you will ever have. And can I just tell you that the tortillas were the most perfect I have had in North Carolina? Here is a clip from Triple D about these very tacos.

I ordered the beer-battered shrimp tacos. My tacos were much simpler in taste, but the taste and textures together were perfection. The shrimp were cooked perfectly, and the batter had just the right crisp to it. There was a lot less going on, but I they were still just as delicious as Chad's. By the way, we each had one of each of the tacos - one more thing I love about my husband is eagerness to try new food right along with me, and we almost always trade plates half-way through.

The sides were pretty mediocre, but it it really didn't matter. If those tacos were good enought to make me forgive the chips, I can certainly forgive the sides.

Chad and I haven't been this excited about a new restaurant find in a long time. We have talked about it over and over again since going and even though it is half an hour away and we have no coupons for it, we will be back. SOON.

Cabo Fish Taco, located in the NoDa neighborhood.

Also forgiven? The hipster-doofus neighborhood. Tell me where the phrase "hipster-doofus" comes from and you get some brownie points from me.

Date Night with Dew: Cajun Queen

A couple of months ago, Living Social had a deal where you could spend $20 to get a gift certificate for $40 at Cajun Queen. I have wanted to try this restaurant since we first moved to Charlotte almost six years ago, so I jumped on it. We dropped the kids off with my parents last evening and tried it out.

Cajun Queen's atmosphere is just awesome. Couldn't get better in my opinion. It is a converted old house, and they have a excellent jazz band playing upstairs. We chose to sit up there, and I loved hearing it. Chad and I rarely go out at night, so I was soaking it all up.

Of course I scoured the menu before we went and looked at reviews. A lot of people said to try the fried green tomatoes, so we ordered that as our appetizer.

This dish was tasty, but not anything I would ever rave about. Really, it sounds harsh, but I was not impressed and neither was Chad. It was just dull, which you don't expect from your first bite of Cajun food.

Chad ordered the Diane with chicken. It was delicious - swimming with buttery, garlic-y mushrooms, fresh parsley, and tender chicken . It had a little bit of a kick that never got overwhelming.

I had the Etouffe with crawfish. It had a spicy, rich brown sauce and plentiful crawfish. It was spicy in a peppery way that crept up on you. It wasn't spicy like chilies can be, where you have to take a drink of milk after one bite and you start sweating. It built. I have a medium tolerance for heat, and after awhile I needed to stop and eat some bread to get my taste back. Then the next bite would be heavenly. I really enjoyed it.

Here's where my biggest complaint of the evening comes in. I knew, from looking at the menu, that each entree comes with your choice of jumbo or a side salad. Our waitress didn't mention this when she was taking our orders, and I didn't remember until I heard another couple ask about it. I thought maybe she would bring it up when she brought our appetizer. Nope. At that point we no longer had the menu's in front of us and I thought that maybe we had ordered something that didn't qualify for it. It was too awkward to bring it up after we already had our food, so I didn't. When I checked the menu this morning, yes, we were definitely supposed to get it. It really bothers me that the waitress didn't bring it up. Are you supposed to have to ask to get it? I think that is bad customer service. Maybe it sounds petty - but I would have loved to try their gumbo.

We had decided beforehand to go all out, so we even got dessert. For dessert we asked the waitress which was better, the bread pudding or the key lime pie (which people rave about online). She mentioned that they made their own bread pudding, and it had an amazing caramel sauce on top, so we got that.

Um, that's the amazing caramel sauce? We couldn't even taste it. The bread pudding was yummy though, and I thought it was nice and balanced - not overly sweet.

We had a very enjoyable evening. Will be go back again? Doubtful. We just never spend that much on dinner- even with our coupon, it was expensive. It was really nice to try though, and at least we were full at the end of the evening! I even had some leftovers for the boys to try. Ollie and Colin liked it (with lots of water) - Gabe did not.

As a side note, my kids had the time of their lives at Granny and Grandpa's. Thanks Mom and Dad (and Bryce!)