Sabor

I've actually eaten at this establishment twice now and both times the food was awesome.  One day, I was driving down 9th Avenue and the side of the building caught my eye.  Sabor' Tamales Tacos Salsas, a tan and brown building on the corner of LaRua and 9th Avenue, about 3 blocks north of Cervantes.  I put a post on Facebook about the new restaurant and had quite a few comments but no one had eaten there yet.

I took my intern there for her going away lunch and I had a combo platter of steak tacos and chicken tamales.  It came with black beans and rice and a side salad.  There is a great salsa bar there with a green salsa, a red salsa and a pico de gallo, plus a ton of toppings for your tacos.

There is no table service, you place your order at a counter and they bring it to you.  But that's still easy enough.  Quick in and out for lunch.  They also have a vegan and a gluten free menu!

The steak tacos were made with a great braised beef (I'm guessing chuck roast by the texture), and the corn tortilla was pan fried, but still pliable.   They serve it with 2-3 pan fried corn tortillas and there is enough meat to do the extra tortillas. There was still a small amount of grease on the tortilla, but easy enough to pat off with a napkin.  I added some salsa verde, a nice tart salsa made from roasted tomatillos, garlic, and I'm guessing some green chilies (I'm sure there were other things in the salsa verde, but those are the ingredients that I picked out from tasting).  It was really flavorful beef, with no spice to it at all.  Just good, slow-cooked beef with great seasoning.  No taco bell flavors here!

The chicken tamale was really good too.  The chicken was also braised and I picked out some onion, garlic and maybe some poblano pepper in the flavors. The tamale was so light and just not like what I've had anywhere locally.  I chatted with the cook and they hand roll each tamale and it's made with masa and bacon fat.  You can't go wrong with bacon fat!  Tamales can get very dense, but these were light and almost fluffy.  The came in a banana leaf. 

The black beans and rice were definitely made with love.  Some pork fat, onions, peppers, garlic, and just the right amount of salt, a whole bowl-ful on top of some long grain rice.  These were yummy!

I also had a small salad of the day.  It reminded me of what we call redneck salsa with black-eyed-peas, bell pepper, onion, an roasted corn in a light vinaigrette.  I had a bite but I was stuffed. 

For a hungry guy, the portions aren't huge.  You may want to order some extra tacos or tamales ala-carte, but it was plenty for me.

One other thing I tried was an agua fresca.  I remember these from when we were stationed in Panama.  You could go into 7-11 and get a fresh fruit water.  That's basically what it translates from spanish--fresh water.  It's fresh juice and water, chilled.  I questioned the waitress to make sure that there is no additional sugar added and there's not.  $1.99 for a 24 oz. melon agua fresca.  They also have mango but try the melon first!

Now let me say that you will not go and eat at Sabor for the atmosphere.  It's basically white walls with some paintings on the wall (they are beautiful and are for sale!), and the seating is like basic diner seating, square tables and non-descript chairs.  However, if you don't need atmosphere, I highly recommend a stop for lunch or dinner.

UPDATE:  7/1/13  I drove by there last week and it's now a BBQ joint.  Too bad because they had some great food.

Peg Leg Pete's ... what's the buzz all about?

We went to Peg Leg Pete's on Pensacola Beach because we wanted to avoid the tourist eateries while on our  25th Wedding Anniversary adventure.

Our wait was brief.  We had a cocktail at the Underwhere Bar (me a frozen margarita, and Karl had the house special and it kicked his butt).  We were told 30-40 minutes, which usually means 15-20.

Seating was crowded and there's not much atmosphere.  Now I know that they are famous for their oyster bar, but I'm not an oyster eater.  Karl didn't want oysters.

We started with fried crab claws and these were really good.  I've never seen crab claws this large before.  The were fried well and lightly dusted with corn meal.  I squeezed copious amounts of lemon on them, and we gobbled them up quickly.  No cocktail sauce needed.

I ordered the crab stuffed shrimp and the gumbo.  First, the gumbo is great.  Full of fish, oysters (passed to Karl), shrimp (45-50 sized or smaller), and lots of tomatoes and okra.  Good flavor and color.  The stuffed shrimp, on the other hand, were not great.  The crab stuffing was commercial grade and I don't know how they consider there is crab in there unless there is crab broth used.  It was over-salty and not great.  The shrimp, however, were cooked well, so I will give them that.

Karl had the seafood platter, and for a seafood restaurant, it was disappointing.  The food was greasy and overcooked.  I wouldn't recommend it at all.  We were looking for something quick and this meal served that purpose, but it was very expensive ($75 even with my not ordering an entree) and I don't know that I would recommend Peg Leg Petes. 

If you are an oyster lover, give them a try.  I can't speak to the oysters, but what I had was far-less than exemplary.   For the line and the wait limits, I would have expected a better quality product.  The gumbo was the shining star of the meal, and it's worth trying!

H20 Sunday Brunch

Hi there!  It's been some time since I've posted and I'm sorry for neglecting you.  My goal is to provide you with honest comments about our local restaurants.  I rarely eat at chain restaurants unless absolutely possible (when eating with non-foodies).

My latest post is about the Sunday Brunch at H20 at the Hilton Garden Inn on Pensacola Beach.  We chose to eat there following our 25th Wedding Anniversary Vow Renewal and party the weekend following Labor Day.  The beach was almost deserted. 

Brunch is $23.95.  They have $6 bottomless mimosas and $6.95 bloody mary bar.  We choose the bloody mary bar.  Three types of vodka...Sobieski (great Russian lower-cost vodka, absolute, and I don't remember the 3rd).  They used Mr. & Mrs. T Spicy Bloody Mary mix.  The bar contained everything you could think of...horseradish, okra, grilled asparagus, green onions, celery, baby corn, tabasco, Louisiana hot sauce and chrisoulas hot sauce, Worcestershire, olives (big ones!) and there was other stuff there but I don't remember (bloody mary bar totally worth it because you make it yourself-hence I don't remember ;) ).

On this week's menu, sushi...including florida roll with blue crab, salmon and cream cheese, and veggie roll, all fresh; beautiful prime rib with a flavorful ajus and horseradish, amazing fried chicken (fried chicken is difficult to hold on a buffet without drying out), collards (more on these later) and black eyed peas, biscuits and some amazing mac and cheese. 

The next room was the breakfast haven:  omelet bar, waffle bar, eggs, breakfast meats, grits, sausage gravy, fried potatoes and eggs benedict.

On the outside bar was a salad bar with fruit, veggies, steamed shrimp, various breakfast breads. 

There was also a dessert bar.  I mentioned on facebook seeing a skinny heifer walking away from the breakfast bar with a full plate and a huge smile on her face.  One of my friends commented that she would throw it up after brunch...  There was an amazing chocolate bread pudding with a Caribbean feeling on it with pineapple and coconut.  And a beautiful bombe with a raspberry-filled sponge cake and pastry creme.  Light and not too sweet.  Among these things were the normal Cisco foods, pre-prepared cheesecakes, key lime pies, pecan pie, etc.  fresh fruit, whipped creme and other breakfast pastries.

Karl, at my recommendation had a 3/8" slice of prime rib and put two poached eggs on top with some hash browns (hash browns were moist and soft).  The eggs benedict were medium-well (probably been on the bar for about 1.5 hours) but still, he enjoyed the unctious egg yolk, the potatoes and the prime rib. 

I had the florida sushi roll with crab, and the fried chicken was amazingly moist and flavorful. There was also a pork dish, asian-inspired, that would have been good fresh, but we were there around 11:30 and the pork was mealy with a weird mouth feel.  Good flavors though.

Let me talk about the collards. I am not a collard eater because every time I give them a chance, they are gritty, and H20 didn't fail me this time either.  I was really looking forward to trying them again and I was sorely disappointed.  It's not that hard to get the gritty sand out of the leaves.  It just takes some time.

Overall, I would say that the raspberry-filled sponge cake with pastry creme was great, the fried chicken was great, and the florida sushi roll was good.   The flavors on the asian pork dish were good, but the meat didn't hold well.  The boiled shrimp were prepared well.

Our total tab was around $75 and we tipped $20 because the waitress brought us a box to put all the prime rib fat in for Tito.

I would definitely recommend trying it again, and one great benefit is that if you want to ride the mimosas for a while or the bloody mary bar, you don't have to have the brunch bar.  There is also a beautiful menu to order off of with some beautiful salads that I saw being served.

I look forward to trying it again!

I would like to try it again soon...I hope you try it out.  Become a friend/fan of Dan Dunn on Facebook and he'll post the special feature that he's preparing on Friday or Saturdays. 

The North Drop Bar @ The Grand Marlin

Our Memorial Day Weekend Sunday wound down with a cocktail and appetizers at The North Drop Bar.  This spacious bar with outside seating for dining at The Grand Marlin has beautiful views of the Sound with gentle breezes blowing off the water to cool the sunburn from that day's sunburn from Pensacola Beach.

We've eaten at The Grand Marlin before and I personally prefer to eat outside at the bar.  No long line, and the views, coupled with the breeze are fantastic.

There was still the mirrored "Elton John" styled piano from the Pensacola Memorial Day Weekend festivities which is a huge tourist destination for gays and lesbians all over the southeast.  However, Elton was not there to play it.  I didn't catch the name of the band that was playing relaxing music to chill out to.

The bar itself was quite crowded with visitors who themselves had just left the beach and were aching to fill their empty stomach with something fresh from the menu.  I ordered my favorite drink, a Chipotle Pineapple Mojito.  It is made from Cruzan pineapple rum, chipotle pineapple syrup and a muddling of fresh strawberries, lime and mint, topped off with club soda.  Visit the North Drop Bar on Thursday and you can get this drink for $2 off during happy hour.  Our bartender, Jessica, spent the extra time to show me exactly how to make it.  The syrup is Chipotle Pineapple made by Monin.  It's such a refreshing drink with the lime and mint and after it goes down, there is an ever-so-subtle burn in the back of the throat.  Love it!

Surprisingly for a holiday weekend, they had oysters on special for $.50 each so Karl decided to try the Oysters Monterrey.  Fresh shucked oysters (yes, the muscle had been separated but was still intact in the shell) topped with a spicy salsa verde and pepper jack cheese and a jalapeno.  They came out piping hot, smelling of their great, briny saltiness mixed with the spicy toppings.  I haven't been able to bring myself to eat an oyster for some time now.  A bad oyster will do that to you, but I did try the topping mixed with the oyster liquor and it was very tasty.

My snack came out at the same time.  Well, for me it's dinner because the portion size is ample enough.  Their New Orleans BBQ Shrimp is to-die-for. I've had it in Biloxi on the Gulf as well as in New Orleans at Dickie Brennan's Bourbon House Seafood.  These are really great.  BBQ shrimp does not contain BBQ sauce at all.  Its this wonderful, rich combination of butter (and lots of it), worchestershie, and a few peppers (black, red, and cayenne) in the sauce and large shrimp (16-20 sized).  There are six to seven in a portion bathed in this luscious, spicy butter sauce.  But really, the best part about it is the Gambino's French Bread that comes with it to sop up all that buttery sauce.  Gambino's is a great bakery in New Orleans known for their awesome Muffulettas and King Cake and The Grand Marlin brings it in for the BBQ shrimp.  There was no sauce left on my plate and I was about to burst when I finished. 

I know this was a long post, but my goal is to not only discuss the food, but also the drinks and the atmosphere.  Two thumbs up for our appetizers at The North Drop Bar @ The Grand Marlin on Pensacola Beach.