Mojito's

I was surprised when I got to Mojito’s Saturday night with my girlfriends and there wasn’t a line out the door. I hope this doesn’t mean this eatery will be leaving us soon. If you haven’t gone to Mojito’s…GO!

Mojito’s bills itself as a “tapas” restaurant. For those of you who are not food geeks like yours truly, tapas are appetizers. But don’t think that’s all Mojito’s offers. I particularly love the paella; a huge pan with rice, chorizo, chicken, fish, shrimp, mussels, scallops, calamari, olives and vegetables; and they have a couple different takes on the classic Spanish dish. There is a choice of whether you want the paella to serve 2 or 3 and we ordered the 2 person version which fed all 4 of us with leftovers to take home! If you want paella though, you MUST order it the second you sit down. While the menu says it takes an hour to prepare, it has never taken that long in my experience but it does take awhile so be prepared to nosh on some tapas while you wait.

My hands-down favorite tapas there is the guacamole and chicharritas. Chicharritas are fried plantains and they are excellent. They have the crunch of a good tortilla chip but lack the over-saltyness and have a slightly nutty aftertaste. While I would like to have more guacamole to dip them into, the serving is decent for the price and it is easy to share with a group.

Which is more than I can say for the ravioli…while the taste was good, I was extremely disappointed in the serving. When you think “appetizer” you think that it can be shared between a few people, and being a “tapas” restaurant, you would think Mojito’s had this down. Then why in the name of all that is holy would an appetizer of ravioli come out with only 2 pieces? Between me and my three girlfriends, we had to cut those 2 raviolis in half and we each got one bite. I don’t remember the exact cost for the ravioli, but I believe it was somewhere around $6! We all felt jipped.

However, the mussels made up for it. A heaping bowl of about 12-15 mussels was brought out with a few pieces of crusty bread. They were by far the best mussels I ever had. Warm, garlicky with a rich, chunky tomato sauce, more like a salsa. I do wish that more bread had been provided to sop up all the yumminess left in the bowl after the mussels were gone. It was such a waste, there was over a cup of the sauce there that just went back to the kitchen to get discarded.

Same goes for the queso fundido. While the queso itself was excellent, ooey-gooey with some Spanish ham and chorizo tossed in for a salty/spicy kick, there were only four pieces of bread to eat it with. We all took a piece of bread, loaded it with the queso on our plates and there was still some queso left. I would order it again, but I would ask for more bread.

For drinks, make sure you try their namesake, the mojito. A mojito is a mixture of sugar, mint, lime and rum with a splash of carbonated water. It may sound a little weird, but oooh baby, is it good!

Overall, I still love this place and recommend it to all out-of-towners. It’s better with a big group so you can order lots of appetizers and swap around.

Starting a trend?

One for the history books...

A few weeks ago, I was out to dinner at a local establishment (names are being omitted to protect the guilty) with my husband and a couple of our friends. Our server came up to take our drink orders; she was young, seemed sweet and nice, etc. My husband ordered what he calls, "the hard stuff"...diet Coke. I ordered one of my regular beers, a Blue Moon. The server's response to this order was, "what's that? Liquor?" Right then, I knew it would be a long night.

I looked at her incredulously for a moment, smiled and said yes, that it was a beer and the bartender would know what to do. "OK!" was the response and off she went to fill our orders.

When she came back, she passed out the drinks, handed my husband a straw...and then handed me one saying, "I didn't know if you needed a straw to drink that with or not, so I just thought I'd bring one."

We all just looked astonished at each other. When she was out of earshot, one of our friends said he'd pay for the beer if I drank it with the straw...

I paid.

Let the posts begin!

I am not tech savvy, I don't have the latest gadgets, and I couldn't care less that I don't. But anyone who knows me, knows that I talk about food...a lot! So I am breaking out of my Web 1.0 shell and dipping my toes in the big, ol', scary 2! It will be a bumpy ride, I guarantee it!

This being my first post, I wanted to start off on the right foot. When it comes to myself, I am a perfectionist, I wanted this to be funny, witty and enjoyable for all who stumble across it. So I did my research. I've been surfing other blogs the last few days, something I have never done, and I discovered something...the bar ain't that high!

Don't get me wrong, there's some creativity out there. But there's quite a bit of idiocy and scariness, too! I also noticed that whenever I found a "food" blog, it turned out to be mostly about wine. While I love wine, I do not have the finances to pay $50 on a bottle when I am the only one in my house who would touch it (my husband doesn't drink and I've finally gotten our chihuahua to put down the bottle.) Even dropping $20 a bottle when I get one glass and then forget the bottle is in the back of the fridge seems like a waste. Therefore, I have taken to experimenting with beer, and there is a world of tastes out there. Many wine aficionados would turn up there nose and sniff with disdain. Their loss. Beer has come a long way from the days of only having Budweiser and Natty Light to choose from (take a second for the chills of disgust to subside.)

Besides all that, I am, after all, in Kentucky. And Kentucky means BOURBON! Anyone knowing me and reading this is probably laughing right now. I am a true bourbon girl. I'm talking straight up, no water, no ice, no nothing. Bourbon as it was meant to be. So to be short, this blog will contain topics on any and all things edible, as well as the places to go to get them. Let the eating begin!