Taqueria Carrizal in Allston

I was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM, and I love New Mexican cuisine. Finding anything close to authentic Mexican food here in Boston is a serious challenge. For years, I thought the best I could do was Anna's Taqueria (which has the best green chile in town) and Jose's Mexican food (which has something vaguely resembling sopapillas).

When I started my current contract gig here in Allston, I was pleased to note a strong Hispanic flavor to the neighborhood, and I noticed Taqueria Carrizal almost immediately. But I avoided going there. I'm so tired of getting my hopes up and being seriously disappointed. Today, however, is looking likely to be my last day (hooray), so I wandered in to see what they had.

Immediately, I was pleased to find a wide array of chiles rellenos on the menu. The Taqueria Carrizal serves Mexican, Guatemalan, and Salvadorean cuisine, and I chose to focus on the Mexican. When I saw both a relleno and a flauta on the Conbinacion Mexicana, I just couldn't resist.

To my very pleasant surprise, the relleno was excellent. True, it was an ancho rather than a poblano pepper, and it was stuffed, not with cheese, but with stewed beef tongue, potatoes, and carrots and topped with an odd tomato sauce. However, the batter was neither too crispy nor too soggy and very flavorful, and the pepper had a nice, noticable bite. It was a little like stuffing a relleno as if it were a sopapilla, and I really liked the overall effect.

The flauta was stuffed with chicken. Again, it was crisp without being overly crunchy or outright burnt, and the corn tortilla was delicious, not mushy as they so often are in this climate.

Astonishingly, the rolled enchilada came with a reasonably authentic red chile sauce. Not very hot, but just the right flavor. It was also stuffed with chicken and could have used a little more cheese.

They gave me a truly excessive amount of slightly oversalted rice, but it included bits of celery, corn, and lima beans, which is a nice change from the standard white-rice-with-tomato-sauce most restaurants try to pass off as Spanish rice. But the surprise best part, by far, were the pinto beans. Perfect! Tasting them, I thought I was sitting in my abuela's kitchen. It's so hard to get them right, and these guys got it.

So I'm hereby declaring Allston the mecca of Mexican food in Boston. I highly recommend Taqueria Carrizal at 254 Brighton Ave. for its authentic Mexican flavor.

I still need a ratings system. I've considered burps, zias, lip-smacks... nothing seems quite to fit. Wait! I've got it! SPORKS! I will rate my restaurants in runcible spoons.

Thereby, I give Taqueria Carrizal three sporks, which is the best rating I've given a Mexican restaurant east of Chicago.

Inaugural restaurant review

I've always wanted to be a restaurant reviewer. I love food, and I love eating out. I love recommending my finds to friends and family. Well, now I can recommend them to the universe. I may also create a related blog called Cooking for Ciobhan's Soul, but we'll get to that later.

Thai Place in Allston, MA

I've been working a miserable little contract gig in Allston, in a run-down, slummy, semi-industrial neighborhood, but one of the advantages to the job is that there are lots of great little mom-and-pop restaurants in the area. Whenever possible, I wander out for lunch and try a new place. Today's pick: Thai Place. The storefront is tiny, the decor is horrible, but oh, what wonderful food! Among the chef's specials today was Papaya Salad with sticky rice, which sounded intriguing. It is, in fact, delicious, a wonderful blend of sweet and spicy shredded vegetables: cucumber, tomatoes, and hot red and green peppers constitute the bulk of it, with tiny dried shrimps and crushed peanuts for protein. I have to admit, I can't find or taste the papaya anywhere, but I don't care. The sticky rice is actually so sticky that I can't cut it with my plastic take-out fork and have to tear off chunks with my hand. How do they do that? My girls would love it?

I also ordered a spring roll, and they gave me an order, which was five spring rolls (explains why it was $5). They are hot and crispy but unremarkable in flavor. The dipping sauce is similarly boring.

Hmm, now I have a problem. What's my ratings system? You tell me. Send in your suggestions, please.