Another Mexican Restaurant...and Perhaps the Best One!

We have an almost overwhelming number of Mexican restaurant dining options in our semi-rural small town setting.  I can think of eleven or twelve different restaurants serving Mexican style cuisine within a 20 minute drive from our home.  Many of them are above average.  Laurie had her favorite and I had my favorite...but to be fair, a couple other Mexican restaurants were also in the running for favorites.

But recently, we found a Mexican restaurant that we both agree is our favorite...at least for now.

This is the Sol Azteca Mexican Grill in Madisonville Tennessee.  Like almost all local Mexican restaurants in our area, Sol Azteca is family owned.  The owner/chef has been cooking/creating for the public for over 10 years.  We've passed the restaurant many times on our way south through Madisonville over the last several years.  Probably due to the restaurant's location in the corner of a sweeping curve by an overpass on US Hwy 411, we'd never really noticed it or managed to remember seeing it.  This is despite Sol Azteca having been in business for about 8 years!

On our first visit, we arrived a bit early for dinner...and the full bar lacked any customers.

Basically, the lack of early diners and patrons was also evident in the dining areas as well.  While Sol Azteca has colorful decor, it is less over the top than some of its local competitors'.  It is a bit more subdued.  

Like in almost all Mexican dining establishments, our server (Kevin), brought a basket of tortilla chips and salsa to the table.  What was a bit different was that he provided a bowl for each of us for the salsa and he brought a carafe of salsa...which meant we didn't have to ask for more salsa later in the meal.  Subtle...but a nice touch.  The salsa had a little 'bite' to it, but it is mild enough for most diners.

OK...our favorite Mexican style appetizer is Chorizo Dip with our chips.  Our biggest complaints about this style dip generally are: 1) it was too runny; 2) it lacked enough chorizo sausage bits, and 3) it was too bland.  Sol Azteca's Chorizo Dip featured none of those negative points.  It is the best version of this appetizer that we've had in several years, and it was plentiful too. ($9.99) 

As this was our first visit to Sol Azteca, Laurie stuck with her usual tried and true menu item.  This was her Quesadilla Rellena. ($9.99) This very large flour tortilla was grilled and then stuffed with chicken, cheese and beans. (beef tips are another option) The tortilla was then served with Mexican style rice, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole and sour cream.  She was quite happy with this oversized quesadilla!

I stayed within my tried and true comfort zone as well when ordering.  I ordered the Burrito Deluxe, 2 burritos, one filled with chicken and one with beef, plus beans and then topped with grated cheese, lettuce and sour cream. ($9.75) It came with a red sauce but I opted for a green salsa.  I'm not into sour cream so Laurie, who loves sour cream, was the recipient of my serving, adding it to the dollop on her plate.  I also enjoyed my meal...so what logically came next? 

Note: Like several other Mexican restaurants in our area, Sol Azteca has a 'salsa bar' where you can replenish your salsa or sample a wide range of alternate salsa toppings.  They range from green to red and from mild to 'call the fire department'!

The answer to the question posed above is that we revisited Sol Azteca, this time bringing our neighbors, Steve and Sue, California 'refugees' who managed to 'escape' to a relatively laid back East Tennessee and it's moderate climate.

No repeat photo but once again we ordered the Chorizo Dip as an appetizer.  It was well received by Sue and Steve.  For my entree this time I wandered a bit from my norm.  This was the Camarones a la Diabla. ($15.25) Diabla for sure...as the sauce with the shrimp was very spicy hot indeed.  However, while it may not appeal to everyone, the 'heat' was right for me.  Laurie was happy too...in that I'm OK with but not crazy about guacamole so she was able to score the slices of guac that came with my meal.  While I did wrap some shrimp in the soft tortilla wraps that came with my meal, I decided that I preferred them straight up with a little lettuce.

Laurie went for the shrimp for her entree as well... This was her Camarones Cremosos. ($15.49) In this instance the shrimp were cooked with mushrooms and then they were served with Mexican rice, lettuce, tomato and sour cream.  She was very happy with her meal, enjoying both the plentiful shrimp on the plate as well as more mushrooms than she could eat.

I'd never seen a 'bowl' dish like this before in a Mexican restaurant.  Sue's entree was Sol Azteca's Classic Burrito Bowl. ($9.99) The bowl was filled with grilled chicken, black beans and Mexican rice with Pico de Gallo and avocado slices...all topped with the Mexican cheese dip.  Two thumbs up!

Steve went 'all in' with a Classic Fajita Plate. ($13.99) This combination of steak strips and shrimp was grilled with onions and bell peppers then topped with cheese.  As you can see, this platter of food was accompanied by a plate of Mexican rice, refried beans, lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes and soft tortilla shells.  Despite having come from California with it's many Mexican restaurants, he gave high praise for his dinner.

Sol Azteca Mexican Grill is located 4263 US Hwy 411 in Madisonville Tennessee.  This restaurant is open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week.  Website: 

https://www.solaztecamexgrill.com/.  This restaurant is also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/solaztecamadisonville/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for dinner!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

At Home - This and That

 ...back home again, just hanging around, watching the wooded areas in the neighborhood disappear and playing with a couple of food items we hadn't tried before.

This was the wooded lot diagonally across the street from our home.  Other than the lot next to our home, this was the last wooded lot in our 2 block area.  A new house, directly across the street from us was being built on the lot to the left of the woods shown above.  We believe that the lot next to us is tied up for now with legal issues but that can't go on forever...

...and this is a view of that same 'wooded lot' just a couple of weeks ago.  We used to see trees as we rounded that curve toward our home... Now all we see is construction and the backs of other homes.

Unfortunately, unless specified by the home builder or the person who is having a home built, the common practice is to just strip the lots bare.  It simplifies the new construction and holds down some cost.  Even worse in this instance is that the subcontractor who was hired to clear the lot didn't even stick to the property at hand.  The homeowner in the first house past the cleared lot was very unhappy when the equipment operator took down trees on the common ground between homes as well as a couple of trees that were actually on the edge of their property.

But we especially felt sorry for the new homeowner in that white home at the left.  When Jane and Roger got title to the home, that treed lot was lovely and verdant.  When they actually moved in the trees were gone and so were 2 or 3 trees that were part of their property.  

Now for some food topics...

In my never ending effort to create a salad that my medications allow and that satisfies my urge to munch on produce, I've been playing with my options.  Iceberg lettuce isn't an issue but just how many wedge salads can one person eat...much less enjoy?  In this instance tomatoes and iceberg lettuce served as the base and then I covered it with radishes and slices of yellow squash.  I decided that this iteration was OK but now when I make similar salads, I don't use that blue cheese dressing, but instead I opt for a red wine vinaigrette.  The vinaigrette provides a fresher taste than the blue cheese dressing and its a bit healthier too.

Recently we were inspired by Big Dude at https://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/2024/07/creamed-chipped-beef-on-toast-and.html#more, to make our own creamed chipped beef on toast (SOS for those who served in the military).  We wanted to make extra so we could freeze a batch for a second meal sometime in the future, so we doubled the recipe from Big Dude's blog site.  To be honest, I'd never noted the dried sliced beef in a jar in the grocery store...but there it was.  So we chopped up the beef!

Next we created the slurry that serves as the base for the creamed chipped beef...butter, flour, garlic powder, onion powder and dried rosemary.  We upped the seasoning, adding a bit of pepper and red pepper flakes as we like our SOS a bit spicier.  

These photos show the result of our culinary copying efforts.  First that big pot of creamed chipped beef and then two containers from that pot...one for dinner and one for the freezer.  The whole effort was simple enough...but how did we fare with the actual resulting taste test?

This was my serving of creamed chipped beef on a slice of toast...in this case it was from that batch we didn't freeze but which was left over from our dinner 2 nights earlier.  

Yes, that is Tabasco on the SOS!  I put Tabasco on almost any creamy entree, even on Alfredo entrees in restaurants.  Now for the moment of truth... We did deviate from the recipe published by Big Dude.  We don't keep whole milk in the house as we don't use that much of it and it goes bad too quickly and I hate wasting food.  So we only buy half and half milk, the advantage being that it has a shelf life of 4 or 5 weeks.  The problem with making creamed chipped beef with half and half is that the resulting cream sauce is too rich, overwhelming the spices and producing a product that looks like the original intended product...but which just isn't as tasty.  Live and learn!  The next time we'll buy enough regular milk to make SOS the way it was intended.

As we recently wandered through a plethora of local markets, farmer's markets and boutique malls, Laurie spotted this package containing the makings of Dakota Cheese Soup.  We both like cheese soup so it was a natural impulse.

After Laurie followed the directions on the package and made the soup for dinner one recent evening, this was the result.  Laurie liked it but I thought that it was too 'thin'...and not cheesy enough.  Sometimes these 'special food items' are complete winners and sometimes they just aren't.  

A recent 'winner' was a jar of Amish "B-E-A-R" Jam.  It's made with blackberries, elderberry juice, apples and red raspberries.  It is excellent jam.  Sorry no photo.  Check out the available sources and varieties on-line by just searching for "Bear Jam".   

The perfect ending for this 'hanging at home post' is this photo of the sunset as taken from a traffic jam on the I-75 bridge over the Tennessee River/Watts Bar Lake as we returned home from a local gathering.  Laurie just snapped the photo out of the car window...

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Lunch – Easton Maryland

…continuing with our September 2023 road trip exploring the Delmarva Peninsula.

When I made the reservations for our stay on the west side of the peninsula, my decision was based on both location and cost.  I didn’t initially expect Easton Maryland to offer much for wandering tourists like ourselves.  After planning what I expected to be the most interesting and rewarding part of our adventure in this area, I finally went back to see just what Easton had to offer…and I was pleasantly surprised.

Easton is the county seat for Talbot County Maryland.  The town has a population of about 17,400 making it one of the larger cities on the lower Delmarva Peninsula.  The town was founded in 1710 on 2 acres of land that cost 15,000 pounds of tobacco.  After a courthouse was built, a tavern/inn followed to accommodate those who had court business.  Stores and homes followed.  The village was initially called “Talbot Court House”.

As we cruised toward the center of Easton, I spotted the town’s old Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railway depot…later served by the Pennsylvania Railroad.  There seems to be some disagreement as to when the widely flaring protective eaves was built. 

One source stated that this depot was built ca. 1920 by the Pennsylvania Railroad…but I’ll go with what the plaque on the building reads.  It states that the depot was built in 1906…during the time that Easton was served by the long gone Delaware and Chesapeake Railroad.  In any case, I was happy to find the old postcard showing the depot back during the time when trains were critically important.  Passenger service ended in 1949 and freight service was discontinued in 1953.

I’d done a bit of research and one dining option I’d zeroed in on was Doc’s Downtown Grille.  It is in the historic center of Easton.  I couldn’t find any history about the building Doc’s occupies...but...

I did discover that the building to the right of Doc's Downtown Grille dates back to 1877, when the first floor was built.  The Shannahan and Wrightson Hardware Company added a second floor in 1881 and the third floor in 1889.  It’s a good example of a Victorian style commercial building.  This was the largest hardware and farm implement store on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  Love this photo of a tractor being transported on an early flatbed truck...

Sorry, but I digress whenever my mind wanders and I find something that grabs my attention.  Back to our lunch!

The interior of Doc’s Downtown Grille was cozy and warm…and quite busy as we showed up for lunch a bit after the normal lunch hour.  The long and narrow dining area plus the large wooden bar add to the ambiance.

Bill had to have oysters as his appetizer.  It was six oysters for $10.00, not the highest price for this seafood delicacy that we encounter on our road trip.  Bill thought that they were pretty good too.

For Bill’s entrée, he chose the Fried BBQ Pork Shanks and Cheddar Grits. ($18.00) The pork shanks were tossed in a house-made BBQ sauce.  Believe it or not, this pile of food was featured on the “Small Plate” portion of the menu! 

My lunch choice was the Hot Honey Old Bay Chicken Sandwich. ($15.00) The fried chicken was tossed in the sauce and then served on a toasted potato brioche roll with lettuce and tomato.  It was sided with ranch dressing and house made chips as my side.  While it was a good sandwich, I had expected a bit more of a spicy heat ‘pop’ than it had.

Laurie and her sister, Bonnie, decided that they weren’t too hungry so they split this large Prime Rib Dip Sandwich. ($17.00) This sandwich consisted of thinly sliced slow roasted beef prime rib with caramelized onions, Swiss cheese and horseradish mayonnaise on an herbed focaccia roll.  It was accompanied with that bowl of coleslaw.  It was more than enough food for the ladies!

Both the food and the service were solid…and we did like this cozy downtown dining spot.  To learn more about Doc’s Downtown Grille, just go to Doc's Downtown Grille | Easton MD | Facebook.

As we began wandering around the center of Easton, exploring and browsing through shops, I took note of one more gastronomic find.  This is the Wardroom Bistro and Grocery.  We had just eaten so we just took a look around, drooling a bit but not really considering the possibilities.

The Wardroom is a market…with a wine shop, an in-house cheese monger, it has a charcuteries case, offers house-made pasta and gnocchi and, as you can see from the second photo above, it has a bakery...we love great bakery bread!  The Wardroom is also an Italian restaurant offering brunch, lunch and dinner. 

We missed the opportunity to eat here during our stay.  We were sidetracked by the plethora of other dining opportunities in the area.  I know what Laurie would have ordered for her evening meal at the Wardroom…the Linguine Fra Diavolo with Maine lobster, Calabrian chili, San Marzano tomatoes and basil. ($40.00) I would have been torn between the Four Cheese Ravioli ($23.00) and the Fettucine Bolognese. ($28.00)

You can check out what The Wardroom Bistro and Grocery has to offer by checking out their website at Welcome | The Wardroom | Epicurean Market in Easton, MD.

That’s it for now… The next post will be focused on history and historical structures.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Rehoboth Beach – Arrival and Dining

…continuing with our September 2023 road trip.  We arrived at our destination in Rehoboth Beach.  It would be our home base for the next 2 nights.

We’d booked 2 nights at the Beach View Hotel…but unfortunately this photo isn’t what we experienced upon our arrival.  Sunshine was completely absent!  I’d picked this hotel for a couple of reasons.  It is close to the beach and the boardwalk, it’s near the center of ‘downtown’ Rehoboth Beach, it had good reviews and it wasn’t over the top expensive.  Of course, we were ‘off season’.

We could see the ocean from our balcony…we just had to look down the street to our right.  Of course, the weather didn’t help with the ambiance…it was blustery and fairly chilly for the end of September.

We thought that Beach View Hotel was perfect for our stay.  FYI, they provide snacks and wine to guests in the lobby area in the early evening.  Website: Home - Beach View Hotel (rehobothbeachview.com).

So after checking in and unpacking, we wandered down to the beach…where we were pretty much blown away by the wind.  The surf was up, that's for sure.  No one was on the beach and we didn’t stay long either.  One positive for Rehoboth Beach is the fact there aren’t many high-rise hotels or condos along the beach that overwhelm the views.

Looking back from the beach to the businesses lined up along the boardwalk, we could see that this version of an Atlantic Ocean boardwalk wasn’t a mind blowing amalgamation of off the wall tourist ‘entertainment’ venues.  On the other hand as you can see, the weather was so bad that the boardwalk was pretty much closed down when we arrived…

…so what to do?  The answer was for our group to seek solace in the form of food and drink.

The first couple of photos of our restaurant of choice were borrowed from their website...but we wish that it had been sunny as shown.

We selected Dogfish Head’s Chesapeake and Maine or was it Dogfish Head’s Brewings and Eats…which adjoin each other at 316 and 320 Rehoboth Avenue in the center of town.  In effect it is a very large restaurant…and probably because of the season, tables were widely spaced apart.  The bar was the most active part of the restaurant.

Brewings and Eats originated in 1995 as the smallest commercial brewery in the United States and it marked the beginning of the Dogfish Head story.  Back at the start, they only brewed 2 – 3 10 gallon batches a day on their homebrew system.  Today, Dogfish Head operates a large brewery that produces over 262,000 barrels of beer annually.  In addition, 2 Dogfish Head locations operate under license from the company, with 1 each in Maryland and in Virginia.

For those among you who are true beer lovers, you can learn about the various brews that Dogfish Head produces by going to Dogfish Head Brewery - Wikipedia.

Bonnie took this photo of Laurie and me that I’m not all that crazy about…but it does show the rather weird booths that line a couple of the walls in the restaurant.  I guess that privacy was the objective…

So onto the food!

As usual we started with a couple of appetizers.  Diners have a choice of wood-grilled dry rub, house brined charred BBA or Buffalo style wings.  All are served with bleu cheese and carrots.  We ordered the Buffalo Style Wings. ($15.00) The wings were a bit above average and they were large too.

Our second choice for an appetizer was Dog Head’s Fried Calamari. ($15.00) While I would have preferred more calamari on the platter, it was a mix of fried red peppers, banana peppers and jalapenos.  It was sided with honey sambal sauce.  Despite my preferences, the calamari was done right and I did like the fried jalapenos.

FYI, for those beer lovers out there, we imbibed in 2 different Dog Head brews, the Blue Hen Pilsner ($6.00) and the Tasty Traveler. ($6.00) We enjoyed both of them...

One of our entrees was a wood-grilled ‘burger’…which once again begs the question…when is a burger not a burger?  As per the Dog Head menu, the choices include dry aged Black Angus beef, turkey, dry rubbed chicken breast of a ‘Vegan Beyond Burger’.   Optional sides are French fries, coleslaw, mac ‘n cheese or seasonal vegetables.

This was the “I wanna be sedated” Black Angus beef burger.  This messy but tasty creation includes Swiss cheese, wood ‘fired’ mushrooms, garlic aioli, lettuce and tomato…with bacon as an add-on. ($17.00) The seasonal vegetable was chosen as the side dish, in this case grilled Brussel sprouts.  

Unfortunately I made the hopeful mistake of ordering Dogfish Head’s version of Beef on Weck. ($17.00) It is described as shaved ribeye on a salt and caraway seed Kaiser Roll with a side of jus and horseradish.  I chose the coleslaw as my side.

The reason I took a chance with this menu item was that one of the best sandwiches we’ve ever had was Beef on Weck in Buffalo New York.  My clue that it wouldn’t be the same or even close began with the bun.  The ‘real’ beef on weck sandwich is served on a kimmelweck roll…a completely different taste and texture.  Also, the beef in Buffalo was either of a higher quality or it was shaved much thinner…bringing out more flavor.

Still, to be fair it was a decent but not great sandwich.

Bill decided to order the ‘Steak Frites’, a Roseda Farmes dry aged wood-grilled 8 oz. flat iron steak with house-cut French fries and herb butter. ($26.00) He was pleased with his choice.

Another entrée was the Cheddar Brie Grilled Cheese sandwich. ($17.00) This creation included the cheddar and brie cheeses with Granny Smith apple slices, bacon, honey and arugula on grilled sourdough bread.  It was well received.

Well we should have stopped eating at this point but desserts were available.  We did limit ourselves to a single order of Banana Maple Bread Pudding with banana dulce de leche gelato, barrel honey rum caramelized bananas and wet nuts. ($10.00) It was sweet and it was a large serving, easy to share.  

Maybe its just me but my problem with the bread pudding is that it was ‘cake-like’ and cold.  My idea of bread pudding is that it should be moist and it should be at least warm so the ice cream or gelato melts a bit.  Still, it wasn’t bad and we didn’t leave any behind...

To learn more about Dogfish Head Brewing and Eats and to peruse their menu, just go to Dogfish Head Brewing & Eats | Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales | Off Centered Stuff For Off Centered People.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave