For my wife’s birthday, my brother and his girlfriend offered to take our kids for the night. They even made a secret dinner reservation for us that was revealed when we dropped off the kids and they let us know we were heading to Mita’s, the latest restaurant from acclaimed chef Jose Salazar, who also owns his namesake restaurant, Salazar.

Suffering Bastard and Pisco Sour

We started with a couple of their classic cocktails while we looked over the tapas style menu. My choice was the suffering bastard, a wonderful mix of bourbon, gin, lime, bitters, and ginger beer ($12). This is something that I wish I could easily make at home. My wife had the pisco sour featuring pisco (brandy), lime, triple sec, and egg white ($10).

Cheese Plate

The easiest decision of the night was to order a cheese plate, selecting three cheeses from nearly a dozen offerings. This comes served with toast, membrillo (a quince fruit paste), and marcona almonds ($15). We went with the servers suggestions for selecting the cheeses, but in hindsight I would have skipped the signature queso fesco, which also comes on top of some of the other menu items. It’s not that I didn’t like the cheese but it seemed better suited as a topping.

Coliflor Asada

My favorite thing we tasted of the night was the coliflor asada, a warm mix of cauliflower, manzanilla olives, pomegranate, hazelnuts, and herb purée ($7). This is a truly unique blend of flavors and I really enjoyed it. Be sure to give it a try.

Arepa

We also sampled the arepa, a cornmeal cake with queso fresco, and chorizo ($8). The single cornmeal cake was a little awkward to share. We found it easiest to slice it up like pizza and take wedges to our individual plates. The chorizo was nice and spicy and the cheese helped put out the fire a little. The taste was really good I just wish it was easier to share and eat.

At this point I debated ordering something else as my hunger wasn’t completely satisfied yet. However we decided to get the check at this point and head somewhere else for desert. Overall the food was very good and a tapas style restaurant is in need for the downtown area. For us it will probably remain as a spot for special occasions with the somewhat high price tag.

A taco truck has setup shop in Pleasant Ridge near the corner of Montgomery and Ridge in the BP parking lot. Tacos Locos offers a variety of tacos, quesadillas, burritos, and tortas. The posted menu actually looks pretty big but it basically boils down to the above menu items served with a large variety of meats (steak, chicken, sausage, pork, beef tongue, and shrimp).

Food Truck

The tacos are served traditionally topped with onion, cilantro, cucumber, and lime. Mild and hot sauce are served on the side to add any desired spice. The small corn tortillas are doubled up for each taco and the filling could easily be split between the shells. I ordered two chicken and two pork ($2 each) and that was more than enough for a lunch. I think that three tacos would be the perfect serving size and makes for a pretty cheap meal.

Tacos

Of the meats I think the pork was slightly better, but both were very tasty. The traditionally simple toppings allow for the meat flavors to really shine. I did add some of the provided hot sauce to spice it up a notch, but there is plenty of flavor without it.

Quesadilla

On another visit I tried the chicken quesadilla ($5.50) again topped with onion and cilantro with cucumber and lime on the side. This is a good alternative for someone who doesn’t like corn tortilla shells, as the taste is otherwise very similar to the tacos. Either way the food is served fresh and prepared quickly. I will definitely be back for more soon.

Happy New Year! One of my biggest resolutions for this year is to get back to blogging more regularly. Below is the list of cities that I visited in 2015 with at least one night spent in each place.

• Cincinnati, Ohio *
• Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Ocho Rios, Jamaica **
• Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands **
• Cozumel, Mexico **
• Lexington, Kentucky
• Williamstown, Kentucky *
• Denver, Colorado *
• London, Ontario
• Northern Bruce Peninsula, Ontario
• Toronto, Ontario
• Niagara Falls, Ontario
• Independence, Ohio
• Virginia Beach, Virginia
• Orange Beach, Alabama
• Asheville, North Carolina
• Salida, Colorado
• Bellevue, Kentucky
• Oregon, Ohio
• Loveland, Ohio
• Sevierville, Tennessee

* Those cities marked with an asterisk were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.
** Those cities marked with a double asterisk were ports on a Caribbean cruise.

See also: 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006