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Last night, Tom and I decided to spend a little of our Ren-Faire money stash on a decent dinner that had nothing to do with Truck Stops or had "All You Can Eat" in the title. We drove down the mountain into the Wyoming Valley area for some delicious Mexican food.
Mexican is my favorite genre of food. A decent salsa makes me giddy. Sadly, most chain restaurants can't produce a decent handmade salsa. You can usually tell that the product was canned or frozen. La Tolteca very obviously makes ALL of their food from scratch, or closer to scratch than say...Chili's. Not picking on anyone in particular, although every time I've tried to use Chili's as a Tex-Mex substitute, the fajitas have been dry and the guacamole substandard. But then again, you don't walk into an Applebee's and expect top notch Italian food. So whattaya gonna do?
Every customer is greeted with the standard chips and salsa while the wait staff gets the drink order. However, La Tolteca adds a personal spin to this grazing staple with what I can only describe as Mexican Mayonnaise. At first I thought it was seasoned sour cream. I just looked at the menu and don't even see a listing for it. It's sorta tangy and spicy and smooth all at the same time. I steer clear, just based on the fact that the thought of mayo altogether makes me want to hurl. I always order guacamole as an extra dipping selection. This guacamole rocked my world. I could clearly taste that the avocados were ripe, the lime juice was fresh and the cilantro was plentiful. Three quality ingredients that will make me order a larger portion next time (so I'm not desperately scraping the dish, hoping for one last taste).
Halfway through our bowl of chips, the dinners arrived. Tom ordered the carnitas, slow roasted pork and all the fixins to make said meat into delicious burritos.
I ordered my usual Steak Fajitas, which I am currently finishing off, cold out of a take-out box (don't judge me!). I can't help it that the portions are GINORMOUS.
THAT is a regular-sized order. It comes with 3 warm flour tortillas. I overstuffed all three and continued picking at the fillings until I could barely move. (Shameless plug for my Florida folks: Los Mariachis on Ulmerton is the Pinellas county equivalent, in my opinion!)
Growing lethargic, we asked for a box and the next logical thing. Dessert. Now I was ALL FOR ordering one dessert and splitting it. But I don't earn the living, and when Tom says, "Bring us a Xanga and a Choco-Taco," how can I refuse?
The Choco-Taco is exactly as you'd expect (this was HIS dessert of choice, by the way):
But you may be wondering what a Xanga is...
It's almost pornographic, I can't even believe I'm typing this.
Imagine a Mexican pastry, like a very thin fried dough crepe covered in cinnamon and sugar, wrapped burrito-style around, what can only be described as, very fluffy cheesecake filling. Cut it in half, put a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle, cover the plate in whipped cream (not Cool Whip) and drizzle it with chocolate and caramel syrups (don't forget the cherry!). And what the heck...some rainbow sprinkles. It's a diabetic nightmare, I know. But...Oh. My. God.
If you happen to be in the area, check it out. And for anyone wishing to drool over the menu, here you go:
http://latoltecawb.com/wilkes-barre-pa-mexican-restaurant-menu.htm
I'm really enjoying writing the food blogs, so be ready for quite a few more of these, hopefully on a weekly basis!
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