Driving through Meriden, CT, you might see this sign just off broad street.

However if you’re in a rush, you might not notice the bottom sign there… a sign advertising a place called “Tacos mi Nacho.” And in fact, for the past three years I didn’t notice it. I knew there was a mexican restaurant, but I never would have been able to identify the name. During a recent visit to the House of Rock, Shamus did notice and promptly pointed out the restaurant to me. For those non-Spanish speakers the name of the restaurant translates to: “Tacos my Nacho.” Awesome.

What do they serve at Tacos mi Nacho?

According to the sign: Tacos, Burritos, Quesadillas, Tortas, Tostadas, Pozole, Menudo.

Sarah and I hit up the restaurant this past Sunday and I must say, I was very very impressed. The atmosphere was nothing special, cheap looking booths and an average looking cooking area. But the quality was high and was immediately apparent when they started us off with chips and four varieties of salsa.

For the main course, both Sarah and I got burritos. Here’s a picture of Sarah with her meal.

Oh man! Talk about value for the dollar! This thing was 6$ and tasted super fresh and delicious.

Here I am having almost completed my chorizo burrito.

Overall, I rate Tacos mi Nacho with 5 out of 5 stars for value, 2 out of 5 stars for atmosphere, and 4 out of 5 stars for totally delicious. Also? 5 out of 5 stars for awesome restaurant name.

As I travel to random places like Canton, OH I have the opportunity to go to some really crazy restaurants. The best of the best has been Brenners steakhouse in Houston.

It’s an expensive place but the food is amazing. I think the bill for two ended up being around $130 with only a single glass of alcohol. Way too much for me except for absurdly special occasions. There was another place in South Bend, Indiana that was excellent and cheaper but the name is escaping me at the moment.

This past weekend Sander and I hit up another place that might make it onto the list. It’s called Crave and it’s in Akron, Ohio. Our two entrees themselves were a little too shmancy. But the appetizer of skewered steak with a smoked Gouda fondue… daaaang. It was good enough to throw the restaurant into the network of great eats.

Eventually, I think it might be fun to write all those restaurants down and have a ‘best in the region’ and ‘best local’ collection of restaurants for those places that I visit on business. It’s way more fun to explore the unique restaurants then to go to TGIFridays and the like. Are there any restaurants that totally blow your mind in your region?

Schenk sent me a message last night. This is what it said:

Tonight, I made brownies.

They are named:
The Schenk Tank’s Chocolate Holocaust Brownies with Chocolate Napalm Ganache.

CAN YOU HANDLE IT?!?! (Answer: no)

It is the chocolate dessert equivalent of a great white shark with full sleeve tattoos being lit on fire and riding a surfboard out of a fighter jet going mach 5, then landing on a motorcycle and doing a wheelie off a jump over a canyon filled with pyrotechnics, diesel fuel, attack dinosaurs and monster trucks, with Motorhead playing in the background on a stage made out of stainless steel and carbon graphite suspended over a pit of sentient skeletons holding war spears and really metal-looking battle axes.

Here’s my MSPaint of Schenk’s concept.

There’s a hurricane of delicious coming to CT.
And its name is Guarapina.

Upon reading Alicia’s blog post about my Portland visit, I was reminded of the our trip to the Pambichi brunch place. Alicia, Dwane, Sarah, and I went on Alicia’s birthday to celebrate her life with Cuban delights. She and I both ordered a Guarapina: a beverage that mixes pineapple juice with sugar cane juice.

It was like drinking sugar Octane. I will go to the store this weekend and buy ingredients, I will make this luscious drink, and I will take pictures and document the deliciousness. Get excited. It’s going to be awesome.

Joanna told me to go to VooDoo doughnuts while I was here in Portland. The place is really strange. Really strange.

The doughnuts are even stranger. This is what I got:

Delicious? Yes. Sugar explosion? Also yes.
I couldn’t finish the whole thing. It was so powerful – like a sugar avalanche in my mouth.

Ruth works the lattes at her workplace and she’s introduced latte art to her little coffee shop. She sent out a few pictures last week and they are truly beautiful works. Check ‘em out!

These first two are called rosettas. Cute little ferns.

An apple

and my favorite, a heart.

Great job Ruth! These are awesome. If you find yourself with some time, I think MikeDiDonato.com readers would be extremely excited for a Video How-to.

Heck yes.

from Darcy.

This weekend I was introduced to this:

Cinnamon Toast Crunch a la Total Cereal.

I LOVE Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It is beyond good. So totally good. But it’s not very healthy. Total’s Cinnamon Crunch cereal seems to combat that factor. I will be eating it constantly this week and I will report back throughout the week on the deliciousness.

Day one report: Totally Delicious.