strawberries in paris

Blue Agave with some tunes

For our dining enjoyment on Saturday we stopped by Blue Agave in Federal Hill. After dinner Scotty, Jes and I headed to Rams Head Live for the Decemberist’s concert! Now I would have to honestly say that the music was more enjoyable than the food for the evening and the company was even better!

So as I discuss the “mexican” food- how about we jam out to some rockin tunes! Shall we??

They started us off with a trio of salsas which I was very happy with. My favorite was the green in the back (salsa de nopales), tomatillo based? The one on the right had a bit too many onions for my taste and the one in front was kinda spicy, though it could have used a bit more kick! Cholula perhaps??

I got the ‘roasted portabella mushroom stuffed with goat cheese and huitlacoche served with swiss chard, potato hash and salsa de nopales, topped with molé chatino.’ There was definitely more potatoes going on in this dish than portabello mushrooms. I usually think mole is a strange sauce, but I was willing to give it a try and I cannot even really recall the presence of the mole taste (although you can defiinitely see the coloring present). The portabella mushroom tasted good, but I really wish it had been bigger (for 16 dollars?? I think we can go large!) The potatoes were also tasty, solely because potatoes grilled up with some oil or whatever always taste good. But overall, the onions took center stage, and that was NOT a good thing. I also don’t think the sauces melded the ingredients together well.  But I would have to say that I got a glass of sangria which was nice and fruitily sweet!

Scotty got the vegetable burrito shown below, ‘Seasonal vegetables tossed with basil pesto, topped with queso fundido and finished with salsa de huitlacoche.’ The pesto sauce was very interesting and welcome to his and my palate (My cousin is good at sharing! ). He finished most of it off and was pleased with his choice. Jesica got the chicken burrito was also pleased with her meal. Jes also got a spicy margarita off the specials that night and LOVED IT!

So I would have to preface my overall review statement with the fact that my abuelitos (Maria Elena Nieto Hall was born in Mazatlán, Mexico!) went here a number of years ago and did not enjoy their meal. I might have had that in the back of my mind… So I think this restaurant has the most exhaustive list of tequilas and they do their drinks well, which is commendable. But I think they are trying to do too much with their food. American Bistro-Mexican fusion is just not my taste. When I am in the mood for real good Mexican food, I will always continue to run to abuelita’s kitchen!