Avocado's

For some reason this Blogger thing isn’t too format friendly.  Sometimes it inserts two lines, instead of one, below a paragraph.   I have no idea why and it drives me crazy because when I go to edit it all looks fine.  Ugh….

The majority of the review below was submitted for Rochester Southwest Life and has already been published.  This is my original review with some stuff added to it.  What appeared in the aforementioned magazine was edited for length.

Avocado’s Mexican & American Grill, located off of Broadway just north of Whiskey Creek (1647 South Broadway), is Rochester’s newest restaurant with a Mexican food focus.  They opened their doors September 27^th and was my choice for lunch on a Saturday.

I arrived at Avocado’s with my brother around 12.30 and we were immediately greeted by a hostess.  She sat us in the nearest of two dining areas and was shortly followed by our waitress who took our drink orders.  Avocado’s has Pepsi products, beer, wine, and a full bar that features 20 specialty cocktails with a tropical feel.  Like most Mexican restaurants you get chips and salsa when you are seated; Avocado’s is no exception.

The menu at Avocado’s is huge and features mostly what you would expect: appetizers, salads, wraps, vegetarian options, quesadillas, burritos, enchiladas, fajitas, molcajetes, house specialties, combination dinners, a children’s menu, dessert, a dozen very American-style food choices, and a few dozen side items.  Two menu categories that stuck out were the molcajetes and some of the house specialties as I have not seen some of these offered at other local places and were a nice diversion of the usual.  Avocado’s features a weekday lunch menu from 11am to 3pm with 20 typical offerings, a senior menu with about a dozen options, and food and drink specials that rotate each day.  Their menu was huge, like a lot of Mexican places.  I suppose a lot of it is using the same ten ingredients in slightly different manners.

I was intent on not ordering anything I considered typical, like tacos, but I ended up ordering tacos from the grill for $10.  It included three tacos with a choice of four meats, beef, chicken, carnitas, and chorizo sausage and included tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, and refried beans.  My brother opted for the Carne Azada, which I’ve always seen spelt Carne Asada, for $11, which included beans, rice, guacamole, and tortillas. 

The complementary chips were unsalted, though they were crispy and had a pleasant roasted corn flavor.  Two salsas were provided; a tomato salsa and a white salsa like you get at Dos Amigos.  The tomato salsa had a vibrant tomato flavor that was cut with a nice spicy note, a fresh crunch from the onions, and the love it or hate it fresh, herbaceous flavor of cilantro.  This salsa contrasted the creamy white salsa that was much more luscious, with a pronounced sourness, a slight sweetness, and a hint of spiciness.  I found both to be pleasant. 

Our food came out quickly and everything looked good.  The steak for the first taco had a great sear on it, but was overcooked and tough.  It was cut small, however, so it was easy to eat.  The carnitas was succulent, well seasoned, very tender, and had the needed crisp exterior.  This was the best of the three tacos.  The chorizo taco was like a good version of a ground beef taco.  The texture was similar, but the flavor was superior.  It had the nice caramelized bits, fattiness, the earthy spices, and a milder than hoped for spiciness.  Each taco was double wrapped in seared white corn tortillas.  The tomatillo salsa was tied for the best thing I tasted.  This salsa had a great roasted tomatillo flavor, sharp acidity, a great chili flavor without being overwhelmed by spice, and nicely seasoning.  The pico de gallo was very fresh with the great mix of acidic and sweet tomatoes, sharp onions, spicy jalapeños, and the bright flavor of cilantro.  The refried beans were what I expected, creamy, though surprisingly under seasoned.  Usually refried beans are salty, these were not by any means.  A little more seasoning in them would have made them pop with flavor.

My brother’s Carne Asada was good, though overcooked.  He ordered it medium and it came out well.  Still, it has not overly tough, had a great sear on it which produced a deep beef flavor; however, the seasoning could have been a little more aggressive.  The rice was well seasoned, had a slight tomato flavor, and was cooked well.  A sample of the guacamole proved to be rich and creamy, with crunchy onions to provide a textural contrast, some spiciness, and a nice overall seasoning level.  A little acidity would have balanced it perfectly.  

The service was adequate, though inconsistent; there were times where a server was absent for a while and others where one checked in often.  The atmosphere was pretty nondescript with many beer special advertisements, colorful Mexican styled banners hanging from the ceiling, and TVs in the bar.  Other than the music, there wasn’t a lot that had the Mexican restaurant feel in terms of atmosphere.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised with the food, there were a few miscues, but the flavors of the carnitas and tomatillo salsa made up for them.  I can certainly recommend Avocado’s for lunch or dinner if you are in the mood for Mexican type food; it is better than you can get at some of the more established places in town. 

To recap:

Food:  Much better than I expected.  I was hesitant to try this place because I have had some legit Mexican food before and was afraid it would be too much like Fiesta Mexicana, which I am not a fan of whatsoever.  Thankfully I was proved wrong.  I found the tomatillo salsa to be superb and the carnitas was also excellent.  I ordered carnitas once at Fiesta Mexicana and they made it with pork loin.  I’m not Mexican, but I know you make it with pork shoulder.  Avocado’s did it right and it even had the crispy, fried exterior that I know is traditional.  I have been meaning to get back to Avocado’s just for the carnitas.  I recommended this place to one of my co-workers and he had a chimichanga and said it was tasty.  I haven’t been to El Carambas for a while, but I have enjoyed everything I have had there.  But Avocado’s definitely ranks up there with them for a good example of Mexican food.

Service:  From what I can remember it was mostly adequate, though often less than spectacular.  Somewhere along the line the idea of a service job, such as a waitress, lost the important part of service.  This is by no means directly only at Avocado’s, but to about every restaurant not named Chick-fil-A.  It is particularly troublesome when a tip is expected instead of earned.  When I was in culinary school we learnt how to serve tables; it’s too bad those who do that job do not knows this.  OK, my rant on servers is done.  Avocado’s was, by today’s standards, adequate in the service department.  I have had much worse service at other places.

Drinks:  I did not try any of their bar drinks so I can’t rate any of those.  Like most places in this town they have Pepsi products.  I think they at least had Dr. Pepper.  There is also the routine beer roundup that is expected at a Mexican place.

Ambiance:  When I was there a few months ago there wasn’t much ambiance whatsoever.  Perhaps they have improved it since.  Even so, I know creating a nice ambiance can be expensive, but it is also represents the restaurant.  Avocado’s had the predictable beer signs and Cinco de Mayo-esque decorations.  Other than that, however, it was very nondescript and unexciting.  It doesn’t need to be like Fiesta Mexicana, but something that would make the restaurant stand out a bit would be nice.  The restaurant should be as exciting as the food and drinks.

Conclusion:  Better than the food you can get at Dos Amigos (or whatever it is called nowadays) and Fiesta Mexicana.  From what I recall it was El Carambas good, but I haven’t been to El Carambas in a long time.  Check this place out and hopefully you can find flavors that were as good as the ones I found.  The carnitas were as legit as I have had at a place in town and the tomatillo salsa was delicious.  It’s too bad they didn’t successfully cook the beef when I was there, but maybe they’d be better at it now.  Hopefully they have smoothed some of the rough edges since I had been there.  Check it out if you feel like Mexican food, you could do much worse here in town.