I'm Only Here for the Food!

Doña Cata Mexican Foods
5076 Victoria Drive
Vancouver BC

Epic fail. Although not flattering, unfortunately, that is the best way to describe my relationship with fellow blogger Drea of The Best Damn Food Blog There is. How so? A bit over a month ago, I met her for the first time in Kintaro Ramen and I ended up losing the SD card where the pictures of that meal were stored. In our food bloggers meetup at Alvin Garden, somehow, the lamb dish I was really hoping to have was not ordered. No, not that I am blaming her (though, truth said, I won’t mind doing so “just to blame somebody”! ), the SD card incident was all by myself; in the case of Alvin Garden, I think we were having a bit too much fun. The question is, if we go again for another meal, would it end up being an epic fail again? Would third time be a charm? To determine if that was the case, we agreed to go to Doña Cata Mexican Food (usually referred as Dona Cata to avoid the “ñ” issue).

Courtesy of Sherman and his post on Dona Cata, things started to look good when I found out they were not open on Mondays, as that was the day we were supposed to meet. I was hoping that wouldn’t be the last indicator, hehehehe. I arrived before Drea and the dining area, which is a bit small to begin with, was already halfway full. I grabbed the last remaining table and started looking at the menu when Drea arrived. (On that note, I must mention that, despite her size, Drea can hit hard! )

The way the place is decorated… Well, I am not sure how it is the best way to describe it. Normally I won’t care but, when a wall is written with some Spanish idioms, I can’t help but smirk.

“Tanto nadar para morir en la orilla”
“Barriga llena, corazón contento”
“Amor de lejos, amor de pen*” (This is as written; Spanish speakers would know the ‘*’ ought to be replaced by ‘dejos’.)

Sorry, I won’t help you with the translations here, hehehehehe.

And, now, to the drinks.

Drea had the Corona and I had the horchata. Drea was slightly surprised at the can – I guess she was expecting the bottle with the stereotypical lemon. (Me, I am not not really an alcohol connoisseur so I wasn’t really sure what to expect). At least the mug was frosted, so… As for myself, I ordered horchata, a sugar-y, cinnamon-y oats/rice based drink, for some not necessarily obvious reason. I know that although a picture is worth a thousand words, in this case, it is not really that descriptive. But, Drea saved the day here with her description: a liquid version of a churro. OK… If that works!

Complimentary was this small plate of tortilla chips, here with some of the different salsas available. Just when I thought all the epic fails were behind us, destiny struck: Drea picked some green salsa which she thought was “innocent looking”. She found out the hard way it was actually really spicy! The scene where she was fanning her mouth, gasping for air and then drinking some beer (which, based on experience I know is useless), was priceless. (On that note, that is part of the reason why I ordered horchata instead!).

Here are our orders, each of us ordered two different type of tacos, in my case (bottom picture), longaniza (a cured pork ground sausage) and Barbacoa de Borrego (braised lamb, though the literal translation is more on the lines of BBQ lamb). Drea ordered chicken and another taco which I keep forgetting! And, along, some lime to juice things up. I will have to say I expected a bit more game-y type flavour from the lamb and more pork-iness (?) from the longaniza but still, they were good in their own ways: juices flowing from the meats (or the lime), plus that herb flavour from the cilantro and that unique taste of raw onions. As for Drea, she enjoyed her, though, from afar, the chicken one looks a bit bland (sorry, when it comes to poultry, dark meat wins!).

I knew that two tacos won’t do it for me so I also ordered this to share (I wasn’t sure of Drea’s “limits” but there are reasons why sometimes I am labelled “The Finisher”). This dish is called Tacos del Mercado (literally, market tacos). Whereas the ones we ordered originally are “small”, this is medium sized. It has ground meat (wonder if it was the same as the longaniza and avocado slices, among other ingredients. However, I was curious instead of one other component: the cactus. Yup, you got that right, the green part of the dish, the ones that look like slices of pickles are actually cactus. I will have to say that it did not have a strong flavour, instead, it gave it an interesting consistency/texture.

As I usually say, meals are usually better, when the company is good – and Drea was such the case. While the food was good in its own way, it still does not sway away my general feeling towards Mexican food. Still, it is a good place to try something out of the usual fare found in Metro Vancouver.

Finally, to conclude, I must mention that, during the meal, a waitress asked us if we were journalist, since we were snapping so many pictures. Whether this had any impact on what was served, I can’t say but the bill was paid in full (unfortunately, they only have the wired version of the card readers so, if you are paid with credit, you will have to go to the cashier).

Update: Drea’s post is up! Check it here!