Still There, Still So-So

Blanco Cafe
1720 Blanco

just north of the Fulton Street circle

I've never really been a fan of the Blanco Cafe. It has a loyal following, people who presumably enjoy something about it, but I've never been among their number. To me, there were only two reasons to ever go there; one was its location, which is convenient to my house; the other was a neighbour who had some kind of personal relationship with the family that started the local chain.

Well, there are plenty of restaurants convenient to my house; and that neighbour died some years ago. I never went back to Blanco Cafe after that ... until last week. My immediate reason was the desire to get some exercise, something I don't do nearly enough of. My secondary reason was curiosity: had it improved at all in the years since I'd last been? In that time, one generation of owners had given way to successors, and I've been told that still others are now in charge there.

I've been back twice now, and have decided that twice is plenty.

The first time, I sat at the lunch counter on a stool that was so low I felt like a grown-up visiting a kindergarten. It was uncomfortable enough that, for my second visit, I resolved to take a table, even if that meant having to wait (though I would probably have just left and tried again later). But there were several open tables, and I took one in the back. I'm never comfortable occupying a table for four when I'm alone in a crowded restaurant -- a table for two, sure, but anything larger and you're taking food out of the servers' children's mouths. Fortunately at that moment, the place was busy but not crowded, and yes, it helped that about half the tables were occupied by people dining alone. That shouldn't matter, but it does.

Last city inspection, January; score: 84

These are the things I like about Blanco Cafe: they have a good menu, they have good coffee, and they have good prices. They also have a comfortable atmosphere, a true neighbourhood family-friendly feel, and just enough noise to be a warmly pleasant sanctuary. (Most of the time, anyway; at one point someone in the kitchen felt that something important needed saying in emphatic Spanish that was too loud for me to ignore but too rapid for me to follow.) And there is nothing trendy about the place. (That's probably part of the whole "neighbourhood feel" thing.)

And these are the things I don't like: the service is mediocre, the staff is unhappy, and the food is so-so. On both visits, it took too long for someone to wait on me. That might be understandable when I'm at a table in the back, though I know they saw me come in and sit down; there's no excuse for it when I'm at the lunch counter. Coffee refills were slow in coming, too. The waitress on my second visit spoke to me in what I can only describe in a murmur delivered through an etched frown. The cashier acted, on both visits, as though she had just that moment learned that her favourite soap opera had been cancelled, and she didn't want to talk about it. The staff I encountered on both visits were an effective counterpoint to the ambience of the place.

All my memory could conjure of the food at Blanco Cafe was the image of grease on a plate. That, at least, seems to no longer be the case. I ordered machacado tacos both times. Both times I got eggs with shreds of dried beef, scrambled with peppers and onions and wrapped in cold, dry flour tortillas. On the first visit, they didn't ask if I wanted corn or flour and I didn't specify; on the second visit, I specified corn but got flour anyway. They were not good tortillas. On the first visit, the eggs méjicana were done the way I like them, the way I think they should be; on the second visit, someone in the kitchen decided salt was a good thing for scrambled eggs. (I strongly disagree). Both times, though, they were scrambled to a very good consistency, without too much butter or oil, and had they been tucked into a nice, soft, pillowy warm corn tortilla they might have been enough to tempt me to come back to Blanco Cafe again and again. But being, as they were, stuffed into a couple of rigid old flour tortillas will ensure that, when I need an excuse to take a walk, I'll go to one of the many other taquerías near my house.

 

New to the Neighbourhood

Plaza Guadalajara
1626 McCullough Avenue

(at Myrtle Street)

Which is better for the neighbourhood, a derelict vacant building or yet another Tex-Mex restaurant? Well, that's an easy one. Clearly we're better off having that fourth or fifth Tex-Mex restaurant, especially since the proud owners of the place have done such a nice job rehabilitating an old commercial space. What they've put in has a nice coat of terra-cotta paint and a large parking lot on the outside; on the inside, they've given us a traditional San Anto space, brightly lit with natural and artificial light, and with hard floor and nothing to dull the sound from other tables. I noticed that particularly this morning because of a crying baby across the large-ish dining room. But you get used to the noise and it doesn't really intrude; still, the place could really use something -- a few wall hangings, a half-wall; something to deaden some of the ambient sound.

last city inspection, 10/18: score 84

The menu is extensive and features all the expected Tex-Mex dishes for lunch and dinner; the breakfast menu is less extensive, but still indicates that all the traditional Tex-Mex dishes are available. For comparison purposes, I chose the machacado plate, priced at $8.  It came with papas fritas and refritos. The potatoes were cut in thick chunks and were slightly undercooked, despite having a nice bit of crunch about the edges. The beans had an odd reddish colour, and there was something unusual about the flavour, but I couldn't place the source of the variance. I won't say it was bad in any way, just different, which made the beans interesting without making them better than usual.

The machacado itself was plentiful and nicely cooked, with lots of onion and pepper and beef in the egg mix. Unfortunately, the cook was equally liberal with the salt, to the point where it was almost unbearably salty. The tortillas (I chose corn) were made in-house and had excellent texture, holding together well even when loaded with filling.  Their flavour was good.

Service was slightly above average overall.