Alto Cinco's Tacos and Calamari

I do love Alto Cinco, but I tend to get stuck in an ordering habit when I go there, more often than not opting for their California Burrito (yellow rice, black beans, cheese, salsa, sour cream, roasted red peppers, and tons of guacamole). I've been wanting to try their tacos out and I remember someone telling me once that their calamari was amazing, so I gave them both a shot for take-out recently.

Shrimp Soft Tacos: $9
Fried Calamari: $10

The tacos were superb. I essentially inhaled these in several minutes. Lightly grilled flour tortillas came wrapped around shrimp, pickled cabbage, sour cream, fresh lettuce, and mango salsa.

I do like that they semi-grilled the tortillas, which helped them stay together (there's nothing worse than ordering soft tacos and getting a soggy mess in return). A good amount of bright and surprisingly fresh mango salsa along side plump and perfectly grilled shrimp (seriously perfect - and I'm picky about my shrimp) and sprinkled with tangy pickled red cabbage (vinegary, but not overly pungent). It was a great balance of ingredients and textures, a good portion size, and they didn't skimp on the shrimp either. $9 or not, I'd order them again.

Pictured above are the calamari fried in peanut oil and served with chipotle mayo and lime wedges.

There was excellent flavor with the calamari and the sauce was spicy, creamy, and great for dunking, but the calamari suffered from being kept in a hot container for too long which unfortunately made the breading really mushy. A victim of take-out, I suppose. I'd be curious to order these again next time I actually dine-in. The rings were big and tender and the spicy flavor from the mayo was great, but the fried-ness were just lacking that necessary crunch.

All and all, the shrimp tacos and calamari both complimented each other really well. The saltiness of the calamari, spiciness from the chipotle mayo, and light, tropical feel from the tacos were all a great combination of flavors.

Thumbs up.

Review: Fresco Tortillas Grill

Name: Fresco Tortillas Grill
Address: 214 Walton St, Syracuse, NY
Phone: (315) 472-8226
Neighborhood: Downtown (Armory Square)
Website: www.yelp.com/biz/fresco-tortillas-syracuse
Menu: View Menu
Cuisine: Mexican, Tex-Mex, Asian Fusion
Restaurant Hours: 11 AM to 9:30 PM Monday-Thursday, 11 AM to 10:30 PM Friday-Saturday, 12 PM to 10 PM Sunday
Parking: On-Street
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Take-Out: Yes
Delivery: Yes

Ummmm...

Uhhhhhh...

Errrrr...

I don't like writing negative reviews. Mainly because I don't want to bash a place that is just trying to fit in. But I have no idea what to make of this place. Objectively, I suppose you could call the food here Asian Fusion, but it's more or less a Chinese restaurant attempting to serve Mexican food.

In what was the old Movino's Pizza location on Walton Street, Fresco Tortillas and Grill has been open in Armory Square for about a year now. The name is borrowed from a family restaurant in New York City of the same. Other local family businesses include Dragon City and Oishi Sushi.

Inside are a few high tables, tall chairs, a flat screen TV playing the news, and a counter in the back for ordering. I was the only person in here sans for what I assume was the owner's child playing with toys around one of the tables.

The menu is laid out like a typical Chinese restaurant with numbers along sides of menu items. It's relatively small, but has some tempting options like nachos, taco locos (flour tortilla with cheese wrapping a hard shell taco), tostadas, chili con carne, and quesadillas (the mixed vegetable with bok choy, baby corn, and carrots is probably the perfect example of "Asian Fusion" here). A decent portion of the menu is made in-house including the beans, salsa, tortilla chips, and flour tortillas.

The order...

Chicken Burrito: $4.99
Shrimp Taco: $3.09
Sprite: $1.09
Total money spent with tax & tip: $9.60

The food came out extremely fast. Probably the quickest I've ever gotten food that wasn't fast food. There was something kind of awkward about being in there by myself the 1-2 minutes while I was waiting for my food. The interior is kind of strange and uncomfortable, so when I got my meal (which had already been placed into a plastic bag) I decided to take it over to Armory Square Park and eat outside.

Pictured here is the shrimp taco with lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese all in a hard shell.

The taco shell was good; a nice crunch and served warm, but nothing else really held up. The shrimp was more or less the stir-fry kind you'd find at a Chinese buffet and there were large pieces of lettuce with just a couple pieces of tomatoes inside. The salsa and sour cream both came in separate mini plastic containers. Although it's advertised as homemade, the salsa was essentially what you'd expect from any canned salsa. A pretty basic taco, but I didn't finish the shrimp (which is blasphemous in my family).

BURRITO BALL.

Pictured above is the chicken burrito: a grilled 12-inch flour tortilla served with chicken, white rice, black beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese.

A HUGE portion size (essentially a giant rolled up ball of food), but most of which consisted of rice and beans. Very few tomatoes, large pieces of romaine lettuce, and generally bland black beans. While hot and fully cooked, the chicken was moist, albeit a little spongy, and the rice was pretty soggy (dare I say, sticky rice?). I did like the grilled flour tortilla, but the rest left a lot to be desired. Certainly edible, but I just wasn't up for finishing it.

Some other things of note...

- Fresco offers catering to nearby businesses

- They also offer delivery within Downtown with a $10 minimum

I suppose if you like the individual ingredients (say, beans, cheese, or rice) it will suffice here. Nothing was really coming together for me though. The tortillas were respectable, but what's a tortilla if the actual ingredients don't hold up? It's very quick food, so if you're stretched for time during a lunch break, it might do. I think my money may have been more well-spent had I walked across the street and picked out a roll or two at Sakana-Ya.

Sorry, Fresco. I know you're trying, but I wasn't feelin it. A half star for friendly service.

My rating of Fresco Tortillas Grill:

Review: Ponchito's Taqueria

Name: Ponchito's Taqueria
Address: 3800 New Court Ave, Syracuse, NY
Neighborhood: Northside (Lyncourt)
Website: www.ponchitostaqueria.com
Menu: View Menu
Cuisine: Mexican, Latin American
Restaurant Hours: Monday-Wednesday 7 AM to 9 PM, Thursday 7 AM to 11 PM, Friday 7 AM to 3 AM, Saturday Noon to 3 AM
Parking: Private Lot
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Take-Out: Yes
Delivery: Yes

Opened in February of 2007, Ponchito's Taqueria is a family owned and operated Mexican-style roadside eatery that has been serving up huge burritos to Syracusans for a couple of years now. The location is a bit out on the outskirts of the city. Unless I'm mistaken, Ponchito's is technically outside of the Syracuse limits and more specifically in Lyncourt, but for the sake of the blog, I'm including it because it's practically right on the edge (similar situation to Eva's).

OK. Let's be honest - the place is a hole in the wall. A crappy TV hovers over the seating area playing reruns of Seinfeld as you walk in and take in the surroundings. The interior is small, dingy, and fluorescent lights line the ceiling. Honestly, I'm reminded of Joe's office from Joe Versus The Volcano. It's a plastic forks and paper plates joint with cafeteria-style ordering so don't expect to be led to a table that receives waiter service. It's primarily take-out oriented, but there are some tables if you decide to eat-in.

The counter area gives you a good impression of what kind of fillings there are. The meat is fresh here and never frozen. And some of it, like the braised pork, is simmered in a beer broth - which makes the whole place smell so good as you make up your mind on what to order on the board behind the counter.

The menu is pretty cool - you have your standard offerings like burritos, tacos, and quesadillas, and then unique things like gringos and platos. These are all made to order and can come with a choice of ground beef "just like your mom's", carnitas, steak, chicken, or grilled vegetables. And if you have the craving in the morning on your way to work, Ponchito's also offers breakfast burritos (like a chorizo-egg burrito).

The order...

Steak Burrito: $7
Chicken Taco: $4.15
Small Pappas Fritas: $1
Jarritos Fruit Punch: $1.57
Total Money Spent with Tax & Tip: $14.82

Pictured above is a chile-rubbed steak burrito with rice, beans, cheese, salsa, guacamole, and hot sauce in a flour tortilla.

It was a tasty burrito and an insanely large portion size for being just a "regular" but I thought there was way too much meat inside and not enough beans, salsa, sauce, guacamole, etc... Not that all the ingredients have to be perfectly proportioned or anything, but this was close to 80% meat and 20% fillings. This has happened on several occasions, so I suppose if you prefer burritos this way, you may love them here. That all being said, the steak was good: Chile rubbed and very tender and juicy, but also a little salty and greasy. The other ingredients were good - the salsa tasted fresh and the guacamole was good and creamy. But again, I just wish there were more of them as I think it would have balanced out everything a bit better. The meat was just a bit overbearing. (Is that blasphemous?).

I really liked the taco: shredded, marinated, and roasted chicken, pico de gallo, hot sauce, sour cream, guacamole, cheese, lettuce, and pickled jalapenos all in a hot, corn tortilla. This was great. Also, props for having corn tortillas.

The pappas fritas were interesting (essentially, potato chips). I wasn't sure what to expect when I ordered them, but I liked them - fresh, warm, crispy, with just a little bit of salt. It was a really nice accompaniment to the burrito and taco.

All of this was washed down with a fruit punch Jarritos (Mexican pure-sugar cane soda) and it was awesome. I know Ponchito's doesn't necessarily make these, but they get serious props for selling them. It's a not too carbonated soda and just a nice, sweet, subtle and fruity thirst-quencher to the meal.

I don't know why we don't make good soda here in the States. Seems like Coke, Pepsi, and other sodas taste so much better when they come from Mexico and are served in glass bottles. Probably the sugar. But I digress...

A few other things of note...

- Service was so-so. Seems like every review I read online raves about the friendly service, but I just haven't found that. Not that they're rude or anything. They seem nice, but it just seems to come off as semi-oblivious as to what's going on and a tad out-of-touch with trying to make food for the customer. A good example: I was asked three times what kind of beans I wanted. Honestly, it's not really a big deal. Maybe it's just a fluke thing or I'm unlucky on my visits or something.

- You'll probably receive your food in a paper bag, but no worries as they have napkins, forks, and paper plates along the side of the counter.

- If you plan on going to this place during the late hours, they sometimes have run out of meat options by then. (Though, that's good news because that means business is good!).

- Although the tacos and burritos are cheap to start off, they can get a little pricey if you keep adding toppings.

- I love the wall-mounted bottle cap opener at the counter that you have to use to open soda bottles.

- There's various hot sauces scattered around on the tables if you feel like kicking your food up a notch or two.

I suppose f I had to change a few things about this place, it would be....

- You can't see the ingredients / condiments, nor can you see your food being made, as everything sans meat is hidden behind the counter. I tend to be partial to seeing my food being made when it comes to things like sandwiches, salads, burritos, etc... I think it also helps the customer to be a bit more informed of what's going in, how much of each ingredient is going in, and what kind of options there are.

- I understand it's a road-side taqueria and not fine-dining, but I think the interior could use a good cleaning. It's just a really dingy atmosphere. I have no problem eating in a run-down place, but it just struck me as a bit TOO run-down here if you catch my drift.

- Going along with the being-able-to-see-your-ingredients-theme, I feel like they should offer a couple of additional salsas - and maybe even various kinds of guacamole. I mean, yes, it's a small place that primarily focuses on quick, down-home style food, but maybe adding a few more creative toppings could really propel this place a bit further.

Overall, I liked it here - don't let my low rating fool you. It's a great place to stop in for lunch if you are craving large portions and meaty burritos. Ponchito's does get deductions for an awkward interior, being located in the middle of nowhere, and I think it could use some work in making the customer feeling a bit more comfortable and in-tune with what's going on with their order. But gets points for a nice menu, good Mexican and Latin American style food, large portions, and being a good lunch and late-night eats destination.

My rating of Ponchito's Taqueria: