Mexican Food

It pains me to deliver this news, but we are sub-standard salsa eaters. Baltimore eaters are also below-par in picante performance, and generally rate as below average fans of Mexican-style food.Bad as this news is, it gets worse when you hear some of the cities that are "hotter" eaters than we are.Omaha, Neb., Des Moines, and Minneapolis all scored higher on a index that measures an area's fondness for Mexican-style food products and sauces. According to the tally known as the Category Development Index, a set of sales statistics kept by the national line of Old El Paso foods, if a town shows "average" enthusiasm for Mexican style food products sold at the grocery stores, the burg scores 100.The index for a 52-week period ending last February showed the Baltimore-Washington area scored a below-average 78 in the Mexican-food category, a classification that includes everything from sales of south-of-the border style sauces to chips, tacos and TV dinners.

A Ravens game in a Mexican restaurant? As odd as it sounds, Blue Agave in South Baltimore revs up for Ravens games. Blue Agave's new owners, who took over in May, wheel out four 55-inch TVs in the dining area, so everybody can watch Terrell Suggs and the rest of the gang do their thing. There are a handful of TVs in the bar as well, so you're not forced to order table service just to watch the game. Plus, since it's in Federal Hill, you can walk to M&T Bank Stadium for home games (or tailgating)

Few people can claim to have opened both an upscale seafood restaurant and a chain Mexican restaurant where the average check is probably $15 a person. In the same city, no less. But restaurateur Tom O'Leary has done just that. He was one of the original owners of O'Learys in Eastport before he sold out 11 years ago and opened a catering company. Now he's back with a hip new venture, Annapolis' first Chevys Fresh Mex, part of a 150-restaurant chain. The Mexican part isn't as odd as it sounds.

One of the first things the new owners of Blue Agave did when they took over was to prop open the front doors. Now when you walk by the Light Street entrance of this Federal Hill restaurant, it looks like a place that's ready for company. Inside, they enlarged the bar area and made some subtle but effective cosmetic changes to the cantina-style dining room. Then they got busy on social media, reassuring Blue Agave's old customers and encouraging new visitors. The new Blue Agave, they said, would keep the classics but introduce something new - fun. The new owners are led by Brian Acquavella, who spent 10 years at the popular Macky's in Ocean City , where the atmosphere, its website says, is "upbeat and laid back.

Some like it hot. But some like an interplay of flavors, with lime and fresh coriander balancing cumin and red chile; marinades made from achiote and sour orange; and tacos stuffed with seared tilapia fillets, shredded cabbage and tomatillo salsa. Those people should head straight to Blue Agave, Federal Hill's new restaurant and tequila bar. Chef-owner Michael Marx's highly seasoned but complex creations will come as a shock -- a pleasant one -- to those who equate Southwestern and Mexican food with enchiladas and refried beans.

A Ravens game in a Mexican restaurant? As odd as it sounds, Blue Agave in South Baltimore revs up for Ravens games. Blue Agave's new owners, who took over in May, wheel out four 55-inch TVs in the dining area, so everybody can watch Terrell Suggs and the rest of the gang do their thing. There are a handful of TVs in the bar as well, so you're not forced to order table service just to watch the game. Plus, since it's in Federal Hill, you can walk to M&T Bank Stadium for home games (or tailgating)

When I heard that Barack Obama's favorite food is pizza from Italian Fiesta Pizzeria in Hyde Park, Chicago, I got to wondering about what our past 10 presidents liked to eat best. Most of the following foods are debatable, but that doesn't make the information any less interesting. I tried to get at least two sources for each one: 1 George W. Bush: Mexican food 2 William J. Clinton: Chicken enchiladas (allergic to chocolate!) 3 George H. W. Bush: Pork rinds 4 Ronald Reagan: Macaroni and cheese 5 Jimmy Carter: Sirloin steak 6 Gerald Ford: Pot roast and red cabbage 7 Richard Nixon: Cottage cheese and ketchup 8 Lyndon Johnson: He liked Fresca so much he had a fountain dispensing the soda pop installed in the Oval Office.

Another former Oriole is getting into the food-service business at a Baltimore stadium.The minor-league Baysox announced yesterday that their concessions for the 1993 season at Memorial Stadium will feature "Tippy's Taco Stand" containing a collection of home-style Mexican recipes from the kitchen of Eva Martinez, mother of the Orioles' all-time left-handed saves leader, Tippy Martinez.Last year, former Orioles first baseman Boog Powell opened a barbecue stand that became one of the most popular concessions at Oriole Park.

THE best things we tried at Hamilton's new Mexican restaurant weren't Mexican. They were Peruvian. That's not to say that the Mexican food at Los Amigos wasn't good. It was fine. But none of the Mexican dishes consumed measured up to the Peruvian fare. For those dishes alone we would return. They're on the menu undoubtedly because one of the owners, Rosa Feria, is Peruvian and the former owner of a Peruvian restaurant in Washington. She says she chose Mexican for her current venture for the simple reason that it sells.

Picture the best Mexican meal you have ever eaten in a restaurant -- creamy guacamole with crisp tostados, a tortilla wrapped around cheese and spicy Chorizo, mysterious but wonderful fried ice cream.OK. Got it in your memory bank? Now, wipe it out.Patricia Quintana wants you to forget everything that you thought you knew about Mexican food. She wants you to understand that salsa is more than pico de gallo. That chilies are more than jalapenos and serranos. That vanilla isn't just a flavoring for baking.

Poncho N Pepe's is a party place. Even on a Wednesday evening, the bar is packed and tables are filled, often with large, laughing groups. Everybody, from the hostess to the waiter, is friendly. It's bright, festive, and most of all, fun. The Crofton restaurant opened in April in the space that housed Jasper's for more than two decades. Land and Sea Group, which owns Poncho N Pepe's along with several other area restaurants (including Buddy's on Main Street in Annapolis and Yellowfin Steak & Fish House)

It's a brave restaurateur who'll open a Mexican place just a few blocks north of what are probably the two most popular Latino establishments in the area. The owners of the new Si Salsa in Pomona Square did just that. They have wisely decided not to compete in the authenticity arena with Mari Luna Mexican Grill and its sister restaurant, Mari Luna Latin Grille. Instead, Si Salsa offers the South of the Border and Tex-Mex specialties everyone loves, like tacos, burritos and fajitas, plus American standards with a Latino accent.

When I heard that Barack Obama's favorite food is pizza from Italian Fiesta Pizzeria in Hyde Park, Chicago, I got to wondering about what our past 10 presidents liked to eat best. Most of the following foods are debatable, but that doesn't make the information any less interesting. I tried to get at least two sources for each one: 1 George W. Bush: Mexican food 2 William J. Clinton: Chicken enchiladas (allergic to chocolate!) 3 George H. W. Bush: Pork rinds 4 Ronald Reagan: Macaroni and cheese 5 Jimmy Carter: Sirloin steak 6 Gerald Ford: Pot roast and red cabbage 7 Richard Nixon: Cottage cheese and ketchup 8 Lyndon Johnson: He liked Fresca so much he had a fountain dispensing the soda pop installed in the Oval Office.

Since their animal hike was canceled because of rain, some of the children at Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center in Millersville came up with a backup: They sang while doing their best crustacean imitation. The children opened and closed their hands like claws and sang, "Yo quiero cangrejas, mama! Yo quiero cangrejas, mama!," which in English means, "I want crabs, mama!"

In a world so big that both Coke and Pepsi can become giant corporations by selling sweetened water, a world that serves billions and billions of McDonald's hamburgers, yet still has enough meat-eaters left over to keep both Wendy's and Burger King in business, there's probably room for Moe's, a Southwest-style casual restaurant that bears a striking resemblance to both Chiptole and Qdoba. Like the other two rapidly growing chains, Moe's Southwest Grill features such south-of-the-border fare as tacos, burritos, quesadillas and fajitas.

I think we all should be rooting for Mazatlan Mexican Grill, a cheerful burrito and tamale place that launched itself a month ago in the middle of Carney, sandwiched between a convenience store and an adult video and novelty shop. Carney? Well, at least there won't be too much competition from other Mexican carryouts in the area. The owners are still feeling their way along. Red tile and blue paint give the room a little brightness, but the space still has the feel of a work in progress.

NEW YORK -- Hernan Cortes never could have predicted it. When he arrived in the New World in 1519, the Spanish conqueror marveled at the markets filled with thousands of people and beautiful produce.Little did he know that those indigenous foods of Mexico would marry Spanish ingredients to make one of the most important cuisines in the world."The grandeur impressed people who came from the Old World. Mexico was a country that had a fantastic culture already," says Susanna Palazuelos, one of Mexico's premier caterers.

There's more to Mexican food than cheesy, greasy enchiladas, burritos and chips.Mexican-restaurant fare took a beating from the Center for Science in the Public Interest this summer. The consumer group grabbed headlines with its report that Mexican food is loaded with fat. But there's a lighter side to Mexican food, and it's as authentic and traditional as Old Mexico."There's a big difference between the Mexican food that people eat in the United States and what they eat in Mexico," says Rick Bayless, author of "Authentic Mexican" (William Morrow and Co., $24.95)

Thrust into the limelight rebuilding a war-torn country, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has no time to worry about what's on the menu in restaurants in Kabul, much less Baltimore. He leaves that to his brothers Mahmood and Qayum. In April, Qayum opened his third restaurant in Baltimore, b in Bolton Hill. Now it's younger brother Mahmood's turn. The Howard County resident recently opened a south-of-the-border-themed restaurant in Baltimore's Mount Vernon district near Qayum's Tapas Teatro and the Helmand.

Taco Bell Corp., the nation's largest Mexican fast-food chain, started its sales comeback in the fourth quarter of 2001. Last year, sales at Taco Bell restaurants open for at least 12 months rose 7 percent, and so far this year same-store sales are up 1.5 percent. Along the way, Taco Bell, best known for selling tacos and burritos for less than $1, has gone upscale by introducing a $2.99 Chicken Caesar Grilled Stuft Burrito and the Southwest Steak Border Bowl for $3.49. "We're repositioning the brand," said Greg Creed, Taco Bell's chief marketing officer.