Salt and Lime...and Maybe Just a Little Tequila

    Salt and Lime isn't your standard Mexican restaurant, it's Baja Style Cuisine, which to me tastes a lot fresher and lighter than what we in the States typically associate with our Americanized Mexican food. I've been to Salt and Lime a few times now with some different sets of friends, and I've fallen in to the old rut of loving what I ordered so much the first time, that I've only ordered that same item every time that I've been back.  That item is the Cabo Street Chicken, a quarter of roasted white meat chicken first rubbed with a seasoning prior to cooking and afterwards topped with a spicy adobo sauce. This chicken would be great on it's own, but what really takes it up a notch is that it is topped with slices of bacon (this may be overkill and you could certainly order it without if you wanted to make the dish a little healthier,) sliced grilled avocado (I've never had grilled avocado before! Not bad!) pico de gallo, queso fresco, and cilantro.  For some reason pico and cilantro have a habit of tricking me into thinking a meal is light and healthy...you realized I mentioned this was topped with bacon...I live in a world of denial.  Healthy or not, this is a great dish and its virtues are only further enhanced by the bed of queso rice that it tops. I loved this queso rice so much I briefly contemplated ordering an additional side of it. I think it was only the bacon slices that stopped me.

                                                 

Cabo Street Chicken

    Honestly, I'm not too thrilled with either the chips and salsa or the guacamole here.  The salsa was too chunky for my personal taste and had a smoky chipotle flavor that wasn't my favorite.  I had chunky salsa loving friend however who strongly approved of it, so like anything it's all dependent on taste. The guacamole was a universal flop.  It had virtually no flavor, to the point where I asked for lime wedges and added some lime and salt.  I was very surprised it was so bland considering the vibrant flavors of everything else.  With the name of the restaurant, one would expect the margaritas here  to be the shining star.  There is certainly a great selection of them, but I like to evaluate a place by their house margarita first.  The margarita de la casa was bueno, pero no excelente.
I would drink one again, but I wasn't super impressed, once again considering this place is called Salt and Lime.

    So what else to order other than the Cabo Street Chicken? Fortunately for you, my friends ordered other things, and I being myself, couldn't let the opportunity pass to sample their orders.  One friend, ordered the Classic Fish Tacos and said she would come back for them again. Being a Californian, I assume she knows her fish tacos and took this as a ringing endorsement. An order came with three beer batter fried haddock tacos (not Tilapia thank God...say what you will, but I believe Tilapia is a trash fish.) The tacos were pleasantly dressed with bright combination of salsa verde, a lime cream sauce, mixed greens, pickled radishes, pico de gallo, and cilantro. So you know, practically healthy.

    Another friend ordered the Key-Lime Mahi Mahi, something that due to my great love of all things Key-Lime I was sorely tempted to order.  The grilled Mahi Mahi was topped with a mango glaze, Caribbean salsa, red peppers and a drizzle of lime cream sauce.  The dish was accompanied by a Key-Lime Coconut Rice, roasted corn and sauteed shrimp. This was definitely a lighter dish than my Cabo Street Chicken, and though it was good, I still preferred the chicken.

   If you're jonesing for a fresh take on Mexican cuisine, Salt and Lime is a great place to check out. The Cabo Street Chicken or Fish Tacos are where it's at.