Maximo's = Minimo's

I am wondering if maybe I need to start drinking. My drink of choice is Dr. Pepper and it doesn't do anything to alter the taste of food. I am thinking maybe I need to start drinking alcohol so my food will taste better. My tastes are not matching up to other diners, and I'm thinking that must be my problem. Maybe it is that they drink until their taste buds are numb and they don't know what good food is.

I was watching "The Naughty Kitchen" last week and Blythe went to see her old boss at his new restaurant, Maximo's. It looked really neat. I checked out the menu on line and it looked good. Gourmet Mexican. I am thinking Javier's. The chef that opened Maximo's had previously been at "The Mansion" for 28 years.

One of the first ways I evaluate a restaurant is by the smell when you first walk in. The decor was nice, but I told Pops, "We might be in trouble because it doesn't smell like Mexican food." We sat down and they brought out the chips with three different salsas. I was impressed. The sauces were all very different and good. The chips were made from flour tortillas instead of corn. It was different, but good.

We ordered the "Dos Quesos". There were two different quesos. One was white with poblano peppers and the other was yellow with chorizo. The white was so bland and tasted like melted cream cheese mixed with milk. No flavor at all. The yellow was a little better, but I am not sure that it was all "real" cheese.

I ordered a chicken dish that sounded so good, but was very bland. I poured lots of hot sauce over it to give it some flavor. The chicken was so overcooked that it was mushy. It was served with some cilantro rice that had good flavor, but it had been sitting for so long it had a very starchy taste.

Pops had the chicken mole. It had a pretty good flavor. You could really taste the individual spices, but the sauce was so thick, it was like a thick cream gravy that is served with chicken fried steak. It was gloppy.

We decided to give the dessert a try and that was a good choice. We had some crepes that had caramelized bananas and tres leches ice cream. It was probably the best part of our meal.

I like to see businesses that succeed. It makes me sad to walk into a restaurant at 8:00 p.m. on a Saturday night and it be deserted. You gotta bring the food if you are going to be successful.