Restaurant Review: Park Street Cantina

     Nestled behind the North Market (a place I still have yet to really explore) lies The Park Street Cantina, a place oozing with it's own distinctive charm. Enormous portions, reasonable prices, and a plethora of house made sauces make The Park Street Cantina a notable addition to our beloved city. Mary and I both had a great time on both of our Park Street visits, the first being during Origins Game Fair when we once again failed to make it to the North Market before it closed.  The place is just plain cool, the decorations are neat, there is a weird ass claw game where you catch live lobsters, you can sit on a swing at the bar (which I hated while eating, but started to enjoy after the first pitcher of Margaritas), and the servers are super friendly in a way that suggests they are genuinely nice and not putting on an act(after a decade in the food industry I can spot the 'server act' and it makes me want to slowly choke the life from someone). That being said, besides the house made salsa and the 'Ultimate Mac and Cheese' which were fantastic, the food was kind of bland. I tried burgers and wraps, beef and chicken fajitas and tacos between the two visits and it was all very very okay. Maybe it was very authentic and I'm too used to jazzed up over spiced U.S. style Mexican food? I don't know, I just wasn't impressed.


Final Ranking
C+ (The food isn't bad for the price and at the quantity. They have great happy hour specials, a great staff, and all in all the place is just a great time waiting to be had. I expected more wow factor from the food than I got.)






Find them online at: http://www.parkstreetcantina.com/

Some Kind of Salsa

Pictured with Tortilla Chips

     Salsa is one of America's most popular condiments, second only to ketchup (or well ahead of ketchup if you go by cost instead of volume, which would be silly.) The problem with salsa is that it is expensive, can be ridiculously over salted, and if you try a lot of different types instead of sticking with the first brand that you enjoy, you're in for A LOT of disappointments between salsas that are worth eating.  So here is a basic salsa recipe that you can fuck around with and customize. In addition to the normal measurements I'm going to include a quick note as to what each ingredient brings to the salsa flavor wise.

Here's What You'll Need:
4 Diced Medium Tomatoes (Sweet and tangy, Tomatoes make up the body of your salsa)
1/2 Diced Red Onion (Sweet with a bit of bite)
1/2 Diced White Onion ( Tangy and somewhat Spicy)
1 Clove Minced Garlic (Garlic brings.... well you know, Garlic flavor)
3 Sprigs Minced Cilantro ( A classic Salsa flavor Cilantro tastes light and Springlike, but also sort of soapy, in a good way)
1 Lime worth of Juice (Freshness and acidity)
1 Tablespoon Sriacha Sauce (Heat, lots of heat)
2 Teaspoons Agave Nectar (Sweetness that mellows some of the harsher flavors and helps them meld)
1 1/2 Teaspoons of Kosher Salt (Salt doesn't make things salty unless you add way too much, it makes all of the other flavors more vibrant.)
1 Teaspoon Fresh Cracked Black Pepper ( Spice and flavor)

Here's What You'll Do:

1. Mix everything together.
2a. Enjoy it.
2b. Don't enjoy it, then modulate the amounts of all these ingredients until you do like it, then write your new ingredients list down as your own personal salsa recipe and blow your friends minds with it.