Live from Peoria, Illinois it’s Saturday Night starring this week’s host, Hacienda El Mirador and featuring a whole crew of guest stars including Tripod the Sheep, who came back from the dead! And now, please welcome this week’s Saturday Night host, Hacienda El Mirador!
Hacienda El Mirador
It’s Super Bowl weekend, so I wanted to put up a super post in honor of the yearly occasion. One of my favorite restaurants in all of Peoria is Hacienda El Mirador and I asked them if they could give us a taste-testing dinner of a lot of their appetizers and entrees and they told me they’d be happy to do it and said they’d even give us our own corner table in the restaurant for the meal! So I invited some friends and here we go on this Super Saturday evening!
No one’s at the hostess station right now, so I thought I’d wander into the bar area for a couple of photos. As you can see, the bar is a popular spot here and there’s a colorful chalk board with some of the daily and weekly specials. And I see a familiar face back there behind the bar, it’s Randy, the manager of El Hacienda Mirador and he helped with the planning of the dinner. Great to see him!
Meanwhile, back at the hostess station, there’s Rachel and she led me into our dining area and look who’s here, it’s my friends Amber and Joe! Looks like the party is starting already!
And here’s the rest of the guests for this taste-testing dinner party, in the top photo it’s Chris, Moon, Tim and Tina, then in the next photo it’s Chad and Nancie and I brought along my pet sheep in honor of Chris and Moon who gave it to me when I moved back here. The three of us have quite a history with this sheep, but I’ll never give the details!
The waiter/server for the evening was Luis, and he’s the best! We started off with some chips and different dipping sauces and salsa and this is just the beginning!
Next came some appetizers and Luis explained each one and he did such a great job! He really added to the enjoyment of the evening! He also made me a list of everything on this evening’s menu and here’s the appetizers we had: Aguachiles, Nachos Hacienda, Ceviche Pescedo, Taquitos and homemade Guacamole. That’s just the appetizers!
I couldn’t capture every dish with the camera but here’s some of the entrees that included: Corne Azuda, Ench Picadillo, Shrimp in Diablo Sauce, Garlic Shrimp, Cactus Tortillas, Steak Hacienda, Fajita Chicken and Bean and Corn Salad. This was such an amazing and tasty meal, for once words fail me. It was all so delicious, we really enjoyed it and Luis did a wonderful job with the presentation of each dish!
If you’ve followed this and other blogs of mine, you know I go out to eat a lot. So I’ve seen and eaten a lot of great meals, but this is certainly one of the best and most enjoyable dinners and evenings I’ve ever had! Thanks to everyone for coming, it was so much fun sampling all of this tasty food with some great friends!
Julia, who owns the restaurant with her husband Lucas came out of the kitchen after dinner and we all thanked her for the unbelievable Mexican feast she and the other talented people in the kitchen created for us! Mucho thanks to Julia, Luis and Randy for an unforgettable meal and evening at Hacienda El Mirador! If you would like to plan a tasting party like this, you can call them at the number below and set it up. I can’t recommend it enough!
Uh oh, it looks like my sheep must’ve been sampling some tequila when I wasn’t looking! We decided to take him over to Amber and Joe’s house and introduce him to their animals and when we got there...
Tallis Attacks!
Tallis didn’t take to kindly to the sheep, I don’t know why, but here’s some pictures of Tallis taking a chomp out of the sheep and Amber trying to hold him back! In the end, the sheep had the stuffing knocked out of him and was down for the count!
Suddenly out of the darkness, Thurston appears!
He was nice enough to share his bed with the sheep and he told him, “This is why I hide in the bedroom!” Thanks for the kindness, Thurston!
The 2nd Annual Chili Cook-Off @ No Wake Zone
Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday and I volunteered to be a judge at their 2nd Annual Super Bowl Chili Cook-Off! I walked up the plank and ran right into the esteemed owner and barkeep of No Wake Zone, Pete Clarno! And seated at a table was Joe, Amber and Amber’s parents, Diane and Chuck! Diane and Chuck gave me an early Valentine’s Day card and present and that was so nice of them! They’re the nicest people in the world and I’m lucky to have all four as friends!
Speaking of nice people, check this out! Amber put my pet sheep back together and even gave him a colorful scarf! He’s alive again! And she named him Tripod because one of his legs is a little wobbly, but he looks fantastic! Thanks for the miraculous work, Amber!
And now it’s time to judge the chili! Pete picked Joe to help out in the judging of the chili and the third judge is Andy who’s sitting in the middle. I’m holding Tripod, who’s also going to help out!
Pete and his wife and co-owner of No Wake Zone, served up the samples and they even had official score cards printed up for the event! Nice! And check it out, there’s Joe and Andy sampling the chili and Tripod tried some of it out too. How did the sheep like the chili? He said it wasn’t baaa-aaa--aad!
Our scores have been totaled and there’s Pete announcing the winner to the crowd and the winner for this year’s best chili is...
Betsy and Bob! This is their second row in a year winning the title! There’s Pete with Tripod, who’s become an unofficial mascot of No Wake Zone!
And here he is safely back in MBIP World Headquarters! Thanks again to Amber for bringing him back to life! And thanks to Hacienda El Mirador for a great Saturday Night dinner and to Pete and Linda for the fun at No Wake Zone! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Hacienda El Mirador
5805 N Humboldt Avenue (in Junction City)
Peoria
309-839-2820
No Wake Zone
4925 N Galena Road
Peoria Heights
309-688-4840
Related Posts: Saturday Night @ The First Annual Holiday Beanless Chili Tour, Peoria Speedway and The Peoria Riverfront Museum 4th of July BBQ Party.