Today we’re off on a brand spanking new food tour featuring Mexican food! Some of the comments I’ve received from people have been: “You’ll never find that many Mexican restaurants in and around Peoria” and “Aren’t you going to get sick of tacos?”
Well, I’ve got a list of 22 restaurants in and near Peoria, so with a few road trips, this is going to be a piece of cake (Tres Leches cake). And speaking of food, I’m not just eating tacos, I’ll be trying all kinds of Mexican food. Sure I’ll have tacos here and there, but they won’t be a main staple of this tour.
Bien gente, ¡vamos a la semana número uno!
Here we are at one of my favorite Mexican Restaurants in Peoria and beyond, Hacienda El Mirador in Junction City. Let’s go in and start week number one of this Mexican food tour! Areeeba!
I’m here kind of near their closing time, so there’s plenty of tables to dine at, but I think I’ll grab a seat at the bar.
I ordered a margarita from bartender, Travis and Lucas who owns Hacienda El Mirador with his wife, Julia, got into the photo as well. I ordered the margarita with Tequila David Reyes.
David is an old friend of mine and we worked together in the ‘80s at Fleming Potter. I ended up moving to New York in the early ‘90s and David moved to Mexico. He started growing Agave for tequila and his Tequila David Reyes brand and this tequila has become an international success story!
We had a TRD holiday party here last year and you can click here to see that post. Check out his website here and read about David, the Tequila Master by clicking here!
There’s my view of the back of the well-stocked bar and as you can see, they have a nice selection of beer in the refrigerator below. Overhead hangs an ornate lit up chandelier.
Tables are lined up opposite the bar to dine at with a view of Junction City through the windows.
In addition to the bar, there’s two large and comfortable dining rooms to enjoy your meal and drinks at.
I love all the art and Mexican artifacts hanging on the walls in here. The atmosphere is wonderful and inviting.
The weekly drink specials are colorfully posted on this chalkboard.
I think the first Mexican meal of the tour is about to be served up, so let’s get back to the bar rápido!
The meal starts off with complimentary homemade tortilla chips and three styles of dipping sauces.
The chips are served warm and the sauces are all flavorful and just a little spicy. I liked the green sauce the best.
Okay, now for the star of the evening, the main course is a dish that they call, Molcajete. The name comes from the volcanic stone bowl that it’s served in. It’s a new entree and it’s not on the menu, but you can order it by asking for it.
This bowl is used as a Mexican mortar and pestle to make salsa and other sauces. The bowl maintains heat for over a half an hour guaranteeing that your dish stays piping hot.
I’ve never seen anything like this and if you want to try it out, you can only find it at Hacienda El Mirador. It’s one of many of their family recipes that you can’t find anywhere else in Peoria. It looks and smells amazing!
I got a side of rice and a salad with the meal—yes, this is going to be a beanless Mexican food tour! The rice was tasty and now time to dig into the Molcajete!
Those are strips of Chihuahua Cheese on top and I crumbled them into the dish. This entree is huge and could easily be shared by two to four people. Luckily a couple of mystery guests are meeting me here soon and maybe they can help me eat this monster of a meal!
The Molcajete is sort of a Mexican stew with chucks of chicken, steak, jumbo shrimp, cactus, peppers and onions is a spicy, rich and smoky tomato base. It comes with warm tortillas so you can wrap the mixture up in those and this is so delicious!
What a unique spin on a Mexican entree! I won’t come close to finishing the whole thing! There’s so many delicious flavors going on it’s like having a Mexican buffet in your mouth with every bite!
And here’s the two mystery guests, my friends and frequent MBIP guest stars, Amber and Joe! Great to see them, as always and they’re looking great!
After a little small talk, we turned our attention back to the Molcajete volcano of Mexican food!
We started eating it right out of the bowl and every forkful is a different experience.
Sometimes you’ll spear a jumbo shrimp, then some of the juicy and tasty chicken and peppers and the next bite might bring you a slice of savory steak and onions!
This is definitely something unique and it’s not only tasty and delicious, it’s fun to eat!
For dessert, we had more Tequila David Reyes margaritas! Hey we had to be true to the writing on the wall!
Thanks to Amber and Joe for joining me on this maiden voyage of the latest MBIP food tour! This one is off to a marvelous start!
Clasificación de Alimentos
Four Pepe Tacos—You won’t find anything like the Molcajete anywhere else in Peoria, so stop in and try this fantastic and original dish out at Hacienda El Mirador. And don’t forget to get your margarita with Tequila David Reyes, accept no substitute!
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5805 N. Humboldt Avenue
Junction City
Peoria
309-839-2820
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Related Post: Palate Cleanser @ Taco John’s.