We were planning to head up to San Francisco to buy some herbs (no, not that kind of herb 😉 ) and spices at San Francisco Herb Company (more on this later) in the Mission District. Since we were going to be there around lunch time, I thought, why not look for a good Mexican place to eat in the Mission? Searching Entertainment.com, I found a couple places that looked promising and chose Mi Lindo Yucatan. Printed out the 20% off coupon, and off we went.
Contrary to popular belief, Mexican food isn’t just about tacos, burritos, enchiladas or fajitas. (Fajitas, by the way, aren’t even Mexican – they’re Tex-Mex). Taco Bell has as much to do with Mexican cuisine as Panda Express has to do with Chinese cuisine. Mexico is a large country with a very long and varied culinary history. Mi Lindo Yucatan features cuisine from the Yucatan Peninsula in Southern Mexico. Its main cuisinal (is that even a word? <flips through dictionary>) influence is from the Mayan culture as well as French and Spanish cuisine.
What new flavors would we find at Mi Lindo Yucatan?
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t mention freebies like the chips and salsa, but these were different. The chips were like they were made from whole grains than flour. And the salsa was so addicting. I think they put ground peanuts in it or something. There was a second salsa, made with habaneros, that had me sucking down the water. It burned so good!
The kids had this chicken tamale which was unlike anything I’ve had before. The corn was actually very creamy, almost like mashed potatoes. It was steamed in a banana leaf, then topped with a tomato sauce. Delicious!
It was a very cold and blustery day in San Francisco, so Annie wanted to get a nice warm bowl of soup. They had pozole on the menu. Very nice. Lots of meat and hominy lurking at the bottom, plenty of veggies and tortilla strips on top, and yummy but not spicy broth holding it all together.
I got the “poc chuc” which is marinated pork that his chargrilled and cut into bite-sized pieces. They served it with some fresh corn tortillas, radish, cabbage, tomato, avocado, and a black bean sauce. The plate of meat was huge but I couldn’t stop eating it, it was so tasty.
Overall, I’d say it was a great find for us. The food was terrific, and prices were reasonable. With the Entertainment.com coupon, it was even more of a value!
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Mon-Sat 11 am – 11 pm
Sun 11 am – 10 pm
Aloha, Nate
>if you ever come down south to SD, you need to try a place called “Mama Testa’s”.
It had a sign on the door (don’t know if it’s still there) that said, “we challenge all other mexican restaurants to stop serving burritos”. amazing.
The restaurant itself tries to get a different taco from each state of Mexico. simply sublime. Try it next time for some nice authentic mexican.
>Daniel, thanks for the recommendation! I don’t know when we’ll be back down in SD, but I’ll sure keep Mama Testa’s in mind.
>The Poc Chuc has me reminiscing about Mexico. That spot looks good. +10 points for using the Entertainment guidebook that thing is great. I love that thing.
>Lando,
I’ve never had poc chuc before; it was a first for me.
We always try to look for discounts when we go out, either on Entertainment.com or on Restaurant.com. We like making the dollar stretch further!