Casitas Taco Al Carbon

It feels like ages ago since I went to this place with Fernando and Louisa, but I’m finally getting around to showing the pictures for it (don’t hate me, please…) As I do not know many places in Burbank to eat, Fern drove us down to Casitas for some Mexican food, in a tiny strip mall close to Downtown Burbank.

The place itself is extremely small, the kitchen consists of a cramped grill operating directly behind a short counter with a cash register.

The salsa bar is quite attractive for a small place – plenty of ice and a few romaine lettuce heads for display purposes. I just hope they don’t necessarily use those later for people’s salads. I filled up little containers full of pico de gallo, red and green salsa, and chipotle, and waited outside, as there was pretty much no room to linger in the doorway with other people ordering their food.

This is what we unearthed once we got back to work to eat our takeout food…

Louisa and I got steak nachos – my eyes popped out of my head when I opened the Styrofoam container. Generous amounts of pico de gallo, guacamole, and sour cream completely concealed the equally generous mound of tortilla chips, melted Monterey jack cheese, pinto beans and thick cuts of flank steak. There was no way to finish these all in one sitting, and unfortunately a lot of this got wasted, as tortilla chips do not withstand the test of time or slowly congealing cold cheese. The portion was just…ridiculous.

Close up of the meaty cheesy bean-y stuff...

I doubt even the manliest of men could tackle this nacho monster before it becomes inedible and fuses all into one piece. Taste wise, it was pretty decent, although with any kind of nacho consumption, all of it kinda starts tasting the same (gloppy cheesy slightly crunchy spicy.)

Fern decided to go “healthier” and got a chicken Caesar salad, which he claims is the only salad that leaves him satisfied. This clear takeout container must have held at least 3-4 char-grilled chicken breasts, atop chopped romaine lettuce (agh, from the salsa bar?!), and quartered tomatoes. This came with a few salad dressing containers, and one container of shredded parmesan cheese. He threw everything in the container and shook it all around, ‘till it was all mixed up. He finished the whole thing, and seemed pretty happy.

To be honest, (this might be too much information…)my stomach hurt something bad after I ate the nachos, but I didn’t want to blame the nachos for it, and I don’t like lambasting a place unless i give it a second chance (I have grown as a foodblogger….right??), so that’s exactly what I did – I gave it a second chance, and got the chicken Caesar salad that Fern seemed to like so much. The taste was fine, the chicken was a bit on the dry side, the dressing was creamy and tasty enough, and I would have liked the tomatoes to have been chopped instead of just quartered (making them difficult to bite while covered with dressing). The portion was again, generous.

However, I again got stomach distress. Two times I've gone, two times I've been in massive pain. So in the end, as great of a portion and as decently tasty as it was going down...I can't recommend this place. By all means, maybe it was two flukes, just random chances that I got sick both times - but I don't think I can go another round on Casitas.

Casitas Taco Al Carbon
405 N Victory Blvd
Burbank, CA 91502
(818) 848-3242

TGI Fridays

Jay, Owen and I went to do a bit of bowling at Strikes, (way trendy, it felt like we were supposed to dress up and then bowl) and decided to grab a quick bite to eat afterwards. Since almost nothing is open after 9pm in San Jose, Jay suggested we hit up TGI Fridays, which is open to the wee hours of the morning (I actually have no idea when they close.) We basically got an appetizer each and shared it 3 ways. Get ready to look at some horribly fattening food. Looking at it again, it makes me feel incredibly guilty...
Spinach Artichoke dip, with multicolored tortilla chips. This is a favorite of Owen's so he had to order it. Globby, cheesy, caloric, it's all there in one bowl.
One of Jay's favorite things in the world is Irish Nachos (nachos with fries instead of using tortilla chips), but I think second favorite is loaded potato skins. Baked potatoes, split in half and hollowed out a bit, then melty cheddar cheese and bacon bits are placed on top, and you top each potato with your desired amount of sour cream and chives. These are not for the faint of heart. Actually, after eating a few of these, it can grease the arteries of your heart for a lifetime.

My order was an order of nachos, which was unlike most "real" nachos I've had here in LA. Each wedge of nacho chip had its' own spread of refried beans, cheese and one jalepeno, with guacamole, salsa and sour cream in the middle of the plate to dip. Ugh. Too much cheese. Yes, that is possible. The chips got way soggy really quickly, too.

I think I'm still digesting this meal today. And this was almost a month and a half ago when I was actually there.

TGI Fridays, various locations worldwide, but I went to:
10343 North Wolfe Road
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 257-2050
www.fridays.com