La Cocina del Sol - Crozet

I've been to this restaurant twice now and both have been good, so I figured I needed to blog it to everyone. It's not your standard Mexican joint with 20 different combo plates. There are tacos, burritos, and chimichangas. But there are also burgers, salads, sandwiches and soup with southwestern flavors. While I realize this may mean it's not true Mexican, it's the flavors and spices of a country's culture I love not necessarily the actual dishes, so I guess that's why this is a great take to me.

The ambiance isn't anything special, but I love the open kitchen feel. It's located just off Three Notched and there is plenty of parking behind which is nice.

Like I said I've been to La Cocina twice now. The first time I decided to go with the vegetarian tacos because they sounded good, and I remember it being delicious. Today I was there for lunch and decided to go for the veggie chimichanga. The chimichanga was huge (enough I brought home half!) and full of great vegetables and rice with fresh guacamole on the side.

In all if you're out towards Crozet, this is a great place to grab a quick bite. It's reasonable and you're sure to find something on the menu.

Enrico's Ristorante

So the other day I went to Enrico's for lunch in a group of about 20. Though somewhat off the normal path, it's on Colley so near to Ghent, but also near to ODU at 40th Street. This place was quite good all around, and I heard this from multiple people. It's kind of Italian and Mediterranean but also American food.

I had a Mediterranean Pita ($6.99). Excellent. Chicken, lettuce, feta, and tzatziki sauce wrapped in flatbread. The wrap was awesome, mostly by the combo of the feta and tzatziki sauce. Nice and creamy with lots of great flavors. You get one side (option fries, pasta salad, or veggie of the day). I got the pasta salad (pasta, tomatoes, herbs, feta, and olive oil) which was very good and not too oily like patsa salad tends to be at most restaurants. Two coworkers of mine also raved about their meals. One had a hamburger and commented, that "it was best hamburger I've had in all my 51 years!" at $6. The other had a crab cake sandwich which he said was excellent; I think was a special that day and cost around $9. They also agreed the pasta salad was unexpectedly good for a side.

The service was also very good. I've been to enough restaurants with large groups to see how they can screw it up (such as last week's visit to Ruby Tuesday with 35 people for a retirement). But the service for this was good, quick and courteous.

Food - 3.5 forks
Cost - $$ ($12 for lunch, $20 for dinner)
Atmosphere - 1 thumb up