Tabasco's

Address: 2470 South Redwood Rd, Ste 105, West Valley City, UT 84119. 801.301.8985.

Review: I found Tabasco's

entirely by happenstance. I was reading a blog post on slccheapeats.blogspot.com (props to them), and found a review of a dish called molcajete. It looked incredible, so a fellow foodie friend and I tried it. It was, indeed, incredible.

Molcajete means mortar (of pestle and mortar fame), but it also refers to a dish, which, not surprisingly, is served in a molcajete. Our molcajete was in the shape of a pig, or a small bear, I can't tell.

This little piggy (which was scalding hot) went to market and came back stuffed with all sorts of goodies: shrimp, chicken, steak, roasted jalapenos, cactus strips, queso fresco, green onions, salsa, and more melted cheese.

Oh, and they give you a side of rice, beans, and fresh-made corn and flour tortillas. Now, I'm usually wary of dishes like this, because so often they are more about quantity than quality. Not so here. Each part was well executed, and the whole thing just worked. The shrimp were cooked well and not dry. The chicken was good if not a little dry. The steak was tasty and juicy. The jalapeno added its fruitiness to the dish, although it added no heat. The cactus was an ingredient I had never experienced before. It was rubbery and squishy and had a taste sort of like a bell pepper crossed with a green bean (I know; that makes no sense, but it's true). As odd as that sounds, it was good. The cheese was fresh and light and melty. Mixed with the salsa, it sang. Even the green onion, which became limp when cooked, imparted an earthy goodness to the dish. Honestly, just a great experience.

Here's another photo, just for fun.

And then there was the chips and salsa. Chips were, yeah, whatever, chips. There were three salsas: red, green, and fire-roasted jalapeno.

The red and green, are a bit take-it-or-leave-it, but the fire-roasted jalapeno (bottom left corner) was awesome. One of the better salsas I've had.

One tip for those who order the molcajete: bring four people (three if you have body-builder in the group). It feeds that many with ease. Two simply isn't enough.

In all, one of the best Mexican meals I've eaten. I'll certainly be back.

Rating: 7.5/10 (5/10 is average).