2915 Schoenersville Rd # 4
Bethlehem, PA
(610) 814-3000
In reader polls and magazine lists, Cactus Blue is routinely recognized as one of the top Mexican restaurants in the Lehigh Valley. I've stopped in for lunch several times and have been satisfied. A recent dinner there confirmed its stature in my mind. One of my dinner companions knows the management, so rather than scanning the menu, we told our waitress to bring us three dishes that typified the restaurant's cuisine.
Before that, we dipped into chips and salsa, my personal food weakness. The salsa was obviously homemade and deliciously fresh. (I can only imagine how amazing it would be with seasonal tomatoes rather than the pink ones available in December.)
Here's a quick recap of our dishes:Shrimp tacos (left): served "blue" style in flour tortillas with guacamole, lettuce, cheese (real queso fresca, not shredded cheddar) and cilantro. Sublime. A perfect marriage of simple ingredients.
Chile relleno: A meaty polblano lightly battered and fried golden brown, topped with salsa verde. Again, queso fresca stuffed in the pepper was true to the "fresca" part of the name.
Chicken encebollado (right): If Mexicans served stir-fry, this is what it would look like. Large chunks of tender chicken amid rajas (peppers and onions), pico de gallo and herbs. The flavors balanced nicely and complemented each other well.
The menu included expected Mexican dishes like burritos, flautas, chimichangas and tacos. But as usual, it's the unconventional dishes that demonstrate the restaurant's quality and creativity.
The service and atmosphere were commendable as well. Overall highly recommended.
Posts
5 comments:
Since they expanded into the building next door, going here is always pleasant, and the vegetarian options are plentiful, especially for Mexican food! If I lived closer, I'm sure I'd go more often. Also, if you haven't tried it yet, their black bean soup is fantastic.
Forgot to mention that they recently doubled the floor space -- probably due to demand. Thanks for the tip on the soup. Will definitely try some cold winter day.
Great, now you made me really hungry. I like the idea of ordering "what the chef wants to prepare". I know they have a name for this but I'm not sure what it is in Spanish.
Hi, Nancy. We're going to start doing that more often -- going to ethnic restaurants and just having the cook make up something completely representative of the culture to avoid any Americanization of the food. It resulted in an awesome meal at Kim's Kitchen. Is there a term for it?
There used to be a great little Italian place in Reading (can't remember the name) that would do that - whatever gramma was cooking is what you'd get for dinner. Great old-world stuff. It's closed now, but always wanted to see more of that...
Post a Comment