La Cocina de Mama Greta

Well, if nothing else, eating at Mama Greta's made me decide to finally start this blog, after months of people telling me that I need to be a restaurant critic - just so I could have a place to say how absolutely FABULOUS this little restaurant is!

In the interest of full disclosure, it is owned by my neighbor and his business partner - but even if he weren't just the most gracious neighbor and kindest man I've met in a long time, let alone had the luck to live next to, I would still be saying how wonderful this place is!

It is tucked back into a little strip mall off of Falls of Neuse Road & Old Wake Forest Rd, behind the Red Lobster. The kind of place you would have to know is there in order to find it. They are from El Salvador, so it's a Salvadoran restaurant - if you're like me, you didn't even know such a thing existed...I mean, I've been exposed to many, different cultures' foods and their corresponding restaurants (including Ethiopian), but for some reason, lumped all Latin American food together as "Mexican"...it is so NOT just Mexican - what the heck was I thinking?!?!

They opened on Feburary 14th, so it's been almost 2 months that they've had to work out the kinks and perfect their menu. The menu is a bit overwhelming - Salvadorian as well as Mexican choices - a little of this, a little of that - breakfast included. So, we asked for recommendations, of course.

We tried the Pupusas as an appetizer - one chicken, one cheese and one with cheese and loroco. What's a pupusa? Well, it's delicious for one thing. They are made with homemade corn tortilla dough that's then stuffed with whatever filling that you choose. They cook up all puffy and golden and are nothing like what I expected when I heard "corn tortilla". They were so much softer and lighter than the traditional corn tortillas that you usually get in Mexican restaurants. Ok, got the pupusas? Now, for Loroco...it's an edible flower, best I can tell, that's grown in El Salvador and other Central American countries. As for it's flavor - it's hard to describe, but it wasn't overwhelming at all, added just the right bit of difference to the loroco pupusa versus just the cheese pupusa. They were all served with Curtido, which is a Salvadoran style slaw and a tomato based sauce. The slaw was a vinegar based slaw and had a wonderful spice in it that I couldn't quite place, but definitely added a nice flavor. I highly recommend adding a bit of the slaw and tomato sauce to each bite of pupusa!

For our main course, we ordered the Mama Greta Special Platter for Two. Simply described on the menu as "steak, vegetables, grilled shrimp, pork ribs, grilled chicken, rice, salad, frijoles, pico de gallo and two corn tortillas". Jeez - in retrospect, we shouldn't have ordered those pupusas....but I'm not above the doggie bag, so bring it on!

I'll start with the salad - ordinary salad - lettuce, tomato, enormous chunks of cucumber with choice of ranch or italian dressing (Ok, I'll admit this part was a bit odd - not my favorite part of the meal - I can do that at home). But what followed - ooooohhhhhhhhh, wow - out came a huge plate piled high with steak, shrimp, chicken, 4 ribs all served atop what can only be described as two entire sliced onions and three sliced green peppers. Rice and lovely, light as air frijoles on the side. Not sure what happened to the pico de gallo and tortillas, but I really didn't care after one bite of the shrimp. Oh, sweet heaven! I don't know what kind of seasoning they put on them, but I have NEVER had a shrimp as wonderful as those we ate last night - and I'm originally from south Florida, so I've eaten my share of shrimp. They were covered in spices, seasoned just right, tender and so savory, it was hard to keep from eating the tails.

The steak? Marinated, chargrilled and so tender we could cut it with our forks. Chicken? Oh - even better - again, obviously marinated, chargrilled and so juicy - not what I expected from chicken that had been chargrilled - you know, it tends to get a bit dry at the edges if it's not done right...not in this case! Ribs? A bit too charred for my taste, but once you got past that little edge, there was a sweet, but not too sweet sauce slathered all over them. Onions - check. Peppers - check. What a combination! A little steak, a little green pepper, a little onion all in one bite, and I'm in heaven!

So, even though we can't even dream of finishing the main course, we decide to get dessert - who can resist the Chocobanano, after all? A frozen, chocolate dipped, super sweet banana. A favorite in El Salvador, we're told. Flan anyone? Delicious again, served with a strawberry sauce and just a dollop of whipped cream.

The only drawback to this dream restaurant is they don't serve alcohol. I mean, a nice cold beer would have just been perfect with all that grilled meat! But if I have to choose between a beer and a great meal, I'll choose the meal any day!

Oh, and it's all non-smoking! Who could ask for more? A great meal, no cigarette smoke wafting over the invisible "non-smoking line" to interfere with the food scents, gracious waitstaff, all for under $40 for two people, with plenty of leftovers for dinner tomorrow!

Our bill:

Soda - $1.50
Water - $0.00
Chicken Pupusa - $1.50
Cheese Pupusa - $1.50
Loroco Pupusa - $1.50
Mama Greta Special for two - $24.99
Chocobanano - $1.50
Flan - $2.50

Total - $34.99 plus tax

La Cocina De Mama Greta
1604 N Market Dr
Raleigh, NC 27609
919-872-5360

Everyone's a critic

Everyone tells me I should be a critic. Not that I need anyone to TELL me that - it's just in my nature, I guess. But I can't help it sometimes - I just have to call it like I see it. I have decided that I officially need an outlet to vent about awful restaurants or proclaim the greatness of those little hidden gems your friends seem to all know about, but you somehow haven't even heard the barest whisper of. I work hard for my money and am tired of spending it in restaurants that are supposed to be good, but are really only O.K. to mediocre once you get there. I've tried following the restaurant critic's reviews from the newspaper, but he seems to be a little hit or miss for me - understandable, since everyone has different taste buds, but one would expect a paid restaurant critic to offer a bit more objective viewpoint, and dine with a number of people to get a variety of opinions. Here in the Triangle area ,in the beautiful state of North Carolina, there is a strange phenomenon that I've noticed with restaurants. Some get these rave, "Restaurant of the Year" reviews (Fins Restaurant) and I just don't think they are all that. Sure, they're pretty good - if a bit overpriced - but certainly we can do better than having to spend as much as a week's grocery money just for a delicious dinner. I know it's possible - I've done it. But unfortunately, no one else seemed to know about that restaurant (The Underground) and their gourmet (and I mean gourmet - crispy duck breast with sour cherries, hanger steak with mustard sauce, garlic mashed potatoes that had whole chunks of garlic.....) food, and they ended up going out of business. What a loss. I only hope that the rumor of the chef opening his own restaurant that isn't connected to a nightclub is true and we'll see a new "Underground" soon.