D. Taylor's Food & Travel

El Loro Mexican Restaurant - Mounds View, MN   I love it when an iPhone app really works. I was recently (yesterday) in Minnesota visiting friends and family.  While at my friend Doug’s house, we decided to go to lunch and used the Urbanspoon iPhone app to help us decide where to go.  We had some trouble narrowing in to what cuisine we wanted; however after a bit, we finally decided on my favorite, Mexican. The Urbanspoon app has a feature where you select nearby restaurants and can then filter by cuisine.  Press the “thumbs up” and you receive “Nearby Mexican by Popularity.”  Urban Spoon suggested El Loro , at 2535 County Road 20 in Mounds View with a rating of 96 (50 people rating).  My friend had never been to El Loro (the parrot) so we decided to head to it before going to the airport. The atmosphere was excellent. Bright, cheery, choices of booths, tables, or at the bar.  We were led to a booth, which was comfortable.  There are e...

As I mentioned before, my mother has many “favorite” restaurants.  She lived in Big Lake for many years, so she has several there.  Of course, Russell’s On the Lake is one of her favorites but for casual fare, she likes the Lake Cafe in Big Lake.  The Lake Cafe is a “home cookin” establishment that has been there since 1968.  It has an extensive menu covering breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  It has a lunch counter, booths, and tables to provide many seating options.  It is also the kind of place you often see a few regulars, just chatting and having coffee.  Real friendly.  We went there the day after mother’s day, so I was trying to be “good” and have something a bit lighter, so after a thorough review of the menu, I decided on a Taco Salad.  I know a taco salad isn’t something you would expect getting at a neighborhood cafe, but I figured, why not.   Taco Salad at Lake Cafe Our order came quickly and the taco salad loo...

Cinco is a "casual yet sophisticated" Mexican restaurant with four locations in the Atlanta area.  I have only been to the Atlanta location which is on Akers Mill Rd near the Cumberland Mall. It is upscale casual with plenty of space between tables, black cloth napkins and interesting decoration.  There are two very different atmospheres within the restaurant, one darker section with mostly padded leather booths and the other an open feeling room with lots of windows, tables and chairs. I mentioned to a friend that Cinco had one of the better Sunday brunch buffets I had been to recently, so we decided to meet our friends for brunch. My wife and I arrived first and were deeply disappointed to see a sign on the door which indicated they weren't having the brunch due to Cinco de Mayo.  We watched a couple of other couples arrive, see the sign and turn around to go elsewhere.  I called my friend to see if he wanted to go somewhere else. He said he was just pulling in...

First Watch is a relatively new restaurant located at the Ivy Walk Shopping Center (corner of Atlanta Road and Cumberland Parkway, SE) in Smyrna. Although they don't like to think of themselves as a chain, they are with over 100 restaurants over thirteen states. There are two currently in Georgia; the other store is located in John's Creek.  They serve breakfast and lunch, but no dinner, seven days a week.  The restaurant in Smyrna was my first contact with them. Walking in the door, we were promptly greeted by a very pleasant person who seemed genuinely happy with life in general and with our arrival.  We were asked how we were to which we said "hungry."  The greeting person said they could fix that. Selecting from the menu was difficult.  There are so many varied items to choose from. Omelets, eggs, pancakes, healthy selections, salads, soups, and sandwiches. Our server was there quickly and found we were not ready to order. We asked for water with lemon...