Milagro Modern Mexican opened about a year ago in the Shoppes in Old Webster, tucked in a back corner a street away from Straub's and Panera Bread. We were really excited about trying out this place because we love Mexican food, especially Mexican Food with a twist. This is what I was expecting due to the "Modern" part of the restaurant name. Also, if you check out their website, they also include a Mission Statement, stating "serving a modern menu of traditional Mexican entrees that depart from St. Louis' standard Mexican and tex-mex fare."
This review is regarding our take-out experience. We weren't able to dine-in, but we will be going back. Now, I know that most of the time when you order take out, it isn't nearly as good as eating in, but I don't think ordering take out changes the intensity of flavors that the food should produce. Some of the items we ordered were delicious, but some were a complete miss.
The restaurant itself is beautiful on the inside. You would never expect from the outside to find a clean, crisp and modern ambiance. The wait staff was very helpful as soon as I walked in the door, but I can't comment about service since we did not eat there.
We ordered Chicken Flautas, Grilled Chicken Quesadillas, Street Tacos (2 chicken, 1 beef), and the Grilled Vegetable Burrito. I read some other reviews of this restaurant and they mentioned that the serving portions were reasonably sized, not huge. I would disagree. I thought the portion sizes were very large and I am not complaining about that. We got a ton of food, we even had a lot leftover.
The Chicken Flautas were some of the best I have ever had. It had shredded chicken, corn and cheese all wrapped in a crispy flour tortilla. They were not super fried, they flaked when you bit into them and had tons of flavor.
The Grilled Chicken Quesadilla was good, but not anything spectacular. It wasn't exploding with flavor, which is what I continued to expect based on the "mission".
I was very disappointed with the Street Tacos. The corn tortillas were soggy on the bottom and then the top portion tasted stale. There was barely any flavor. I was worried because on the menu it says that the chicken is "chipotle". I thought there might be too much spice, because we were feeding the tacos to our boys, who aren't into spicy things. Not to worry, the whole meal was bland. I was not impressed. It did come with heaping sides of black beans and Mexican rice.
The Grilled Vegetable Burrito was gigantic. It was filled with cilantro rice, black beans, roasted corn, grilled squash and spinach. They said on the menu that it had pickled jalapeno and a couple of different sauces, but I didn't taste any of those. The overall burrito was good, but again I was looking for tons of flavor. I tasted a tiny hint of cilantro, but I was looking for a punch. I am one of those people that loves cilantro, especially in Mexican food and I was very disappointment that I barely tasted any. I added my own jalapeno sauce at home with sour cream and it made the burrito much better. The burrito was so big that I could only eat half and I saved the rest for the next day (it saved very well and was still good the next day).
We did get a few sauces with our meal and a side of guacamole. I was disappointed with the guacamole as well. It needed a lot more garlic, lime and cilantro. It just tasted like plain avocado, diced tomatoes, onion and one cilantro spring. Again lacking flavor. Also the side sauces, didn't really add much.
I give the food a B-. I loved the Flautas and was satisfied with the other food, except the Street Tacos. We are planning to go back and try the dine-in experience.
I am hoping that the next time we eat the food, I will get more of a flavor punch. I like boldness and unfortunately this take out experience lacked it.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Delicious Brunch - Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe
We are always looking for a delicious brunch that doesn't have all the same foods that you would normally have like pancakes, scrambled eggs, fruit and biscuits and gravy. We like variety and tastiness.
If you feel the same way, go to Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe. They have a Sunday brunch that is worth breaking your New Year's Diet. Make reservations because it fills up pretty quickly.
The food is so good that you won't be too annoyed by the very close quarters for the seating arrangements. We were sat at a two top, right up against a table of 6 on one side and a baby shower party on the other. We had to get up out of our seats in order for the people at the table next to us to get out of their seats. After the restaurant started to clear out we were offered a bigger table, but at that point it was not necessary.
The workers were very nice, engaging and cleared our empty plates quickly. We did order coffee and hot tea, but neither was refilled without us asking.
On to the food...
There were three stations of food.
The first table had coffee cakes, cheese, bread, the signature chicken salad and egg salad, asparagus with blue cheese, a tofu pad thai and fruit salad.
The second table had all the hot foods which are listed above.
The third table was the dessert table.
We were not impressed with the Chicken Stroganoff. It had a bitter taste to it, almost like a tin can. The chicken was hard to cut, a little overcooked and the sauce was very thin. I took one bite and that was too much. This was one of the only dishes that I felt didn't compare to the rest of the menu.
Highlights: The biscuits were by far some of the best biscuits I have eaten. They were moist, soft and held up to the delicious gravy. The biscuits were also used in their steak and egg benedict. First was the biscuit, then a layer of brisket, then a pouched egg (cooked perfectly) and topped with a delicious hollandaise sauce. Each bite literally melted in my mouth.
I am a huge egg fan. I love eggs and I am very picky about how they are cooked. I always find that on a buffet line, scrambled eggs turn out dry and clumped together. Jilly's scrambled eggs were delicious. They were moist, soft and delicious. The Original Beef Brisket Hash was also a success. The potatoes were cooked perfectly and the brisket was still soft and easy to eat, not overly cooked. The eggs again were delicious in this hash.
I also love Macaroni and Cheese. I make a delicious homemade Macaroni and Cheese and I always compare mine to ones I get out at restaurants. Not many can rival my mac and cheese. However, once again Jill's Mac and Cheese was delicious. It has six different cheeses and every bite was rich and oozing with cheese and flavor.
The dessert table was full of delicious goodness. The cupcake parfait had layers of cake, mouse, chocolate chips, chocolate covered espresso beans and many other layers. With each bite you got silky chocolate and cookie crunches. There were chocolate chip cookies dipped in chocolate. The mixed berry cobbler was full of flavor but nothing spectacular. There is a frost your own cupcake station where you can pick chocolate or vanilla cupcake and frost it with any or all of the following frosting: chocolate, vanilla or strawberry.
Overall we gave this brunch an A. We would go there again and recommend it to all who love a hearty brunch with lots of variety. You can also leave with a delicious gourmet cupcake, if you aren't too full from brunch.
If you feel the same way, go to Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe. They have a Sunday brunch that is worth breaking your New Year's Diet. Make reservations because it fills up pretty quickly.
The food is so good that you won't be too annoyed by the very close quarters for the seating arrangements. We were sat at a two top, right up against a table of 6 on one side and a baby shower party on the other. We had to get up out of our seats in order for the people at the table next to us to get out of their seats. After the restaurant started to clear out we were offered a bigger table, but at that point it was not necessary.
The workers were very nice, engaging and cleared our empty plates quickly. We did order coffee and hot tea, but neither was refilled without us asking.
On to the food...
There were three stations of food.
The first table had coffee cakes, cheese, bread, the signature chicken salad and egg salad, asparagus with blue cheese, a tofu pad thai and fruit salad.
The second table had all the hot foods which are listed above.
The third table was the dessert table.
We were not impressed with the Chicken Stroganoff. It had a bitter taste to it, almost like a tin can. The chicken was hard to cut, a little overcooked and the sauce was very thin. I took one bite and that was too much. This was one of the only dishes that I felt didn't compare to the rest of the menu.
Highlights: The biscuits were by far some of the best biscuits I have eaten. They were moist, soft and held up to the delicious gravy. The biscuits were also used in their steak and egg benedict. First was the biscuit, then a layer of brisket, then a pouched egg (cooked perfectly) and topped with a delicious hollandaise sauce. Each bite literally melted in my mouth.
I am a huge egg fan. I love eggs and I am very picky about how they are cooked. I always find that on a buffet line, scrambled eggs turn out dry and clumped together. Jilly's scrambled eggs were delicious. They were moist, soft and delicious. The Original Beef Brisket Hash was also a success. The potatoes were cooked perfectly and the brisket was still soft and easy to eat, not overly cooked. The eggs again were delicious in this hash.
I also love Macaroni and Cheese. I make a delicious homemade Macaroni and Cheese and I always compare mine to ones I get out at restaurants. Not many can rival my mac and cheese. However, once again Jill's Mac and Cheese was delicious. It has six different cheeses and every bite was rich and oozing with cheese and flavor.
The dessert table was full of delicious goodness. The cupcake parfait had layers of cake, mouse, chocolate chips, chocolate covered espresso beans and many other layers. With each bite you got silky chocolate and cookie crunches. There were chocolate chip cookies dipped in chocolate. The mixed berry cobbler was full of flavor but nothing spectacular. There is a frost your own cupcake station where you can pick chocolate or vanilla cupcake and frost it with any or all of the following frosting: chocolate, vanilla or strawberry.
Overall we gave this brunch an A. We would go there again and recommend it to all who love a hearty brunch with lots of variety. You can also leave with a delicious gourmet cupcake, if you aren't too full from brunch.
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