Baja Bean Co. in VA
Our very first meal while on vacation was not a hard choice. We went to downtown Staunton and walked around about 15-20 minutes when I spied the Baja Bean Co. I was tickled pink because I am from Texas and love my TexMex and Southwestern style food. We ate in the early afternoon, after the lunch crowd and before the dinner bunch. We were the only ones in the place for the longest time. I am such a push over for anything that involves beans and rice. So this was the perfect place to start our vacation. I made a mental vow not to eat any national chain restaurants while on vacation and to try and eat someplace different for every meal. Checking out the menu made my mouth water. I was hungry but I wanted to eat something that I had never eaten before. I will eat most anything so I am pretty easy to please. For my entree I had Enchiladas Popeye. This was two flour tortillas filled with fresh spinach (and it was very fresh!), monterey jack cheese and salsa topped with a tangy verde sauce and more cheese. This was also served with Baja Rice and Black Beans. The picture does not do the food justice but you can take my word for it; it was yummy. The portion size was more than I could eat and sadly I had to leave some beans and rice on the plate when it was cleared away. Since I am nuts about guacamole, I had to have a side dish of it. I could tell that the guacamole was not from a 5 gallon bucket that had been over pureed. This was fresh guacamole and it had chunks, which is very good from my point of view. Hubby agreed that the guacamole was good. I am not sure being married to someone who is not a picky eater is a good thing or not. Hubby always orders something with seafood in a Mexican restaurant. Don't ask me why, I have no idea. To me that's like eating chicken in a place that is famous for their steaks. Never-the-less he indulged his need for seafood when he ordered Enchiladas Jardin. This was two tortillas with shrimp in a garlic artichoke heart spinach cream cheese sauce and it was topped with a mild Ancho Chili red sauce along with Baja rice and grilled vegetables. I got a taste of the Ancho Chili sauce and it was fabulous. It has a really slightly spicy smokey flavor. I would prefer to have this red sauce on my Enchiladas than some plain red sauces I have eaten lately. I thought that the portions were generous and the food was good. It wasn't TexMex but instead California Mexican Baja. I wish we had eaten there more than once so I could gauge if the rest of their menu was as good as the two entrees that we ordered. I have a feeling it was. So this will require more research at a later date!