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The Riverside and Avondale areas of Jacksonville have a lot
to offer all lifestyles. With hangouts,
eateries, parks, breweries, and museums, there are endless possibilities of ways
to enjoy an afternoon or evening. The
weekends provide even more opportunity to explore the historic streets with
markets, special events, and organized bike rides.
It was a lazy Sunday when I finally decided to trek out to
Lola’s Burrito Joint. Lola’s is the
second venture of the people who brought us Carmine’s Pie House. Carmine’s is a
place which I have come to enjoy quite regularly, so I had every intention of
enjoying my meal here at Lola’s. Lola’s
serves Latin American cuisine, so I was delighted when a friend of mine,
Sheena, had asked me to join her and her sister, Yara, to dine here. I felt as if I had an insider’s view into the
restaurant since these siblings are of Puerto Rican decent and Sheena had been
able to experience Lola’s once before.
Walking in, you can see their tie to Carmine’s; it is
decorated much in the same manner, but with a Latin flair. It is not a far cry from the way you would
have seen an Applebee’s or Bennigan’s decorated ten years ago, a bit tacky in
my opinion, but nothing overbearing to make you feel uncomfortable. Probably the most uncomfortable image of the
meal was one that most people probably just bypassed. A simple 8” x 11” sheet of plain white paper
with a message printed on it. It was not
the location, the paper, or even the overall contents of the placard. It was the atrocious grammar. Now you can ask my parents, sisters, and even
my high school English teachers, I am far and away from an English honors
student, and I am sure that one of the main things I got marked on was grammar.
I understand that there are many out
there whose skills are much like mine, or perhaps worse. But when you are a professional establishment
filled with professional employees and you post an atrocity such as this, it
begins to speak volumes of your location before patrons even walk through the
door.
When it comes to a libation, Lola’s does not hold back. They
carry a selection of over 50 beers, most on tap and a good number from local
breweries, and a full bar with several house designed mojitos and
margaritas. They are still in the stages
of designing the menu, and the condition in which they were presented shows it,
with items no longer offered being simply blacked out with a marker. The menu offers a twist on the average items
offered at a burrito joint plus a few that are not expected.
Pineapple and Cilantro Salsa, Tomatillo Salsa, tortilla
chips, $2.97 each.
I love a good fruit salsa.
They allow you to incorporate more flavors, even unexpected ones, into a
well-known dish with ease. It is a quick
fix for a dish that has accidently had too much spice added to it, while also
allowing new dimensions to be found within the surrounding fruits and
vegetables. That is when there is fruit
actually put into the salsa. What I
received seemed more like yesterday’s Pico de Gallo with a sprinkling of
pineapple. No actually, that makes it
sound like there was still a decent amount of pineapple in this salsa; it was
more like the tried to capture the essence of the pineapple by placing the
wrapped salsa next to a pineapple in the cooler. The cilantro flavor was lacking as well,
though the finishing garnish was a pinch of fresh chopped cilantro, it just was
not enough to lift this dish from the depths it had fallen.
Verde salsa has many definitions because the translation is
simply ”green sauce”. In Mexican/Latin
cuisine it tends to denote the inclusion of tomatillos which tends to give the
resulting sauce a dingy color more than a vibrant green color. Lola’s managed the exact opposite in
theirs. Unfortunately, it seems whatever
they managed to do to make the color of the salsa beautiful affected the flavor
components. It was like dipping my chip
into thickened bowl of lime juice, unseasoned lime juice at that.
Mexican street corn, Cotija cheese, cilantro, Lola’s adobo, $2.77.
Elote (pronounced ey [as in hey]-low-tay) is the common name
for this dish. It can be found at most food carts in Mexico. It is a no fuss corn dish served on or off
the cob, though at Lola’s no option for off the cob was available on the
menu. The corn is grilled in the husk
and once done topped with cilantro, cheese, seasoning, and finished with mayo,
or the more traditional crema Mexicana.
Lola’s does away with the crema part of the dish, luckily it does not
affect the dish in a negative manner and they finally fought back with a
winning dish.
Spicy shrimp taco, mojo lime aioli, $2.97.
Traditional tacos with a modern twist. The traditional part of the tacos that most
people do not like is the raw cabbage, if you can get past that then you are in
for a treat. The mojo lime aioli is a citrusy
and spiced sauce that cools the spicy shrimp and melds these tacos. Though the taco was not bad, Sheena made a
point to mention more than once that it was not the same taco she had on a
previous visit and ranked this one subpar.
Carnita taco, Chewie’s
chimi sauce, $2.77.
Carnitas; a twice cooked meat, typically pork, of which the
second stage is recooking the meat in its own fat rendered during the cooking
process of stage one, giving the meat a deliciously juicy interior and the
crispy golden exterior the average American knows and loves. Ordering this and receiving a taco filled
with limp colorless pulled pork is a faux pas that irreconcilable. Though the chimichurri was loaded with
flavor, a sauce does not save a dish.
Dirty Sanchez Burrito, soft shell crab, chorizo dirty rice,
chipotle tartar, $10.97.
Because burritos are such a big individual dish, some places
tend to stuff it with fillers and unnecessary ingredients. Lola’s decided to change that and put in
thought out, flavor packed ingredients.
Black beans, cabbage, and salsa are the fillers and all bring flavor and
more texture to the dish. The dirty
chorizo rice combined with the chipotle tartar sauce brought in the perfect
amount of heat without muddling the lightly fried soft shell crab. All the components to this burrito were good
on their own and became a symphony once wrapped in the flour tortilla. It came with a small side of marinated three
bean salad, a component that could have been left out but was a nice little
addition.
Lola’s rice, pigeon peas, black beans, $2.47.
Yellow rice and pigeon peas is a traditional dish in Latin
American communities, especially in Puerto Rico but is not a dish you will
commonly find outside of those homes.
The main reason behind it - no one can make it quite like mom. This is much like what happened here. It’s
not that it is not a good dish; it is the competition it has against the family
ties and the fond childhood memories.
Sheena and Yara rated them untouchable to their mom’s, but I felt they
were not that bad of a side dish.
Lightly scented with cumin and a hint of chile, the pigeon peas and rice
were both cooked very well, though well under seasoned, some salt and acid would
have made this dish much more acceptable.
Fried plantains, sweet, 3.47
Plantains – peeled, cut and fried. Though I have seen these ruined six ways to
Sunday, they were perfect here. Slightly
crispy and caramel colored on the outside and steamy gooey goodness inside. The best part, they finished them with a
little bit of grated Queso Fresco, a slightly salty cheese that brings in the
perfect contrast to the sweet bites.
It is always rough opening a new restaurant. You tend to face your toughest critics during
this time. But some places like to make
it harder on them by pushing too much at one time. I could imagine how much better this meal at
Lola’s would have been if had they taken an extra week or two to works out
these kinks we experienced. I am hoping
that they turn this around and begin to take over this block of Jacksonville.
