Fajita Coast

10110 Colesville Rd. Silver Spring, MD 20901

Rob and I love Fajita Coast. We went soon after it opened in 2005, but started going regularly sometime in late 2006ish. It’s the best Tex-Mex we have had, and it has ruined many of the other chains we used to enjoy. Although Fajita Coast isn’t technically a chain, it is affiliated with Cactus Cantina in Glover Park and the vaunted Lauriol Plaza in Dupont Circle (both of which I’ve been to…I think he has too). For a while, we were going at least once a week. I think we’ve scaled back to once or twice a month.

Our past 2 visits have been with friends – once for a Saturday lunch and just this past Friday night for dinner. Although we ordered the same thing both times (carne asada alla parilla for Rob, chicken/beef combo fajitas for me), our experiences were markedly different. The main difference was KIDS. There were children EVERYWHERE on Friday night, running around and screaming and carrying on. The dining room is pretty large and open, like a cafeteria, so there are plenty of open spaces for kids to run around and chase each other. I don’t understand why so many parents in the DC area take their kids out for Mexican on the weekends – Austin Grill and Rio Grande in Bethesda are always slammed with families on Fridays as well.

Anyway, I could write for hours about our experiences at Fajita Coast. Their salsa is great – chunky but not too much so. They serve delicious red rice and beans frijoles a la charra with most dishes. I would prefer to get the awesome Juanita Platter with a cheese enchilada, beef taco, and chicken tamale every time we go. Sadly I know I shouldn’t eat all that cheese so I usually skip the delicious smothered dishes and get chicken tacos without cheese or fajitas in the interest of eating a bit healthier. I’ve also had the zarzuela de mariscos (a seafood stew of sorts) which was really good.

Our service was a little slow on Friday night, but the dining room was packed so it was to be expected. Splitting a pitcher of swirl margaritas made the wait more bearable. We also ordered a bowl of chili con queso to start and Andy commented that “[the wait] wasn’t so bad with queso in your face-o.” He fancies himself a queso dip connoisseur and was happy with the consistency and smooth taste of the queso. As our meal was winding down, most of the families had left and the rest of dinner was quite pleasant. I guess in the future if we’re going to go on a Friday night we’ll make it an 8:00 dinner instead of going right after work.

Intipuqueño

2504 Ennalls Ave. Wheaton, MD 20902

Rob and I were out running errands last night and decided to grab dinner while we were out. Our original plan was to go to either El Puente de Oro or Granja de Oro (I have no idea if they’re affiliated, but they are about a half block from each other, so I assume so). However, as we were driving down Ennalls Avenue, I noticed that there was a new Salvadoran place where Sebang used to be. We tried Sebang, an Indonesian restaurant, once and it was very tasty and they made Rob’s dish really spicy. We never did make it back, and they have since closed down due to the increased rent on the location. Anyway, we decided to go ahead and try Intipuqueño and save the Oros for later.

The outside of the restaurant looked pretty much the same as it did when it was Sebang, however the new owners added some red and green neon to the main window. There is now a large bar area toward the right of the entrance, which was about half full. Other than that, there was only one other table seated and they were some kids from the band that was playing later that night. It looked like there were still some Asian decorations on the wall left from the previous owner, and there were the ubiquitous beer posters en Español. Our hostess/waitress didn’t speak any English which I thought might pose a problem, but she just brought the manager over to talk to us when we needed anything.

When we started looking over the menu I immediately noticed that it was much smaller than the other Salvadoran restaurants we’ve been to, and that it skewed more toward Tex-Mex than authentic Salvadoran dishes. The salsa we were served with our chips reminded me a bit of the Rojos brand that you can buy in grocery stores with some hot sauce added to it. It was much chunkier and spicier than the salsa we’ve gotten at most other restaurants, but I enjoyed it. I ordered grilled chicken and Rob got his usual carne asada (I took the picture above with my cell phone – it looked much more appetizing in person). Our meals were served with black beans, seasoned white rice, an avocado half, pico de gallo, and tortillas. Rob’s also came with a few fried plantain chips and a small block of crumbly white cheese. The portions were generous and my grilled chicken was marinated and tasty. I ate most of my chicken off the plate, but did make a little fajita-esque rollup with one of the tortillas. Rob didn’t bother with the tortillas but did mix up his rice, beans, and this time meat.

As we were finishing up our meal, the band members started setting up their instruments on the stage behind me and playing really loud Latin pop over the sound system, making it hard to hear our conversation. Although I wasn’t disappointed with our meal, we have definitely been to better Salvadoran/Tex-Mex places in Wheaton and there are still plenty more to try, so we probably won’t be back to Intipuqueño any time soon.

We also went to Fajita Coast in Four Corners (and technically Silver Spring) over the weekend with some friends. Maybe I’ll write about that later this week. We go there a lot so I don’t really know where to begin, but I definitely have plenty to say!

Los Chorros

2420 Blueridge Ave Wheaton, MD 20902(301) 933-1066

Last Friday, Rob and I went to Los Chorros for dinner. We had been there once before after one of Sean’s co-workers said it was the only decent Latin restaurant in Wheaton (he is Latino). We got there around 6:30 and the place was empty, but it filled up pretty quickly after we sat down.

I ordered a margarita and the chicken fajitas. They put tomatoes in their fajitas and some other sauces – I think the menu even said they use soy sauce. It was served with corn tortillas (boo), pico de gallo, and guacamole. Onions and peppers were mixed in with the chicken as well. The portions were larger than what I normally get at Fajita Coast, I think the chicken was a bit tastier as well, but it was a different flavor than FC’s. The fajitas also came with a side of refried beans which I wasn’t crazy about…I prefer whole beans.

Rob got some sort of beef dish – bistec encebollado maybe? It also came with refried beans and rice – Los Chorros serves white rice, but they do season it and it has some veggies cut up in it. Rob usually mixes his beans and rice together and he did again and then ate his side dishes first. I think he said the steak was good, I usually pick off of his plate but I didn’t this time.

I think I like Los Chorros better than Los Cabanos, although I think Los Chorros may have a smaller menu. The service was better and there were no street peddlers coming in trying to sell us jewelry.