Thursday, December 4, 2014

El Catrin

Located in the Distillery District, I took my sweetie here for his birthday. I've found authentic Mexican food to be pretty celiac-friendly if I go to a good place and use my words and ask questions. This one happened to have their menu visible online, and much to my delight, items containing gluten were clearly labeled! At least that was a win.



Here are some tips for this place:
-To avoid waiting in a potentially very long line, make reservations.

-If you like your Mexican food spicy, bring your own condiments.

Although this place was really nice looking, and got some great write-ups, I could easily take a picky child or an elderly parent that hated spicy food here. Now, I will attest, I don't like really spicy food, but this was blander than bland (which might be ok if you like that sort of thing).

Started with the "spicy" guac (honestly, the spiciest thing I had- and it barely had the heat of a supermarket mild salsa). They had the option to add crickets. I did not. I've had them before. I don't like them. I was afraid to ruin my guacamole.



Next, had some black beans and cheese. Came with chips. It was nice and creamy- basically what I'd expect from refried beans.

Finished with some tacos. They were tasty, though I wish I had brought some hot sauce or something with me. The 3 tiny cups of salsa that were brought to the table might as well have been 3 flavors of tomato sauce.



My hubby enjoyed his tequila sampler platter, so at least one thing was great.

All-in-all, a SAFE place to eat if you are gluten-challenged, but definitely geared towards those who don't eat spicy food (at least the items I ordered were that way). I'd bring my own hot sauce if I had to eat there again. I've had way more memorable Mexican food in Toronto.