SubscribeDINNER August 22, 2007
My first meal at La Chilenita made me realize how much I missed authentic Mexican food. Sadly, my second visit to La Chilenita, which serves a mish-mash of Mexican and Chilean staples, was not nearly as enchanting. As I started my quest for the best authentic Mexican in Montreal, Maria Bonita was a name I kept hearing.
Tucked away on a side street just off St-Laurent in the upper Plateau, Maria Bonita offers a wide selection of Mexican appetizers, soups and traditional mains, along with a large number of cazuelitas, Mexico’s answer to the tapas. This is no gringo menu with liberal references to exotic ingredients such as erazote (a traditional herb) achiote ( a seed used in spice mixes) and nopales (cactus stems) in the description of the dishes.
The JJ and I started with the complementary nachos with salsa roja, a thin tomato based sauce not to be confused with pico de gallo (which is what Norteamericanos usually think of as salsa) and ordered guacamole and ceviche (with whitefish, tomatoes, onion and cilantro) to start. Both were solid but solidly unspectacular. The guacamole lacked the combination of creaminess, acidity and heat needed for a great guacamole which I found surprising as this is probably a dish Maria Bonita pumps out ad nauseum.
We ordered a selection of cazuelitas: cochinita pibil (shredded pork cooked in banana leaf); peneques (fried cheese stuffed tortillas smothered in tomato sauce); chicken mole poblano (with a spicy, rich, bitter chocolate sauce); and choriqueso (crumbled chorizo sausage with melted cheese). The cazuelitas, which come with hot, soft tortillas for making little impromptu tapas tacos were, on the whole, quite disappointing.
The best of the bunch was the choriqueso, which was very tasty, but you can’t give top marks to a restaurant for cutting a sausage and melting cheese over it. The mole poblano was rich, spicy and earthy but the scraggly chicken bits did not impart any flavour to the dish. We might as well have just eaten a bowl of the sauce but it was too rich to be enjoyed alone. The peneques were oily and mushy and the cochinita pibil really did not taste like much (although the accompanying pickled onions did add some zing to the dish).
My lasting impression is of a meal with no flavour, which is surprising given the wide variety of exciting products employed in Mexican cuisine. Sure, there was heat, some spice, but let’s not confuse this with flavour. Most of the dishes tasted like the ingredients came out of bags and bins or had been pre-made too long in advance.
I want to like Maria Bonita because I think its great that someone is trying to run an authentic Mexican restaurant in Montreal, but the weakness of this restaurant is in the execution not the conception and it is really hard to ignore. While foodies may rave about Maria Bonita’s authenticity, the mid-week crowd of four tables belies the fact that people are voting with their stomachs–and voting to stay away. But I haven’t given up on this restaurant, at least not to the point to say that I’ll never come back. The quest for great Mexican food in Montreal continues, however, and the next stop isn’t likely to be another night at Maria Bonita
Rating: Two and a half stars
Cost with tip including a couple of beers and a very tasty lemonade: $65
Maria Bonita
5269 Casgrain
514.807.4377
I used to live right around the corner from Maria Bonita and your description matches my experience. Funnily, I came out of my few meals there with a rather positive impression, not because of their extraordinary culinary quality, but because they tasted like many homecooked meals I’ve had in Mexico over the years. I guess that sometimes, “authentic” may mean “bland”…
You should try
Coin du Mexique
2474 Jean Talone Est, close to Iberville
It’s touted as the most authentic Mexican in town.
I agree for Coin du Mexique, and you can also try El Sombrero (500A Bélanger, close to metro Jean-Talon), the place is even smaller than Maria Bonita, but it is way better…