Cocina Lucero – Disappointing!

Zuimei and I went to Cocina Lucero for dinner last night and we were very dissappointed.

We had seen the show Restaurant Makeover and thought it might be fun to try one of the places on the show.  Instead what I realized is there is a reason these places need a make-over, they’re awful.

To start with the decor was very cozy and while I felt it was appropriate I was a little dismayed to see the paint job which looked so good on the show was spotty.  Still I suppose for only having a week to remake an entire restaurant I can accept some spotty paint and a wobbly table.

Now what made us decide to go was the fact that this was the first episode we had ever seen where Chef Lynn Crawford had nothing bad to say about the food or it’s preparation.  I mean if it is good enough for Lynn then it must be good enough for us right?

Nope.

Now I realize from having worked in a restaurant for a couple of years the preparation and presentation you see on the show is much better than in a real kitchen.  On the show they can edit clips and cut out cooking times as well as spend a few extra moments to make sure the presentation is perfect for the camera.  Still I would expect something close to what I saw.  In fact I would be very interested to have Lynn go back into these places and order the food and see what she thinks.  I bet she would be dismayed.

To start with we ordered the Queso Fundido which the menu describes as,  melted mozzarella cheese & queso fresco, poblano pepper & chorizo topped with pumpkin seeds served with soft tortillas

On the show they start by frying up the entire pan with meat, chorizo to be exact.  There was almost no meat present in our appetizer.  It was basically just a twelve dollar pan of melted cheese.  There was no inter-play of flavours or anything to make me feel this was in any way authentic Mexican food.  Also they gave us 3 tortilla, not four, which would make sense if two people are sharing that way we each could have two servings.

Feeling they had missed the mark on the appetizer I consoled myself with the basket of nachos they dropped on the table, which I must say were also disappointing.  I have has better nachos at Quesada’s. These were almost as bland as the melted cheese with the salsa lacking anything like flavour.

For the main I made sure to order what we had seen on the show, as well as something I felt would be a little safer.  And by “safer” I mean a little more mainstream when we think Mexican.

On the show, the chef and owner make Chiles en Nogada which looked absolutely amazing!  While I don’t have a screen shot of the dish it looked like this picture on the right, which is very appetizing with the little pomegranate sprinkled on top.

To be more detailed it is a Poblano pepper stuffed with beef, fruits & pine nuts, lightly covered with creamy walnut sauce & pomegranate.  On the show she had two of them which I though would be perfect since this way we could share.  What I got was this, and yes that sauce is a purple grey thanks for asking.  So I have a number of issues with this.  For $18 I would expect something a little more…appetizing.  I suppose I am spoiled living in Toronto, surrounded by so many wonderful restaurants but come on, a bucket of dried out rice??? Pathetic. A house salad is fine, except it was in no way “Mexican”.

The sauce, which is a purple grey in color tasted very strongly of wine, so much so that Zuimei didn’t want to eat it.  It was almost as if the kitchen had made a bechamel and then added a cup of bad wine.  I am a little surprised it didn’t curdle to be honest.

For the “safe” dish I oredered Flautas, which are described as Three crispy corn tortillas rolled & stuffed with your choice of chicken, beef, pork or vegetable filling, smothered in green sauce, lettuce, sour cream & feta cheese.  Now I suppose I should be more wary of anything descrined as “green sauce”  WTF does that mean?  Salse verde?  Guacamole?  What?!!

The faultas were as dissappointing as the other dishes lacking in anything resembling zest or flavour.  I have been to Mexico and this isn’t it.   The beans thrown into the corn tortilla bowl and topped with Kraft shredded cheese is something I can do at home, and for a lot less money too!

All in all a very disappointing night out and for $60 I can eat a lot better in this city.  I would not be surprised if this restaurant ends up getting sold or needing another make-over soon because I for one will not be returning for another try.

I am not sure if it is the curse of Restaurant Makeover as described in Macleans, or simply an inability to reproduce what was on the show on a mass scale, but either way we will think twice before going to a restaurant because we saw it on TV.  Lesson learned.