I’m going to say something unpopular. Bloody Marys are the worst. Tomatoes suck, celery sucks and there’s just something weird about spicy drinks. But I must say that I am glad that Hash Kitchen has made the big bucks off of having an incredible Bloody Mary bar. Why? Because it has enabled them to expand out to Chandler for their latest Grand Opening. And because I got to snag a bunch of the meats and cheeses from the Bloody Mary bar to decorate my beer. It may be frowned upon normally, but at the Grand Opening anything goes. As expected, the bacon was the best.

Having eaten at the Scottsdale Hash Kitchen locations a couple of times, I thought I knew what to expect from the Grand Opening. Regardless, here were some of the samplings.

Herb Fried Chicken and Waffle

With thick cut bacon, fried leeks and a warm maple reduction.

Avocado Toast

Using the split-top biscuit from the benedict, this is topped with avocado, carnitas, an over easy egg, green chili salsa and more of those fried leeks.

Carnitas Hash

Read more on this beautiful stuff here.

Cannoli Donuts

The biggest surprise of the night was how incredible the darker of these donuts were. Aside from the custardy filling, these donuts tasted as close as I’ve ever had to Cider Mill donuts this side of the Mississippi and that’s basically the best compliment a donut can get.

Fruity Pebbles Cereal Shooter

Fruity Pebbles dust, loopy vodka, rumchata and milk. A sweet and creamy way to get morning booze.

In all, I didn’t need convincing that Hash Kitchen is delicious, but it was definitely great to try some new things from the menu. Chandler is a lucky place to now have its own rendition of Hash Kitchen.

The word “princess” does not exactly evoke words like “affordable,” down to earth” or “reasonable.” So, when I found out we were going out for Mexican food at a place called La Hacienda at the Fairmount Scottsdale Princess Hotel, I braced for the worse in terms of how expensive the meal would be. I truly just can’t understand the purpose of expensive Mexican food unless the place is blazing new trails. I hoped that La Hacienda would do just that.

It didn’t start out too well, with guacamole that cost a cool $18. Yes, you read that right. Sure, this guac had watermelon, queso fresco, spiked agave, candied pepitas and pomegranate, but the regular guac was already $16 so the extra two dollars seemed negligable. And in all honesty, this was a sizable molcajete of guac and was even delicious, but nowhere near that delicious.

After that I moved on to my main course, which almost seemed reasonable at this point $26. Except that it was a simple enchilada plate (no, not even a platter with rice and/or beans). Well, maybe not simple, the enchiladas were stuffed with carnitas and topped with mole sauce and a random plantain. Then, for good measure (or perhaps out of charity), the restaurant topped the enchiladas with a handful of peanuts and what appeared to be a pickled onion that was immediately scraped off. It was, without a doubt, delicious. The mole sauce had a perfect combination of spicy and sweet flavor, the carnitas were tender and juicy, while the nuts added a bit of a crunch every few bites.

There can be no doubt that La Hacienda knows how to cook up a delicious meal. I mean, truly the food was top-notch. But at what cost? Literally. After all, this is Arizona and Mexican food practically grows on trees. Because of that, there’s really no need to make La Hacienda a destination unless you are looking to impress someone.

It’s not often that I eat at a new place (for me) twice before getting a chance to review that place. Yet, that weirdly happened with Hash Kitchen, a breakfast spot (no, not a dispensary) with a few locations around the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. As you may expect, they specialize in Bloody Marys. Okay, but also in different kinds of hash if you’re not in a Bloody Mary mood, which I literally never am.

On my first visit, I found myself choosing between the Huevos Rancheros Hash and the Carnitas Hash. Ultimately, I ordered the carnitas, but was brought the huevos instead. Oh well, it was really a tossup because they both looked so great. And what was great about the huevos was that they weren’t your typical meatless huevos and actually had carne asada to go along with the black beans, potatoes, cotija cheese, tortilla, fried eggs, avocado, cilantro and red sauce. Needless to say, they used a lot of ingredients. Yet, these ingredients had been carefully measured and all worked perfectly together.

Upon my return, I made sure not to give my waiter an option and simply ordered the carnitas. These contained the aforementioned shredded pork, potatoes, cotija cheese, roasted corn, crema, avocado, green chile sauce, fried onions, cilantro and tortillas. Essentially, it was like the huevos rancheros with some twists. Most importantly, it was a perfectly unvegan dream. Like the huevos before it, the carnitas hash we a delicious blend of all its ingredients, allowing each to work with one another and still maintain its own identity.

Scottsdale is weirdly rich in breakfast spots, and Hash Kitchen is certainly a good one, at least if its namesake dishes are anything to go off of. Oh, and also if you’re willing to eat carne asada instead of carnitas on occasion.

You can’t throw a stone* in LA without hitting a Mexican place that someone happens to call their favorite. It could be a shack, a hole in the wall or even an old-fashioned sit down restaurant. The variety seems only limited by the amount of physical space in LA and those damn zoning laws. As I’ve eaten my way through the city, I’ve creativity galore and more Mexican foods than I knew existed growing up on Taco Bell in Michigan. Some have been delicious, while others have failed me. On my latest foray into someone’s favorite Mexican place, I ended up at El Abajeno in Culver City.

El Abajeno shares its building with a liquor store and works with a counter-style ordering system. The menu is vast, but after a short stare down with it, I found the perfect unvegan fit – the Fiesta Burrito. I’ve always wanted a party in my mouth, and this burrito seemed to want to start it. This thing was filled with pork, beef, rice and beans, then topped with cheese guacamole and red sauce in a wet burrito style. But I didn’t stop there. I had heard their taquitos with carnitas were delicious, so I ordered one of those as well, with cheese and avocado on top.

When they were finished, I was astonished to find the Fiesta Burrito in unique form. Rather than dousing the whole thing with guac, red sauce and cheese, they had been spaced out in thirds. If only they had carved out an eagle shape in cheese, the burrito would have been the spitting image of the Mexican flag, but instead I was wondering why a burrito would display an Italian flag. These people were certainly patriotic (for the enemy), but I hoped that this strange distribution would make for good eating.

After a few bites, I completely forgot about my concerns. This was one packed, greasy and delicious wet burrito. The blend of steak and pork made for a nice mix and rather than being filler, the rice and beans made a nice addition to temper the onslaught of meat. And it tasted fantastic as well. As for that wet stuff on top, I definitely would have liked it better of they had been distributed evenly across the burrito, but the Mexican flag was a damn nice touch. Also, I found the guacamole to be a little disappointing. It was much wetter than your average guac and completely lost its texture in the process. The taste was still there, but this was more of an avocado sauce than what I would consider guacamole.

Then, there was the taquito, which was actually bigger than most authentic full-sized tacos I’ve encountered. The double tortilla was greasier than a watermelon, but the carnitas and avocado that filled it in were a delight. In surprising contrast to the tortilla, the carnitas were not greasy, but simple, delicious pulled pork.

So did El Abajeno become my new favorite Mexican joint? Not quite…that honor still belongs to La Paz down in El Segundo, but El Abajeno is certainly a worthy contender. It’s just that I felt the taquito was greasy just for the sake of being greasy and the guac could have used a little work. Yet, there is no question that I will be back to El Abajeno, for despite its minor flaws, its strengths are unquestionable.

*Please don’t throw stones at Mexican restaurants.