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Jorge Lauriano is owner of the Luchita's Mexican restaurant in Mentor. Originally from Brazil, Lauriano has incorporated Brazilian-style cuisine into the more familiar Mexican fare.
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When I started writing these columns, the first restaurant I wanted to review was Luchita’s Mexican restaurant in Mentor. I couldn’t (and still can’t) think of anything better than being paid to eat great Mexican food.
Then-editor Jerie Green told me Luchita’s had already been reviewed and that I’d have to pick another restaurant. Jerie, sadly, is no longer with the LCBJ tell me no.
Being voted Best Mexican Restaurant in Lake County in the LCBJ’s recent restaurant survey renewed my interest in reviewing the local chain. And it has been at least five years since that last review so I think it’s high time. Or as they say in Mexico, es la hora! Wanda Wareham from the Fine Arts in Willoughby was the winner of the survey’s informal drawing to “eat lunch with me and help me review my next restaurant,” that I added to entice more people to vote.
Wanda, who voted for Luchita’s in the survey, was thrilled to have lunch with me at her favorite Mexican restaurant. Or maybe she was just thrilled to eat at Luchita’s.
We had a grand time comparing the merits of the ensaladas, entradas and almuerzos we ordered while discussing our favorite books and Wanda’s impending trip to Hawaii.
Drawn as I am to the most unusual items on the menu, I ordered the ensalada de Nopales ($4.50) without reservation. However, our server Ima (short for Imaculada) was worried we might not care for the salad of cactus sautéed in garlic and olive oil and tossed with onion, cilantro, avocado, añejo cheese and, usually, tomatoes, in a Mexican vinaigrette.
She brought out a small portion for us to try and it was just a little too different for Wanda. We switched to the ensalada Mexicana. This salad had the same basic ingredients, but not as much of the marinated cactus and it was served on a bed of lettuce. We both enjoyed it immensely.
Other than deprive the dishes of vibrant red color, the moratorium on tomatoes didn’t detract from our meal. We still had the salsa – not too spicy, not too mild – if we wanted that tomatoey taste. We ate plenty of it with the obligatory bowl of chips.
One of my favorite appetizers is queso fundido – basically a bowl of melted cheese and chorizo (Mexican-style sausage), served with warm flour tortillas. I always request corn tortillas for a more authentic flavor. We enjoyed spooning the stringy, greasy globs of cheese and meat onto the fragrant flatbread.
Wanda settled on the tacos de camaron ($7.50). She was delighted with the crisp shrimp encased in corn tortillas with pickled jalapeños and cabbage and onions marinated in lime and vinegar served with a choice of beans or rice.
I’ve eaten at Luchita’s many times. In my former life, I worked on the West Side and my coworkers and I would order Luchita’s to go most Fridays. Whoever picked it up got to have a Dos Equis while waiting for the food to be ready.
The first time I ate at the Mentor location my date and I were out with another couple. After the server took our order, my date pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket on which he’d written, “Laura will order a chicken burrito,” like some kind of modern Nostradamus. I didn’t know I was that predictable.
Yet try as I might, I can’t seem to get away from ordering them. Every now and then I’ll pick tamales or carnitas or even juevos rancheros, but I always go back to the basic burrito.
That day was no different. I had the small burrito mojado, or wet burrito, ($5.75, $6.75 for the large) with shredded chicken, and loved it. The wet part is the salsa that tops the burrito–a choice of red or green – as well as melted cheese, lettuce and tomato. Inside was mucho tender chicken and beans.
What we didn’t eat? Owner Jorge Lauriano has a wide selection of stuff you don’t always find in other local Mexican eateries – tinga vegetariana is one I noticed as I read through the menu. Tinga vegetariana is cactus, zucchini, chayote (a squash-like fruit) and mushrooms served with homemade Mexican cream, rice and beans.
And then there’s the churrasco which isn’t even on the menu. Lauriano, who says it’s much easier to learn to cook than to learn English, began serving churrasco at the Mentor Luchita’s to incorporate cuisine from his country of origin, Brazil.
“Mentor is a tough place to be in so we have to try to keep the customers coming by serving something different,” Lauriano said.
Churrasco is a popular South American-style of grilling meat. Servers bring pork, beef, chicken, sausage and lamb to your table on skewers, slicing off as much as you like.
Reservations for four or more must be made in advance – Lauriano says Chef Reynaldo Galindo only serves this style of meat fresh, not frozen. Sides include beans, pico de gallo and fried plantains (a banana-like fruit), with an option for salad or soup and dessert.
Wanda and I had flan for dessert. The creamy, custardy concoction was a fitting end to our lunch and cost only $2.75. Besides award-winning margaritas, Luchita’s has a selection of juices, including mango, guava and pear, and house-made bebidas (beverages) of milk and honey with a choice of bananas, mangos or strawberries.
Everything was great – the service, the atmosphere, the food. The only thing we were disappointed in was the guacamole. It seemed watered down, almost too creamy – I prefer the thicker style with chunks of avocado to pick up with a tortilla chip.
The watery guac won’t stop us from going back to Luchita’s. I left with a full belly and a list of books to read. Next time Wanda and I are going for dinner so we can try the churrasco and enjoy a margarita with our meal and book talk.
Luchita’s is at 8870 Mentor Ave., near Heinen’s, and can be reached at 440-205-5966. Other locations include Elyria, Parma, Hudson and W. 117th in Cleveland.
Adventures in Dining is a regular dining feature written by Laura Freeman,
editor of Lake County Business Journal. |
