Pinata Nueva

Well, it was May 1st, and besides being Whitney Lynn's birthday, it was also the official start day of the Month of May Mexican Food Challenge! My friend Ryan wanted to go to dinner, and I said sure, but we have to go for Mexican food; to which he kindly agreed. It being a Friday, I had worked a short day and had eaten a late lunch, but Ryan was hungry for an early dinner...so I made the sacrifice and off we went for dinner at 5:30! I didn't feel like going to any of the places around my house, I wanted to try somewhere new, and since I was driving, Ryan just had to go along for the ride!

Pinata Nueva is located at Thompson Peak Parkway and Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd, I first noticed it when I was visiting some friends that lived in the area a few months back, and had filed it away in my memory banks as a place to try. When we walked in and were promptly seated a table and given menus. I looked around the restaurant and suddenly remembered that this is where the first Flo's Chinese used to be, before it moved across the street! Although, they had done a nice job at removing any of the lingering Chinese themed decorations; it was definitely a Mexican restaurant now, with all the brightly covered decorations. For being so early for dinner on a Friday night, there were quite a few tables already occupied, which I took to be a good sign.

As we were scanning over our menus, a waitress came by and dropped off some chips and salsa and took our drink orders. Ryan, being the hungry boy that he was, dove right into the chips and salsa. I too tried some, and was very pleased with both. The chips were hot and crunchy, and didn't require me to re-salt them. And the salsa was excellent; freshly made with just enough heat to give it some bite. Ryan said he really liked this salsa, and it was apparent by the damage that he did to the chip basket!

We had ordered our meals in between munching on chips, and less than 5 minutes later our dishes appeared. We were both very impressed by how quickly they came out, especially Mr. Hungry. Ryan had order the two taco combination plate; he couldn't decide if he wanted beef or chicken, so he got one of each. The tacos looked excellent even from where I was sitting. The shells were freshly made, and crisp but not greasy. They were stuffed full of meat and topped with lettuce, cheese and tomatoes. Ryan took a bite and declared it to be a really good taco. He said that the meat was flavorful, and couldn't decide whether he liked the beef or chicken best, so he was glad that he had gotten one of each! He also dove into the beans and rice, which he also enjoyed. It was very apparent by the end of the meal that he A) was hungry and B) really liked his meal; because the plate was scraped clean!

I wasn't all that hungry due to my late lunch and our arriving during the early bird hour; so I decided to just order an appetizer and a side of beans (I always have to have beans!). They were running a special in honor of the upcoming Cinco de Mayo holiday, so a bunch of the appetizers were only $5.00. I chose the Mary Lou with Green Chile Beef. For those of you not familiar with a Mary Lou, it is basically a cheese crisp or quesadilla, with red or green chile beef either inside or spread on top. I chose the green chile and this particular version had the meat inside, so it really just seems like a Green Chile Beef Quesadilla. It was served with a side of sour cream on the side to temper the heat of the meat. My first impression of this dish was that the green chile beef was out of this world! It was so tender and flavorful, and had a heat element that gave it great flavor, but did not overwhelm. This had to be some of the best green chile beef I had ever had, and although I wasn't all that hungry....the beef kept drawing me back to eat more! (Ultimately, I did end up taking over half of it home....perfect for a midnight snack!)

In between bites of the Mary Lou, I sampled the beans. My first impression was these were no La Fonda del Sol beans! They seemed to be lacking in any sort of flavor, even with the cheese on top of them. I added some salt, and this helped a bit, but they just were not up to par. It is such a sad thing for a Mexican restaurant to have bad beans!

Once I had my leftovers boxed up and we paid the check, I realized that we had been there less than an hour. Now that is some good service! While I wasn't such a fan of the beans, I would return for another meal at Pinata Nueva, if only for the Green Chile Beef! Ryan agreed that if he was in the area, he would also be inclined to stop by for a meal. We headed back home at the early hour of 7:00 pm....I was going to be in need of a major sugar fix if I was going to make it to bowling at 10!

Pinata Nueva

14850 N. Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd.

Scottsdale, AZ 85260