You ever drive by a place time after time and think, "I wonder how the food is in there?" There's a small Mexican/Cuban place on the Lake Ave. restaurant corridor in suburban Addison, IL called Amada's Cafe (see map) that I've passed dozens of times wondering just that. I finally stopped in for a meal on evening during a recent trip to Chicago.
Now, there's a number of what appears to be these little authentic Mexican restaurants up and down Lake Street in Addison. There's a large Mexican population in the area. Amada's is one of those little places that just looks interesting. I thought, "Well, I may as well give it a shot. I've always wanted to."
It was around 8 p.m. when I got into Amada's. It was typical of most Mexican restaurants I've been to - medium lighting with bright colors. I was seated at a booth toward the back of the restaurant and given a menu. My waiter came out with homemade corn chips and homemade salsa. I ordered up a Sol beer while looking at the menu.
Most of the food on the menu was the typical Mexican fare. But they also had a page of Cuban food, as well. I was tempted to try the Cuban food, but I reminded myself the only good Cuban food I've ever had was in Miami. And there's nothing better than Cuban food when it's authentic.
I decided to give a couple items a try. I ordered the beef enchilada - machaca-style shredded beef in a soft flour shell covered with a red sauce. And I wanted to try one of their pork tacos with the soft corn shell.
I got the pork taco before the enchiladas. The chunks of pork were tender, but not big on flavor. Still, it was good to eat.
The enchiladas followed soon thereafter and the shredded beef was a dark brownish-red in color. I thought, "This looks interesting."
But from the first bite, it went downhill from that. First of all, the meat was very salty. I usually don't salt any of my foods, and if I do it's sea salt. But this was an abnormal (to me) amount of salt in the meat. So much that I didn't finish the second enchilada.
I was disappointed in my food at Amada's Cafe. I'd like to go back and try some of the Cuban food sometime, but I'm afraid that I'd be just as disappointed in that as I was their Mexican food.
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