At the little neighborhood bar that we like to go to from time to time, one of the bartenders lives out in Le Claire, just up the Mississippi River from the Quad Cities. Just before the pandemic caused bars and restaurants to close down across the state of Iowa, she was telling us of a new Mexican restaurant in Le Claire that had just opened up. She said the food was delicious. Recently, my wife and I made our way out to Le Claire for a Saturday afternoon getaway and we ended up at La Herradura for a late lunch.
For years, I've said that we're very blessed to have a number of very good Mexican restaurants in the Quad Cities area. Since the 1920's migrant workers from Mexico came to the area to work on the railroad and in farm fields in the valley along the Mississippi River. And many of them stayed in places like East Moline, Silvis and Muscatine. There are easily a dozen great - and authentic - Mexican restaurants between Muscatine and the Quad Cities. So when we found out that one was opening in Le Claire - and it was reportedly very good - we were eager to give it a try.
The owners of La Herradura had hoped to open sometime in February of this year, but like any new venture there were some delays involved. They finally opened on March 2, but were forced to close two weeks later when Iowa shut down all bars and restaurants because of the COVID-19 pandemic. La Herradura reopened for to-go food orders in April and re-opened for inside dining earlier this summer.
After an afternoon of visiting a couple three local watering holes in Le Claire, I turned the car north along Cody Road and found La Herradura just north of the downtown area. (see map) The building that houses La Herradura was once a small grocery store before it closed down. A restaurant by the name of Tasty Cafe took over part of the space of the old grocery store, but it was replaced by a place called Destyni's Cafe. That restaurant was in the spot until last fall when it closed down. Hopefully, La Herradura breaks that streak of restaurants in that location going out of business.
La Herradura is named after the wonderful Herradura tequila which my wife and I prefer for our homemade margaritas. La Herradura has a wide open floor plan with tables in the middle of the room and booths ringing the perimeter. It's brightly lit and has a number of Mexican artwork and artifacts on the walls. There's also a small outdoor seating area in front of the building.
We sat down in a booth by one of the front windows and were given menus to look over. La Herradura doesn't have a bar, per se, but a small shelving unit near the kitchen window on which to make drinks. They had margaritas, sangria and wine, as well as a number of domestic and imported beers to choose from.
Their signature margarita is made with, of course, Herradura tequila. We had a choice of either the Herradura reposado or the silver. We got the silver for these margaritas. The Herradura is mixed with Cointreau, orange and lime juices. It was served in a huge glass and it cost $14 per drink. Now, at this point in the afternoon, we weren't certain that we needed a margarita, let alone a $14 margarita. But it was very smooth, refreshing and flavorful.
We started off getting a basket of their house-made chips and salsa. The salsa was sweet and tangy, and had a very good flavor. I asked our server if I could get some of the salsa verde to go with the chips. She brought over a bowl of their salsa verde and it was served warm. Most salsa verdes that we've had are usually a little too salty for our tastes, but the salsa verde at La Herradura wasn't salty at all. There was a hint of saltiness, but nothing really noticeable. The salsa verde was excellent, in my book.
Most of the food items on the menu were your typical Mexican fare - tacos, enchiladas, burritos, and combo plates. But they also had a number of seafood items on the menu including grilled tilapia tacos, a handful of shrimp dishes, and both shrimp and fish ceviche. I was really keen on the seafood items on the menu, but I also had my eye on the pork chile verde dish, as well as the carnitas platter. In fact, they had about six or seven items on the menu that I was really interested in.
My wife thought the fajitas sounded good to her and she ordered up the chicken fajitas. Since it was still a bit before 3 p.m. when we ordered, she was still able to get the fajitas in the lower priced lunch-sized platter. The fajitas were served with grilled onions and peppers along with a side of shredded lettuce and pico de gallo. Mexican rice and refried beans came with the grilled chicken and veggies. Flour shell tacos completed her meal.
Torn between too many choices that sounded good to me on the menu, I ended up ordering the beef enchiladas verde. But the carnitas also sounded good to me and I asked if I could get a single carnitas taco. Normally, you would get three enchiladas on the platter, but the lunch portion only served two. And that was fine with me. Refried beans and rice came with the enchiladas.
The beef enchilada verde was very good. Once again, the chile verde sauce was not salty and had a wonderful natural taste that went well with the enchiladas. The rice was also good and the refried beans were decent. But, then again, refried beans are not my favorite thing in a Mexican restaurant.
The carnitas taco was topped with chihuahua cheese, pico de gallo and a slice of avocado. The carnitas were simmered, then grilled for a crunchy taste. I poured a bit of the salsa verde on top of the taco to give it a bit more of a pizazz in taste, although it really didn't need it.
My wife was sort of disappointed in her chicken fajitas, however. She said they were too salty. She offered me a bite and I got some on my fork to try. And they were very salty. My wife is the salt eater in the family and if she says something is too salty, well, it's very salty to me. She thought the overall taste of her chicken would have been much better had it not been so salty.
My wife's disappointment aside, we decided that we would come back to La Herradura at some point because they had so many things on their menu that we really wanted to try. We probably went a little overboard ordering up a couple of their signature margaritas - we decided that would could have shared one - but they were outstanding in taste and quality. I especially enjoyed my beef enchilada verde and the single carnitas taco that I got was also very good. Other than my wife's chicken fajitas being too salty, she seemed to like the place very much. It was comfortable and the service was prompt and friendly. Compared to other noteworthy Mexican restaurants in the area, I felt that La Herradura held their own. We figured we could go back to La Herradura a number of times and try something new on each visit, the menu was just that interesting to us.
Comments