![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
menupleaseLong, long ago in the Primeval Ages, there was a chain of coffee shops called Sambo's, named for the children's story about Little Black Sambo. If you are not familar with it, the restaurant link has an illustrated and narrated version of it that is rather interesting. Discussions about the name and implications may be held in another time and place, but not here.
The Redding Sambo's did a good business, located as it was on the old Highway 99, and then the Downtown Mall was built and Interstate 5 was completed, and downtown Redding died twisting, twisting in the wind. Sambo's came and went, and the restaurant space it formerly occupied became a series of generic coffee shops. They were named Candy's, Mandy's, Andy's, Dandy's, Kandy's, and Randy's, until at long last someone with an ounce of sense bought the space and turned it into La Cabana.
What makes La Cabana stand out from the millions of other Mexican restaurants in the area, besides being the only one that shares a parking lot with a motel that houses felons? The wonderful food, fast service, and reasonable prices.
* The chile rellanos are the best in the area and certainly the most delicious Mlle. de Joie has ever tasted. They are made with fresh anchos or poblanos - not the canned chiles - and sometimes the Scoville Scale tips toward the higher end.
* Carnitas are never considered diet food, but here they are worth blowing a few hundred calories for. Instead of the usual roast pork that most Mexican restaurants try to pass off as carnitas, these are made from pot-roasted pork that is then allowed to draw maximum flavor by stewing in the rendered pork fat. Do not tell your cardiologist.
* The fish tacos are also the best Mlle. de Joie has ever had. She has made it somewhat of an obsession to try as many fish tacos as she can before she dies, and so far rates these the highest. Fish tacos are not the most popular item on a Mexican menu, and more's the pity: made with freshly deep-fried fish, pico de gallo and sour cream, these are worth getting your hands messy for.
* The rice and beans at La Cabana are so far superior to what is served alongside a combo plate at any other Mexican restaurant, as to make them worth ordering by themselves.
* Shrimp cocktail at La Cabana is not the pathetic little pink corpses stuck into a glass of high-fructose-imbedded jarred Kraft cocktail sauce that is normally served at certain types of steakhouses. This one is given self-importance and elegance: served in a tall sundae glass, shrimp (and octopus, if you like) are layered with chunks of avocado and juicy hunks of sweet tomato.
* Homemade salsa, redolent of cilantro, can also lean toward the high end of the Scoville Scale, but is as addictive as crack.
There are a few items Mlle. de Joie can do without - she has never been a fan of rolled tacos, and the tortas are, really, just sandwiches on rolls, nothing to write home about. The 7 Mares Soup is a bowl of seven different fish in a spicy, tomato-y broth that seems like a good idea but the actual consumption of it is interminable. And the steak fajita burrito is fajita in a flour tortilla; fine for fajita enthusiasts, which Mlle. de Joie has never been.
While not as authentic as some restaurants slightly further south, such as in the Glenn County area (i.e. take the Orland exit and eat at either place on the east side of I-5), La Cabana is heavily patronized by enough Spanish-speaking clientele to tell you they're doing something right. Service is very fast and friendly and the prices are quite reasonable.
- Femme de Joie
La Cabana, 1335 Market Street, Redding, CA 96001. 530-242-1915, fax 530-242-1857. Open 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM seven days a week. Cash, credit and debit cards only. No checks. Breakfast served 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM only. Beer and wine. See menu at Menu Central. Small parking lot on-site but Mlle. de Joie recommends parking on the street.
The Redding Sambo's did a good business, located as it was on the old Highway 99, and then the Downtown Mall was built and Interstate 5 was completed, and downtown Redding died twisting, twisting in the wind. Sambo's came and went, and the restaurant space it formerly occupied became a series of generic coffee shops. They were named Candy's, Mandy's, Andy's, Dandy's, Kandy's, and Randy's, until at long last someone with an ounce of sense bought the space and turned it into La Cabana.
What makes La Cabana stand out from the millions of other Mexican restaurants in the area, besides being the only one that shares a parking lot with a motel that houses felons? The wonderful food, fast service, and reasonable prices.
* The chile rellanos are the best in the area and certainly the most delicious Mlle. de Joie has ever tasted. They are made with fresh anchos or poblanos - not the canned chiles - and sometimes the Scoville Scale tips toward the higher end.
* Carnitas are never considered diet food, but here they are worth blowing a few hundred calories for. Instead of the usual roast pork that most Mexican restaurants try to pass off as carnitas, these are made from pot-roasted pork that is then allowed to draw maximum flavor by stewing in the rendered pork fat. Do not tell your cardiologist.
* The fish tacos are also the best Mlle. de Joie has ever had. She has made it somewhat of an obsession to try as many fish tacos as she can before she dies, and so far rates these the highest. Fish tacos are not the most popular item on a Mexican menu, and more's the pity: made with freshly deep-fried fish, pico de gallo and sour cream, these are worth getting your hands messy for.
* The rice and beans at La Cabana are so far superior to what is served alongside a combo plate at any other Mexican restaurant, as to make them worth ordering by themselves.
* Shrimp cocktail at La Cabana is not the pathetic little pink corpses stuck into a glass of high-fructose-imbedded jarred Kraft cocktail sauce that is normally served at certain types of steakhouses. This one is given self-importance and elegance: served in a tall sundae glass, shrimp (and octopus, if you like) are layered with chunks of avocado and juicy hunks of sweet tomato.
* Homemade salsa, redolent of cilantro, can also lean toward the high end of the Scoville Scale, but is as addictive as crack.
There are a few items Mlle. de Joie can do without - she has never been a fan of rolled tacos, and the tortas are, really, just sandwiches on rolls, nothing to write home about. The 7 Mares Soup is a bowl of seven different fish in a spicy, tomato-y broth that seems like a good idea but the actual consumption of it is interminable. And the steak fajita burrito is fajita in a flour tortilla; fine for fajita enthusiasts, which Mlle. de Joie has never been.
While not as authentic as some restaurants slightly further south, such as in the Glenn County area (i.e. take the Orland exit and eat at either place on the east side of I-5), La Cabana is heavily patronized by enough Spanish-speaking clientele to tell you they're doing something right. Service is very fast and friendly and the prices are quite reasonable.
- Femme de Joie
La Cabana, 1335 Market Street, Redding, CA 96001. 530-242-1915, fax 530-242-1857. Open 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM seven days a week. Cash, credit and debit cards only. No checks. Breakfast served 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM only. Beer and wine. See menu at Menu Central. Small parking lot on-site but Mlle. de Joie recommends parking on the street.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Re: I also am a repeat consumer at the La Cabana
Date: 2009-06-28 10:55 pm (UTC)Re: I also am a repeat consumer at the La Cabana
Date: 2009-06-29 06:07 am (UTC)I hope you get a chance to check it out!
Enjoy!
Lita