MOSCOW — Living in the Northwest, you can easily take Mexican food for granted. Go to the other side of the globe and it’s nowhere to be found.
Once I ordered nachos in Bali. The chips were some kind of puffed rice best compared to green Styrofoam. The salsa was tomato sauce. It was the most disappointingly memorable meal ever.
Lamadrid Mexican Restaurant & Tapas Bar provides an array of authenticity at the Eastside Marketplace in Moscow. Lamadrid is the brick-and-mortar evolution of a taco truck started by Annette and Arturo Lamadrid.
For starters, there’s a Pumpkin Seed Dip appetizer: roasted pumpkin seeds blended with roasted chiles, broiled tomato, cilantro and chives ($6). Entree specialties include Carne En Su Jugo, a bowl of beef shoulder steak pieces cooked with bacon and mixed with pinto beans and roasted green tomatillo salsa. It’s garnished with red onion, radishes, cilantro, avocado and queso fresco served with tortillas ($13). Besides steak, chicken, pork, homemade chorizo and prawns, there’s a wide array of flavorful vegetarian dishes, like Poblano’s Plate, a mix of slightly charred poblano peppers, potatoes and spinach in cream sauce with Parmesan and spices ($11).
A favorite with local college students are the tortas ($8) with a choice of meat, beans, lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado in a Mexican bun with chipotle mayonnaise. The signature margarita at the full bar is the Dos-arita, a “grande goblet” of blended lime margarita with a bottle of Dos Equis Amber plunged in head first ($11.95).
The restaurant is at 1420 S. Blaine St., Moscow, (208) 882-9226.
We periodically feature an area restaurant’s specialty. Restaurants can nominate their unique dishes at jkbauer@inland360.com.
