Salsa and Agave in Yaletown, Vancouver

Ever since Alejandra and Estanislao started telling me finer points about Mexican food, I get more interested in finding out about it. I used to be so oblivious about Mexican food. If you ask me, I would not be able to name one Mexican restaurant or even know where to find one.

Since the past few weeks, I had began to understand a lot more and that Mexican cuisine is more than just tacos and burritos. A month ago, we went to the El Mariachi. I wanted to try the Sopa Azteca (Aztec Soup) that Alejandra said I should but unfortunately they did not have it. But when I found out that the Salsa and Agave has it, Suanne and I made a beeline to the restaurant.

Salsa and Agave is located in the middle of Yaletown. This hole in the wall had gained quite a reputation and is arguably one of the best Mexican restaurants in Metro Vancouver. They closes on Mondays but on other days they are open for lunch and dinner between 11AM to 9:30PM.

I was curious as to what the word Agave means. Estanislao told me that agave is a type of cactus that is used to make Tequila, particularly a type of agave called the blue agave. But if you think they serve tequila in Salsa and Agave, you will not find it here.

Salsa and Agave is really small … and extremely popular. We counted only 8 small tables each able to hold 2 people each. As usual, Suanne and I were there early at about 4:45PM. So there were a lot of empty tables. By 6PM when we were about to leave, the restaurant was filled with customers standing in between tables waiting for one to free up.

It was freezing cold outside and I guess no one wanted to wait in the cold. That is why everyone was cramped into the little space.

ALL of the customers speaks Spanish. We stuck out like sore thumbs being the only Asian faces.

Service was very friendly. First thing we got was tortilla chips and red salsa served in a mortar like bowl.

We were sitting there for a few minutes trying to understand the menu. It was confusing for us — all of them looked the same and we can’t imagine what most of them were. We told ourselves we will not want the tacos stuff and wanted a true dinner.

Our waitress was friendly and helpful. We told her we don’t know what we wanted except that we definitely want the Sopa Azteca and “real Mexican dinner”. First thing she told us, in a hush tone, is “do not get the burritos, we make it like the Americans”. We had a good laugh.

At first I wanted to order a Mexican pop but then I noticed that they had a drinks dispenser with a white and a red drinks. Even though we do not know what it is, we ordered one of each. We just had to try.

The red drink is the hibiscus (a kind of flower). Hah, one learn new things everyday. In Malaysia, hibiscus is the national flower and no one even thought that it could be made into a drink. The drink is sourish. While it was OK, it will not be something we will enjoy a lot.

But the white drink was fantastic. It is called the rice and cinnamon water. It is sweet … and cinnamony, of course. One can easily mistaken this for milk. I think a lot of people will like this.

So … finally … this is Sopa Azteca. It is a tomato soup with tortilla, diced avocados, cheese, sour cream and chipotle pepper in it. It tasted “cheesy” and not too spicy. The fried tortilla presents a balanced … More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Salsa and Agave in Yaletown, Vancouver (651 words)

© ben for Chow Times, 2009. |
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Post tags: Mexican, Restaurant Review, Vancouver