My roommate likes to work out. As in, she goes to the gym at least four times a week. She even rides her bike to the gym. I wouldn’t say that I am opposed to working out. However, let’s just say that I do not belong to a gym (mostly due to the fact that I cannot afford a facility that I deem bacteria-free enough… but that is another story), and I am a horrible runner. This leaves me with a few options for exercise. I could hike (which I like to do on the weekends… Temescal, not Runyon), I could bike (but this seems rather risky to me, considering the percentage of bad drivers on the Los Angeles roads), or I could walk (ding ding ding!).
Since I am not an avid gym-rat, my roommate and I rarely get the chance to partake in any activity that causes our heart rates to rise together. So when I mention that I would like to go for a walk for fitness purposes, she generally agrees to join me. This was the case last night. Originally, the plan was to walk to the beach, cruise up the boardwalk, and maybe get a little crazy on the Montana Avenue stairs. But then someone threw out the idea of eating out, and our brilliant plan was born- why not walk to dinner!? After some discussion, we decided this was definitely the best idea ever and that we must be geniuses to have come up with it. Now, where to go? The restaurant had to be far enough away to warrant calling the walk ‘exercise.’ The cuisine also needed to be at least semi-healthy, because the whole point of combining the exercise and dinner experiences was to promote wellness. After tossing several ideas around and still having no solid destination in mind, we gave up and decided just to walk in a southwest direction. This would point us toward downtown Santa Monica and the Third Street Promenade, with the option to continue on to Main Street.
There was some debate as to which street would be the most likely to have an eatery that met our criteria, but eventually we decided on Fourth Street. This turned out to be the second best idea of the night. We were covering ground quickly and beginning to lose hope of finding something in the Promenade area, when we passed a sign in a window. The sign read, “$3 tacos and half-off margaritas, 4 to 7 p.m.” Come again? It didn’t take much arm-twisting to get us in that door. We had arrived at our place of nourishment for the evening: Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger’s Border Grill.
We chose bar seats, since our attire was more appropriate for a Flirty Girl Fitness workout DVD than a dining room, after all. And I know I said we were trying to make healthy choices, but who can resist a $5 El Charro Reposado margarita? (Actually, after drinking mine, I think a better choice probably would have been a $4 house sangria or maybe a $5.50 mango Bacardi mojito. The margaritas were a bit sweet for both of our tastes.) Wanting to live on the edge, we ordered a jalapeño popper to start ($3). As a fun incentive to try the other poppers, the menu states, “If you can finish the first three (Fresno, jalapeño and serrano), then the habanero chile popper is on us!” We decided this was a little too intense for a Tuesday evening, but the idea was fun nonetheless. The popper was decent, although not especially spicy or exciting. We also tried a poblano quesadilla with Manchego, panela, and Cotija cheeses ($5). The flavors of the quesadilla, combined with the chipotle salsa were well matched, but again, not exceptional. Several bites tasted more like the flour tortilla than anything else. I guess that’s what happens when you pay $5 for a quesadilla.
The stars of the meal were definitely the Border Tacos. A taco platter lets you choose three tacos and is an even better bargain than advertised! You can choose any three tacos from the eight varieties (each made with a homemade corn tortilla) for just $8. I suppose we did add freshly mashed guacamole for $0.75, which brought our taco total to $8.75, but I’m still going to go with calling it a pretty good deal. Jaime, being a vegetarian- or pescatarian to be more specific- knew immediately that she wanted a grilled fish taco (with cucumber grapefruit citrus slaw and lime crema). This sounded nice and refreshing to me, so we went with two of these. There were a couple of other meatless options, but the fish seemed the most likely to please our palates. Thanks to a recommendation by the not-so-attentive bartender, I went with the adobo roasted lamb for the third. Although our guy seemed more interested in doing everything behind the bar besides helping us, I will say that I am happy I took his suggestion. The lamb was tender and flavorful, and the Manchego cheese and poblano chile added just the right accents without covering the flavor of the meat.
Overall, we felt the meal was a success. Even if we weren’t blown away by all of our selections, each item we tried was tasty and something we would eat again. It’s also hard to complain when the entire meal, including drinks and tip was under $20 each. After a short pep-talk, we were ready to take on the second leg of our workout, the walk home. Feeling content, but not over-full, the exactly one-mile walk was pleasant and energizing. And we both had the satisfaction of knowing that we walked two miles and discovered $3 tacos, all in one evening.
-Katrina
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