CHIMICHANGA (2360 Yonge, at Orchard View, 416-480-2446) Complete dinners for $40 per person (lunches $25), including all taxes tip and a half-price margarita. Average main $16. Open Monday to Thursday 11 am to 10:30 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am to midnight, Sunday 11 am to 10:30 pm bar till close nightly. Licensed. Access: eight steps at door, washrooms on same floor. Rating: NNN
You might recall Chimichanga from its short spell at Yonge and Gould as an unsuccessful Burrito Boyz clone. Now regrouped uptown, the upwardly mobile eatery bills itself as a “Mexican grill and tequila bar.”
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From the street, the looks of the new Chimi don’t promise much, despite a sign advertising half-price margaritas ($3.50).
Inside, the former home of Cheers on Yonge comes on like the Sneaky Dee’s of Yonge and Eglinton, all plastic palms, hipster muzak and chairs so lightweight that if they were ever to break over someone’s head during a barroom brawl, they’d do little damage.
Commercial corn chips and a huge bowl of wimpy salsa ($3) do little to alter our first impressions, nor does guacamole ($8) served in a mortar rather than the blender in which it was rendered an over-processed purée.
But the arrival of a stylish rectangular plate of Baja Fish Tacos ($11) causes a major rethink. Stacked on four of La Tortilleria’s fresh 5-inch tortillas, meaty if anonymous strips of what the menu calls “breaded Pacific white fish” get finished with crumbles of “gourmet cheese,” drizzles of tongue-teasing guajillo pepper, squirts of lime and a blob of mayo-like guac on the side.
We like mucho!
Chili Rellenos ($16) see a palatable pair of roasted poblano peppers in eggy batter stuffed with more cheese, dressed with chopped tomato pico de gallo and unexpectedly artful squiggles of sour cream, and surrounded by a “pond” – their word, not mine – of nippy pink tomato sauce spiked with potent Valencia hot sauce.
And a trio of Enmoladas (both $16 with rice ‘n’ refried beans) – tangy “home-ground” beef wrapped enchilada-style in crisply deep-fried corn tortillas – arrive in a veritable fjord of mole made from “over 50 ingredients.” Going by the sweetness of the chocolate-rich sauce, I’m guessing one of them’s a Caramilk bar.
No bad thing, that.
