Chickening Out
A while ago, I wrote about a little restaurant near Memphis' VA hospital where I stopped for lunch a few times. Although BT Bistro is convenient when I go to the hospital, it's not where I go to lunch after seeing my primary care doctor at the VA clinic in Whitehaven (as opposed to the one in Frayser that's closer to me). Because Nonconnah and Millbranch are a long way from the Memphis Medical Center, I obviously need a restaurant much closer to get a quick lunch before heading to work. Fortunately, La Cocina Mexicana is literally around the corner from the VA clinic on Millbranch. I stopped there a couple of times to get my grub on.
In choosing what to get, I didn't focus too much on the types of food, unlike what I did at BT Bistro. The reason for that is my lack of knowledge about Mexican food, although one could argue that if I ordered two things with "pollo" in the name, it should have been assumed that I was getting something with chicken in it. I could argue that by saying, unlike my "bistro" visits, both of my visits to La Cocina Mexicana were unplanned. Because my doctor's appointments were months apart, I simply picked at random from the menu during both visits to the Mexican restaurant. My only criteria in choosing what to order was whether or not if I was trying something new. In doing that, I discovered that there is more than one way to eat a chicken.
For my first visit, I got the Pollo Borracho. The entrée, a Mexican version of a "Drunken Chicken" dish, consists of slices of grilled chicken breast smothered in a creamy tequila sauce and topped with sliced mushrooms and bacon bits. I didn't taste much tequila in the sauce but the bacon was very salty. To balance the saltiness, I wrapped the chicken breast in tortilla bread and added the restaurant's salsa to it. That fix made it better, for the salsa's heavy cilantro flavor took enough of the bite from the salty bacon to make the entrée delicious.
The next time around, I got another unique entrée from the restaurant, the Pollo Cocina. This entrée has chicken breast as its base but this is smothered in a white cheese sauce and topped with shrimp and chorizo sausage bits, all in a sizzling pan. The best part of this entrée is the chorizo that is very flavorful and maybe some of best that I've had in awhile. Although the other elements of the Pollo Cocina were very tasty, the chorizo helped make this dish outstanding. Throw in the standard Mexican rice, refried beans, Pico De Gallo and guacamole (along with tortilla bread) and you have a great meal.
After my visits to La Cocina Mexicana, I left with a very positive impression of the restaurant. While it is far from the best Mexican food that I ever had, it can more than hold its own with some of the best Mexican restaurants in Memphis. In addition to good food, the restaurant also has a full bar serving about every alcoholic libation you can think of. With La Cocina Mexicana being next to a hotel not far from Graceland is both convenient and cool (there are other restaurants in town bearing the "La Cocina Mexicana" name but might not be affiliated with each other). So whether you're a tourist or a local, La Cocina Mexicana is worth checking out.
Website: LaCocinaMexicanaMillbranchTN.com
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