Cactus Cantina, Washington, D.C.

After church at the National Cathedral Sunday, Laurent claimed utter starvation, so he and I walked up the street to Cactus Cantina for a quick brunch. It was crowded, as always, but we timed it just right to get squeezed into a table.

We got the ubiquitous chips and salsa as soon as we sat down. They have a different kind of salsa here, being a cooked salsa served hot, instead of the usual cold kind. We washed the chips down with some sangria.

Laurent was famished, so he got this enormous Triple BBQ platter with baby back ribs, grilled shrimp, and grilled fajita chicken. Large rings of grilled onions and green bell pepper adorned the plate, and a side plate with Mexican rice and their garlicky bean soup accompanied the meats.



I was daintier and ordered the burrito gordo, a hefty flour tortilla wrapped around a generous serving of shredded beef. I also got sides of rice and beans, plus a pile of large cabbage shreds with a few pieces of lettuce and tomato. The beef in the burrito had good flavor. I also like their rice, which isn't too tomatoey, but I'm not quite sure of what I think of their soupy and very, very garlicky bean soup.



For dessert, the choices were very limited, so Laurent had a flan and I had a slice of key lime pie. I thought my pie filling was very good, though I prefer a key lime pie in pastry instead of graham cracker crust and with meringue instead of bare as they served it at Cactus Cantina (or with whipped cream, as it also commonly done).



As always, the food at Cactus Cantina is decent enough Mexican-style stuff, and the cost, if one orders wisely, can be inexpensive by Washington standards (like my burrito, which was only $8). Sometime, though, I really need to try some of their brunch food when we go there for brunch!