By Tracy Dietlin
Every now and then I run across a restaurant that impresses me so much I can’t stop talking about it. That happened last week when I was invited to lunch with a couple of ladies to discuss business. I was a bit hesitant when I was told we were meeting in Cathedral City at a Mexican restaurant called Salsas, located in the Big Lots shopping center on the corner of Date Palm and Highway 111, as I had never heard of it. Diana insisted that Carol said it was her favorite place and she dined there quite often so I was on board.
My experience during lunch on Thursday was so incredible that I wanted to go back for dinner with my husband on Friday, but already scheduled plans put it off until Saturday night at which time we took another couple, Greg & Laura, with us to share in this awesome culinary delight which is: Salsas!!
We began with chips, tasty salsa, creamy, fresh guacamole and delicious Cadillac margaritas. All their margaritas are made with fresh ingredients and not bottled mixers, which I definitely appreciate.
Our attentive and friendly server Geovanni immediately placed before us a few shrimp dishes to try, one of which is not on the menu yet but will be added by mid-September and was unlike anything we had ever tasted. It was served in a tangy Caribbean sauce with a pineapple in the middle of the dish to enjoy with each bite of shrimp. Absolutely amazing! That can also be said for the goat soup, which literally melted in our mouths. We were told that this item might be coming off the menu, which of course we highly recommended not doing. I’ve been craving goat tacos ever since.
For such a small restaurant their menu is extensive and the prices are half of what you would pay anywhere else. While they have all the pork, beef and chicken dishes you might want, I am here to talk about their fabulous seafood menu. Three of us chose different shrimp dishes which included; Camarones Costa Azul (bacon-wrapped shrimp stuffed with cheese and pasilla chile), Camarones Al Chipotle (shrimp in a creamy chipotle sauce) and my favorite, Camarones Poblanos (shrimp with pasilla chile & roasted corn sauce). It truly was the best shrimp dish I have ever had with the sauce being good enough to lick the plate, which of course I refrained from doing. All dishes were served with rice, beans and a small salad.
Greg chose to have the Mojarra A La Diabla (fried tilapia fish with spicy devil sauce). This is a whole fish served on your plate. He said that he orders this dish a lot when he is traveling for business and has never had better and that the complexity and layers of flavors in the fish and the sauce it was served in was a winner. We all concurred that every sauce served was unique and unlike anything any of us had tasted anywhere else.
Even though we were all stuffed, co-owner of Salsas, Moises De La Torre, insisted we try dessert and we were so glad he did. The flan was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and was delicious however the star was the Pastel De Elote (homemade sweet cornbread cake) in a creamy secret sauce, which was simply divine!
I have not stopped talking about this restaurant. I urge everyone to go to Salsas at 69020 E. Palm Canyon in Cathedral City and you too will discover the best Mexican food in town. Co-owned by Moises and his sister Celina De La Torre this restaurant has been in business since 1995. I might add that while we were dining people were lined up outside waiting for a table. Call 760-321-6612.
