Im afraid to tell you that, just like me before today, you have been making poor life choices, if…read moreyou have never been to Paulina's Escanes.
Walk, run, drive, float, fly, cancel that trip to Hawaii; do what you need to do; Eat dinner here immediately! I mean like, right now. It's 4am and you're in Wisconsin? Don't care. You should be here.
I went out looking for a healthy salad after days of eating very rich foods. Planned to go to Opa! Opa was packed, but the doors were locked and the sign was off, despite not closing for another hour according to maps. Oh well. What's this up here? Paulina's. Ok let me check Yelp. Great ratings let's see if they have salads.
Right on Ashford, indoor and outdoor seating. It was packed and there was 45 minutes til close. So I went straight to the bar.
The server/bartender gave me the best service on this trip. She was prompt, checked in me at the right time, spoke to me in Spanish when I tried but English when I needed to. She was warm and smiled to everyone. While she made drinks i asked random things about the island, the language, and she seemed happy to tell me about it.
Vibe was elegant, slightly high scale. I didn't know until I saw the menu... oh this is a Mexican restaurant!
I drank an old fashion. It was delicious but tasted a little weak. Not sure how that can be when it's all liquor basically. Maybe I was just in a mode. But it was good. In retrospect, wtf am I drinking an old fashion for? Should have had something more Caribbean!
They had a great looking salad called El Orgánico iirc. But then I saw this interesting dish that came with a side salad.
It is called "Torta elote de escanes" I think. Something like that.
In Arizona a torta is a sandwich on a bun de Frances or Bolio. So I was struck when I read the description.
Something about a corn soufflé, with green chiles. Sounded good but not crazy good. But then it went on "this is the one thing you should order at Paulina." Ok, who am I to argue?
I ordered the torta elote; and two taquitos de pollo al pastor. (Chicken pastor tacos).
She explained that the torts also had mushrooms and sour cream and is that ok. Yes, sounds great!
Tacos came out first. Fantastic! I live in Arizona and am no stranger to pastor. This was top tier; probably the best I've had. Insanely tender chicken on a pan-toasted tortilla with pineapple and some sauce. Out of this world.
But honestly, compared to what's coming next, I almost forgot all about those perfect tacos.
Out comes the "torta". It looks like a rectangle piece of cornbread with crème and tomatoes on top. Served simply on a white flat plate, soufflé (torta) on the left, and the salad on the right. Ate the salad first. It was the low light. Fresh and tasty, but the dressing needs a bit more pop imo: maybe vinegar.
I cut off a piece of the corn bread thing, being sure to include a bit of every ingredient. I'm lost for words. I don't know what to say. This is the perfect creation. This is a godly creation. I will never forget this.
Now, as I mentioned, I'm from Arizona. So I love corn. I live green chiles. These are southwest flavors so maybe I'm biased. But this thing was perfect in every way as far as I'm concerned. What she said was sour cream I think was actually crème fraiche. But I don't care what you call it. Torta, sour cream, whatever! One of the best dishes I've eaten in my life. 6 stars.
