Colibri

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Finally, Orlando, the day is here! There is now officially a great, maybe even excellent, Mexican restaurant in the City Beautiful! And it’s very close to my house!

Saturday evening, after a 75-cent showing of Oceans Thirteen, my friends and I decided that margaritas were a necessity. Desperately tired of the usual PRs and Amigos, I was ready to drown myself in Tequila to help forget the inevitable mediocre meals at both establishments. But, alas, it was not meant to be! Annette’s eyes brightened as she remembered the soft opening of “Some new Mexican place in Baldwin Park!”

So off we went to Colibri, the newest addition to BP. Located at the very end of New Broad St. by the lake, they’ve been open for about two weeks. I have to admit that my first impressions of the entire BP project were not, well, positive. Preplanned development. Cookie cutter houses. They even tore down the old navy base ship that I used to love when I was a kid!

But with their expansive Publix, a Barney’s that serves Abita, and now Colibri, I have officially become a fan. Right off the bat, I have to tell you that I was really impressed by the food. We started with warm homemade tortillas, served with a “green” dipping sauce (mild) and a “red” dipping sauce (yep, you guessed it, hot). The tortillas were gooey, delicious and not greasy whatsoever. For entrees I had the Quesadillas Tulum (steak); Annette had the Mole Poblano; and Amy had the Rollos de Pollo.

My Quesadillas were delicious. The flank was quite tender, with a bit of a sweet sauce, and served in a grilled flour tortilla. The small dollop of Guacamole proved to be fantastic. Annette loved her Mole Poblano. I tried the sauce and was very impressed. It was rich and not too spicy, with hints of cocoa. She described the chicken to be falling apart tender. Her cilantro infused rice was very light and perfectly cooked (even I liked it!). Amy wasn’t quite as thrilled with her Rollos de Pollo, which was a chicken roulade stuffed with bacon and cheese. I think they just didn’t “roll” it correctly; she only had a few bites on the ends that contained bacon. The highlight of her dish was a fresh and summery corn and pineapple salad.

All of the non-seafood entrees are supposed to come with your choice of black bean or chicken soup, and because our server forgot to offer this to us, we were treated to a free dessert. And, really, here’s the climax of the meal for me. The best Tres Leches Cake I’ve ever had. I’m serious. It was perfectly saturated, served swimming in some sweet cream, and topped off with a dash of cinnamon. Whoever is responsible for this cake should be proud!

And yes, I won’t forget the booze. We got a pitcher of house margaritas infused with Bauchant Orange (they were out of Cointreau and Grand Marnier). FYI, the Bauchant was quite good. A cognac blended with fruit juices, they also offer raspberry, pomegranate, apple and pear. The margaritas did the trick and the after dinner shot of Cabo Wabo Anejo was the perfect finishing touch!

I have no doubt that Colibri will be successful and I look forward returning!
Check them out:
www.colibriorlando.com