Taste of the Islands ~ Plano, Texas

I've been sitting on this review from Mr. Music for over 2 months. Need to blow the cobwebs off this machine, and see what we can do here. In any event, Taste of the Islands brings us back alive. And this is our first Caribbean entry - and we've been going at this for 8 years!

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Today Mr. Music found himself in Plano at Taste of the Islands with some friends. This is a Caribbean restaurant / bakery / grocery store that has a small quaint room for lunch time and a larger room with a stage for reggae music on the weekends. On Thursdays and Fridays they have a buffet which is a great opportunity to try different things if you’ve never had Caribbean food! They change things up from day to day, but today they had steamed rice dotted with pigeon peas (a bit like black beans) or plain steamed rice. They served yellow curry potatoes, seasoned spinach, spicy cole slaw and seasoned green beans for veggies. There were several meat choices including my favorite, goat curry as well as curried chicken, jerk chicken, stewed chicken and fried fish (with a seasoned corn bread batter). Everything was very tasty and very fresh. It wasn’t crowded, but steady enough for them to be constantly bringing out freshly made food. The curry dishes all had a little heat to them; the Indian influence was very apparent. Make sure you get a fresh homemade roti (on request only). Roti is like a tortilla-like flatbread from India; the whole wheat batter is heated on a grill. Order it early as it is made on the spot and takes a few minutes but the warm, flaky bread enhances the experience with the curries and gravies immensely! You really only need one for every 2 or 3 people as they are huge! I read that in the Caribbean they are often used to make a wrap by stuffing it with some savory dish and that is exactly what we did! Yum! You can shop while you eat because all the spices, canned goods, bakery items and even frozen meats/dishes are on shelves/coolers that surround the tables and are easily seen from your seat. The staff was great; very friendly and attentive. The one thing that I want to make sure to communicate is that it was a little more expensive that I expected; I think it was $13, but it was worth it to me. I’ll be back!

- Mr. Music review

Baja Cantina ~ Keller, Texas

OK it looks like they renamed it to their parent company Baja Cantina (fka known as Funky Baja's). Recent reviews indicate the place has regained favor. Will leave the original logo until we revisit, which probably won't happen, but one never knows.

Latest visit: Apr 2016

First visit: Oct 2011

How about another update? Going back to Funky Baja's is like reuniting with an old friend that you had a falling out with. This used to be a regular stop for Mrs. RJG and I. We enjoyed the atmosphere, the drinks, and especially the "$3 Freaking Tacos". They even added craft beers, and for us, it was about the closest place to a "hangout" as it will ever get for us. We often brought friends here too. Then one day... one day... the $3 tacos were dinky! And the bartenders / waitstaff were rude, or nonchalant at best. Visit after visit. What the Helga (as my nieces would say)? To me, that's the worst thing you can do: Chintz on the portion. Better to raise the price if that was necessary. In any case, we ultimately stated "Fine, we're done here", and didn't return for nearly 2 years. But we did recently, and all seemed back to normal again. I don't know if we'll ever be regulars again, but it's back in the rotation.

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To us, there are three kinds of taco shops: 1) Fast food ground beef crunchy style; 2) Street tacos / taquerias; and 3) The high end, high quality ingredient taco. 3) is really an extension of 2). Honestly, I love all 3 types. So in that third category, we have a very fast growing cottage industry - especially here in DFW. Fuzzy's has become the standard bearer, while others such as Torchy's and Yucatan Taco Stand established themselves as a higher end alternative. I'd say Funky Baja's has the higher quality taco of a Torchy's (though slightly less priced), with more of a Fuzzy's atmosphere, mixed with a traditional bar. In our initial review, we spoke about the Fishman taco (beer battered), the El Santo (chipotle chicken) and the Blue Demon (spicy pork adobada). Both the fish and especially the chicken were outstanding, whereas the pork was a bit fatty and tough (sigh). It wasn't perfect, but most restaurants have specialties I fall for. Over the years, we tried just about every taco, with Pirata Morgan (steak, bacon, queso fresco) adding to our list of favorites. While the tacos don't really need the extra flavor, I do wish they provided their own really hot habanero sauce like Fuzzy's and Yucatan have (they do, however, provide El Yucateco, if so desired). We also moved to other aspects of the menu, and lately the cheeseburger is satisfying us. And if you get their delicious chips and salsa, you have a full meal right there. They also have a full bar, with excellent frozen margaritas, and a healthy selection of craft beers.

It's interesting to note that Funky Baja's took over the old Novrozsky's place, that we wrote about many years ago. And the reason it's interesting, for me at least, is that I felt one of the reasons Novrozsky's closed was it didn't understand the space it was in. Some of that is also timing, as Novrozsky's arrived perhaps a but too early. Keller has grown up since then, as has all of Northeast Tarrant county. Texas has always struggled with its Baptist/temperance/prohibition past, but as time has passed, more and more laws are going down in favor of those who enjoy a nice, legal alcoholic beverage in a public setting. Just for reference, DFW had exactly one microbrewery entering this decade (Fort Worth's excellent Rahr and Sons). Now it seems we get a new brewery once a month! In 2008, Old Town Keller was a rather boring strip with one dilapidated, but cool, BBQ restaurant (now closed) and little else. Now it's filled with restaurants and taverns. These newer places are not the stinky dive taverns my uncle loved to frequent - an unwelcome place filled with ne're-do-wells eyeing everyone with distrust and a cigarette dangling from their mouth. Far from it - in fact, these newer places are filled with women and children. In any case, Funky Baja's is a dark place, that does feel like a sports bar, but is also very welcoming, and definitely for the whole family.

Funky Baja's is a branch of the ever growing Baja chain of restaurants sprouting all over NE Tarrant, most notably under the monikers Baja Grill or Baja Cantina.

10/11/11 (new entry); 4/17/14; 4/23/16