Cocina Superior - Birmingham

i really thought this place was a chain.  but through my google search, i find out that this may truly be a Birmingham thing.

which sort of makes me happy.  anything that is uniquely Birmingham makes me happy these days.  it seems this little city of ours keeps getting more and more awesome.  which is good, because it makes me not miss the idea of Austin so much.

i'm guessing Austin will happen eventually.  i just need to keep my spirits up, and it will happen.  

anyway, this weekend, while we had our Eclectic (yes, that's a city in Alabama; not using it as an adjective here) friends in town, we decided to go to this place for some much needed Mexican inspired spirits.

Cocina Superior is located on the outskirts of Brookwood Mall in Homewood.  and it is fantastic.  i mean, if you're not looking for hole in the wall Mexican food; the price range is slightly pricey for Mexican food, but it is definitely worth it.

via

for some reason, i've been forgetting to take pictures of the outside of the restaurant, but so conveniently (and duh), the restaurant has a pretty outside picture on their website.

the el chango.  quite possibly the best drink on earth.  it's frozen sangria and margarita swirled together topped with a shot of chambourd.  i recommend only one if you are driving.  this thing will hit you pretty fast.

i had the enchiladas suizas (and then proceeded to leave the amazing left overs on the table), and B had the blue-corn tortilla stacked enchiladas.

I also read somewhere this week that some restaurants were planning on banning people from taking pictures of their food.  I don't understand this for many reasons...

1.  it's free PR people.  most people I've seen aren't credited food critics.  like myself.  I very rarely say anything bad about any food, ever.  and I'm not sure why showing pictures of it would hurt anyone.

2.  banning pictures isn't going to save the restaurant from bad reviews.  food critics have been writing bad reviews for years, without having the proper photography to go with it.

3.  even Anthony Bourdain takes pictures of his food (read: The Layover:  New Orleans.  He takes a picture of a po'boy).

anyway, please correct me if this is a chain.  i had a hard time finding another one on google.  but maybe since i live in Birmingham, google's being a little biased...but on the off chance you're in Birmingham for a night and want to try some high-class Mexican food, definitely head to Cocina Superior.