It is such a drag to look forward to a return to a much-loved restaurant, go there and find it’s gone. So imagine this reviewer’s disappointment in walking down the alley to Sababa in Tianmu for hummus, falafels and gyros, only to discover the restaurant is no more. Happily, however, shining back from a glossy menu at the same location were mouthwatering photographs of enchiladas, burritos, chimichangas and other beloved Tex-Mex fare, as well as the Eddy’s Cantina (艾迪墨西哥餐廳) logo.
Eddy’s, which began life as a burrito stand in Tamsui’s night market before opening its mortar-and-bricks restaurant a few blocks away in 2008, opened its second branch right off Zhongshan North Road Section 6 on May 2.
Owners Eddy Gonzalez and his wife have kept Sababa’s basic table layout and color scheme, only there are now Mexican flags and a mix of family and historical photographs for decor, while a large part of their Tamsui menu — tacos (soft or hard shell), burritos (classic and “wet”), quesadillas, chimichangas and enchiladas — has made the move to Tianmu and kiddie portions are available on request. The dessert menu is not as extensive, just tortilla dulce, which is similar to a crepe, cinnamon sweet chips and ice cream, and not all the vegetarian options are available, but Gonzalez said he will try to meet requests.
Photo: Diane Baker, Taipei Times
Eddy has left the Tamsui operations in the hands of long-time staffers for now so he can focus on getting his Tianmu crew up to speed.
Most of the entrees are offered in a choice of four fillings: chicken, steak, carnitas (pork) or vegetarian — either potatoes or refried beans (made without lard) — while there are also fish tacos (soft shelled) or seasoned ground beef for the hard shell tacos. The prices are mostly between NT$200 and NT$289, though a five-taco plate will take you to the NT$450 mark. For NT$95 more, you can turn an entree into a full meal with a soft drink or tea and a choice of two of the following: beans, rice, chips or salad and potatoes.
The tortillas, chips and salsas are all homemade. While the vegetarian chimichanga was filling, it was a bit dry and the small servings of salsa, salsa verde and sour cream didn’t go far. The enchilada plate, however, was perfect.
Photo: Diane Baker, Taipei Times
Since Eddy is trying to convert Taiwanese to Mexican cuisine, he’s trying not to scare away people by making anything too spicy, so if you like your Tex-Mex hot, you’ll have to spice it up yourself with extra helpings of the more fiery salsas.
The drinks menu runs the gamut from standard soft drinks (including imports such as A&W Root Beer and Dr Pepper), ice tea or rooibos tea to a choice of Taiwan Beer or eight imported beers and ales (including Corona, Anchor Steam and Dead Guy) and a few cocktails (margaritas, horchatas, tequila sunrises).
Eddy’s Web site (www.eddyscantina.com) has menus for both locations and provides delivery information for people living outside Taipei who have a hankering for chicken/pork/steak burritos, enchiladas or quesadillas.
By the way, for fans of Sababa, there are just two locations left in Taipei, one at 8, Alley 54, Ln 118, Heping E Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市和平東路二段118巷54弄8號), the other at 17, Ln 283, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路三段283巷17號). For more on Sababa, visit www.sababapita.com.
Recently the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and its Mini-Me partner in the legislature, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), have been arguing that construction of chip fabs in the US by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is little more than stripping Taiwan of its assets. For example, KMT Legislative Caucus First Deputy Secretary-General Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) in January said that “This is not ‘reciprocal cooperation’ ... but a substantial hollowing out of our country.” Similarly, former TPP Chair Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) contended it constitutes “selling Taiwan out to the United States.” The two pro-China parties are proposing a bill that
March 9 to March 15 “This land produced no horses,” Qing Dynasty envoy Yu Yung-ho (郁永河) observed when he visited Taiwan in 1697. He didn’t mean that there were no horses at all; it was just difficult to transport them across the sea and raise them in the hot and humid climate. “Although 10,000 soldiers were stationed here, the camps had fewer than 1,000 horses,” Yu added. Starting from the Dutch in the 1600s, each foreign regime brought horses to Taiwan. But they remained rare animals, typically only owned by the government or
It starts out as a heartwarming clip. A young girl, clearly delighted to be in Tokyo, beams as she makes a peace sign to the camera. Seconds later, she is shoved to the ground from behind by a woman wearing a surgical mask. The assailant doesn’t skip a beat, striding out of shot of the clip filmed by the girl’s mother. This was no accidental clash of shoulders in a crowded place, but one of the most visible examples of a spate of butsukari otoko — “bumping man” — shoving incidents in Japan that experts attribute to a combination of gender
Last month, media outlets including the BBC World Service and Bloomberg reported that China’s greenhouse gas emissions are currently flat or falling, and that the economic giant appears to be on course to comfortably meet Beijing’s stated goal that total emissions will peak no later than 2030. China is by far and away the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, generating more carbon dioxide than the US and the EU combined. As the BBC pointed out in their Feb. 12 report, “what happens in China literally could change the world’s weather.” Any drop in total emissions is good news, of course. By
RSS