Papa Lacho's Bar and Grill

Papa Lacho got custody of the Mama Juanita's in our neighborhood. We stopped in for lunch with friends the other day to see if anything had changed.

The transition is still in progress--they don't have a dinner menu posted yet, and the lunch menu still says Mama Juanita's. There are, however, some items on that lunch menu that are not on Mama Juanita's website, or anywhere else on social media that I can find. We ordered a couple. We had the Carne Asada Fries, the Pollo Agave (both new) and the Pollo Del Mar, and a tres leches cake for dessert. I washed mine down with a jamaica agua fresca.

The Carne Asada Fries appear to be new, and I don't recall fries of any kind being on their menu before. This is a must-try dish. Carne asada sliced over fries with a mild cheddar cheese sauce drizzle. The steak was done perfectly, cooked through but melt in your mouth tender with a delicious marinate. The fries were nice and crisp, and held up under the cheese. I polished mine off pretty quickly.

I'm not sure that pollo agave is the correct name for the dish, but that's the theme. We ordered it with the special agave sauce (a $3.99 upgrade). This is a complex sauce--tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, onions, bacon, and several other vegetables in a very nice blend over the chicken. It comes with a shot of agave nectar (tasted like tequila without the bite) on the side. We didn't end up pouring the agave over the chicken but the sauce works without it.

The Pollo Del Mar is not a new dish, but was very tasty. Chicken with spinach, shrimp, and Monterey Jack cheese. We had cream sauce with ours. Very nicely done chicken and the shrimp were correctly cooked.

The jamaica agua fresca was good. Not as strong as some places, but they give you a big glass and refills are free, so it works well as a complement to a meal.  The tres leches cake was a fine finish, very classic example and plenty to share.

The decor is the same as Mama Juanita's, at least for now. Service was somewhat relaxed but we were not in a hurry. Most of the difference in new management at this point is probably in the specials--we didn't happen to sample those on our visit. So if you liked it before, you still will.

My Yelp Review