Chino Bandido - Phoenix, AZ

Chino Bandito was kind of the quintessential triple-D restaurant.  It was a low-end restaurant in a low end of town with really great food using some really great creativity.  It was a Chinese - Jamaican - Mexican fusion restaurant.  

There was a statue of their mascot, a mexican panda bandit in the restaurant.

I ordered the jamaican chicken quesadilla salad.  I really liked the mix of jamaican and mexican foods.  They serve you a vanilla cinnamon sugar cookie with every meal.  I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a tip of the hat towards a chinese fortune cookie.

I would rate Chino Bandito a 9.7 for hitting full triple-D stride on food creativity and execution.  The atmosphere was just okay.  The panda bandito statue was pretty cool though.   Definitely worth checking out.


Chino Bandido
15414 N 19th Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85023
(602) 375-3639
www.chinobandido.com

Zydecos - Mooresville, IN

Somebody at Zydeco's really knows New Orleans and this restaurant is a little condensed shot in the arm of NO right in the middle of Indiana about 30 minutes outside of Indianapolis.

The decorations were really cool and you really did feel like you were in a Bourbon street bar.  The style of the inside was right, there were beads everywhere, party lights, cool cajun bar stuff, you name it and it was here.  There was a mannequin of a joker with a cajun hat on that was part of a Bud Lite advertisement.

The service was really quite good.  The servers were genuinely glad that you were there and were kind of partying along with everyone else.  I was just here by myself.  This would have been a great place to bring a group of people.

The turbo dog beer from Abita was really nice. I don't know if it was an Indiana beer or a New Orleans beer.  It tasted like a thick stout to me.   It had a thick chocolate but not a yeasty

I ordered the crawfish étouffée.  It certainly tasted authentic to me.  My head was sweating from the cajun spices.  I was a little wary because in the north they will sometimes advertise cajun dishes but then tone the spice level down too much.  This was just the way it should be.

The music was likewise authentic and added a lot to the feel of this place.

Overall, this was a really great place.  I would rate it a 9.6.

Zydeco's
11 E Main St
Mooresville, IN 46158
(317) 834-3900
http://www.zydecos.net