By Mike Goodman
It’s a Friday night during quarantine, and our family has a personal reason for a celebratory dinner. So we turn to a neighborhood favorite, Mi Vida, for this special night. As usual, Mi Vida delivers.
Literally, they deliver—through GrubHub or directly through their website. For tonight, I choose not to go with one of my favorites on the menu, the Enchiladas Rancheras, which is a vegetarian medley of flavors that is so good you would not even know it’s vegetarian! Chopped vegetables fill the corn tortillas, with a sauce that is heavy on cream and Chihuahua cheese, which is a delicacy for under $20. For this Friday night, however, the family goes with the skirt steak with a mushroom and poblano sauce; the pollo quesadilla; three carne tacos; plantains; and of course, a side of guacamole.
I was pleased to see that even through an online order, we could choose how we prefer the steak to be cooked. And it showed up a perfect medium-rare, with the mushroom and poblano sauce on the side, allowing diners to combine to their own tastes. The sauce is exceptionally flavorful, and not very spicy, as poblanos are a mild pepper with a distinctive taste.
Mi Vida’s tacos always come through, and the carne tacos stick to the basics with marinated steak and a light dusting of onion and cilantro. Accompanying them is a unique salsa with a smoky molѐ that, along with Mi Vida’s signature fresh guacamole, completes the dish.
The plantains work as an appetizer, side or even dessert. They are sweet, salty and crispy, and they arrived hot, fresh out of the fryer. The delivery driver deserves some credit for that, as well as the chef and restaurant workers.
Considering it was a Friday night, there was one more addition to our order. Mi Vida provides delivery margaritas, so a 750 ml bottle of El Jimador silver tequila accompanied our food, along with the restaurant’s homemade margarita mix, salt and limes. Mi Vida delivers the full package.