Cha! Cha! Cha!

Cha! Cha! Cha! is a kinda authentic, kinda contrived little Mexican restaurant in the Pearl District of Portland.

There are a couple other links in the chain around Portland, including one downtown, on Hawthorne, in Sellwood, and on Belmont.








Their food is authentically Mexican, but also made with many local ingredients, and they keep with Portland tradition by being environmentally friendly!

I ordered chicken tamales with verde (that's "green" in Spanish, folks!) sauce.



This came topped with crumbly cheese. What Mexican dish would be complete without guava-flavored Jarritos soda?



"Um, none?" Would be the answer to that question.

Esparza

Well, it is time for my first not-so-good review. Maybe it was my mood; I'd been at work all day, and I was pretty tired. Maybe it was the music; when you spend a whole Saturday working at Bi-Mart, the LAST thing you want to hear coming from a juke box at a restaurant is "One Is the Loneliest Number," or others of that ilk. Maybe it was the creepy marionettes dangling from the ceiling, heads drooping, arms sagging. Maybe it was because I should have just ordered an enchilada.

It was an... interesting place, to be sure. A classic example of "Keep Portland Weird." The decor was a kind of cross between an old Western cowboy theme, and vintage, "I Spy" book knickknacks.

The waitress, a pixie-haired hipster, gave us chips and salsa and water, and told us which specials they didn't have. Another, darker-haired pixie hipster waitress took our order. I was sorely tempted to just get an enchilada. But, one good thing about this blog is that it makes me step outside my comfort zone for the sake of providing my readers with awesome new edibles, and cool photos (this is why I passed up Pad See Ew for Pineapple Fried Rice!) I decided to order the "Dirty Bird," which was described as roasted chicken breasts with chocolate mole sauce, mashed potatoes, and beans. What showed up was definitely not chocolate anything. It was chicken, slathered in a super spicy red sauce, of which I only ate 1/6th. After that, the mashed potatoes and beans were bland, and a bad mix (I would go at lunch when they serve rice as an option to this meal). When I told my boyfriend about this misadventure on the phone, he said, "You ordered something called "Dirty Bird?"" What did I expect?? Something else, I guess.

Dad's tamales (on the left, there) and the flan I ordered, however, were delicious. The flan was was super soaked with honey, and tasted like heaven.

So, all in all, I will probably go back, to give this place a second chance, but I will definitely NOT get the "Dirty Bird!"