Eddie: "No, no, no darling! I will not have a surprise party. If it's going to be a surprise, I want to know about it, alright!"

I went to the L.A. Opera on Sunday, my mom's season tickets took us to Otello. Afterwards, we went to Ciudad for dinner where - surprise! - our family was waiting to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday.
I am a fan of the Two Hot Tamales. I have Susan Feniger's autograph hanging in my kitchen. (What a dork. Maybe I am too into cooking. Hm.) They were one of the the first chefs on the food network and the pair provided an interesting dynamic. Not to mention I liked seeing Latin cuisine being made on television. Not like that Ingrid Hoffman beyotch. Why is her personality so grating? Hate her.
The menu was perfect and just a touch spicy, you know, where the outer edges of your lips are slightly burning? Yeah. Ouch in a good way. I had the vegetable chilaquiles which were great, but made me want meat real bad. Odd. Also the minty lime cooler - YUM. The Kid and I downed that thing in no time. The Baby amused himself by eating limes and making sour faces.

As you'd find on the yelp message boards, the service is a bit slow, but all in all the food and the experience was great. The kids even asked to go back and eat there. Hey! That's sayin' something! However if you are looking for a ringing endorsement from O.G., you won't find it here, "It wasn't my favorite food, but it was good." I swear to god, unless a cow is being slaughtered a la Apocalypse Now and then being bbq'ed over an open flame - the woman is not happy. Regardless of her review, the food was excellent and the the whole birthday dinner went well.