La Cascada con Raj

As promised, Raj and I returned to La Cascada so I could get better pictures. Here's one of them :




























That's from the 2975 College Ave, Berk location we visited. Another friend claims the food from the Center Street location is noticeably different, so there might be a follow-up review in the future. I figured La Cascada would appeal to Raj, pictured below, because of the extensive and tasty vegetarian options.




























I was right. You see, even though you pretty much only see my carnivorous side on this here blog, I have been known to consume the occasional vegetarian burrito. Entirely too often, that means a bean and cheese burrito with lettuce and tomato. Weak. But not at Cascada, where they have squash, string beans, eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, and on and on. In case that sounds like a gross burrito, let me point out that La Cascada has four different vegetarian burritos, none of which contain all of those. I got there after Raj ordered and didn't see what he got or think to ask, but I remember he liked the Picante burrito the time before. Since I was 45 minutes late, Raj was finishing his burrito as I was just hitting the salsa bar, pictured below :















Cropped out of the photo are the out-of-focus signs above the salsas, rating their spiciness with red peppers. From left to right, we have salsa rojo (3 red peppers), limes, salsa la cascada (2 red peppers), onions, jalapeños, cilantro, and something green (I didn't bother looking). There's a 2 cup limit, so I'd suggest one rojo and one cascada, with a lime slice if you're worried that the rojo might be too strong. And you should be worried. My unscientific guess is that the rojo is significantly more than 50% spicier than the cascada. What I usually do is take a few heaping scoops out of the cascada cup with the chips and pour the rojo in the crater. There's a crater because salsa la cascada is the thickest salsa out there. Look at how it holds a chip upright:




























Unlike salsa fresca, though, it's not all solids, so you can scoop it without breaking your chip. It's also delicious. The salsas are for sale, so you can take some home with you if you're so inclined. I've never tried, as I'm not sure the salsas would make it home. As evidence, I submit to you my burrito sporting only rojo because I inhaled all the cascada :




























The burrito was awesome. It didn't displace La Casa Latina from the #1 spot or taste like candy, but I didn't anticipate it dropping from the top 5 any time soon. I say "didn't" because I realized for the first time out of who knows how many trips to Cascada that they had been cheating all along. Look :



























Say cheese!















From left to right : La Cascada, me.

I suppose I didn't notice earlier because cheese shredded that finely melts fast enough that I usually just figured the burrito was extra juicy and delicious. That's my excuse, at least. That said, my money's on the burritos still being awesome after a "hold the cheese" request, which is the plan for the Center Street Cascada review.

La Cascada even cheats with the view from their restaurant. This isn't the outside at all; it's painted by one Cynthia Kelly :























By the way, if you know any other artists whose work has been featured here, let me know so I can credit them. It just never occurred to me earlier.