Dinner at La Isla at El Dorado Royale

We saved the best for last!!  The best overall dinner was Sunday night at La Isla which serves a Mexican menu.  The restaurant is right next to the La Isla pool so you can guess how it came up with the name. They are currently serving the same menu at lunch and dinner.  Any of these items by themselves would be a great pool side snack. 

Dinner starts with a platter of freshly fried tortilla chips with three sauces.  One was a salsa Verde, another was a red salsa with mild heat and the third alluded me but was the most interesting.  We think it was pureed pumpkin combined with some sort of beans.  It had an interesting, sweet flavor, almost like peanut butter or some other nut. 

I just love elotes and esquites. Elote is perhaps better known as Mexican street corn outside of Mexico and served on the cob. The corn is grilled and then is coated with a paprika mayo and then dusted with cojita cheese.  Esquites is a version where the corn is removed from the cob and combined with mayo, cream, spices, lime juice and cojita cheese.  La Isla had a really excellent version of elote. 

Drizzled with mayo, coated in paprika then dusted with cojita cheese and cilantro.  

Next up was a chorizo cheese dip.  This cheese was unlike any I have had in Mexico. It tasted alot like a creamy French brie.  The addition of crumbled chorizo added a bit of spice.  It was served with some warmed tortillas.

The tuna tostada also didn't disappoint. It started with a crisp tortilla shell that has avocado mousse. Then some fresh chopped tuna in a slightly sweet soy glaze top with crunchy onions.  Great combination of flavors.  If you wanted a lighter entrees I would suggest ordering a few of these. 

The stuffed poblani pepper was so tasty.  Normally these are stuffed only with cheese.  Here they had also included some sweet grilled corn which was great for some texture.  And the pickled onions provided a great acidic contrast to the creamy cheese.  

The Barbados short rib was "fall off the bone" tender. Notes of coriander, paprika and cinnamon seasoned the meat.  

The.poratoe puree was some.ofnthe best, buttery mashed potatoes I have ever had.  A lot of.times potatoes can be a throwaway side item.  This is the third entree I have had where the potatoes were really cooked well, including some delicious fresh cut fries I had with a burger two days ago. I also have seen great respect for the vegetables.  Both the carrot and zucchini were cooked to just tender and well seasoned.  

The rib eye tacos were also.outstanding.  They were my favorite beef taco at the resort - beating out the flank steak ones at Rincon.  Such flavorful and tender beef.  And they provided you some roasted bone marrow which was a great savory, creamy and salty addition for you to spread on top of the tacos  They were also served with a roasted onion sauce.  I had never had something like this before but it was such a claver addition.   Great onion flavor with just a bit of char to contrast with the meat.  

The chicken thigh mixiote was very much like the shredded chicken you find in an enchilada.  Well seasoned and the addition of nopale and peppers added some texture. 

Overall my favorite meal of our five night stay.  The other restaurants all had some great dishes z but also had some.misteps.  Everything here at La Isla was terrific.