Las Brasas Brings the Flavor in Woodland

There are so many great Mexican restaurants in Woodland... it's going to take me a while to cover all of them! One of my personal favs is Las Brasas. This taco shop sits in the middle of Woodland's downtown. It's a well-liked restaurant by the community as they serve up delicious tacos, burritos, tortas, and other Mexican dishes!

Food -
I'd say the star food item at Las Brasas are their tacos. Their tacos show off their well-seasoned meats extremely well. Tacos are simple and give the meat a chance to shine. You have the option of getting regular tacos or a super taco. Super tacos add stuff like guacamole and tomatoes. If you like your tacos with a little more on them, then the super version is the one to go for.

On my visit today I tried their super nachos. Let me tell you... this item was HUGE! It was an entire styrofoam to-go box full of nachos and toppings. It was stunning to look at. It's more than enough for a couple of people to share. On it is your choice of meat, nacho cheese, guacamole, fresh salsa, and beans. I loved it, but in all honesty it could have used a bit more nacho cheese. I can never have enough nacho cheese!

This isn't my first time at Las Brasas and I can recommend their quesadillas. Oh my goodness, Las Brasas has amazing, gooey, quesadillas. The cheese stretches out wonderfully as you start tearing into it. It is one of my favorite quesadillas that I've ever had. This is certainly a top pick of mine if I come here.

To wash it all down you can get some soda or a variety of Mexican drinks. I am a huge fan of horchata so I usually go for that!

Service/Atmosphere - 
The atmosphere at Las Brasas isn't fancy or modern. It's your standard taco place. It is well kept and orderly. There is a salsa bar for customers to get salsa and other condiments. Everything is functional - and that's about all you really need.

Service is quick and friendly as well. This is a family owned restaurant and I can feel that there is pride in serving you.

Price -
Las Brasas isn't your cheap taco truck. The prices here are a bit higher than your run of the mill place. For example, my super tacos were about three dollars each. If you're not careful, you can end up spending a lot more than you thought you were going to spend! You'll end up being happy and satisfied, but your wallet will be a bit thinner.

Special Tips and Recommendations -
If you're into crunchy items, give the vampiros a try. I would liken it to a cross between a tostada and a taco. Not many places offer it, but you'll find them at Las Brasas!

Bottom Line - 
Las Brasas is a tasty and satisfying Mexican food experience. It certainly stand out in a town that has a lot of Mexican restaurants around. I've been there many times and I'd happy keep coming back as their food is packed with delicious flavors!

Letter Grade

A

The restaurant is on Main Street in the heart of Woodland.

Super tacos.

Nachos with beef.

Thai Farm House BBQ and Bistro on Broadway

Finding new Thai places in town is a lot of fun. Thai food is delicious, and I love comparing how the different restaurants around town do their dishes. I initially found out about Thai Farm House BBQ and Bistro from a Yelp search. It caught my attention because it had a 4.5 star rating with over 350 reviews at the time. With a rating that good, I just had to find out for myself what the fuss was all about!

Food -
The menu at Thai Farm is full of traditional Thai favorites. Most of the dishes here you'll find at other Thai places. If you're looking to satisfy your craving for pad thai or pad see ew, they have it here and it should give you exactly what your'e looking for. When I go to a Thai place for the first time I usually try their pad thai out first because I personally feel it is a good indicator of the food in general at the restaurant. While I did enjoy the pad thai, I felt that it was a little too zingy for me at times. Having flavor that pops is one thing, but the pad thai here was a bit much in terms of flavor. I still enjoyed it, but I think toning it down just a little would be even better.

The pad see ew was absolutely perfect. It came out piping hot and the savory balance of flavors in the dish was spot on. It was my favorite thing that I had there during my visit. A third entree that we ordered was a BBQ beef dish for my son. I got this because my kid loves meat, and also because I wanted to try out some of the non-traditional dishes. The word BBQ is also in the name of the restaurant so I thought I'd better get something from this category of food!

The BBQ beef was good - it had some nice grill marks on it and came in strips. The real star of the dish were the sauces. The sweet and sour sauce was especially a hit with the kid. He loved it and kept wanting more and more of it. My only complaint about his dish were the veggies that came with it. I prefer nicely cooked through veggies so that they are softer and tender. The veg in the traditional Thai dishes were just that way. These, however, were less cooked so that they had a more crunchy texture to them. I suppose that's the idea of the dish, but I would have preferred them cooked longer.

The Thai iced tea was excellent. It had a sweet taste, but with tea flavor shining through it. It wasn't as orang-y as some other Thai iced teas that I've had. It also wasn't as heavy tasting, which I appreciated. Overall it was one of the better Thai iced teas that I've ever had. It's definitely worth getting. Check out the recommendation section for a special tip about ordering it!

Service/Atmosphere - 
The atmosphere at Thai Farm BBQ and Bistro is relaxed. The decor has nice wood tones to them and everything is clean. The dining area definitely presents a pleasant atmosphere for dining in.

I also found the service here to be excellent. The servers were very friendly, helpful, and patient. We got everything we needed quickly, and I noticed that they treated all their customers in the same way as they were ordering. There isn't much more you can ask for in both service and atmosphere!

Price -
Prices at Thai Farm BBQ and Bistro are moderate. Entree dishes come in the ten to twelve dollar range. I'd say that portions are decent, but nothing that you would say is large.

Special Tips and Recommendations -
Here's a nice tip for you! If you check in on Yelp, there is currently a special offer for a free Thai iced tea with a purchase of a meal. This is a great way to add this delicious drink to your lunch or dinner! You're welcome!

Bottom Line - 
Thai Farm BBQ and Bistro is a fine addition to the Thai restaurants around town. The prices here are comparable to other Thai places with some great choices on the menu to enjoy. I'd certainly love to visit this restaurant frequently as the food, service, and atmosphere are quite good!

Letter Grade

A -

This is a nice little chalkboard in front of the entrance.

The pad see ew was excellent!

Beef dish with some crunch veggies.

The Thai iced tea. Check out how un-orange it is!

Someone is satisfied with their meal!

Kiki's Chicken Place in Sort of a Sketchy Place

I've heard a few people recommending Kiki's as a delicious place to eat so I felt the need to check it out! Kiki's serves up mainly chicken items such as wings, tenders, and chicken covered fries and tots. Their menu is very enticing, and had me wanting to try just about every item on there. I'm glad I got to check Kiki's out, but will I be making return visits? Read on to find out!

Food -
The food at Kiki's is average in my opinion. For a place that so many people rave about, I found it to be just middling. The loaded up tots were recommended to me by the cashier up front. She said it was their most popular item. It regular size comes with a generous amount of tots smothered with chicken and sauces. It has a lot of flavor, but the sauces can quickly make the tots soggy. And sadly when that happens the dish isn't as enjoyable as it was in the beginning.

Being a chicken wing place, I had to give the wings a shot. I LOVE chicken wings and if I find a place that does them right they will have me as a loyal customer for life! But like the tots, I found the wings to be only average. The chicken was a bit dry. That's not usually that bad, but in this case I just thought the texture wasn't right. This only applied to the wings I had and not the chicken tender pieces that were part of the loaded fries.

From what I gathered, the food here is really packed with flavor - especially the sauces. There's not much that is subtle here.

One thing that I didn't get a chance to try on my visit was the chicken and waffle. That's a favorite of many and it would have been nice to see what that was about.

Service/Atmosphere - 
I loved the service at Kiki's. I found the staff to be very friendly and helpful. The food didn't take too long and came out nice and hot.

The biggest problem with this Kiki's is probably the plaza that it is in. The plaza is quite run down with some questionable people around. I actually saw a shirtless man with a knife out as I exited the lot. So watch yourself if you wanna eat here!

Price -
Kiki's feels a lot like a 'hole in the wall' secret, but the prices are definitely on the higher side. My entire meal was close to twenty bucks. The wings alone were over ten dollars - and I only had 6 of them in total!

Special Tips and Recommendations -
If you end up ordering from their wing menu, you have the option to get 2 different flavors. And the flavor sauces can either be already on the chicken or off to the side.

Bottom Line - 
Kiki's Chicken Place is an average place to get some chicken wings. It's ok, but it hasn't given me any incentive to return to try more of the menu.

Letter Grade

C

Nice signage our front.

A pretty hefty meal for one.

These tots are covered with 'stuff'!

Woodland Food Truck Mania

Woodland Food Truck Mania takes place usually on the first Sunday of the month. It's a food truck gathering put on by SactoMofo, a popular group that organizes food truck events. I had been to this event many years ago, but it fell off my radar for a little while as Sundays tend to be very busy for me. I enjoyed coming to Food Truck Mania so much that I've decided to carve out more time to make return visits. It's such a great food event that I have to come back!

Food -
I'm sure that the food trucks vary from time to time at this gathering, but the ones that were onsite on my visit were superb. Ma Sarap was there serving up traditional Filipino dishes. Jenn and my mom both got the chicken adobe which had a very authentic Filipno taste. It was definitely something that don't get to experience often. Being a fried food fan, I went for their fried chicken skins. I mean... the skin is the best part! Am I right or am I right? So basically it's just the fried part of fried chicken. It was as delicious as it sounds.

I also was able to try some fried ravioli with meat sauce as well as a gigantic Philly cheesesteak. Both items were perfection. The only bad thing was that my stomach was too small to get everything in. Thankfully, I did save a little room for dessert. I split a large egg puff with fruit and ice-cream with Jenn. The item was made extremely well and was perfect for sharing - a great way to end the meal.

My only regret is that there are far too many great options and only one of me to try and eat all of it. If I see some of the food trucks that were here next time I will be sure to give some new things a try!

Service/Atmosphere - 
The atmosphere was phenomenal. Basically, two streets are closed off to traffic and tables are set up right next to the food trucks. People can order and find a spot to enjoy their food. It gets dark very quickly during the winter months, but that is not a problem. The event organizers set up these giant flood lights to illuminate the area where people are eating. Perfect.

Alongside all of that you'll see entertainment happening around you as well as booths and music to enjoy.

Price -
The food trucks that are at Food Truck Mania aren't on the cheaper side. Most of the meals you purchase will be around the $12-15 dollar range. Drinks are also priced at a premium here. You can end up spending quite a bit of coin if you want to give lots of different items a try.

Special Tips and Recommendations -
I totally recommend coming to this (and other similar events) with a group. That way, people can buy all sorts of different food from different trucks and then try everything family style! It's a great way to budget and get everything you want a taste of.

Bottom Line - 
It's totally worth it to come out to Woodland Food Truck Mania. There's delicious food and a fun and festive atmosphere all around!

Letter Grade

A

The lighting here sets a really nice mood.

Fried ravioli with meat sauce for dipping.

Cheese steaks, lots of options.

I went with the standard cheesesteak.

Chicken sandwich and fries.

Fried chicken skins.

Plenty of places to get dessert.

This was satisfying.