Jay About Il Gatto

Yes, it is the triumphant return of Jay as a restaurant reviewer!  Been awhile since anything has opened here in town but finally we are back in the mix and in the hunt for Mexican.  I admit that I had very mixed feelings about "the cat".  They had several false starts before opening and I find that to be a universal bad sign.  On the flip side, a couple co-workers had gotten lunch there in the first week and they liked it.  So my special lady and I bucked up and gave it a run.  This is week numero duo and it was pretty busy.  The bar was packed and most of the seats were full w/ a young a pretty lively crowd.  The space itself was repainted but not much different structurally from its predecessor Vietnam Restaurant II which is fine.  We got water and chips and salsa pretty quickly.  A good sign as most just opened spots suffer from terrible service.  The chips were a little stale but pretty good and the salsa was fresh tasting and had nice heat. After perusing the drink menu we asked what kind of tequila they used for the infused tequila which was the base for their house margaritas.  Our server did not know which means "well" so we opted for the hornitas gold w/ fresh lime juice and Cointreau.  Fantastic.  Really solid marg.  Ok, we were getting someplace.  The vibe was pretty happening, and so far the fare was respectable.  It took awhile to order food and a long time to get the food but several other servers stopped by occasionally to check in on our chips and salsa situation.  For dinner my special lady got a combo platter w/ a pork taco and a chili releno.  I did not get a bite of the taco (booo) but the chili was delicious.  I went for the pollo mole.  It was decent.  A thigh and a slightly overcooked breast (haha).  The mole was good not great.  The rice was good, the tortillas were ok, and the beans were pretty good but could have used a little more flavor.  Overall the food was pretty good.  1000x better than any other Mexican joint in Burlington and not a bad first experience.  The bill was also very reasonable.  I would give it a thumb and a half up w/ a hopefully bright future as part of the rotation!

BTW... how do you likes stocks down 620, up 420, and down 520 post debt deal/S&P downgrade.  No volatility there.  My ulcer has moved on from my stomach and is now eating my kidneys. Shit.