{"id":3780,"date":"2017-11-05T06:01:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-05T12:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/?p=3780"},"modified":"2017-11-05T10:26:23","modified_gmt":"2017-11-05T16:26:23","slug":"belair-cantina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/?p=3780","title":{"rendered":"BelAir Cantina"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20171005_121410\"BelAir Cantina<\/a> was a Milwaukee-area chain restaurant until it opened a location in Madison at the end of summer. It specializes in tacos and tequila.<\/p>\n

I was excited by the choices of tacos, only to be disappointed in their execution. In fact, you’ll find much, much better tacos a block away at Canteen.<\/p>\n

For example, there was just enough lobster that you could detect its presence in the lobster shrimp taco ($5.95), but it was altogether super bland. I had to use the salsa from the chips and salsa to get through it. Similarly, the ninja pig taco ($3.81) depended completely on the hoisin sauce for flavor. Many bits of the pork were overcooked.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the lamb in the lamb barbacoa taco ($4.28) was tough, needing a lot more braising time. I think some cilantro and jalapenos would have greatly helped this barren-looking taco. Also, I did not receive the promised rice and black beans for ordering three tacos, as you can see from the photo.<\/p>\n

At least some of the non-taco items fared better. The Triple\u00a0Ceviche ($11.05), listed in the appetizers section, is very fresh. It’s a big bowl mostly\u00a0filled with cucumbers, but you will receive enough pieces of lobster (mostly claw), octopus and shrimp to make this dish worthwhile. The side of chili\u00a0oil adds heat and a different direction\u00a0to the flavor.<\/p>\n

\"20171103_115420\"Burritos include the Gringo ($10.95, includes ground beef) and the Vegurrito ($9.85, includes grilled cauliflower), and they are massive.\u00a0I knew from the first bite of my spicy pollo ($9.89) that it was going to be good. The chicken was tender, and there was a ton of it inside, with a little cabbage that provides some crunch that I could have done without. Unfortunately, the burrito was not at all spicy.<\/p>\n

You’ll find a few soups and salads on the menu, too. The broth was thin and salty in the hominy shrimp soup ($5.75). I appreciated that the garbanzo beans were cooked through, but they just served as filler to compensate for the lack of shrimp.<\/p>\n

If you sit at the bar, you will see a large collection of tequila that rivals Pasqual’s. The BelAir margarita ($6.50) is made with\u00a0Arette Blanco and went\u00a0down easily. Next time I’ll probably try the kiwi margarita ($9).<\/p>\n

BelAir Cantina is open every day for lunch and dinner, with brunch served on the weekend.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

See more photos in our Belair Cantina Flickr album<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"BelAir<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BelAir Cantina was a Milwaukee-area chain restaurant until it opened a location in Madison at the end of summer. It specializes in tacos and tequila. I was excited by the choices of tacos, only to be disappointed in their execution. In fact, you’ll find much, much better tacos a block away at Canteen. For example, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16,25],"class_list":["post-3780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-restaurant-reviews","tag-downtown","tag-mexican"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3780"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3840,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3780\/revisions\/3840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}