I meet strangers from the internet.

A few months ago I discovered a wonderful group called OC Blogcrush. Its a group of Orange County bloggers and they meet up once a month. Its an odd, interesting and wonderful thing to meet people from the great interwebs... don't you think?

I think its hard for some to wrap their minds around meeting strangers from the internet. I kinda like it.

I have to admit I was just a bit nervous walking in but I felt right at home immediately. As soon as I walked up ladies were exchanging business cards... for their blogs?! Do you have a blog business card? I don't have a blog business card. I thought it would be better to say I don't have one than to write on the post-it pad I had in my bag. Mental note to self: Get business cards made.



This months Blogcrush meet-up was at Matador Cantina in Historic Downtown Fullerton. It really is a fantastic restaurant. Its more than just your typical Mexican place in that not only is the food delicious, the ambiance swanky and sophisticated but there is also a wine list.

I was impressed by the selections of wines and the cocktails. Don't miss out on the Jalapeno Martini or the Mango Dulce. I was hearing raves about them. I had the sangria... several.



Co-owner Rob Hallstrom greeted us and told us a bit about the restaurant. They had set aside the lounge area for us and went to great lengths to be accomodating. Shortly after they sent out a sampling of food. You know how much I love sampling food.

Here you see the Cantina Rolls. They are basically a Mexican beef egg roll with 2 sauces on the side. Do you notice the guacamole on the right hand side? Huge chunks of avocado. Thats all I have to say about that.



Oh Fundido, my love. Where have you been all my life? Chef Dave Dennis was kind enough to deliver our appetizers. That in itself was impressive. I love it when the chefs come out of the kitchen. I'm impressed every time.

He explained how he made the Queso Fundido Dip and it was something like this. Cheese, cheese, bechamel (kill me now), chorizo, beans, chiles and cheese. I died on that first bite. Eat it with chips, eat it with a spoon, pick it up and eat it straight out of the bowl.



The Chile Relleno. This is not your traditional relleno. In fact, if you are a relleno purist just completely forget I said it was Chile Relleno. What you should have heard is that it is a stuffed chile sent from heaven.

Instead of the normal eggy outside you see the tri-color torilla crust. Inside is a mixture of Oaxaca cheese, cream cheese, chiles and chicken. I love this addition of chicken because I always miss the meat when I get relleno for dinner.



Can you see how soft and creamy the center was. I'm salivating just thinking about it.



Somehow the left overs gravitated towards our end of the table. Either that or I pulled them over. None of this food was wasted. Don't you worry your pretty little head about wasting food around me.



Pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. The frosting was really light and the dish was so fragrant. Moist and delicious.



We ended the night with the Cookie Fundido (I think) which is basically a chocolate chip cookie topped with Dulche de leche ice cream and served with cinnamon sugar coated chips.

I don't even think I need to comment on whether or not I liked this. Also, may I just say that our server remembered which drinks each lady had and then printed a separate drink tab. Its sort of a servers nightmare having a complete table of split checks and he didn't even bat an eye.

Is there a dish you normally get when you eat Mexican or do you switch it up?

I'll take notes and be sure to go back to Matador to try all your favorites :)