Mozy Cafe

Review #5An ode to the Plantain

Oh plantain, you kooky non-banana

You are here in Encinitas, as well as Havana!

Vitamins A, B and C to boot,

you act more like a vegetable than just mere fruit

You are a starchy being, who’s not too sweet

your potassium count has your sister beat.

You are prominent in my Mozy burrito

I would like to find you in my next Mojito.

You are a Caribbean memory with steel drums at night

you are soft and sweet with every bite.

Oh amazing plantain, you lovely, weird thing

shoved in my burrito, happiness you bring.

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You know when you are trying to plan a family vacation and the parents are like, “let’s go to Jamaica!” but the kids are all, “No!  We want to go to Cabo!” and no one can agree so you just end up on a stay-cation in Encinitas?  Mozy Cafe is the place you’d find yourself.  It’s hippie Rastafarian meets health nut muchacho and they have a restaurant, no, a beachy food shack together. It’s Mexican-Caribbean food.  Mexibbean.  Carixican. Whatever.

We walked into the shack and saw a huge chalkboard menu of interesting, unique and delicious sounding options.  I would like to tell you Jimmy Cliff was playing upon arrival, but it was Pink Floyd- darn it, they missed that one!

There are a bunch of pictures of random people by the vegan, gluten–free cookie jars, and I was kind of hoping to get asked to join the wall.

We ordered a Cuban burrito, Acai bowl and The Insanity Bowl, because my hubby was just feeling WILD!

We sat at a table at the adjacent room which is painted Caribbean yellow and has an open air feeling with large windows.  Good, because it was HOT out!

The acai bowl came out first and it looked so good and refreshing!

It was for my son’s friend, but I had to take a bite for the blog’s sake.  But really, how much can you taste in one small spoonful?  I’m sure he understood when I went back in for more.  This is not because I wanted to eat more of that icy sweet goodness, bursting with bananas and blueberries, covered with yummy crunchy things on top.  It’s for THE BLOG! Once he wrestled it back to his side of the table, I tried the Cuban burrito I ordered.

Was it the best burrito I ever had?  No, but mmmm, plantains!  Being a bit sweet, it needed a touch of something spicy to balance it out.  There was a bottle of Tapatio and another of generic “Louisianna” sauce.  I went for the latter and dribbled a bit onto the checkered paper.  I dipped my burrito, and ay caramba was it spicy!  But so good!  I downed a glass of water and did it again.  Dip, bite, down the water.  Repeat.  Repeat.  You get it.

You know how there is like five minutes to get the perfect avocado?  You may have only had one or two in your whole life.  A minute sooner and it’s too hard.  A minute later and it’s on the train to Mushville.  There is really only a five minute window to get one perfect, and Mozy hit it.  Firm, not hard.  Soft, not mushy.  It was the highlight of The Insanity Bowl.  Lots of fresh veggies and tasty hummus.  VERY SPICY.  More water, more water.

Bottom Line:

I recommend hitting Mozy Cafe on a hot day like we did and to smother your food in the Louisiana hot sauce to fully enjoy this Mexibbean experience like you would if you were in Mexico.  Or Jamaica.   It is a great place to eat after the beach.  Grab an acai bowl or smoothie to cool down, or get your plantain fix on.  They have a cool vibe with vegan & GF options making this a quintessential Encinitas stop if you like to eat healthy.  They never did ask me to join their photo wall.  Their loss.