Red Mesa Grill (Traverse City)
1544 US-31 NThere can be so much downtown at figure skating competitions. The days typically start early (before 8 AM) and end well after 3 PM.
There’s no reason to stay at the rink the whole time.
L had two skates before noon then her last one wasn’t until after 3 PM. We had gotten breakfast that morning (which is unusual for us…or me anyway) but it wasn’t much. J suggested lunch.
Typically, I’m the guy that does all the meal planning. There’s always places I want to eat. Traverse City is no exception. There are a ton of places. But J got me off guard. A lot of times she and L want to go out with other families and her friends. I hate picking places for others because there’s a lot of variation in what people in our skating circle will eat.
When I kind of stumbled when J asked me where we were going, she said someone else had recommended a Mexican place near our hotel. That sounded good to me.
Red Mesa Grill is on US-31 just to the east of the Keith J Charters Traverse City State Park in East Bay Township near Traverse City. This stretch of road has a lot of hotels and restaurants as it’s near the beach and right on East Bay. This is one of two locations for Red Mesa Grill. The other is in Boyne City.
Parking for the restaurant is behind the deep red building and the entrance is actually on the side, not in front.
You walk in to a little waiting area which branches off in to the bar area and a large dining room. There was a sign to wait for a hostess so we did. After a few minutes, a waitress came out of the bar area and took us to a table.
The decor is a little different than the typical Mexican restaurant. The colors are a little dark and there are not a lot of bright, shiny paintings on the tables and chairs. There is more an American Southwest feel to the place mixed with some Mexican influence and some Aztec influence.
The waitress took our drink orders, we all stuck to pop since we still had a long day. They had Northwoods Soda instead of one of the big two but I stuck with Cola.
When she brought the drinks back, so also came with the chips and salsa. The chips were pretty standard and we ended up eating two baskets.
There were two bowls of salsa put down on the table. Both were delicious but we couldn’t tell if they were supposed to be different or she just knew we were going to need two bowls. The salsa was a little chunky yet still a little watery. It was really fresh tasting and not too spicy.
L and J both went with salads for lunch. Part of the reason we picked Mexican is because L has really been liking taco salads lately (her two favorite meals in one bowl!)
The Baja Taco Salad is served in a fried tortilla shell bowl. Inside that bowl is romaine lettuce, taco meat, corn, salsa, black beans, pico, pickled red onions, aged cheddar, sour cream and Baja Sauce. L doesn’t like most of that but she likes the salad, meat, corn, cheese, and sour cream. The waitress kind of argued about the “no onions” request because she said onions were in everything. Turns out, there was probably onions in the meat because we took about half of it back to the hotel and could smell onions for the rest of our stay. L didn’t say anything about though and she ate about half of the salad.
J got a more regular salad. Her choice was the Mango Cashew Chicken Salad. This plate was mixed greens with sauteed chicken breast, a warm mango dressing, diced mango, salted cashews dried cherries, and rancherito cheese. This large salad was more than she could eat in one sitting but since we were bringing L’s back to the hotel, we didn’t know if we’d have room for two. The salad was very filling and she said it was an interesting combination of flavors.
I’m typically a steak taco guy when it comes to Mexican food but Red Mesa Grill is fancier than street tacos. They did have a few taco options but they all came with rice and beans, which I think is a waste of food, and there was no true steak option.
I went in a totally different direction and ordered the Jalisco Hot Wings. This plate is a pound of jumbo chicken wings covered in a house made chipotle hot sauce. I know it’s a Mexican restaurant…not really a place you think of for wings..but these were delicious. The wings were big and juicy. The sauce was thick and stuck to the wings. It was hot but not set your mouth on fire hot. I was bummed by the lack of street tacos but the wings were a fantastic alternative.
Our bill for lunch was right around $55 for the three of us (B opted to stay with Nana and Grandpa this weekend instead of going to Traverse City with us).
I never would have picked Red Mesa Grill on my own. It’s not the kind of place that usually speaks to me but we went on a suggested from some other skating parents. It turned out to be a really good meal. J and I didn’t drink….because it was noon and we still had a long day…but I know she would have liked to have had a margarita on the patio. Maybe next year….I’m sure we’ll hit this competition for years to come.
SW Michigan Dining 