lienzo charro

Around here, Saturdays are for Maya. We headed out to the dog park as usual. I didn’t get any breakfast so my plan was to get some gas at the Arco station on Scripps Poway Parkway before heading to the dog park in Poway. Gas was only $2.83 and I was so excited and then I thought, “Man, the brainwashing has worked on me.” I stopped at the Donut Touch next to Arco to get a French Cruller only to find they didn’t have any! Disheartened, I settled for some donut holes.

We skipped the Farmer’s Market this week. Usually we just go and walk around but I didn’t really feel like it. Plus, Maya was already getting all excited from going on a car ride, I figured it’s best to just head to the park. Now that she has a haircut, people ask me if she’s a poodle. They always think she’s a boy dog, but I guess why not, dogs don’t really look male or female. I wonder if the blue collar makes it seem like she’s more manly? I’m never going to buy a pink collar for her.

After the park, I wanted some lunch. I was going to go to the Chicken Pie Diner off Pomerado, but I spotted this place called Lienzo Charro – they had a little patio outside so I figured I’d be able to bring Maya with me.

After asking the waiter if my dog could come out to the patio, he said, “Yes, this area is for the dogs! It’s a good thing I cleaned these table this morning!”. I fetched Maya and the waiter brought out some chips and salsa. The salsa was really good and the chips were fresh and warm and not greasy. I like non-chunky salsa so it was right up my alley. I noticed on the menu though that if you want an extra basket of chips, they charge you 75 cents per basket. Pretty odd considering since most places will just give you as many chips as you want at no extra charge.

I ordered the carintas. It sounded so good for whatever reason that day. I don’t usually order it, I don’t know why. I love roast pork. I just don’t usually think about it when I’m getting mexican. Plus, its called carintas. I have to take an extra step to remember what carintas is and that just throws me off. Anyway, I reserved some chips for my meal and I got my carintas. They skimped a little on the tortillas (I only got two small flour tortillas – but they were fresh and warm, a big plus). The roast pork was good, slightly salty. The beans and rice were also good. I made little tacos out of my meal and used the rest of the chips to eat the remainder.

All in all, quite a tasty meal. Maybe my waiter would have given me more tortillas if I had asked, but I didn’t. I think I would go back just for the chips alone, even if they want to charge for extra baskets. Those were damn good. Even Maya liked them, though that’s not surprising since she eats just about anything you give her, including pickles.

Lienzo Charro
12511 Poway Rd
Poway, CA 92064
(858) 486-4644