By Samantha Taylor
Recently, I found myself in a cute Mexican restaurant over at 17623 Dale Mabry Highway near Van Dyke called the Mekenita Mexican Grille. One thing that impressed me was the adorable décor — they really captured the feeling of being in Mexico, and I love a place with lots of nice green plants.
It was also endearing to find out from the owner and creator of the restaurant where they got the name. Rand Packer and his wife met in Hawaii and they named their daughter and their restaurant after a beach in Hawaii. I think that is romantic, and knowing that even brings more of a personal feel to the restaurant of this family-owned business.
The other thing that is really neat is Packer designed all the recipes himself, and he and his wife created all the décor. The menu is packed with lots of different offerings but, as with anywhere, portion control is the key to maintain healthy weight.
Mekenita offered healthy options on the menu that pack lots of flavor. As with most of meals I recommend in restaurants, portion control is key — and lots of options here leave enough leftovers for 1-2 additional meals.
I ordered the Citrus Grilled Chicken Ranchero with a side of fire-roasted vegetables. The meal already came with onions and green peppers, but I added extra veggies. One of the great things about Mexican food is it has lots of flavor. When it came out, I couldn’t believe how much flavor there was in the chicken and the veggies — the dish was really delicious.
They also mention that anything on their menu can be made vegetarian, so they substitute the meat for their delicious fire roasted veggies. Eating vegetables are such an important part of being healthy; it’s been shown by many professionals you should eat at least nine to 11 servings a day.
The fresh fire-roasted vegetables were chopped up finely and all mixed together. Of all the hundreds of restaurants I have eaten at, I have never seen this before and I loved it. It had all the great taste and health benefits of veggies, but it didn’t even seem like you were eating veggies.
That would be a great place to get your veggies even if you are someone that doesn’t prefer them. It’s also a great idea to do with kids at home, too, to get them to eat more veggies.
