Oct 23, 20235 min read

Monday Munchies: Neno's

From the outside, Neno's appears unassuming and quiet- nothing special. But, you enter to bright colors, beautiful murals on the walls, papel picado (perforated paper) draped from the ceiling, and an enticing aroma filling the air. You just know you're in for a treat. Neno's is a true gem here in Rochester and whenever I'm craving Mexican food, this is the place I think of first- their food is always fresh, incredibly flavorful, and just superb. I've loved everything I've had from here. Every dish a winner, you can't beat that! They have two locations, one in Rochester NY and one in Canandaigua NY, along with a food truck that you can track via their Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter/X. Or, if you've got food truck money, you can fill out a request to have them sling up tacos at your next event!

Okay but what's on offer right? Well, you know I'm going to dive right in to what I know best, menu items! I will preface this by saying I have only been to the Rochester location, so what I had may or may not be available at the food trucks or at the Canandaigua locations. We'll start with what I don't have pictures of, as it was just gone too quickly apparently. Bestie and I are usually great about taking photos of our food, but on this rare occasion we both dove in without even a care in the world. After ordering our meals, we decided we weren't stuffed enough and got the tres leches cake and I got a horchata to drink. If you don't know what horchata is, well my friend, let me enlighten you because it's magical. Its a creamy cinnamon rice drink, that I could have sworn was made with milk because it's so smooth, with some sugar, vanilla, and ice. It's like drinking the milk from your cinnamon toast crunch after you've finished breakfast and are watching your favorite Saturday morning cartoons. Everything is just right with the world in that moment and you can recapture that feeling while drinking an horchata. It's comforting. The Tres Leches cake was gigantic too, perfect for us to share, but I almost wish we had a third person to help us out as it was a struggle at the end! So tasty though and the flavors were perfectly balanced and not overly sweet!

But on to the mouth-watering pictures that you probably come here for. Here's a pic of Bestie's usual order! She always gets the Esquites, which is typically an appetizer, but she has it brought out with her tacos. Esquites are basically just elotes, but in a bowl. If you don't know what either is, be prepared to have your socks knocked off! Its corn topped with a creamy chipotle aioli with queso fresco, and chile powder. For elotes, the corn is left on the cob, while for esquites, the corn is removed from the cob, covered in all the goodies and put in a bowl. The flavor on these things is out of this world in such an unassuming presentation! Besides that, she always opts for the tacos, coming in a set of three that you can mix and match. Her standard picks are the street tacos, shrimp tacos, and the veggie with the optional add-on of chile and lime tofu. I'm not big on corn tortillas, so I tend to skip them, but Bestie LOVES these things and literally gets the same order each time. So they must be fantastic! She's picky about her tacos after living in Texas so this is high praise.

I'm a little more of a wildcard, I love to try different items on a menu, so pictured here are the chicken tinga with cheese empanadas- two crispy, flaky fried empanadas stuffed with chicken and cheese. Ugh these things are wonderful! The crispiness of the pastry in contrast with the warm gooey filling is perfect and then the seasoning and flavor of the filling itself? *chef's kiss* But I'm not done yet. You see those little colo cups of goodness sitting on the sides? Yeah, that's salsa verde in one and a sweet chipolte ailoi in the other. Ooo-eee. Both offer completely different flavors that both enhance the empanadas in different ways. The sweet chipotle gave it a nice addition of sweet heat while the salsa verde offered a bright freshness. I also added a side of rice to it which was delicious, but nothing to brag about if that makes sense. I was craving some good rice and this definitely fit the bill, if you like this kind of rice then you'll like theirs.

I love a good queso fundido, I think it's actually my favorite dip and I don't think its seen enough in restaurants around here. The queso fundido here is made up of a trio of melted cheeses- Monterrey, cheddar, and oaxaca- and served with totopos, their own homemade tortilla chips. The queso fundido went perfectly well with the salty, seasoned chips and they were sturdy enough to hold the dip. My only complaint? There wasn't enough! Feeding my soul with that many chips and a medium sized bowl of dip was not quite doing it for me, but it was PERFECT as an appetizer. I was still hungry for at least one of the two empanadas (those chicken tinga ones again) that I got to go along with it. And, of course, I also tried the empanada dunked in there- amazing.

I've also had two burritos, which I some how have no proof of! I don't know where those pictures went. One of which is known as the Burri-Roc burrito which has all the usual suspects like cheese sauce, salsa verde, queso fresco, pico de gallo, and a meat (in my case, chicken) all tucked into a warm flour burrito blanket. The curve ball here is that this burrito also has french fries hiding in there which was a nice touch, and of course the main reason I ordered it. I think it's mainly there to take the place of the rice that is in the other burritos they offer, and it works well as that substitute. The bright, punchy flavors of the pico de gallo and salsa verde paired well with the saltiness of the cheese and fries, allowing the flavors to play well together to create a balanced dish.

The other burrito is called the Burrisuizo and I again ordered it with chicken. This bad boy is a smothered in crema Mexicana and stuffed with Mexican rice, salsa verde and roja, mozzarella cheese, and queso fresco. This one was a bit much for me, but in the best way possible as I was more than happy to save the other half to enjoy for lunch the next day. I think this may actually be the only time I only ordered one thing and couldn't finish it. I'm pretty sure I even managed to finish the Burri-Roc though likely by a slim margin. But, I can only finish my food there because I know that I need to come hungry! The meals fill you up easily and if I do apps I typically order more than one, or at least something to go with it, and still leave full and happy, even if I don't finish all of something I ordered. And the prices are definitely reasonable for the amount of food, and the quality of it, that you get.

If you're in the Rochester NY area and want to give them a go, you can pop into either of their brick and mortar shops or follow their socials to find their food truck when the weather's nice! Also be sure to find out more about them at their website!

Crossing Borders

Monday Munchies: Neno's

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