Mad Mex

When I was a kid, my mom used to take us to restaurants by her office. Since she taught in Oakland, we would go to places that were much cooler than what we were used to. One place that always comes to mind is Mad Mex, a tex-mex restaurant that always had the world’s best black bean soup and calamari. Sadly, the calamari isn’t on the menu anymore (it wasn’t even the calamari, it was the dipping sauce that was out of this world…similar to Chop’t’s Mexican Caesar dressing!). I brought Ken to the restaurant (after walking to my childhood home) and we were ready for some food.

We used to always order the super nachos with meat, so Ken and I ordered them for old times sake:

Tortilla chips are doused with cheese, jalapenos, black beans, sour cream, guacamole, and salsa + meat of your choice. The nachos were just as good as I remember from my childhood….I’m glad some things don’t change.

We also shared a black bean soup because I raved about this soup to Ken and wanted him to try it. The soup is chunky and has a kick to it, it’s also served with some sour cream:

The soup might have been better than I remembered (I don’t remember it being that chunky). Whenever I get black bean soup, I always measure it against Mad Mex’s and nothing even compares. The food at Mad Mex is still awesome and I’m glad Ken had the opportunity to experience it, too!