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dc chimis: the tortilla factory

At the recommendation of a coworker, and since we were in the neighborhood anyway, Rob and I checked out The Tortilla Factory, a Mexican restaurant in Herndon, Va., yesterday evening for dinner. I had high hopes, in part because the online menu mentioned “Sonoran” dishes (Sonora being the region of Mexico bordering Arizona). Sadly, I was sorely disappointed.

As usual, I ordered a chicken chimichanga, here served with an “avocado salsa” that came out looking more like a thick cream sauce. The crispy tortilla shell wasn’t too bad, but lost points with me because it hadn’t been folded together particularly neatly. The biggest disappointment, though, was the meat inside the chimi, pulverized almost into a paste until it was unrecognizeable as chicken. The taste was marginally chimi-like, but the consistency weirded me out so much that I couldn’t finish the dish.

I’ve heard good things about Anita’s, a New Mexico-style Mexican restaurant with a location just across the street from the Tortilla Factory. I’ll have to check that out sometime, and hopefully find something good there to repair my chimi palette.