The venerable Bilbo’s Festivo, a popular and long-time Mexican restaurant in Eastsound, is now Chiladas, after having gone through several ownership changes. The current one is Bilbo’s original owner. While the menu has changed and aims higher than standard Tex-Mex fare that mostly (though not entirely) made up its previous menu. Now, the entrees represent a broader range of Mexican cooking with more traditional and Northwest ingredients. The interior is still as festive as it ever was. On a nice day, with the sun shining through the windows, you’d swear you were down south.
The carne adobada came with marinated pork tenderloin medallions, grilled to perfection over mesquite coals, served with a very nice achiote-flavored potato mash, braised chard (tart with vinegar) and pickled onions.
Carne adobada
The enchilada verde was filled with tender chunks of pork and a tomatillo-poblano-cilantro sauce.
Enchilada verde
Both were prefaced with a terrific house margarita that thankfully was not cloyingly sweet. The chips and salsa, no longer provided free, were freshly made, but the salsa was made with canned tomatoes.
Chips and salsa, happy hour margarita
One of Bilbo’s signature seasonal specials was the crab enchilada, always made with fresh Dungeness crab meat. It was heartening to see that Chiladas‘ blackboard by the front entryway still listed it as a special.
Chiladas
310 A St
Eastsound, WA 98245
360.376.6722
