The owner of Gosha’s has the personality for success – confident, positive and a determined customer pleaser.
Gosha started her restaurant a few years back modestly, with breakfast and lunch only. And it quickly earned a reputation as a great meeting spot to get a nicely prepared meal at affordable prices. Smart move.
From there it moved to a dinner menu.
I’ve eaten at Gosha’s many times, and in fact may have been one of the first customers, if not the first. As such, I wondered if she had the staying power to succeed.
I have had breakfast, lunch and dinner there, not all in one day. But the possibility has occurred to me.
I feel that her luncheon menu, original and practical, packed with favorites, has been the springboard to Gosha’s success. My favorite is the real roast turkey sandwich with filling dressed with a delicate yogurt-y sauce that doesn’t overpower the warm, homey flavor of the turkey.
I hoped for the same kind of specialty offerings for dinner — different dishes but still satisfying and unique to the point of table sharing. But the dinner menu is of an alternative style altogether: sophisticated, with many standard dishes done with panache. At a table for four, we had a shrimp kabob of eight large shrimp, served with asparagus and rice; an arrachera (steeped in its juicy, complex marinade) with red onion and avocado served over rice with fried potato wedges; a fired-up salmon dish (which came baked to a precise toasting despite its “fried” menu title) with rice and asparagus; and a wide-eyed beet salad packed with walnuts and cashews, olives and sprigs of tasty flora drenched in an original house sauce. Each dish was celebrated at the table, before we could get on with our normal conversation. The starters and salads were no footnote. Examples include a strawberry blue cheese or apple cranberry salad; labne, (a Greek yogurt robust with olive oil and green olives served with pita chips); a wonderful creamed zucchini soup and guacamole made to order.
Gosha is Polish, and I believe many patrons had hoped for more Polish and eastern European dishes. These have been too few, with perogies and cabbage rolls available only on Fridays and Saturdays, because of the preparation required. I hope that can change.
Gosha’s is light on wine choices: house wine by the glass only. Service is friendly and engaging. And Gosha’s other smart move was her central location. The restaurant is right on the Carretera a few blocks east of Colon. So if only for my sake, beckon the lady to include more eastern European dishes. I think it would be another smart move.
Gosha’s: Carretera Oriente 24, Ajijic. Tel. 766-2121. Open 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.