Swine flu and drug wars have you wary of heading south of the border? Then take up The Bite on its suggestion, a Mexican staycation.

No need to travel for a Mexican fix [Metro Philadelphia]

Yes, tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, America’s trendiest reason to get drunk. Luckily there are some classier ways to do so.

Check out some of the best after the jump.

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Veggicurious discovers Honest Tom’s at his Saturday hangout next to Clark Park. There she enjoys the $2.50 breakfast taco.[Veggicurious]

Living on the Vedge walks 15 blocks to Honest Tom’s weekday haunt at 33rd and Arch as much for the French pressed Stumptown coffee as for the breakfast taco. [Living on the Vedge]

This Thursday, Cantina Dos Segundos is hosting Fiesta Herradura, a fun night pairing Herradura añejos, reposados and blancos tequila with Mexican finger foods. There will also be tequila shots served in carved out cucumbers and chorizo corn dogs available. 

The festivities kick off at 6pm. 

Cantina Dos Segundos [Official Site]

Craig LaBan turns down shots at El Camino Real and suffers through the kitchen’s inconsistencies. 

 

The raucous pace of which also seemed to unsettle the kitchen, where culinary ambitions were too often sacrificed to sloppy execution. The homemade chips were so greasy, I could see a reflection. The guacamole had the dull olive gloss of avocados mashed too long before dinner. The nachos were ordinary. The desserts? Fried buñuelos as heavy as leaden dough. Gelatinous cobbler. “Seasonal” shaved ice featuring watermelon and pineapple. (Stick with the pecan pie.)

There were a number of promising dishes gone wrong. The cheese-stuffed enchiladas, supposedly baked to order, were so dried out from the heat that their crusts buckled up around the edges like an orphan forgotten in the oven too long. Still, the flavor of the chile-stewed gravy was spot-on earthy with roasted ancho and guajillo peppers, tomatoes, and Coke (a.k.a. “Mexican demiglace”), a reminder that this chef has the right ideas even when the execution doesn’t hit. Similarly, I loved the taste of the meaty Texas chile, with its habanero kick and sassy cinnamon-cumin kiss. It’s a shame it wasn’t adequately reheated.

 

One Bell – Hit or Miss

El Camino Real [Philadelphia Inquirer]
El Camino Real [Official Site]

La Lupe owner Gabriel Bravo has opened another South Philadelphia taqueria, Fiesta Acapulco. This eatery may not look like much but as Adam Erace says, its focus on seafood and value makes it a spot worth checking out.

The Acapulco connection emerges in the list of entrees, loaded with fried, broiled and grilled seafood. In the camarones Veracruzana, red and green bell peppers and a dozen sauteed shrimp swam in a red tide of chipotle sauce, framed by a mountain of rice that resembled an aerial shot of Acapulco itself. Hardly life-changing, but flavorful, enormous and cheap at $13.

The Fiesta Acapulco Combo is an even better deal. At $21.50, this mixed grill brings it with smoky, buttery Alaskan king crabs and baby lobster tail, perfectly cooked scallops and shrimp and stuffed clams. The four fat cherrystones were the only disappointment, so overloaded with zingy breadcrumb stuffing the meat got totally lost in the fray. The combo easily feeds two and comes with a little greens salad topped with cucumber, avocado and tomato; the sweet waitress brought out a bottle of what looked and tasted suspiciously like Wish-Bone Italian to join the table’s apothecary of hot sauces.

Fiesta Acapulco [Philadelphia Weekly]

Celebrate the birthday of Benito Juarez, Mexico’s first full-blooded Indigenous president with a feast of pre-Hispanic delicacies at Xochitl from Tuesday, March 17th through Saturday the 21st.

And just what are pre-Hispanic delicacies? Well they include things you might not normally see on a menu like grasshopper tacos, breaded veal brains, pine cones, frog legs and more. The meal is $45 per person, $65 with cocktail pairings.

Full menu after the jump.

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Adam Erace enjoys the ‘cue at El Camino Real.

The better half of El Camino’s menu pays tribute to pit-style West Texas barbecue, with Zavala smoking nine cuts of meat (plus seitan for the vegans) over applewood mesquite in the restaurant’s twin 250-pound smokers. The pig wings, three smoked and deep-fried pork shanks, are my new drinking buddies. They packed all the hot, buttery satisfaction of conventional wings, plus the falling-apart texture of braised short ribs.

Priced by the quarter-pound and served with pickles, buttered thick-cut Texas toast—Baker Street bakes the Wonder-like loaves exclusively for El Camino—and spicy or sweet house-made barbecue sauces, the smoked meat entrees brought out the best in the kitchen as well as the bartender.

Keepin’ It Real [Philadelphia Weekly]
El Camino Real [Official Site]

El Camino Real may not serve anything on skewers but City Paper’s Trey Popp brought his own.

Margaritas are so sickly sweet they’d embarrass the bartender at a sorority social. The thick sludge masquerading as a michilada was “like drinking Old Bay,” one companion marveled. Too much of the meat was fatty and/or tough. Straight through to a final cobbler made by someone who had evidently mistaken salt for sugar, it did not get better. Forgotten side dishes, inexplicable delays, inconsistent portion sizes: By night’s end, it was hard to avoid thinking that dinner at El Camino Real verged on fraud.

Tex-Meh [City Paper]

Distrito may not be in Center City but that’s not stopping Jose Garces’ from offering a $35 tasting menu through February 6th.

The tasting menu is served family-style and includes a selection of Garces favorite dishes, daily specials and seasonal treats.

The Distrito deal comes with the added benefit of including this Saturday which is not included in the Center City Restaurant Week. And since Tinto and Amada are not participating in week two of Restaurant Week, Distrito will be the only $35 Garces deal in town next week.

Menu examples after the jump.

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