My father-in-law and I hit up Phoenix’s Barrio Cafe last night. It’s one of his favorite restaurants, and my mother-in-law’s, too. The restaurant’s motto is “comida chigona,” which roughly translates to “f**ing good food.”
They were a little worried that it wouldn’t be authentic enough for my chilanga tastes, but I checked out the menu beforehand and it looked pretty creative: salads with queso fresco, roquefort, apples and toasted pecans; upscale tortas topped with goat cheese and chicken and caramelized onions; steak paired with blue cheese, longaniza sausage and caramelized shallots. (You can download the whole drool-worthy menu for yourself here.)
The authenticity question is tricky, because to be honest, you wouldn’t find this type of menu in DF. (Tortas with goat cheese? No one has gone there.) But the food isn’t the typical for the U.S., either. There aren’t any chips and salsa here, or nachos, or the gloppy Monterey Jack/Colby cheese melt that usually comes draped over enchiladas. The food at Barrio Cafe takes a traditional Mexican idea and amps it up with an American twist — just a small twist, really, so it still retains its Mexican roots.
Anyway. Mexican Food Philosophy 101 is now over, I’ll get onto the food.
Oh, but wait. Before I do that, I have to let you know that the chef, Silvana Salcido Esparza, picked a real Latino neighborhood for her restaurant. It’s in downtown Phoenix, across the street from a dollar store, down the road from an income tax store called “Tio Rico Te Ayuda” and near several dive-y Mexican joints with crumbling, paint-peeling signs. It is an upscale Mexican restaurant in a a lower income Mexican neighborhood, and you don’t see that very often.
Ok, now really onto the food.
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