Los Mariachis

[philadining]

There's yet more evidence that Phoenixville is the most happening spot in the whole Delaware Valley: a new Mexican reastaurant just opened up.

(Add that to a three-bell Bistro, soon to be three brewpubs, a good coffeeshop, an arty movie theater, a farmer's market on weekends... soon there'll be no reason to go into town at all!)

It's called Los Mariachis and no, i don't think it has any connection to the 3,457,693 other restaurants named the same thing. But to their credit, they did have a DVD of Mariachi videos playing, so it's not just a name, it's a concept...

It's a pretty non-nonsense, bare room, recently transformed from a long life as a dark neighborhood bar. Plastic tablecloths cover basic square tables, folding chairs have charming embroidered "los mariachis" covers slipped over the backrests, but despite those, and a fresh coat of paint, the room is otherwise without much atmosphere. Which I view as a promising sign, I've gotten some great food in bleak rooms!

And indeed one trip, one plate of food, was encouraging. They offer the usual suspects: Tacos, Tostadas, Tamales, Sopes, Huaraches, Tortas, Burritos, Flautas, Enchiladas (Rojas, Verde or Mole), Quesadillas, Carne Asada, Chile Rellenos, Carnitas, Milanese, Mole Poblano.

They have a couple of Tex-mex things, like Chimichangas and Nachos, but you can tell those are an afterthought. They have Menudo on the weekends.

The Tacos can be had as Adobada (Spicy Pork), Asada, Carnitas, Lengua, Chorizo, Pollo or Al Pastor.

I'll try those next time, tonight I needed some Enchiladas de Mole

Well, OK, it doesn't look so great, I don't think mole ever looks all that attractive, but it tasted really good! It's not quite as dark and bitter as the Mole at Plaza Garibaldi, which I love, but this might be just as good, just different. This version a little less edgy and more nutty. And the enchiladas themselves were very nice, smaller than Garibaldi's but there were five of them. The chicken filling was very tender, and in chunks, not shredded, which was very nice. This particular platter was served just as enchiladas and mole, no rice or beans or anything, but at $7.50 for 5 enchiladas, I'm not complaining. I could get those as sides for $1.50 - $1.75 ish.

Tacos are $1.25, Tortas are $5, a big Carnitas platter with several sides is $9, so everything is pretty darn affordable. I'll try to get going on eating through the menu. It's close, it's cheap, they do take-out, there's not much of an excuse!

Los Mariachis

201 Gay Street (at the corner of Washington)

7-days a week, 11am-9pm

(610)935-2659

[philadining]

Got some tacos to go tonight, and they were pretty good. They're not quite as tasty as Veracruzana, not as big La Lupe, but they're not bad, and three of them cost less than $4, including tax.

Upper left is Chorizo, upper right is Adobada, lower is Al Pastor.

I've gotten a lot of Chorizo tacos that were just dripping with fat, and the good news is that this one was not that oily. Sadly, it was a little dry. The Adobada was not very spicy, but had a nice flavor. The Al Pastor was my fave (as usual) with a nice tangy flavor, and little chunks of pineapple.

So, they might not be the greatest tacos in the area, although I would have been pretty impressed by them a couple of years ago. They're fresh and good and cheap, I'll be going back for more.

[philadining]

Another visit for some take-out tonight.

First, a Chile Relleno:

This was a good-sized poblano pepper stuffed with mild cheese, breaded and fried. The chile had a moderate spice level, not super hot, but certainly not a bell pepper! The breading was kind of light, despite being fairly thick. The creamy tomato sauce was mellow, but had a good flavor. Not especially thrilling, but very good. $6.75 for a big pepper with rice and beans. I'd get it again.

But the star of the evening was Pork in Green Chile sauce:

This was freaking excellent! Tender cubes of roast pork, with good crusty edges, swimming in a mild but very flavorful verde sauce. The pork had great taste and texture, the sauce was great, even the beans were good, sprinkled with cojita cheese. Rice was fine. It's going to be really hard to resist getting this every time. $7.00

[percyn]

Agree with Philadining that the Enchiladas de Mole were good and that the sauce on the Carnitas as great, but my pork as neither crispy nor tender.

Overall, not the same caliber as Senoras in West Chester, but not bad for a place in Phoenixville. Oh, and to support Philadining's claim of Phoenixville becoming like West Chester, I also swung by an artisian cheese store that just opened last week (they carry some raw milk cheeses and will be increasing inventory soon).

[philadining]

My enchiladas had a lot more sauce on them when served at the restaurant, but then, having all that good mole soak up into the tortillas on the ride home might have tasted just fine!

And bummer about the pork, my serving was really remarkably good quality, I hope that's more typical!

More reports will follow...

[philadining]

Tried the Enchiladas Rojas last night.

You can get these with Chicken or Beef, I tried the beef. The filling was fine, if not a big thrill, just simple diced grilled steak. But the whole package worked really well: the red sauce in which the tortillas were dipped was very spicy, with a good full flavor, and the lettuce, cheese, crema and onions gave some respite from the heat.

These enchiladas may not be quite as tasty as the ones available downtown at Plaza Garibaldi, but they're close. Another good, solid, home-style offering from Los Mariachis. I'd get them again. 5 enchiladas, $7.

[philadining]

I'm happy to report that Percy's bad luck with the Pork in Green Sauce seems to have been a fluke, at least i have two good experiences that imply that...

I'd actually ordered the pork with the red sauce for the sake of trying something new, but when they gave me this sauce by mistake, it smelled so good, I wasn't going to send it back! the meat was more randomly chopped this time, not neat symmetrical cubes, but it was tender, and juicy, with nice crusty edges. (I'd been hoping for tamales, but they were out of them...)

The DP is a fan of Enchiladas de Mole, and was not disappointed by these.

Two dinners and two Jaritos sodas totalled less than $18 before tip. It was fairly busy at about 8pm on a sunday, but we didn't have to wait.

[philadining]

Tonight, for take-out:

Tamales

They were a little salty, but comforting with tender stewed pork.

and Flautas

These were quite good, with flavorful shredded chicken, especially drizzled with the weird-looking creamy green salsa they have.

Good solid stuff, I'd get either again.

[percyn]

On Friday, I picked up some Mole Poblano for takeout. Unfortunately my misfortune with take-out pork from this place seems to continue. The blade pork chops were tough and stringy. The mole sauce was not bad, but not remarkable either.

I did have a carnitas soft taco while waiting for my take-out order and they were awesome. So I am begining to thing that the 20-30 min ride home may be contributing to the toughness of the pork.

Here is an image of the dish, which seems to have been tossed around a bit in my car.

[philadining]

yikes! Percy, that looks pretty awful!

It's such an odd contrast. I've gotten a few things that were only OK, but so far, nothing quite as bad as a few of the things you've ended up with! The long drive probably isn't helping, but can't explain it all. Like the mole sauce... I've had it on enchiladas a couple of times and it was really very tasty.

I think there's some sort of chemical reaction happening: weird cosmic rays emanating from the styrofoam that are sabotaging your food!!

But yeah, the answer might be to eat there... Anyway, sorry to hear about your continuing bad luck, I feel somewhat responsible!

[philadining]

In my ongoing campaign to torture Percy, I got some take-out pork from Los Mariachis tonight. This time: Carnitas

This doesn't look quite as good as it tasted. The shredded pork was quite juicy and herby. The guac was simple, but fresh and good.

Really nice piled up in a corn tortilla:

This is actually one of the more expensive things they have, at $9. But it's a big portion of meat and guacamole, worth it as far as I'm concerned.

And so far, my luck is holding, and I have avoided the Percycution our friend has suffered... But then I have a much shorter trip home, which helps, I'm sure.

[percyn]

In my ongoing campaign to torture Percy, I got some take-out pork from Los Mariachis tonight.

←

I guess I just have to get you to order it for me

Was this dish just called carnitas?

[philadining]

Was this dish just called carnitas?

←

Yes, on the take-out menu I have, it's about midway down the middle column, between the Chile Relleno and the Milanesa.

It's probably a big version of the taco you had while you were waiting last time. And sadly, it probably would dry out on a long ride, so you might need to eat it there. But it could be worth taking the extra time, it was really good...

Apologies for making fun of your previous misfortune, I'm sure it's frustrating!

[percyn]

After several failed attempts, I am glad to report that a few days ago, I got some excellent Carnitas from Los Mariachis.

Proof -

Since this was a take out order, I even opened the box to try a piece as soon as they brought it out. It was crispy and fork tender. It did loose some of its crispness on the ride home, but a quick pop in the toaster oven fixed that.

I wish they were a bit more reliable on the quality of this dish. As for the soft tacos...they have always been great. Try the tongue taco if you have not done so already !!

[Furious Flav-or]

Went last night. I had carnitas and an horchata, Flavette flautas and a coke.

They're changing, and not for the good. It isn't the first time I've seen it happen in a Latino restaurant, and it won't be the last.

Our Guatemalan waitress very proudly told me that they're getting new, plasticized menus, evidence of which was already on the tables, a short list of a dozen or so lunch specials aimed at gringos. They've tried to make it on immigrant clientele alone, and it isn't working, so they've trimmed things from the trifold paper menu and reduced the spiciness of many of their dishes that should be spicy, if not at least piquant.

Can "Señor Porky" on their menu be far behind? On to the next place, I think.

[handmc]

Went for the first time last night. A major disappointment.

Ordered Carne Avodado (spicy beef) It came with rice and beans and corn tortillas. The beef while it appeared to be coated with annato, was not spicy at all. In fact is was dry and flavorless. Not a good start.

Also ordered a combination plate with a tamal, enchilada and chile relleno. Rice, beans and salad came with it. The tamal and enchilada were both dry. While they had a chile type sauce on it, it didn't taste like much of anything. Not sweet, sour, bitter, earthy, not anything. No kick from the peppers. Mostly it was a tomato/dried corn taste.

Also ordered was a chili relleno with rice, beans and salad.

I stopped in around 4:30pm and I was the only person in the place.

When I got home I found that the beans had appeared to be cooked dry. As dry as the rice that is. Did I get lunch left overs?

While the Chili Relleno might be better eaten at the store.

I don't think I'll be back. I was the only person in the place and there were too many problems with these basic dishes. I was expecting a much better experience and it appears from above they may have lost thier way.

[philadining]

I think reports of Los Mariachis' demise might be premature...

The new menu is not missing much from before, and at least tonight, the clientele was still largely from south of the border.

I got the carnitas platter:

It was a little heavier on the crispy outer parts of the roast pork than other times, but I don't really see that as a problem! The pile of guac was replaced by a few big slices of fresh avocado, along with some nice, fresh lettuce and tomatoes. Beans and rice were good.

This dish wasn't supposed to be spicy, so I can't comment on whether they've toned things down. And handmc's experience with things being dry and seemingly left-over is unfortunate, it certainly shouldn't happen, but at 4:30 in the afternoon... yep, you probably got lunch leftovers... but what got wasn't all dried out.

It's certainly not the apex of Mexican food in the area, but most of what I've gotten has been really good. I don't think I'd drive great distances for it, but I'm glad it's in my neighborhood.

[philadining]

When you have one of those days when a big old tree falls over on the power lines and really messes up your day, sometimes you just have to go to lunch.

And as the old saying goes: when life hands you lemons, make tostadas! Or have somebody make some for you. Or something like that.

It was big and fresh, and crispy and tasty. And totally freaking messy. I have no idea how one eats a tostada without spraying it all over the room.

When I finished it, it occurred to me that there were two more!!

$5.75 for three huge, loaded tostadas. Great Lunch.

And after lunch, no, the power was not back on...