Plaza Garibaldi

[philadining]

We've made reference to Plaza Garibaldi in a few other threads, but it really deserves its own spotlight. I think it often gets overlooked: it wasn't the first authentic place to make a splash, like Veracruzana across the street; it doesn't have an attractive outdoor vibe, like La Lupe; it's not hip and modern like Lolita or ElVez. But it does have good solid homey Mexican food at almost unbelievably low prices.

There have been several raves here for their Enchiladas de Mole, and the Enchilladas Suizas are excellent too. And I think their tacos compare favorably with their more famous neighbor across Washington Ave.

Katie and I tried a few more things recently, and left happy, full, and not much poorer. We started with three different Chalupas.

The top left is Carnitas, simple cubes of roast pork. It's pretty fatty, but that's part of the appeal! Upper right is enchiladas, chopped pork with a spicy sauce. Bottom is Al Pastor, seasoned pork and pineapple, also with a bit of chile heat. The corn tortillas were quickly fried, but still pliable, so one could theoretically pick them up and eat them, but they were a little sloppy, especially the enchiladas filling. All three were really good. They don't really offer a mixed collection like we got, I think you're supposed to get three of the same, but they were very nice about indulging our desire for novelty.

We also picked Tostadas de Tinga.

These are crispy tortillas topped with delicious shredded chicken with a mild sauce, beans, crema, lettuce and cheese. Subtle, solid, very good.

The star of the meal was the Bistek Xochimilcho.

This was a thin, but flavorful ribeye steak, topped with mushrooms and melted cheese, and served with fried potatoes, peppers and onions, guacamole, rice and beans. This had great flavor, the meat was nice and juicy, the accompaniments were quite nice.

Two of us couldn't finish all of this (and we tried!) and it added-up to $25 before tip. Service was very friendly, with three different people checking to make sure everything was good. One of the waitresses is a little shaky with English, she can take your order, but if you have questions or want to make an adjustment, it might take a consultation with one of the other servers, or for you to dust-off your Spanish skills. If I had any complaint, it was that everything came out pretty rapidly, so we ended up with a lot of food on the table at once. Miraculously the steak stayed pretty warm, so it was no crisis. And I might have inadvertently contributed to this by making a "bring-it-on" hand gesture when we ordered, our server might have gotten the impression that we wanted it all at once.

All in all, we loved it. On one hand, it's nothing especially thrilling, just good solid homey Mexican food. On the other, that's often exactly what I'm in the mood for!

Plaza Garibaldi

935 Washington Ave.

Philadelphia, PA

(215) 922-2370

Edited September 25, 2005 by philadining (log)

[KatieLoeb]

In agreement with all he said. We had a lovely dinner we couldn't finish that hardly put a dent in our wallets. Probably put a bulge in our waistlines though! Everything was delicious, fresh and vibrantly flavored. The assortment of chalupas was excellent. Gives you an idea of what their basic "meat mix" is should you wish to order a taco or burrito in any particular flavor at another time. I was particularly fond of the Enchiladas pork. Very tender and flavorful and nicely spiced. The chicken on the toastadas was shredded and also nicely spiced. The shredded lettuce gets messy, but hey, this ain't Le Bec Fin, y'know. The steak was very good and a huge bargain at like $12, I think. I could have lived without the perfectly rectangular vision of melted pre-sliced cheese on top, but aethetics of presentation aside it was very good. I really liked the sauteed veggies that came with the steak which included some thin shreds of jalapeno, onions and red peppers.

We were smart enough to sit right by the kitchen so we could see all the food coming out (side note: we discussed how most folks would think that's a lousy table, but being true eGulleteers we loved it!). Many of the other dishes looked quite appealing like the towering mound of nachos, the sizzling platter which I have to assume was fajitas of some sort, and the enchiladas mole which I will definitely try next time. My thanks to Philadining both for the charming company and for taking the time to post the pictures.

[Andrew Fenton]

An historical note on PG: if memory serves, it occupies the space formerly occupied by Saigon, which was the first really good Vietnamese restaurant in town.

I've sung the praises of the mole there, which is the best in town. Enchilada-wise, it can't be beat. In fact, after eating there many times, I've had exactly one disappointing dish: the chilaquiles, which were sort of sodden and disappointing. Everything else has been good to terrific.

Plaza Garibaldi is probably the restaurant I'm missing the most right now. What I wouldn't do for a plate of enchiladas, or that bistek... yow.

[mrbigjas]

An historical note on PG: if memory serves, it occupies the space formerly occupied by Saigon, which was the first really good Vietnamese restaurant in town.

true. and the only decor changes they made were to replace the map of vietnam on the wall with a sombrero, add one of those moving-light virgin mary things, and put in a tv that's usually tuned to soccer.

i agree with you about the enchiladas mole btw. and i don't know how they get a steak that thin that flavorful and tender despite it being well done.

[KatieLoeb]

...and i don't know how they get a steak that thin that flavorful and tender despite it being well done.

←

I was wondering this too. And it stays hot for a really long time too. How do they do that???

[philadining]

El Milagro de Bistek....

I happened to catch a Globe Trekker show on PBS last night, and Justine Shapiro was visiting Mexico City. There was a segment in Plaza Garibaldi, which is apparently usually filled at night with hundreds of Mariachis, competing for gigs.

I'm happy to say that the restaurant is NOT filled with hundreds of musicians. I've got nothing against that style of music, I actually kind of like it, except that I find that up-close, those bands tend to shut down my power of cognition, a phenomenon I've dubbed "Mariachi Paralysis." I would never have been able to decide what to order.

Also on the TV show, they visited Xochimilco, a large area of canals and floating gardens a little outside of the city. I didn't see any particular reason our entree was called "Bistek Xochimilco," maybe if it had been covered with flowers or something. No matter, it's just kind-of fun to say "so-she-meel-ko" when ordering.

[Furious Flav-or]

We've made reference to Plaza Garibaldi in a few other threads, but it really deserves its own spotlight. I think it often gets overlooked …

As some of us think it should.

Sorry, but we gave it a shot, and it's in no way anywhere near the caliber of a Los Mariachis (love the picnic tables) or even a Tata's/Mexico Lindo. I wound up looking wistfully at Veracruzana across the street and moping. It's been long enough that I don't even remember what we had, but it was memorably insipid.

We've moved since last I was around the boards, and got turned onto Los Mariachis by two guys at a Hess station filling up a delivery truck with Jumex splattered on its sides. I asked them where to go in that end of the world, and it was the first place that they mentioned.

The one thing that I haven't seen them do yet are soups/broths. I really love a good birria or pozolé.

Oh, and we tried Sarape in Blue Bell, thinking that it might have a shred of authenticity.

Nope.

On to Tamarindo's next. Anybody else been?

[Bobby 2 Shakes]

There used to be a Mexican restaurant called Xochimilco in the Forlorn section of Market St in Upper Darby. Rick Nichols wrote it up in the Inquirer, and gave it a favorable portrayal.

They have since moved to Providence Rd in the Primos-Secane area. The new name is "Hidalgo" and they're on the other end of the same shopping center (Providence Square, near the corner of Oak Ave & Providence Rd) as a CVS pharmacy.

If past is prologue, diners will be in for a treat. And Soledad sings!

[Furious Flav-or]

FYI, Xochimilco itself was replaced by an Ecuadorian joint last I knew. It's called Galapagos, and the food is pretty good. We wound up there having Thanksgiving dinner last year — don't ask, long story. Some of the appetizers are a bit strange in comparison to what one might expect, but I've been told that it's pretty authentic.

[philadining]

We'd actually meant to try one of the 800 other Mexican places that opened up in the last few weeks, but the one we picked showed a surprising absence of vegetarian options, a requirement of our crew that night, so we headed back to this favorite. There are not lots of vegetarian choices here, but a few...

such as...

Vegetarian Nachos

and

Vegetable Enchiladas

The nachos were a little bland, but perked up nicely with a few splashes of the provided salsas. The enchiladas got a thumbs up, with a note that they actually had a pretty assertive jalapeno kick.

The more carnivorous of us indulged in Sopes al Pastor

The puffy, crunchy tortillas were really good, as was the moderately spicy porky filling.

It's not on the menu, but sometimes, if you ask, they have Menudo

This was a huge bowl of almost florescent red broth, with plenty of tender tripe. The lime and cilantro really balanced it out nicely.

Good stuff all around. One of these times we'll remember that we really don't need nachos or anything else to start, the portions are all quite filling.

[rockhopper]

You didn't try the "corn fungus"?

It's good.