Lolita
106 South 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA
19107
My girlfriend and I really love to go out and get Mexican
food. We had been eyeing up a place on 13th street called Lolita for
some time before we decided to head over there one night for date night. Lolita is yet another gem on the 13th street block between Sansom and Chestnut from the Queens of Midtown; Valarie Safran and Marcie Turney. Their other restaurants on the block include Barbuzzo and Jamonera (formerly Bindi).
It was a little cramped in there, but that is definitely a
common theme in center city Philadelphia. However it was decorated pretty cool
on the inside, and the menu looked pretty fantastic. We were at the very end of
our Lent restriction, so we could still not indulge in meat since it was
Friday, but we still had some pretty tasty options to choose from. We wound up
ordering a pitcher of blood orange margarita mixer, guacamole with tomatillo
salsa, regular salsa and housemade tortilla and plantain chips, enchiladas
verdes con camarones enchipotlados, and salmon a la plancha con pure de
palmitos.
Lolita is BYOB so we brought a bottle of
tequila with us and used it to mix with the blood orange margarita mixture.
Unfortunately, the mixture didn’t really taste a whole lot like blood oranges.
It tasted like margarita mixture, and looked orange, but it lacked the punch
that blood orange or any orange for that matter provides. Needless to say we
killed about half the bottle of tequila and the whole pitcher of mixer, so it
wasn’t bad.
The chips and salsa were very delicious.
They had clearly just been fried because the oil still glistened on the chips,
and the salsas were packed with flavor. I was pretty partial to the tomatillo
salsa myself, because of the acidity and bite that were tasted in each and
every bite. The plantain chips were pretty awesome too, and I would recommend
them to anyone who hasn’t ever tried them before. I have come to be very fond
of plantains in all forms because I date a Colombian woman, and she has shown
them to me in all shapes and forms.
When our entrees came out, we were super
excited. I was eager to dig into the enchiladas. The enchiladas were stuffed
with shrimp, shitake mushrooms, jack cheese, and topped with salsa verde (Spanish for green) and served with cumin rice and refried black beans. They
were creamy and salty, warm and gooey. The shrimp were cooked perfectly, and
they married together perfectly with the corn flavor in the fresh tortilla. The
refried black beans were the real show stealer. I had only had regular refried
beans before and these black beans were a bit richer and had a depth of flavor
that isn’t usually shown through the regular refried beans.
I also had the pleasure of tasting my
girlfriend’s grilled salmon. The salmon was phenomenal. I don’t usually think
of salmon and Mexican cooking in the same train of thought, but here it worked
wonderfully well. Charred, light, and full of flavor, it was only enhanced by
the hearts of palm puree underneath.
I would love to take anyone I know to Lolita for a night of good food
and fun. I cannot wait to go back. Marcie Turney and Valarie Safran have yet
another hit here on 13th street. They are the owners of other
amazing eateries such as Barbuzzo and the former Bindi. Give it a try whenever
you can! Cheers!
