Monday, January 28, 2013

A Mix of it All...



Mixto
1141 Pine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Growing up, I wasn’t privy to eating foods from many different cultures. I was kind of sheltered in my eating, because we never had different kinds of food cooked at home, and we always went out to eat at pretty standard American fare restaurants with the occasional Italian or Chinese restaurant thrown in there. Since I have been dating my girlfriend, who is both German and Colombian, I have opened up my horizons and began eating all kinds of cuisines. One of my favorite new food types to eat is that of Latin American cultures, so I was pretty excited to take my girlfriend out to Mixto in Philly one Friday evening.



Mixto is exactly what its name sounds like; a mix of different Latin cuisines. You can find items from Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, and Colombia, where the owners happen to be from. My girlfriend loves this type of food because she was born in Colombia and grew up eating it. We ordered a plate to share that contained all of her favorites and mine too. The plate contained tostones, maduros, chicken empanadas, beef empanadas, chicharrones, shrimp ceviche, arepas, and chorizo. They brought us out some bread and the guava margaritas that we ordered and we sat back and waited for the deliciousness to begin.



The guava margaritas were really spectacular. Guava is another thing that I have come to fall in love with while dating my girlfriend because the food that Latinos eat contains guava quite often. The taste is tropical and sweet and the tiniest bit sour. It paired so perfectly with the tequila that I almost didn’t realize my drink had any alcohol in it at all. I couldn’t get enough of them, and I kept refilling my glass every time that it was empty.



When our plate of food came out, both my girlfriend and my eyes lit up. It was huge and everything looked fantastic! I immediately dug into the shrimp ceviche. It was citrusy and light, a nice a refreshing way to start the meal. I next grabbed a beef empanada and was entranced by its flaky crust and tender filling. I grabbed a chicken empanada next and was met with more of the same deliciousness that I had experience earlier. The tostones were nice and crunchy and just a touch salty, the perfect balance. The arepas were really the only thing on the whole plate that I wasn’t impressed with.



The stars of the meal for me were the maduros and the chicharrones. Maduros are sweet plantains that are pan fried until they caramelize and become even sweeter and just a bit crunchy. Chicharrones are chunks of pork that are fried until they are as crispy as you can possibly imagine. The meat is salty and tender on the inside, and each and every bit left me wanting more. I still think about how delicious those chicharrones were.

Three pints for Mixto. The traditional Latin American fare that they serve is spot on, the service is very good, and the vibe is really fun. I would go back to Mixto in a heart beat. If you haven’t had that type of cuisine before, this it the type of place that can open your eyes to a whole new world. Run don’t walk to Mixto and give it a try! Cheers!

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
I am a food lover living in Philadelphia.

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