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.
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