- Hey, everybody, we are heading to South Philly.
We are heading to the 9th Street Market
to go to South Philly Barbacoa,
which is not in its original location,
but is now moved into its sister restaurant,
called El Compadre.
South Philly Barbacoa was opened
by Ben Miller and Cristina Martinez.
Cristina's son opened El Compadre.
He tragically passed away at a very young age
but they have since occupied that space
and they are currently operating out of there,
serving some of the best tacos in Philly,
if not the entire country.
They've gotten a lot of recognition
for the work that they're doing.
They continue to serve their lamb barbacoa,
which they do on weekends.
But we're actually gonna check out some
of their other offerings.
I think I'm gonna get some shrimp tacos,
chicken mole torta that they are known for,
as well as the guisado,
which is gonna be this stewed beef.
We're headed over there right now.
I can't wait to try the food.
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Tell me how you guys met.
- Cristina and I were working side by side
in an Italian restaurant here in Center City.
She was baking bread and making pastries,
and I was basically plating them,
working the garde manger station.
We worked together, enjoyed working together,
and after six months of asking her
to go out, she finally said yes.
- (laughs) I love that story.
- Funny, okay. (Lucas laughs)
- Can you just tell me a little bit
about coming to this country
and your experience?
- I know you spend a lot of your time
and energy advocating for immigrant populations,
especially in the restaurant industry.
What do you think needs to be done?
- It's not feasible to deport everybody
and, you know, that's not what we want.
It's important to make sure that the people
who are doing the work here,
and throughout the rest of our industry, are acknowledged.
- Without immigrant labor,
the whole industry would collapse.
- Restaurant industry and all the industries
that are connected to it.
Fishing, farming...
- How do you feel like the response has been
as far as you trying to make this dialogue happen?
Do you find other people are joining?
- I've come across a lot of people who ignore us.
Chefs who don't want us to be here,
don't want us to succeed.
But, overwhelmingly, we got new customers,
college students, professors, and
lawyers and activists and people
that were involved in the same story.
We can be who we are,
and we can still have a prosperous business in this city.
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- What do I have in front of me but a torta?
It's a common Mexican snack, Mexican meal.
You can put a lot of things in a torta.
In this case, we have shredded,
stewed chicken with mole sauce.
Legend has it, some nuns got together one day
and they mixed together little bits of chocolate
and some day old bread and some spices,
and they cooked a turkey and they put it on it,
and they called it "mole."
But this is the chicken mole torta
and I'm gonna eat it.
The first thing that hits you
is that dark, almost bitter spice.
But then you've got that vaguely sweet bitterness
of the chocolate.
Now, don't think you're getting some sort
of chocolate treat.
It's still quite savory,
but there is a hint of sweetness.
It's really nice,
because it balances that spice and saltiness.
I'm gonna have a little bit of this agua fresca.
Agua frescas are a very typical drink
that you'll find in a lot of Latin American countries.
This is mango.
Nice, refreshing.
We're gonna have a couple cute little camarones.
I say "cute" but they're giant.
These are creatures from the Black Lagoon.
They're smothered in these super delicious,
peppery stewed onions.
Covered with some guac.
And then on some freshly homemade tortillas
with the corn from Masienda.
This taco's gonna be a mess.
It looks delicious.
I'm just gonna go for it.
It's really good.
It's a nice, fat, sweet shrimp
and these are good tortillas.
Tortillas that taste like corn.
This came from a plant in a field.
Most of the time, when you eat a generic,
store-bought tortilla or you eat a corn chip,
it's so far removed from what it once was.
But when you're eating something
that's high quality, it's infinitely better
than the generic, low-quality ingredient tortillas.
Shrimp taco, super good.
And, lastly, we have the guisado.
Now, a guisado just means "that which is stewed."
But this is gonna be a big piece of beef
and you've got some herbs and aromatics
and this green salsa.
It tastes kind of bone broth-y and tomatillo-y.
This is some thinly-pounded beef,
but it came apart really nicely and easily, as you can tell.
I'm gonna take my nice, freshly-made Masienda tortilla,
and I'm gonna slop this on the tortilla.
Should I do a little red on green?
Mm-hmm.
This is gonna be a much deeper, spicier salsa roja.
Alright, here we go.
So good, it's just a big shot
of beef and spice in your mouth.
Really good, I love this beef.
Cristina said that she cares
about using quality ingredients,
and really trying to do things the right way.
Really trying to do it as sustainably
and as authentically as you can
when you are running a business.
I appreciate that.
They've had a huge amount of well-deserved success.
The food is excellent.
What more do you want?
I don't want anything else.
I really hope you enjoyed this episode
of "Dining on a Dime"
from South Philly Barbacoa
at El Compadre Restaurant on 9th Street,
in South Philly, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
If you'd like to watch more, please click here.
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