As we’ve mentioned before, quality Mexican food has become somewhat of a trend here in the city. At least four new restos opened in the past few months bringing gastronomical excellence to this cultural cuisine. We’re holding back a resounding ‘Woot!’ right now…The latest entry on the Danforth comes in the form of Pachuco, a tiny spot underneath sister restaurant Embrujo Flamenco that brings Old Mexico into the 21st century.
Pachuco is named after the 1930s and 40s sub-culture of zoot-suit-wearing Chicano youths who spoke their own dialect of Mexican Spanish, dubbed Pachuco. And in keeping with the throwback theme, the menu here composes traditional dishes with modern ingredients, all blending together as perfectly as the restaurant’s dozen or so margaritas.
When you trip down the steps into Pachuco – as we both did – you wind up in a little space that has a speakeasy-esque charm about it. It’s dim and comforting, with a wine bottle wall (decoration, not for drinking), chalkboards with signature drinks, and a miniscule seating area (it only seats about 26). The tabletops are claustrophobic once you have two drinks – the delightfully refreshing mojitos, in this case – a bottle of water, a candle, and two tumblers.
We started with one of the guacamoles that have delighted foodies, the cactus and arbol pepper with pineapple, served with homemade tortilla chips. The guac was perfectly creamy, just a bit of tang, and the pineapple added a level of sweetness which was a nice contrast. The ceviche tia mali followed – blue fin, starfruit, avocado and tequila – giving a hyped citrus bite with some perfectly sourced fish.
Our server was exceptional, knowing the menu inside-out and giving some excellent suggestions as to how to order. (Two apps and two mains, or three apps and one main to share for two typically suffices.) The entrees are taquitos served cazuela style with warm corn tortillas. The huitlacoche – a fungus that only grows on corn – is black and has the look of refried beans, and the texture to boot. It was earthen and deep, perfect with an avocado salsa. The de pato – duck confit – was our favourite. The protein was juicy and rich, swathed in a tomato barbeque-like sauce. (Note it: At this point, our table was so full we had to use the booth space beside us to hold our corn tortilla keeper and extra tortilla chips for the still-unfinished guacamole.)
Instead of dessert, we ordered up two flights of margaritas. At Pachuco you get to sample a trio of flavours for $15, and we ran through the traditional, spicy mango, raspberry, pineapple, guava, and guanabana. Surprisingly, our least favourite was the traditional…just didn’t pop like the rest.
Pachuco on the Danforth is most definitely a notable spot, with amazing food, a quaint atmosphere, and pitch-perfect service. It’s not necessarily made for a big dinner with a slew of friends, but for a more intimate evening a four-top here works well. Pachuco gets our seal of approval, and that’s more than worthy of note itself.
Top photo courtesy Pachuco.
