Xochitl

Xochitl
408 S 2nd St
Philadelphia, PA 19147
Neighborhood: Society Hill

It was after 10PM by the time we arrived at Xochitl.  Upon entry, we waited for a couple minutes, but we didn't see the hostess.  I flagged down a waiter who was busily moving about with dishes bound for a table downstairs. He informed us that they didn't have a hostess at that hour, but would get us seated shortly.  And indeed he did.

We've been to Xochitl a couple times before.  We had previously returned because it had the best chicken torta in the city, but then that item fell off the menu, no where to be found.  The revamped menu was OK, but not good enough to go all the way out east just for it.  Since we were nearby that night and hungry, we dropped by to give it another chance.  I'm glad we did.

We had the make-your-own guac with Spanish onions, roasted tomatoes, cojito, truffle oil, and a pepper whose name I can't remember.  I thought this was so-so and was missing a little bit of something.  But, this wasn't the restaurant's fault since it was us who picked the ingredients.  Shame on us.

We split the Pollo Frito - a half chicken that was brined for 24 hours, steamed, fried, and drizzled with sweet chile sauce.  It was paired with corn bread and spinach in a chile cream.  The chicken was fried perfectly, with the sweet chile sauce serving as a good contrast to the spicier chile cream of the spinach.  Definitely a repeat to be had.

We also had the fish tacos - achiote lime marinated walu fish layered with mexican slaw and wrapped in house made tortillas.  I'm not normally a fan of fish tacos as the flavors are often more bland.  The flavors of these tacos weren't bland, but just more subtle.  Another repeat to be had.

The only big service miss was that our guac came out late because there was confusion in the kitchen regarding whether we already got it or not (we didn't).

Overall, a nice comeback Xochitl.