Terrific tortas fuel El Compadre's next chapter
As a lover of fresh tortillas, I'd never felt the urge to order an actual sandwich on bread at a Mexican restaurant -- until I discovered the tortas made on house-baked telera rolls at South Philly Barbacoa.
But those distinctive sandwiches, whose scallop-ridged crusts come wrapped inside a paper sleeve around an array of hearty fillings -- pulled chicken in sweet, dark mole Poblano, chorizo and potatoes, or pork meatballs in a savory green mole -- had to be discontinued last year when they became too labor-intensive to maintain alongside chef and co-owner Cristina Martínez's famous steamed lamb tacos.
So I was thrilled when those tortas made a comeback at El Compadre, a restaurant on South Ninth Street run by Cristina's son, Isaias Berriozabal-Martinez. And then tragedy struck when the 23-year-old Isaias suddenly died of heart failure in early January. That would be a lot to cope with for any mother.
But for the James Beard-nominated Martínez, whose life has grown even more complicated as perhaps America's most celebrated undocumented chef in the era of President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration, her response has been to push forward, keep cooking, and not give up.
She and husband Benjamin Miller have reopened El Compadre, and the sandwiches are in glorious form again.
I'm especially fond of the soft and cuminy pork meatballs bound with rice that come cloaked in a rich green mole thickened with crushed pepita seeds, tanged with tomatillo, and warmed by herbal epazote and a measured jalapeño heat.
One thing Miller and Martínez vow not to do is relinquish their outspoken activism for immigrants' rights: "It's certainly scary right now and we do have a Plan B," says Miller, referring to a possible move to Mexico. "But for now, we're just going to go harder and push it all the way until we either change something or something breaks."
-- Craig LaBan
Tortas, $6.50, El Compadre, 1149 S. 9th St. Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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