Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

La Peña Mexicana: One of the best authentic Mexican kitchens around

It’s tucked away on the easy-to-miss one-way drive of West Cypress Street in Kennett Square, but La Peña Mexicana has a paint job that’s impossible to miss, its shedlike buildings striped like a bumblebee draped in a Mexican flag. Now that I’ve been inside this modest, five-year-old taquería (with roots in the northern coastal state of Guerrero), its food shouldn’t be missed, either, as it’s one of the best authentic Mexican kitchens in our region. Adventure diners should go for a super-crisp chimichanga stuffed with tongue or cabeza. But more conservative eaters can try something new as well, with one of the huaraches, soft, sandal-shaped ovals of hand-pressed corn masa dough that come layered with creamy frijoles, crunchy lettuce and radish, zippy green salsa, cilantro and chicken stewed tender in mild but soulful guajillo salsa. Chicken huarache, $6, La Peña Mexicana, 609 W. Cypress St., Kennett Square, 610-925-2651.

It's tucked away on the easy-to-miss one-way drive of West Cypress Street in Kennett Square, but La Peña Mexicana has a paint job that's impossible to miss, its shedlike buildings striped like a bumblebee draped in a Mexican flag.

Now that I've been inside this modest, five-year-old taquería (with roots in the northern coastal state of Guerrero), its food shouldn't be missed, either, as it's one of the best authentic Mexican kitchens in our region. Adventure diners should go for a super-crisp chimichanga stuffed with tongue or cabeza.

But more conservative eaters can try something new as well, with one of the huaraches, soft, sandal-shaped ovals of hand-pressed corn masa dough that come layered with creamy frijoles, crunchy lettuce and radish, zippy green salsa, cilantro and chicken stewed tender in mild but soulful guajillo salsa.

Chicken huarache, $6, La Peña Mexicana, 609 W. Cypress St., Kennett Square, 610-925-2651.

— Craig LaBan