Cantina Los Caballitos, Philadelphia PA

Cantina Los Caballitos

If you've ever walked along East Passyunk Ave, in the heart of hipster village, it is hard to miss the Cantina. Set on the northeast corner of Passyunk and Morris, just past where 12th street intertwines, it is the bright orange building with wooden doors that look like they came off the set of Man of La Mancha.  On nice days, there is usually a handful of people seated outside. For a recent brunch, the weather was just cool enough that my brunchmate and I decided to dine indoors.

The place was hopping, but someone quickly brought over some chips and salsa for us to munch on while reviewing the menu. It was a little difficult to concentrate on food decisions though, let alone a conversation, because of the music. If I can call it that.



The noise level was loud enough that you might expect that the band, with full blow-amps, had a stage set up at the end of the room. And the pounding hardcore album selection was most likely quite painful for anyone suffering a Sunday morning hangover.  Quite out of character for us, we asked the hostesses if it would be possible to turn the music down. She nicely replied, "I'm sorry. I already asked them for someone else, and was told 'no'."  I can only image whoever "they" might be. Clearly not someone who cared about the comfort of those dining. Perhaps "they" is an angry, jaded, line-cook stuck back in the hot kitchen. Upset because he had to get up at an unnatural hour to slave over a hot stove for "the man," and jilted by the cute hostess, his one bit of power and revenge left in the world is to refuse to let anyone touch the stereo until his album played out. "It's only fair man, it's my turn to pick..."

Chips and Salsas

Every time a song ended, my brunchmate & I breathed a sigh of relief. At last, we could actually hear the other side of the conversation! Only to be quickly crushed with disappointment when the silence did not last. Silence is not the right word. The conversational volume was already about as loud as your average early-morning commuter plane. But the decibel level of the sounds coming out of their speaker system were almost deafening. We honestly should have left. But for some reason we did not. Perhaps it was because the chips and salsa were quite tasty. Or perhaps it was because our braincells had shut down.



But enough about the atmosphere and onto the food. I ordered the Huevos Rancheros ($8),  two eggs served sunny side up on top of crispy corn-flour tortillas and black beans. Served on the side, there were crunchy breakfast potatoes and delicious, thinly-sliced, fried onions. I'm usually not one for eggs with beans, but they went together better than I could have imagined.

Huevos Rancheros

Raspberry Mimosa

On special was a raspberry mimosa. Very pretty to look at, it did not taste very much like raspberry or orange juice; in true Cantina fashion, it was mostly just alcohol.







My brunch-mate ordered the Breakfast Burrito ($9). The "perfect hang-over food," (for after drinking a couple of the mimosas) it is filled with eggs, jack cheese, rice, beans, fresh guacamole, pico de gallo.  Almost as large as a baseball glove, it too was served with a side of breakfast potatoes.

Breakfast Burrito

While the Cantina is still a top contender for happy-hour, dinner, and late-night gatherings,  I would pass on it for brunch. Unless, that is, it is nice enough weather to dine outside.

UPDATE (May7):  Received a nice note today from someone at Cantina apologizing for our recent obnoxiously loud dining experience. With such responsive feedback, one can only hope that it will now be safe for your ears to brunch there after all!

If you go:

• 1651 East Passyunk Ave, Philadelphia PA 
• Phone: (215) 755-3550
• They accept credit cards.
• Cantina Los Caballitos