Johnny Mañana’s

[wolf]

The only bad things I have to say about Johnny Mañana’s don’t have anything to do with the restaurant itself.

The place even has a set of honest to goodness batwing doors.

I love batwing doors, so getting to stride through them put me in a better mood.

Because on getting to the restaurant I was royally pissed.

Despite driving the wrong way (into the city) during rush hour traffic, it still took me an hour to complete what Mapquest, Yahoo, and Google all assured me would be a 23 minute drive.

I live nearby Ridge Ave. How tough can it be to drive down Ridge into East Falls?

Rather a lot really.

The restaurant itself was easily located, and easily identifiable. It’s not every day you see an 8 foot red chili suspended over a doorway.

The place is brightly painted and the outdoor café tables are probably the place to be when the weather is a little less cool than it was when I met Syc and MomSyc there for dinner.

I found out exactly how easy it is to find the restaurant at least a half-dozen times, as I rode around and around and around the block. I actually had two variations of riding around the block. The first was to pass the restaurant and proceed up to Allegheny, where I turned left, and then found a nice vacant lot to turn around in. I found the nice vacant lot on the second try. The first try I rode down a semi-deserted alley that looked like the kind of place where as you try to turn around at the end of the street, the gang pulls the barbed wire and junk cars across the roadway in preparation for your torture-rape-murder. Of course, I was prepared for this eventuality. Even if they got me, I was not going down without a fight. The second variation involved turning onto Midvale, driving around until I turned right, got lost, cut through the train station parking lot, and eventually finding Indian Queen Street, which was the next street over from the restaurant, and one way, heading downhill.

The website boasted of “plentiful parking.” The website failed to mention that it would all be occupied by people who lived in the neighborhood.

I eventually located a space halfway up Indian Queen Street and made it into the restaurant.

I have climbed The Wall in Manyunk several times. I think Indian Queen Street is much, much steeper.

The wait staff were friendly and put up with my sometimes bizarre ways of ordering food (I selected a frozen margarita on the grounds that it was “sillier“), the service prompt, the food was good. The waitress kept a watchful eye on the table and showed up at the right times to ask if there were a need for refills and to check on our satisfaction with the meal.

The Tortilla Soup is a very pleasant experience, and totally unexpected. There were good sized chunks of chicken bathed in the tomato-based broth, as well as some avocado chunks. I’m not a big fan of avocado, but I sampled them anyway … The variety of textures enhanced the pleasure of the soup. The crispy tortilla strips that take the place of noodles stay crispy throughout. They don’t sog up like crackers do. I enjoyed the Burrito Loco I ordered as the main course, the beef, rice and refried beans were all tender and yummy, and the whole notion of a “17-inch tortilla” doesn’t really sink in until you see it on the plate. When you’re used to Taco Bell’s idea of what Mexican Food is, the real thing is something of a shock. So much so, that dessert wasn’t even an option.

I’d go back. If they had decent parking.

[elSicomoro]

I had the tacos with the corn flake-encrusted fish again Friday night...I had them during the above-mentioned trip (which was 2 weeks ago). Goddamn, they're good. Good Mexican is hard to come by here in Philly, though it's getting better. Fortunately for me, Johnny Mañana's is in the neighborhood.

The best place to park in that area is over at East Falls Station. It's a 2-block walk up a steep hill going back, though...don't drink too much.