Home of Obama and Palin

A few days ago, our eating-out buddy Marlene emailed me a review of Padre’s Modern Mexican Cuisine. The review sat on my desk for all of a few hours before I decided that we had to try it out that very evening. I was feeling unusually receptive to Mexican food because of our excellent meal at Gallo Blanco (see below). The write-up said that Padre’s “takes flying leaps from its Mexican roots”. Intriguing. We had high expectations.

Although the review said that the restaurant had an ambiance that was half Santa Fe and half Mexican cantina, I found the place to be dark and dreary. The bar area was filled with happy customers, but the tile floors made hearing any conversation impossible. We asked to be seated in the back dining room. However, while lighter and quieter than the bar, it was even more depressing, with bad art and cheap furniture. The saving grace is the tented patio with umbrellas and misters which runs the length of the cottage.

Since we arrived at Happy Hour, we ordered a house Margarita to share ($3.95, regularly $6). While large and powerful, it was very ordinary. There were some appetizers on the Happy Hour menu, but none were from the regular dinner list and they weren’t very interesting. Instead we ordered a Cazuela de Queso ($9.95) a yummy sounding concoction of spinach, cheese, onions, roasted garlic and a few other ingredients, served hot, with chips. We also asked for an Obama Burrito (no, that’s not a typo) and a side salad of greens with orange. Then we waited and we sipped, waited and sipped. Our server came to the table and said that the kitchen had made the wrong salad for us. So we waited and sipped and waited and sipped. This may give you a feeling for how big the Margarita was.

Finally the salad was brought to the table. The pieces of orange were covered with pith, and even some orange rind. A nasty mouthful. If the salad had been dressed at all, it wasn’t noticeable. We commented about this to our waiter, and he said he would tell the kitchen. More waiting, but we had run out of Margarita. Our expectations had sunk precipitously until the cazuela and the burrito arrived. The cazuela was as good as it sounded, maybe even better. The Obama Burrito ($11.95) was filled with carne adobada, chile braised slow roasted pork, grilled peppers, onions and cheese. Yellow rice and beans completed the dish. For us, one of the nicest things about Padres was that cilantro and green pepper were not the dominant notes, as they are in so many Mexican restaurants. Also the food was not overly hot-spicy; it may even seem bland to some chili-pepper die-hards. We were happy again.

There were a few desserts to choose from: a pineapple bread pudding with caramel sauce, and a chocolate cake which was not made in house. Of course there was flan and fried ice cream. None of these demanded to be eaten. When the waiter brought our bill, he announced that we were not being charged for our salad. That made the bill, which we felt was reasonable for the quality and amount of food served, reasonable, although on the high side for a Mexican restaurant.

If I had to compare the two, I would say Gallo Blanco was the winner. The chef is an artist when combining food textures and flavors. Padre’s chef is a good, solid workman. But we’ll be going back to try some of the other dishes like salmon spinach enchiladas and short rib tacos. I still don’t know why our burrito was called Obama, but there’s also a salad with Alaskan salmon called Sarah Palin.

Padre’s Modern Mexican Cuisine

1044 E. Camelback Phoenix

602-277-1749

padresmexican.com

Lunch 11-3 Monday-Friday

Happy Hour 4-6:30 Monday-Friday

Dinner 4:30-10 Monday-Saturday