El Barrio

A few months back when I was in Birmingham for one night I met my two friends at El Barrio. El Barrio serves multi-regional Mexican cuisine and some great drinks. While looking at their menu the first thing that drew me in was the chile relleno. I had to laugh because when I was little all I would eat at a Mexican restaurant was chile rellenos. I definitely do not remember them being this pretty. But El Herradero was your typical hole in the wall Mexican spot we first started eating at, not my normal La Parilla in Kennesaw now or El Sol de Tala in Indianapolis.

This poblano pepper was stuffed with black beans, cactus (haven’t tried cooking with this yet), rice, tomatoes, monterey jack cheese, and a roasted garlic cream sauce. Even though traditionally a chile relleno is stuffed with a queso Oaxaca, diced pork, a red chile sauce (at least in the U.S, a tomato sauce in Mexico) then it is fried. This dish was delicious and even surpassed my childhood memories. I definitely am going to try to remake it soon!