Working On a Dream

El Costeño

by David Snyder

A lot has changed for Ernesto Atrisco since he came to Philly from Acapulco in 1991. "When I came here, they gave me one pair of jeans and one T-shirt," Atrisco told me in an interview. Today, he owns two businesses, including El Costeño, a new taqueria on South Ninth Street.

Atrisco, in many ways, is the American dream. He paid smugglers $300 to sneak him into the U.S. (Marrying a U.S. citizen in 1992 made him legal.) He worked long hours washing dishes and delivering pizzas. After a decade, he saved enough money to open a small Mexican grocery store, Lupita's, in the Italian Market, a neighborhood defined as much by the entrepreneurial spirit of its Latino and Asian immigrants as it is by its European heritage these days. Now, Atrisco's also the proud owner of a new eatery — with a coveted liquor license.

Since El Costeño is Atrisco's very first restaurant, he candidly admits that he and his chefs are still finding their way. For now, unfortunately, that learning process involves taking noticeable shortcuts. Quesadillas were stuffed with a salty prepackaged Mexican-style chorizo from Baltimore. Although its homemade broth was flavorful, the sopa de mariscos contained spongy imitation crab leg and bagged seafood mix with barnacle-encrusted shellfish. The kitchen substituted pineapple juice for real pineapple in the tacos al pastor. Such choices are puzzling, given that the restaurant is smack in the middle of the bountiful Italian Market.

When the kitchen sources fresh, local ingredients and applies its own touch, however, personality comes through. You can taste the hours of cooking that went into the beef tongue in the deep, gamey tacos de lengua. The kitchen adds chocolate, chicken broth and various seasonings to make the tasty mole sauce its own. Avocado and a gentle hint of cilantro make the complimentary green sauce fresh and bright. The wonderful flavors of the torta enchilada's spicy pork — chopped and marinated in-house — would have had a better stage were it not for an errant piece of bone and a heavy hand with the mayo.

It clearly took wit and grit for Atrisco to get where he is today. If there's one person who can tackle and eliminate El Costeño's current shortcomings, it's him.

(david.snyder@citypaper.net)

El Costeño | 940 S. Ninth St., 215-925-1010. | Hours: Daily, 7 am.-mid. | Breakfast, $2.99-$6.25; appetizers, soups, $5.50-$15; tortas, tacos, $5.99-$7.50; quesadillas, enchiladas, burritos, chimichangas, $7.50-$10; nachos, alambres, fajitas, $7.50-$12