Barrio Cafe Phoenix AZ – A Jewel for Mexican Cuisine in Arizona – Worth a Fork!

The Barrio Cafe is not just any Mexican Restaurant in Phoenix Arizona. It’s by James Beard Nominated Chef Silvana Esparza. This restaurant is considered by many to be the crown Jewel for Mexican cuisine in Arizona. The famous dishes here are the award wining twelve hour achiote and sour orange smoked pork called cochinita pibil, the chilies en nogada, and the table-side chunky guacamole that is topped with pomegranate.

Inside is bright, lively and colorful. I wasn’t able to photo walking in on my last visit. Most of my older photos look very different than how it looks now. It’s far more colorful and all painted up now. It’s mostly decorated like this all over the inside.

On my most recent visit the weather was nice and we sat on the back patio behind the restaurant.

When dining on the back patio you might get a visit from Felix.

They start you off with complimentary spiced nuts with chips.

The las tlayudas are Oaxacon style corn tacos but also can served in slices like pizza. They come in several varieties.

It’s a large hand made corn tortilla that was topped with huitacoche (known as Mexico’s truffle), corn, onion, pico de gallo, and avocado. It also was served with verde sauce, fingerling potatoes and house made spicy ketchup.

For my main I had the pollo en pipian mole.

It was an extra generous serving of chicken breast topped with pumpkin seed based mole sauce. The entree also came with slightly sweet baby carrots, smokey mashed sweet potatoes, and hand made grilled tortillas.

My husband had the famous award wining cochinita pibil.

It’s 12 hour achiote and sour orange smoked pork. It was topped with pickled onions and came with hand made grilled tortillas, fingerling potatoes, house made spicy ketchup, and squash on the side.

The service and food exceeded our expectations.

Previously we’ve done mostly take out from the Barrio Cafe but I have also dined in a few times. My last dine in visits were to the chef’s other restaurant Barrio Cafe Gran Reserva that could not survive the pandemic due to it’s vestibule sized space.