With little time to squeeze in another meal in Deland this weekend, our mid-afternoon flight out of Orlando on Sunday allowed us to enjoy lunch at Penacho’s Mexican Grill. Located in downtown Deland, their web site describes authentic interior Mexican cuisine which includes ancient Aztec recipes. In fact the name Penacho is the word for the feathered head dress worn by the Aztecs. Made from the feathers of the Quetzal bird, native to the forests of Central America, the Aztec tribal cultures considered their green iridescent tail feathers more valuable than gold.
With most cities, buildings in the downtown area are older and tend to have a little more character. This holds true for Penacho’s which is located at 128 Woodland Blvd. in downtown Deland. Out front is a covered walkway where there are several tables for sidewalk dining.
Upon entering, I’m reminded of the layout of many clubs along Sixth Street in Austin – long, shoe-box shaped rooms with brick walls and old textured metal ceilings. The restaurant occupies two of these spaces with an archway connecting them. One room provides tables and chairs with a large window looking out to the sidewalk. This room was bright, while the room with the entrance was a bit darker with booths on each side.
We settled into a booth and were greeted by a young girl asking for our drink order. Besides drinks, we also ordered guacamole and chips. Guacamole is a weakness of mine. I love it and have gotten quite good at making it, though my friend David (also from San Antonio) says it’s a birth-rite and is a normal skill for anyone born in SA. So it seems logical to measure a good Mexican restaurant, at least partially, by its guacamole.
Our Booth
When our drinks arrived, I asked the waitress if we could sample their mole sauce and she said it was no problem. She returned shortly with our guacamole in a bowl surrounded by chips that appeared to be a ‘whole grain’ version of the tortilla chips I’m accustomed to. The chips were quite good. The guacamole was nice and chunky and was darn good as well except that there was a bit too much lime taste for my liking. I can’t fault them much on this since I’ve had a batch or two where I added a bit too much. Lime is the ingredient that keeps the avocado from turning dark too quickly and it would make sense to add more of it for larger batches – the trick is balancing the flavor.
It was still good guacamole, though my wife still likes mine better.
Our waitress returned with a small cup of mole sauce which was thick and very dark, very much like the mole from our previous excursion. It too was tasty and even a bit less sweet than what we’d sampled a day earlier. There was another flavor present but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, so I asked our waitress who said it might be cinnamon. I happen to like the sweet flavor so I prefer the mole at our previous stop, but I would still order this mole over Fonda San Miguel or Manuel’s in Austin.
The waitress came around and asked which of the three salsas we’d like and without saying a word, she knew we wanted all three. The mild salsa was basically pico de gallo without jalapeno, while the medium salsa was a green tomatillo sauce that was very tangy with a nice, light after-burn. The hottest salsa was a tomato based sauce with a good solid burn without being too hot.
An Aztec Penacho
Our entrees took a while to arrive so we took in the surrounding décor during our wait. The walls in this room were a bright peach color (almost orange) applied with the ‘sponge technique’ and there were Aztec and Mayan activities depicted in the framed art. There was even an actual Penacho on display on a shelf on one wall – well, maybe it was a replica but it was still impressive. Anyway, the ambiance did have an authentic, Central American feel.
Our entrees arrived and it’s obvious the chefs take pride in the presentation of their food. My wife ordered chicken Enchiladas Verdes with black beans and Calabacitas (Yellow Squash with Corn) on the side. The enchiladas were covered with an ample amount of verde sauce with diced tomatoes and sliced lettuce – not iceberg lettuce, but the leafy part of romaine perhaps – all lightly drizzled with sour cream.
The Calabacitas is something I’ve never tried before. It appeared to be diced seasoned squash that’s skillet fried with corn and it had an interesting flavor. The enchiladas were tasty but the verde sauce was not nearly as tangy as I like. I think the medium salsa might be a better topping to ramp up the tomatillo taste a bit, but I have to remember that I’m in Florida, not Texas.
Enchiladas Verdes
Much to the surprise of my wife, I ordered Chicken Tostadas, which was listed on their menu as one of their signature dishes. For those who don’t know, a ‘tostada’ in California is a ‘chalupa’ in Texas (Taco Bell doesn’t count and is NOT Mexican food in this case).
Anyway, I decided on the Tostadas and they were beautiful. They arrived on a plate with a little orange colored drizzle accent on the plate, which was a mango flavor that would be a great sauce for something – maybe pork (yum!). The base was a thin, crisp flat tortilla that was surprisingly easy to pick up without breaking.
I should point out that I like to eat my tostada (chalupa) like a slice of pizza – the problem is keeping them from falling apart.
Chicken Tostadas
The layers were black beans, chicken, lettuce, diced tomato and again drizzled with sour cream. They were good, but were much more flavorful with the addition of the various salsas (medium and hot). I can only guess that the palette of the typical Floridian is not geared toward spicier fare so that the original entrée is served so you can spice it up to your taste.
All in all, I was very satisfied and would love try other dishes on the menu. It’s extremely difficult to judge any restaurant by one entree but I feel certain that I would be a regular patron of Penacho’s.
For me to live anywhere outside of Texas, I would need a minimum of two or three good Mexican restaurants to survive (we’re not talking about those burrito chains). The fact that I found two good ones in one weekend is a very good sign. However, I spoke with Horacio Dominguez (see part 1) on the phone last week and he walked by Penacho’s recently and not only was their sign was gone but the space was being remodeled.
That’s too bad – I’d loved to have tried a few more of their dishes but I kinda liked Los Dos Compadres food a bit better
So at this point, I can’t say I would be able to survive in Deland, Florida and right now, it looks like Horacio Dominguez is the King of Deland Mexican food. If for some bizarre reason I had to live the rest of my life here, I’d probably eat three times a week (minimum) at Los Dos Compadres.
It’s good to be King, isn’t it Horacio?
Tex-Mex Initiative 