if you're just finding out about dining out for life, then you're too late. it was yesterday. heh.

restaurants donated a percentage (most i've seen are 33%) of their profits yesterday to aids organizations. it was a great cause, and an excellent excuse to go out to dinner.

we were tempted to go to one of our favs, beau monde, but we decided to pass and try out adobe cafe, a southwestern restaurant in the roxborough/manayunk neighborhoods. [it's actually in roxborough, though, but a lot of people are like, 'roxborough? where's that?', to which i respond, 'have you heard of manayunk - it's right next to it.' and then most people have a general idea of where i'm talking about.]

i think this place has been here forever, though, i haven't gone to many restaurants in roxborough for the 15+ years i've lived in the area. so, hoping for the best, we gave it a try last night since we wanted to support dining out for life.

when you are driving/walking around the neighborhood, the building is hard to miss: it's a converted stucco home, painted an aztec-y, adobe orange, in a sea of white/tan row houses. there is an outside patio that has the potential for lazy, summer evening hangouts, but we didn't eat out there, as it was a little dreary out.

the hostess sat us towards the back section of the restaurant, and from our seats, we could see there was a bar area, and it was also good to see that the place was at the start of a busy evening - a good sign, maybe? or maybe not - could dining out for life possibly be one of those amateur "holidays" for going out - like valentine's day, or new years eve?

we started with a half pitcher of the red sangria, which wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything special. we also shared the french fried yams, which were lightly covered with melted cheese. again, nothing special, just sweet potato fries with shredded cheese melted on top.

my pork burrito was dubbed the title, "new mexican" because it had white beans (canned, i might add) instead of red or pinto beans. how fancy (not). the portion was large and someone in the kitchen had a heavy hand with the cheese in the filling (seriously - way too much). it was covered with some sort of canned imitation sour cream, which the chef squirted on with a bottle, no doubt. why he/she didn't just give a small side of fresh sour cream, one will always wonder. once i pulled the pork out of the flour tortilla and separated it from the cheese, it was, uh, edible? there was a side of grilled squash and mushrooms, which was bland, but at least didn't come from a can.

cavin ordered the combo: a tamale (not wrapped in a corn husk though), taquito (flauta), soft flour taco, and enchilada. i only took a small bite of his food, and while it was better than what i ordered, that's not really saying much. though it was only yesterday, i honestly don't remember what type of fillings were in his food, except for the chicken (in the soft flour taco), ONLY because we both were like, "oh look, there's cilantro in there".

both of our dishes were served with a yellow rice (boxed) mixed with lima beans (frozen) and corn (also frozen). and, of course, it was bland.

i know the economy is in a slump. and maybe adobe cafe's managers expected a busy night (for amateur restaurant goers). but why were the dishes totally lacking (lacking in what? EVERYTHING)???

so, i beg you adobe cafe: if you are going to serve mostly canned and prepared foods, at least try to sandra lee it up! come on! splurge and buy fresh herbs and add them to the canned sauces! buy fresh sour cream instead of the fake crap that you squeeze on the dishes - i'd much rather have been served one of those little plastic containers of the real stuff, than artfully squeezed faux sour cream any day. oh, and please season your food! there was seriously no salt added to any of the side dishes and my side of veggies could have used a quick marinade in olive oil and salt and pepper.

we spent a total of $45 and left totally unsatisfied. well, at least ~$15 went to a good cause. *sigh*

it was quite disappointing that adobe cafe could have been so great, but just fell so, so flat. i KNOW i can make dishes 10 times tastier than what i had last night (i should just open up a restaurant!). if i ever go back, maybe i'll have better luck drinking a michelada (which they actually have on their drink menu) and sitting outside on the patio.

adobe cafe
4550 mitchell street
philadelphia, pa 19128
215.483.3947

Labels: manayunk, restaurant