El Camino Real

Can't decide if you want Mexican or Texas bbq? Do you like mounds of seitan? El Camino Real in Liberties Walk has you covered!

Endless chips and salsa are not complimentary at El Camino Real. They'll set you back $1 per person, which is a tad lame, but the chips do come dusted with a tasty mix of spices, if you're into that (I am). Smoked pico de gallo and salsa verde will be your chip dips.

Pitchers of margaritas are di rigueur, and our passion fruit margaritas, one of the fruit flavors of the day, did us just right. We did not measure the contents, but my gut feeling (and from experience) is that the pitchers at the popular and neighboring Cantina Dos Segundos are a tad larger, albeit $2 more expensive. El Camino Real lets you spice up your margaritas with cayenne and chili, though. But they don't do frozen margaritas, like Dos Segungo does. Ah, the margarita conundrum!
This crispy fried jalapeno popper (one of four) stuffed with cheese and topped with a sweet and tangy homemade apricot red onion marmalade, might be one of the best jalapeno poppers I've ever had. I have a thing for sweet and tangy onion marmalade, though.
That would be melted cheese in that there popper. (I keep typing "pooper.")
I blame the boy's expert enchilada-making family, but if there is an enchilada in sight, it's on his plate. Cheese, seitan, fried egg, and fried corn dough made soft with red chili sauce. What's not to like? Well, El Camino Real puts a crispy fried tortilla under all that mess adding an unexpected and desirable crunch. It's like a way, way, way better (and different) Taco Bell Double Decker.
This picture is a little deceiving, but there is a ton of locally made Ray's seitan bathed in bbq wing sauce on that plate of veggie wings. And it's not even the double order. At $7.50 for the normal order, I'd consider buying seitan from El Camino Real instead of the grocery store if I lived a bit closer. Tangy, mustardy, with a little heat, the only improvement to the wing sauce for my tastes would be to make it a tad sweeter . . . but not sickly sweet.

El Camino Real: a little bit Mexican, a little bit Texas bbq, and a whole lotta seitan.

El Camino Real
1040 N. 2nd St., Philadelphia, PA 19123
215-925-1110
Lunch: Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm
Dinner: 5pm-1am, bar til 2am
Brunch: Sat & Sun, 10am-4pm