El Chingón is expanding to Fishtown with a margarita garden

Chef Carlos Aparicio, a two-time James Beard Award semifinalist, plans to open a Fishtown branch of El Chingón, the South Philadelphia restaurant that Inquirer critic Craig LaBan calls “Philly’s most exhilarating Mexican kitchen,” in early April.

Unlike the original location, cocktails will be available at El Chingón Fishtown. It will replace the recently shuttered Heffe, a taqueria at the corner of Frankford Avenue and Marlborough Street. The outdoor-only setup, beneath a “Welcome to Fishtown” mural, is a service window with picnic tables, partly beneath an awning. Delivery through apps will also be offered.

Aparicio told The Inquirer that he is turning a yard on the Marlborough Street side into a flower-festooned outdoor dining area that he calls a margarita garden, open seasonally on weekends for brunch through dinnertime. Cocktails and beer will be available through a pop-up with Bluebird Distilling of Phoenixville.

The margarita garden’s start date has not been determined. It will serve only on select days.

“We have something very unique and special, and we want to share it with Fishtown,” Aparicio said. “I think Fishtown is waiting for us.” Aside from the fancier LMNO at Front and Palmer Streets, the neighborhood has no other outdoor Mexican scenes.

Most of the changes from Heffe, which chef Peter McAndrews opened in 2015 on the former site of a grocery store, are cosmetic.

Aparicio said about 60% of the South Philadelphia menu will be offered in Fishtown, including tacos, aguachiles, guacamole, and cemitas — the Pueblan tortas that helped put El Chingón on the map when it opened in November 2022.

LaBan described the clásica cemita as “a towering masterpiece of contrasts on a bun: freshly breaded chicken milanesa layered atop creamy green wedges of avocado, citrusy pápalo leaves (and pápalo aioli), topped with spice bursts of smoky whole chipotles, and a fistful of cool, shredded quesillo that cascades over those warm cutlets in milky white threads of tangy cheese.”

Brunch specials will be offered on the weekends.