What’s going on with South Philly Barbacoa? A 10-year anniversary, and a new location
The award-winning taqueria's move is not a closure, chef Cristina Martinez says — it's a consolidation into her larger restaurant.
South Philly Barbacoa, Cristina Martinez’s award-winning taqueria, has moved two doors up the street into Casa Mexico, a larger venue the chef opened two years ago.
Martinez describes the move, completed last month, as a consolidation, not a closing. Barbacoa’s small menu, which revolved around lamb barbacoa on handmade corn tortillas and bowls of consommé, is still served out of the familiar yellow cart, but it’s now set up in Casa Mexico at 1134 S. Ninth St.
Martinez partnered with the operators of Connie’s Ric Rac, an entertainment venue, to open Casa Mexico, which features a more spacious dining room and more extensive menu.
Martinez, 53, an openly undocumented immigrant and champion of immigrant rights from Capulhuac, Mexico, is marking 10 years as a restaurateur.
She left home to escape what she described as an abusive relationship. She found work in Philadelphia, where she met Ben Miller, her former partner. In early 2014, after leaving their jobs, they started selling tacos and chickpea-lamb consommé out of a cart parked on the sidewalk near their South Philadelphia home.
In 2015, Martinez and Miller quit the cart and opened a storefront at 11th and Morris Streets (now Mike’s BBQ), where Bon Appétit named it one of 10 best new restaurants in America. They moved the restaurant to Ninth and Ellsworth in 2018.
In June 2022, Martinez won the best chef, Mid-Atlantic award from the James Beard Foundation.
A new restaurant, backed by a Guatemalan family, is on the way to Barbacoa’s former corner spot at Ninth and Ellsworth Streets.