Barrio Café Was the OG A+ Mexican Spot in Phoenix
Barrio Café closed up shop on May 31, 2024.
When I first moved to Phoenix, A. I was a broke college kid who thought Gus’s Pizza by ASU was culinary nirvana, and B. it was immediately known that if you were to actual spend money on real food, the only acceptable places to go were Pizzeria Bianco and Barrio Café. And Gus’s Pizza… don’t sleep on the Bronx Bomber. Anyways, if you’re one of those people who claim Phoenix doesn’t have any actually good food, go to Barrio and order up a cochinita pibil. You’ll be a convert in no time.
Website: barriocafe.com
Reservations: Nope
Tip: You don’t have to get the guacamole every time, but you’ll be judged if you don’t get it at least once.
Barrio Café Has 10.5 Yumpoints
MAR 8, 2024 / NIKKI BUCHANAN
Eater: 18 Essential Mexican Restaurants in Phoenix
When chef Silvana Salcido Esparza (a James Beard nominee and semi-finalist many times over) opened this art-filled, white-tablecloth restaurant in 2002, she rejected the usual Mexican restaurant tropes to illustrate how sophisticated Mexican cooking could be, mashing pomegranate-studded guacamole tableside and plunking down baskets of bread and butter instead of the requisite chips and salsa.
MAR 4, 2024 / SHANE REISER
Tucson Foodie: 15+ of the Best Restaurants in Phoenix
Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza serves up slightly elevated and remarkably delectable dishes from all regions of Mexico.
FEB 29, 2024 / TIRION BOAN AND SARA CROCKER
Phoenix New Times: The 10 best Mexican restaurants in metro Phoenix
It would be almost impossible to write a list about Mexican food in Phoenix without including Barrio Cafe. Since opening over 20 years ago, this mural-covered space has put Phoenix Mexican food on the map. Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza has been nominated for almost as many awards as there are spices in her rich mole, a favorite on the dinner menu.
FEB 21, 2024 / SARA CROCKER
Phoenix New Times: 10 great spots to sip margaritas in metro Phoenix
Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza’s “comida chingona” has wowed diners near and far since Barrio Cafe opened its doors in 2002. It’s consistently among our favorite Mexican restaurants and Valley-wide restaurants – and The New York Times agrees. You should come to delight your palate with the kitchen’s stunning Chiles en Nogada or Cochinita Pibil, and wash it down with one of the restaurant's signature cocktails, including its Lowrider Margarita – featuring Don Julio Blanco Tequila, Cointreau and fresh lime juice – or El Suave, which uses añejo tequila with pineapple, lime, cilantro, candied jalapeno and agave.
FEB 13, 2024 / NIKKI BUCHANAN AND CHRIS MALLOY
Eater: The 38 Essential Restaurants in Phoenix
The Mexican food scene in metro Phoenix can be divided into two eras: before Barrio Cafe’s opening in 2002, and after. Classically trained chef Silvana Salcido Esparza broke the mold, serving pre-dinner bread instead of the usual chips and salsa, while lightly applying French cooking techniques to preparations from all over Mexico — cochinita pibil from the Yucatán, nut-studded chiles en nogada from Puebla, fish from Veracruz, and silky moles from Oaxaca.
FEB 1, 2024
Phoenix New Times: The Top 100 Restaurants
Knockoffs and ripoffs are an unavoidable hazard of the restaurant industry, but if there's a silver lining to this phenomenon, it's that all the impostors only make it easier to spot a true original. Barrio Café — established in 2002 by Wendy Gruber and Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza and located along the Calle 16 restaurant and bar row cutting through central Phoenix — is an unmistakable O.G. gem.
JAN 24, 2024 / LAUREN TOPOR
The Infatuation: The Best Restaurants In Phoenix
Don’t confuse this spot for the chain of similar-named restaurants—there’s only one Barrio Café. Since opening in the early 2000s, the Calle 16 original has become a fixture in Phoenix for regional Mexican favorites. There are two main reasons why: the tableside guacamole and the chef’s community involvement. When the pandemic hit and the restaurant was closed, she provided free food to the neighborhood from the empty parking lot. Nowadays, it's back to its normal state of being almost always packed with people feasting on tlayudas and cochinita pibil.
JAN 16, 2024 / FELICIA CAMPBELL
AZ Central: 100 essential restaurants in metro Phoenix: The best places to dine in 2024
You can’t talk about restaurants in Phoenix without talking about James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef 2023, chef Silvana Salcido Esparza who opened Barrio Cafe in 2002. She ushered in a new era of regional, modern Mexican cuisine, paving the way for places like Bacanora and Cocina Chiwas. Esparza is an icon not only for her guacamole topped with pomegranate seeds and cochinita pibil, but also for her social activism and dedication to the Phoenix community.
JAN 13, 2024 / LAUREN MILLINGTON
Female Foodie: The 16 Best Phoenix Restaurants
For upscale, elevated Mexican food, head to Barrio Café, one of the best restaurants in Phoenix. The unassuming location is home to two distinguished, creative (and female!) chefs. Start with their famous tableside guacamole or their decadent, creamy queso fundido with layers of oaxaca and goat cheese, chorizo, fresh avocado, mushrooms, and plenty of cream. As far as mains are concerned, go for the pescado tacos full of crispy beer-battered halibut, the conchinita pibil (achiote-sour orange marinated pork smoked for 12 hours), or the enchiladas suizas made with a classic tomatillo cream sauce and a blistered cheese crust.
DEC 23, 2023 / CRAWFORD SMITH
Tasting Table: 15 Best Mexican Restaurants In Phoenix
Many Mexican restaurants in Phoenix serve Mexican-American comfort classics — think combo platters doused with melted orange cheese and shredded iceberg lettuce. That's a delicious type of food, and you'll find it well-represented on this list, but it's not what the Barrio Café does. Instead, the restaurant focuses on regional Mexican recipes as well as dishes elevated with a little fine-dining flair.
JUN 22, 2023 / LAUREN MILLINGTON
Female Foodie: 10 Best Mexican Restaurants in Phoenix
While Barrio is known for its tableside guacamole (which is incredible!), don’t sleep on their other options. Try the quesadilla borrachaan—an open face shrimp quesadilla on a thick, house-made tortilla, or their queso fundido, which isn’t your typical queso dip. Barrio’s queso fundido is made with multiple types of cheese (including goat cheese!) and plenty of cream, layered with chorizo, pico de gallo, avocado, mushrooms, and spinach, and served with a side of spicy salsa verde. Everything here is delicious, but the queso alone is worth coming back for.
JUN 21, 2023 / Steven Totten
Eater: 15 Top Taco Destinations in Phoenix
Alongside Chris Bianco, Barrio Cafe’s Silvana Salcido Esparza is the face of the Phoenix food scene. The James Beard Award nominee has gone against the grain of the usual northern Mexican food in the Valley with Barrio Cafe, which features an array of Southern Mexico’s delicacies. While her chiles en nogada (a traditional stuffed poblano dish) have become synonymous with her cooking, Esparza’s Tecate-battered fish tacos — so crisp but light — make them a must-have dish.
JAN 25, 2023
James Beard Foundation: 2023 James Beard Awards Semifinalist
Outstanding Chef
