It can be a struggle when favorite restaurants close shop. While life goes on without those tastes and flavors, there’s just something missing. For much of this past year, most of Tucson had to deal without a favorite restaurant. These restaurants have slowly reopened, and now, with summer fast approaching, one of downtown’s favorite restaurants has finally reopened its doors, and with new flavors to share with guests.
Penca Restaurante has been a staple of downtown since it opened back in 2013. Located at 50 East Broadway Boulevard (that’s right around the intersection of Scott and Broadway). In a town that’s overflowing with Mexican restaurants, Penca Restaurante is different.
Instead of bringing the North Mexico regional flavors to the table, which is common for many restaurants in the area (one telling sign is if the restaurant is using flour tortillas, as that is a Northern Mexican, Southern United States adaptation, while corn tortillas are the common option throughout the rest of Mexico), Penca Restauranet provides visitors with the taste of Mexico City street food, and an added twist.
The street food relies heavily on homemade corn tortillas, something you’re not going to find in many local restaurants because of the additional work it takes to make (and the fact that corn tortillas will harden and crumble faster than a flour tortilla). And while you’re going to find the flavors of Mexico City here, the new menu will feature a splash of Sonoran Desert tastes as well. For that Tucson meets Mexico City hybrid, you just can’t go anywhere else than Penca Restaurante.
With the grand reopening of the restaurant, visitors will find special seasonal menus, as well as their old favorites. The seasonal offerings will change throughout the year, which just gives you more reasons to stop by.
Some of the seasonal tacos you’ll find, which so many guests gravitate toward, will include a rajas taco, which features grilled poblano chiles, garlic, avocado epazote crema, and caramelized onion. The carnitas tacos will include slow-roasted pork, white onion, cilantro, and avocado tomatillo salsa.
Want to add an appetizer to your food while visiting? You’ll find grilled prickly pear cactus, Mexican gray squash with tomato, cilantro, garlic, and onion, or you can spring for the frijoles negros, which is slow-cooked along with avocado leaf, to give it just a hint of avocado flavor.
Of course, there is a much larger menu with seasonal dishes, you just need to stop by and check it out for yourself. If you haven’t gone before it offers one of the best small-batch mezcal selections in the city. The bar also has sotol, bacanora, and other Mexican native spirits you are not going to find anywhere else.
Currently, Penca Restaurante recommends making a reservation before stopping by. The restaurant wants to make sure all seating is comfortable, both inside and out. While you can stop by to see if there is anything available, because the restaurant has been closed for over a year they are expecting the first several weeks (at least) to be especially busy. The best way to make a reservation is to head over to the Penca Restaurant website and click on the “Reservation” tab on the page. You can make a reservation for parties of up to six people. Once you click on the link you will be directed to a Yelp Reservations page, for which you can select the day, time, as well as the number of people you plan on having. Time slots are offered every 30 minutes.
For any additional information about the restaurant, make sure to follow them on Facebook.