As it was my first time being in the Distillery District for the Christmas Markets, I've never had a chance to try El Catrin. I've only heard good things so I was quite excited to try it out. Even if it meant waiting in line in the freezing cold for an hour!
Everyone who didn't make reservations had to sit on the patio, which was thankfully heated (but barely).
Here's their narrow walkway into the restaurant.
The restaurant was actually decorated really well, in my opinion.
The patio area comprised of intimate booths and also scattered tables surrounding a fireplace in the middle.
The interior, however, was another story! It was such a different 'feel'.
Snapped this pic of the inside as I was heading to the washroom.
If I ever come back, I definitely want to sit inside!
Back to the food...
We ordered a pitcher of their House Sangria, which was actually disappointing! It was full of ice and the only fruit I saw in it was bits and pieces of orange peels - not what I was expecting at all.
Our appetizer:
Guacamole en la mesa | avocado, tomato, onion, fresh cilantro, serrano chili
Too bad it came after we got all our food! Fail.
The Sangria and the guac on the side
And to the main course: tacos!
Out of their taco menu:
Baja Tacos | crispy fried haddock, chipotle lime coleslaw, flour tortilla
And under their house specials section of the menu:
Cochinita Pibil | Pork brisket braised 24 hours with axiote and orange juice and slow roasted in banana leaf, served with black bean purée, queso cotija, habanero and red onion pickle and corn tortilla
Costilla Corta en Mole Almendrado | beef short rib braised 24 hours with almond mole, sweet potato purée, sautéed sugar snap peas
Sorry for the lack of photos. It was super dark there and we were way too cold to take good photos!
- - -
Overall, all I could think about was how cold it was.The heaters weren't working too well, and we got seated on the side of the restaurant where gusts of wind kept visiting us and our table of food. Needless to say, our food got cold really fast where it wasn't that hot to begin with.
The baja tacos were my favorite of the night! It had a little spicy kick to it which made it even better. The guac was good, but how can you go wrong with avocado? But the last two dishes from their house special menu was not good at all. The meat was super dry and cold - not appetizing what so ever.
I probably would have liked this restaurant more if it was a nice hot summer day or if I was sitting inside.
Hopefully I'll be back to the Distillery District another time to try out another restaurant!
