Adam & Eats: Penjamo

Editor’s note: Adam Brandt is a graduate from the Cobra Kai School of Culinary Callousness, where he received their highest award, the Red Apron of Merciless Eating. Aside from eating and talking about eating, he makes pots, paintings, prints, books, photographs, and generally, a big mess. He has been the studio assistant at Mudpuppy Pottery for almost nine years and is attending a local university in a desperate attempt to earn a biology degree.

If you are like me, you went seeking refuge from the turkey and dressing this past weekend. I was craving something specifically not-festive, but found, to my dismay, that Coney Island is only open during the week. So, I had to fall back on trusty Latin food for an escape from the holiday leftover blues. I remembered that a new Mexican joint had just opened, so I set my sights on them.

Located in the former Shoney’s, and, most recently, Big Al’s BBQ on Towson Avenue is the new location of Penjamo. Like their counterpart, of the same name in Booneville, Penjamo is named for an area in Southwest Mexico that was important to the Mexican Revolution. I found the interior of the restaurant to be quite pleasant and comfortable.

Like many of its competitors, Penjamo’s décor is mix of traditional Mexican and American family-style chain restaurants, i.e. they have flat-screen TVs scattered amongst portraits of Jesus and the Virgin Mary and mosaics of the Mayan calendar.

Here comes my big gripe about most of the successful “Mexican” restaurants in the area. They lack cojones. Could someone please open a Latin food restaurant and not wimp out and offer a hamburger and fries? Please stop catering to us Gringos and serve the food that is a representation of the country that the restaurant represents. Gringos, stop ordering hamburgers at Latin restaurants. If you want a hamburger, go somewhere else. Stop encouraging this blasphemy. Thank you.

For the most part, Penjamo offers the things you would expect to find at many of our local “Mexican” restaurants. They offer tacos with lettuce. They offer burritos covered in red or cheese sauce topped with guacamole, lettuce, and commercial sour cream. They offer generic, bland refried beans and boring rice. Hell, they even offer the same “Speedy Gonzalez” that everyone else offers.

There is one item that stood out on the menu and caught my attention, though. To the best of my knowledge, the only bigger restaurant (and by bigger, I mean can seat more than ten people), that is more Mex than Tex, that offers Sopes, is El Rodeo on North “O” Street. I was pleased to see that Penjamo offered them and hopped on the opportunity to eat these wonderful little pies.

A Sope is a thick-ish little corn cake, topped with meat, beans, cheese, and lettuce. The waitress at Penjamo claimed that Sopes were a specialty of theirs, so I was doubly intrigued to order them. As it turns out, they were spectacular. The flavors of the corn cakes and the toppings blended wonderfully in my mouth and left me feeling quite satisfied, despite the shortcomings of the rest of the meal.

Overall, I was not totally disappointed with Penjamo. The staff are exceedingly courteous and helpful, the atmosphere is not a frat party, and the Sopes are solidly delicious. I say, give ‘em a try. If the location does not kill them, they will probably be around for quite a while.

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