Located in Ardmore, Barbacoa offers delicious barbeque with a twist.  The restaurant is one of the few barbeque places on the Main Line, providing an easy dinner on a weeknight when your parents don’t feel like cooking. Its food has a large amount of foreign inspiration with North American influence too: A few examples are its Peruvian chicken, Norwegian salmon, and St. Lewis ribs.  These unique foreign flavors are difficult to find anywhere else.  Barbacoa’s menu has delicious food for everybody, though this isn’t a place for you, vegetarians.

In the last few months, my family and I went to Barbacoa several times, coming for the delicious food and casual, upbeat atmosphere. The restaurant will immediately catch your eye because many tin roosters adorn its exterior. Even on weeknights, the small restaurant is packed with people who are there for the same reasons we were.  The friendly staff and the intriguing aromas of barbequed meats also contribute to the positive feeling you get when you enter.

In addition to the fun atmosphere, Barbacoa offers a menu with great options for a family or an individual.  The last time I ate there, my family ordered the Rittenhouse, which is on the “Mom’s Night Off” portion of the menu with all the other family style options. The Rittenhouse came with a whole rotisserie chicken, a choice of either pork or brisket barbeque, ribs, cornbread, fries, and two kinds of sauces.  The chicken was perfectly crispy, while the ribs fell right off the bone and the brisket was covered in sweet barbeque sauce.  The thickly-cut French fries tasted great with the various dipping sauces, especially in the jalapeño sauce.

Even though the ribs and brisket were delicious, my favorite aspect of our dinner was the Peruvian rotisserie chicken. Its long and special preparation process makes it unlike any other rotisserie chicken you will ever eat.  It is soaked in a cilantro-lime brine for twelve hours and then cooked over an open fire made with hardwood coals and oak.  Dipped in my favorite jalapeño sauce, it truly exceeded my high expectations.

The minute I stepped out of Barbacoa, I immediately wanted to go back again to try everything else on the menu. The bacon-wrapped shrimp and the slow roasted pulled pork sandwich caught my eye the most for next time. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anybody who loves barbeque and really good food!

Barbacoa is located in Ardmore at 64 Rittenhouse Place and is open every weekday (except for Mondays) from 5pm – 9pm and Sundays from 4pm – 8pm.  For more information, go to www.barbacoaud.com.