Trey Popp files his first review for Philadelphia Magazine, his inaugural target, El Rey. Popp doesn’t find big mistakes but only a couple of items that are worth raving about.

The outstanding stuffed poblano pepper, a carryover from Xochitl, rides waves of flavor – a splash of creamy walnut sauce, a spray of almonds, then a dried-fruit-and-cinnamon-scented tide of beef, whose sweetness recedes as tart bursts of pomegranate punctuate the slow burn of the chili. Sucking his mole negro – an alchemy of anchos, mulatos and chilhuacles – off of slow-cooked lamb cubes is like plunging through a column of chili smoke into a cauldron of chocolate-dusted tobacco leaves. It’s as black as sin, as pungent as heartache, as mysterious as redemption.

Two Stars out of Four

El Rey [Philadelphia Magazine]
El Rey [Official Site]

Since another reviewer has taken a look at El Rey we have updated our El Rey: Annoted Menu.