Avenida Restaurant

Chef Edgar Alvarez is featured on MyFoxPhilly Morning Show

Monday’s Menu: Flavorful Latin Food!

They are chefs, restaurateurs and husband and wife! Edgar and Kim Alvarez opened Avenida Restaurant in Mount Airy last fall and were gracious enough to stop by Good Day to share some favorite recipes.

Pan Seared Red Snapper with Tomatillo Salsa, Sautéed Vegetables and Spanish rice

Snapper

4 7 oz.fresh red snapper filets, cleaned
Salt and pepper to taste
Canola oil for sautéing

Season snapper with salt and pepper. Heat oil in pan until it begins to smoke slightly. Place snapper in hot sauté pan skin side down and sear until golden brown on both sides. This should take about 3 minutes per side.

Tomatillo Salsa

8 tomatillos, husked and rinsed with cool water
2 roasted red peppers, cleaned and seeded
1 roasted jalapeño pepper
2 ½” slices grilled red onions
1/2bunch cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Place tomatillos on a hot grill. Cook for 2 minutes until slightly charred. Remove from grill. Cool slightly. Quarter tomatillos and place in a bowl. Dice red peppers, grilled red onions and jalapenos. Place in bowl with tomatillos. Add roughly chopped cilantro and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Spanish rice

2 c. Steamed rice
1 diced red pepper
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1 small Spanish onion finely diced
Canola oil
Salt and pepper to taste

In a sauté pan heated with oil, sweat, onions, and peppers. Cook until completely soft. Remove from heat. In a bowl, combine steamed rice with the tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Recipe serves 4

“Watch the show here”:http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/good_day_philadelphia/good_day_food/monday’s-menu%3A-flavorful-latin-food%21.

Check out Avenida
7402 Germantown Avenue, Mt. Airy PA
267-385-6857

CNN Money features Avenida

JANUARY 4, 2010 — In a CNN Money article entitled, “100-year-old businesses we lost,” reporter Elizabeth Montalbano writes, “More than 45,000 businesses closed their doors for good in 2009, including some that survived for longer than a century.” One of the six U.S. businesses she profiled was the Delaware Market House, which chefs Kim and Edgar Alvarez closed last March. Montalbano wrote:

Less money = less gourmet food

*Edgar Alvarez and Kim Katz Alvarez, Delaware Market House’s final owners
Delaware Market House*
Gladwyne, Penn.
Opened: Early 1900s
Closed: March 2009

Closing gourmet food market and catering business Delaware Market House in March was a tough decision for Kim Alvarez and her husband Edgar, chefs who took over the company in 2004.

But Alvarez said that demand for gourmet foods started declining as far back as late 2007, when people’s purchasing habits began changing because of economic pressures.

“We couldn’t survive anymore,” Alvarez said. “People weren’t buying as much as they used to.

Kim and Edgar Alvarez won more than 10 awards from local magazines and organizations for their gourmet food in the five years they ran the market, which has been a mainstay of downtown Gladwyne since the early 1900s. Kim Alvarez had been a chef there since 2000, and the two purchased Delaware Market House when the previous owner decided to sell.

Fortunately, the Alvarezes have found another venue for their talents. Along with a business partner they met through a mutual friend, the couple in December opened Avenida, a restaurant in nearby Mt. Airy that will feature the Latin American cuisine of Edgar Alvarez’s native Guatemala.

“Things really fell into place, which was great,” Kim Alvarez said. “One door closing and one door opening is the ideal situation.”

Avenida also has given them a chance to hire back a few of the 15 employees that lost their jobs when Delaware Market House closed.

Read the entire article here.

Zagat Reviews Avenida

On New Year’s Eve, 2009, customer DianeR5631 stopped by Avenida for dinner and wrote:

Fun friendly atmosphere. Wonderful rich, but simple decor. Great for date night or family dinner out. Fresh, fresh, fresh and healthy choices. Save room for dessert!

Read more here.

Philadelphia City Paper: Waiting List

Philadelphia City Paper / December 15, 2009

Chef couple Edgar and Kim Alvarez will open the doors of Avenida (7402 Germantown Ave., 267-385-6857) this Thursday, Dec. 17. The kitchen takes inspiration from Edgar’s Guatemalan heritage, with a menu of quesadillas, tamales and enchiladas that tops out at $20.

The former Cresheim Cottage Café, a historic house that dates back to the early 1700s, was given a remodel by the Alvarezes, who exposed the original warm hardwood trim and open hearth by sanding down layers of paint.

A petite, three-seat bar opens on to a dining room painted in bright saffron and decorated with Latin art objects and woven textiles; the French doors of the second dining room give a view of a flagstone patio where tables will be set up in the warmer months.

The cooks were busy preparing for tonight’s friends and family service, but kindly stopped to make an appetizer and entree that represent Avenida’s menu for use to photograph.

The el biche (pictured, $9) is an “Ecuadorian bouillabaisse” that merges achiote-marinated shrimp, scallops, red snapper, plantains, potatoes and roasted peppers in a red snapper seafood stock for a warming starter.

A bone-in breast and thigh are steamed in a banana leaf for chicken mishote (pictured), sauced with pasilla, guaillo and ancho chilies and served with leeks, peas, green beans and carrots and a side of steamed Spanish rice.

Since Avenida is keen on welcoming families, kid’s entrees will be permanent fixtures, alongside grown-up fare like pepita and pistachio crusted tuna and grilled octopus with tequila roasted tomatoes.

Read the entire article, complete with photos, by clicking here.

Philadelphia Inquirer takes a "First Look at Avenida"

By Michael Kline
Philadelphia Inquirer
Dec. 17, 2009

Avenida, opened tonight in Mount Airy (7402 Germantown Ave., 267-385-6857), really is a family project. Husband-and-wife chef team Edgar and Kim Alvarez, who most recently ran Gladwyne’s Delaware Market House, had their kids, Emma, 8, and Alejandro, 6, design the children’s menu.

And then there’s Emily, 9. She’s the ghost that came along with the historic building at Germantown and Gowen, last home to Cresheim Cottage Cafe. Edgar Alvarez says he’s heard her closing doors upstairs late at night, but the relationship has been cordial.

The Alvarezes, who met at Striped Bass, partnered with local developer Wayne Zukin.

Decor is sunny Spanish colonial, and one dining room has a working fireplace. They’re opening without the liquor license, which is in progress.

The Latin menu, infused with dishes from Edgar Alvarez’s native Guatemala, is priced for the neighborhood; besides the kids’ menu, there are a sub-$13 bar menu, entrees priced from $14 to $19, and homemade desserts. (See more photos and menus at http://go.philly.com/avenida).

ABOUT REPORTER MICHAEL KLEIN

Michael Klein chronicles local people, places and things (in easy-to-digest portions) three days a week in his Inquirer column “INQlings.” He also covers the restaurant scene in his Thursday Food column, Table Talk..

Read the entire article here.

StreetTalkin.com features Avenida

StreetTalkin.com
August 24, 2009

This December, husband-and-wife chef team Edgar and Kim Alvarez will be opening their first restaurant, Avenida, which will feature Latin cuisine, inspired by Edgar’s Guatemalan heritage. Avenida, which will be located in Philadelphia’s Mount Airy, will be a family-focused, affordable restaurant with all menu items priced under $20.

This will be a great restaurant not only to bring your family, but also a great place to bring a date, because of the restaurant’s multiple intimate dining rooms and a seasonal outdoor patio. In addition to the popular Latin food items such as Queso Fondito, Clams with Chorizo, Guacamole and Chips, Whole Fish, and more, there will also be a selection of tequilas and Mexican and Latin beers, as well as a modest, price-conscious wine list and fresh, seasonal cocktails such as signature margaritas.

Avenida will be set to open in September so visit www.avenidarestaurant.com or call (267) 385-6857 to make a reservation.

Read the entire article here.

Philadelphia Inquirer announces, "Avenida Coming to Mt. Airy"

By Michael Kline
Philadelphia Inquirer
Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Husband-and-wife chef team Edgar and Kim Katz Alvarez are hammering out Avenida — an affordable, neighborhood-friendly Latin American restaurant, based on his Guatemalan roots — at 7402 Germantown Ave. Opening is pegged for December.

They’re fashioning Spanish-Colonial decor out of the 18th-century building that last housed Cresheim Cottage Cafe; it also has one of the best outdoor patios in the city. They met while working at Striped Bass in the Neil Stein era, and now have two small kids and a house in the burbs.

His other stops: Dock Street, Chin Chin and most notably, Black Sheep near Rittenhouse Square.

Hers: San Francisco’s One Market, plus Philadelphia’s Beaujolais and Striped Bass. She got the cooking bug at age 7 when she took a cooking class at the Bloomingdales in Jenkintown.

Most recently, they ran Gladwyne’s 100-year-old Delaware Market House, a gourmet takeout and catering operation. Their partner here is Wayne Zukin, a real estate developer and Mount Airy-ite.

They vow to keep all prices under $20 as they keep things simple: quesadillas, tamales, enchiladas and fresh salsas, plus clams with chorizo, served with tequila-roasted poblanos and tomatoes; queso fundido with black beans, tasso and roasted chiles; mole-glazed spare ribs with corn fritters; grilled octopus with lime cilantro vinaigrette; mitad de pollo, grilled half chicken with achiote pumpkin and adobo, with green rice and garlic spinach; whole fish, grilled or roasted with adobo and citrus, served with ancho-roasted potatoes and red onions; and vegetarian chayote “lasagna” on lentils with tomatoes, grapes and capers. Children’s menu, too.

Bar will serve tequilas and Mexican and Latin American beers, plus a small list of affordable wines and signature cocktails.

Read the entire article here.