The Mixteca late-night menu starts at 10 p.m., right when food gets hard to find in East Kensington. Every night until last call, the agave bar at 2113 E. York Street serves chips and salsa, two $8 burritos and a $6 shot and beer. A neighborhood with serious kitchens, Little Walter’s among them, still thins out after dark, and Mixteca fills the gap.
The first few hours of the evening are busy. The Mixteca late-night menu is aimed at what comes after: the second round, the shift-worker dinner, the friend who texts at 11 asking if anything is still open.
What Is on the Mixteca Late-Night Menu
The two burritos are the late-night exclusives, $8 each. The Chicken Verde Burrito comes with rice, poblano crema and cheese. The Mushroom Macha Burrito is built on rice, salsa roja and cheese. On paper the mushroom one is the more interesting of the pair, and the macha gives it a smoky, nutty edge.
Chips & Salsa is $8 as well, served with chipotle roja and an avocado-tomatillo verde. Then there is Deer & a Beer: a Cazadores Blanco shot with a cerveza for $6, a plain deal that needs no explanation.
It is a short list on purpose. Nothing at midnight needs a knife and fork, and the burritos are easy to eat at the bar or out on the patio. Three things to eat, one cheap pairing and a full agave bar behind them is a sensible way to handle a late crowd, and it gives the Mixteca late-night menu a clear identity next to the dinner list.
Mixteca Late-Night Menu Hours Through the Week
The late-night menu runs every day from 10 p.m. to last call, and last call changes with the night. Friday and Saturday run to 2 a.m., so those are the big nights for it. Monday through Thursday the bar closes at midnight, and Sunday closes at 11 p.m.
That midnight close on Monday and Tuesday helps anyone coming off a shift when many kitchens in the neighborhood are dark. Reservations go through Resy, and walk-ins are welcome, which suits a menu built for people who decide at 10:30 that they are hungry.
The Bar Behind the Mixteca Late-Night Menu
Mixteca comes from Jeff Bell and Victor Lopez with Apres Cru Hospitality, and the East Kensington bar expands the New York original they opened last year. It was conceived as a bar first, with the cocktail program setting the pace. The name nods to the La Mixteca region, where Lopez is from, and to the craft of mixology.
Bell and Lopez worked behind the bar at PDT as part of the team that earned the inaugural James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program in 2012. The concept grew out of pop-ups they ran at Coachella, where the desert pushed them toward agave spirits and an open-air bar.
The drinks list covers tequila, mezcal, bacanora and raicilla. A full page of margaritas starts with a classic of blanco tequila, lime and Cointreau, then adds eight variations made with housemade consommés. There are agave takes on familiar cocktails, a long zero-proof selection and Philadelphia-only drinks, including interpretations of the Clover Club and Fish House Punch.
The room seats nearly 100, with a 38-seat patio and an arched back bar inspired by Puebla and designed by Post Company. It was built to change through the day, from casual drinks to full meals to the late shift the Mixteca late-night menu is built for. The dining room has 32 seats, the bar has 12 and the mezzanine has 12 more.
At 10 p.m. the second wind arrives: a warm burrito, a cold beer and a stool under that arched back bar.
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