#28 Rex 1516 - Glennis's synopsis

Hi everyone! This is my first guest review for Sam and Sandya’s blog, and I am reviewing Rex 1516, a Southern-inspired restaurant located at 1516 South Street. We decided to go to Rex 1516 for Sunday brunch, and once inside, I couldn’t help but notice the amazing and unique décor this place has. Dark wooden tables and chairs are juxtaposed against cream and brick walls. Antique chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and black and white drawings are placed on the walls, giving the place a rustic but comforting feeling.

The waitress brought us the winter Sunday brunch menu (I am under the impression that they change the menu every season, which is definitely a reason for me to go back soon), and I discovered that almost every dish has strong hints of Southern/Creole/Mexican cuisine but with a unique twist. For instance, the traditional biscuits and gravy. At Rex 1516, you don’t get regular biscuits and gravy. You get everything bagel drop biscuits with sawmill gravy. Sam actually ended up ordering this (for more details, see her blog!), and I had a bite of it and was blown away. I kind of want to go back just for this dish.

On the Creole side of things, there’s the Shrimp & Grits. This dish is enhanced by the unique addition of roasted tomatoes and crispy pork belly, which undoubtedly adds some delicious flavors. Sandya ordered this dish, so check out her blog for more deets!

(Sandya does not have her own blog-post for this because Glennis is awesome and Sandya have nothing more to add. Sandya is also lazy and takes the opportunity, when guest blog posts occur, to not write her own. Thank you Glennis).

Shrimp and Grits - The deets are that this dish was amazing
and the best shrimp and grits I've had in a long time. The little
crunchy bits of pork belly were a fantastic addition.

I ended up ordering the Huevos Rancheros. This is traditionally a Mexican dish, but in true Rex 1516 fashion, there was a unique twist put on it. This dish consisted of crawfish etouffee sandwiched between two corn tortillas and layered with queso fresco, avocado, pico de gallo, lima crema, two fried eggs, and finally guacamole. Holy guacamole, this thing was delicious. The crunchiness of the tortillas contrasted against the smooth risotto-like texture of the crawfish etouffee, creating a delicious symphony of different textures and flavors. This dish was awesomesauce. And I would like to add that this dish was incredibly filling, and I almost didn’t eat the rest of the day. Until the waitress brought us the dessert menu…

Huevos Rancheros. Look at it. JUST LOOK AT IT!

So many layers of tasty, tasty goodness

Who has dessert at brunch? Apparently us. After we looked at the dessert menu, we realized that the unique twist that Rex 1516 put on their brunch menu is carried over to their dessert menu, and we liked it. They had “milk and cookies”. After reading more closely, I realized that Rex 1516’s version of milk and cookies is fried chocolate and pecan cookie dough truffles with a rum chata-spiked milkshake. Oh my god, I wanted, no, needed, to try this.

We decided to order just one milk and cookies to split between all five of us. Luckily, there were exactly 5 cookie dough truffles, so none of us had to fight to the death over the cookies (and we probably would have because they were that good). However, the real star of this dish was the milkshake, which all of us couldn’t get enough of. It was served lukewarm (which wasn’t as weird as you’d imagine) and it was soft and creamy and had hints of cinnamon. I really need to figure out how to make this at home because I want to drink it all the time.

We all left Rex 1516 happy campers. I will definitely go back, probably for dinner, to try some of their other amazing dishes. Overall, I’d highly recommend Rex 1516 to anyone looking for a great place to go for some delicious and unique Southern food!

Rex 1516

1516 South Street

Philadelphia PA 19146

267-319-1366