A few weeks ago, our friends Geoff and Kristi were headed down to Concord, NH, and wanted to check out two spots in downtown Concord: Nawlin’s (a speakeasy that used to be called Mike’s BARbershop) and Hermanos Cocina Mexicana. It’s been a while (2016 to be exact, when I visited El Rodeo in Concord) that I’ve really checked out the Mexican food scene in the Concord/Manchester area, and a quick look at Hermanos Cocina’s menu looked promising, so we decided to give it a look.
Hermanos Cocina is located in the “Depot” of Concord in the low-lying flats between the Capital and the Merrimack River. I strongly suspect that Hermanos used to be a firehouse in its early history, since the construction of the building has two large former garage bays with a very tall tower between them; I suspect an old hose-drying tower. But it’s been very nicely renovated into three main areas: a bar and a smaller dining room downstairs, and another dining room upstairs.
Hermanos Cocina has a pretty decent drink menu, with the requisite assortment of margaritas ranging from the house up to some various high-end specialty variations, but I went for one of the specials, the Granite Margarita with Mi Campo Reposado, triple sec, and pomegranate juice. A nice, simple, but fruity variation on the classic.
Later in the meal, I went for a slightly more adventurous variation, the Barrel-Aged Margaria, made with Hermanos own Single Barrel Selection, Casa Noble Joven Organic Tequila and Licor 43. I don’t usually see “vanilla” (the predominant note of Licor 43) used in margaritas, but here it generally worked quite well, this was a very pleasant, well-rounded margarita with some nice vanilla and earthy notes.
For appetizers, we started off with a table order of taquitos. I always find taquitos to be a pretty good gauge of how good a place’s frying skills are, since taquitos require a fair bit of attention to both time and temperature to avoid becoming overcooked or overly greasy, and these were nice, crisp, and not overly greasy, with a flavorful beef filling and some nice garnish.
We also ordered some chipotle queso for the table to go with the tortilla chips. I’m usually not all that excited by queso (see my various comments in other reviews about lactose intolerance), but this chipotle queso was actually really good: rich, bold chipotle and adobo notes, a nice smokiness, and a good, smooth texture. Definitely a winner.
It had been a while since I’ve had a good chimichanga, and the high quality of the taquitos gave me some high expectations, and my chicken chimichangas didn’t disappoint. Very flavorful and moist interior with a very rich dark meat chicken interior, a crispy-but-not-overcooked tortilla, and nice fresh and not overly-applied garnishes. This was exactly what I want when craving a chimichanga, and the accompanying beans and rice were nicely executed and flavorful as well.
Meanwhile, Carol opted for a mixed set of beef and chicken enchiladas, and was quite pleased with the results: nice, tender and flavorful fillings, two good sauces (one green, one mole), and the same basic garnishes and sides as my chimichangas.
So I’m glad we got to try Hermanos Cocina: it’s a nice cornerstone of Concord’s dining scene (which I generally find a bit limited), and distinctly a step up over most of the area’s Mexican offerings. We’ll definitely come back.
