Quick heads up before anything else. Rum Bar Mezcal is our sister restaurant, owned by the same family as Daytime Solutions, so yeah, we’re a little biased. It was created in Toronto, at the family’s original restaurants on King St W and Church St (both now closed), and today it lives at 867 Main St in Manchester, CT. In Toronto, the same family runs Casa Mezcal on Dupont, at 252 Dupont St in The Annex, which is their only current Toronto location. But restaurant people ask us about this one alot, usually some version of “how do you put two cuisines on one menu without it turning into a mess?” So here’s the honest breakdown of what Mexico and Puerto Rico each bring to the table, and why they actually get along.
Two countries, one menu header
The menu at Rum Bar Mezcal literally says it at the top: Mexican and Puerto Rican. It’s not hidden in fine print and it’s not a “Latin-inspired” vibe word. It’s a promise about what’s coming out of the kitchen. Most of the menu leans Mexican, and the Puerto Rican side shows up in very specific places, usually with “P.R.” right in the dish name so nobody has to guess.
That’s the first thing worth noticing if you run a place. A Mexican restaurant is not a rare thing, in Toronto or in Connecticut. A Mexican restaurant that also does pernil and tostones is. The pairing is the reason to remember it.
What Mexico brings to the glass: mezcal
Mezcal is an agave spirit, and a lot of it comes out of Oaxaca. The heart of the agave plant gets cooked before it’s fermented and distilled, and traditionally that cooking happens in earth pits, which is where the smoky thing comes from. People like to say all tequila is technically mezcal but not the other way around. Legally it’s more complicated than that, but it’s a decent way to remember it.
Mezcal is a sipping spirit first. It also does really well in cocktails because the smoke gives a drink some backbone without needing a ton of sugar. At the Manchester, CT bar, Rum Bar Mezcal leans into this with what it calls “Smoky Pours” and “Craft Flights,” and the bartenders there are known for their house “mescalinas.”
What Mexico brings to the plate
This is where the menu gets deep. You’ve got Al Pastor tacos with guajillo pork, onion, cilantro and pineapple. Birria tacos with slow-cooked brisket and broth on the side for dipping, plus a Quesa-Birria if you want the cheesy version. There’s Pozole with shredded chicken and hominy, Street Corn (on the cob or as esquites with queso fresco and mayo-chipotle), a Chile Relleno Poblano, Enchiladas Suizas, and the Molcajete, which is basically the “we’re sharing, don’t argue” order: chicken, carne asada, chorizo, shrimp, queso and nopal.
Mexican cooking brings corn, chiles, slow braises and a lot of fresh stuff on top. Onion, cilantro, lime. It’s bright and it’s rich at the same time, and that’s what makes it such a good match for agave.
What Puerto Rico brings to the glass: rum
Puerto Rico is one of the biggest names in rum, period. The island’s rum is generally made from molasses, and Puerto Rican rules require it to be aged for at least a year, which is part of why the style tends to be clean and smooth instead of harsh. You’ll see light rums that disappear into a cocktail and older rums that are nice enough to sip on their own.
What Puerto Rico brings to the plate
The clearest Puerto Rican dish on the menu is the Pernil P.R., a pork roast with rice, beans, tostones and the special salad. If you’ve never had pernil, it’s the kind of slow roasted pork that a lot of Puerto Rican families make for holidays and big get-togethers.
Then there’s the Loaded Tostones: fried plantain with mayo ketchup, guacamole and pico, and you can add a protein. Mayo ketchup is a very Puerto Rican condiment, and tostones are one of those things that once you’ve had them you kind of want them with everything. Habichuelas (stewed beans) also come alongside most of the plates.
Where the two actually meet
The fun part is where the cuisines overlap on purpose. The P.R. Burrito and the Chimichanga P.R. both take pernil and put it inside a Mexican format. The Rumbar Burrito does it too, with chorizo, pernil and grilled chicken all in one. It’s not fusion for the sake of a buzzword. Both cuisines already love pork, garlic, citrus, rice and beans, so it doesn’t feel forced.
There’s also mojo running through a few dishes, like the Pechuga a la Parrilla (grilled mojo chicken) and the Mojo de Ajo Shrimp, and sweet plantain shows up next to the Arrachera skirt steak. Small details like that are what make a two-cuisine menu feel like one restaurant instead of two menus taped together.
What other operators can take from this
If you run a restaurant and you’re reading this on our site, here’s the useful bit. The menu labels its Puerto Rican dishes plainly, so guests know what they’re ordering. The two cuisines share sides (rice and habichuelas), which keeps the kitchen sane. And the concept comes from food that genuinely overlaps, not from a trend report. Your basically giving guests one clear reason to pick you over the taco spot down the street.
Want to see how it all reads together? Take a look at the full dinner menu on Rum Bar Mezcal’s site. It’s definately a good example of a menu that tells you who it is in about five seconds.
Rum Bar Mezcal is at 867 Main St, Manchester, CT. If you’re after a Mexican restaurant in Toronto from the same family, that’s Casa Mezcal on Dupont, at 252 Dupont St in The Annex. Heads up though, Casa Mezcal is all Mexican, with no Puerto Rican dishes: tacos (al pastor, chicken fajita, shrimp, birria and quesa-birria), guac and chips, ceviche, nachos, truffle fries, the Casa burger, papas bravas and tres leches, plus mezcal-forward margaritas and cocktails at the bar. The pernil, tostones and everything else Puerto Rican in this post are Manchester-only.