mmm-yoso!!!

Clearing Out the Memory Card - Teotihuacan, Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and a Revisit to Pasillo de Humo (CDMX)

Well, the Missus keeps insisting that we had only one trip this year; our recent roadtrip. I reminded Her that we did two trips early in the year, San Francisco and Mexico City. I went ahead and started showing Her our photos. Honestly, I don't blame Her for thinking those trips didn't happen this year....January and February just seem so long ago now.

Anyway, while I was looking at some of my photos; I thought I'd better get me act together and start doing posts. I'm going to try to limit my verbiage from this point on and let you enjoy the photos, though I think I'm not going to be very successful.

Before our trip to CDMX, I contacted a Driver named Aaron Cruz that came highly recommended by a couple of the Missus's coworkers and heck is even the subject of this thread in TripAdvisor. Anyway, contacting and arranging was easy. And on the day of pick-up, I went out and quickly picked up some croissants from our favorite bakery down the street.

Aaron was on time and got us to Teotihuacan in no time at all. Both the Missus and I had read about this amazing UNESCO World Heritage Site and were excited about our visit. Needless to say; it delivered.

Entering from the Southwest entrance, the first thing you come upon is La Cuidadela (the Citadel), which is theorized to be the main square of the city.  Within the walls is the Templo de Quetzalcoatl ("Temple of the Feathered Serpent") which is said to be the last of the three pyramid built at Teotihuacan. There are six levels of the pyramid each of which is decorated with the sculptured heads of Fire and Feathered Serpents. Discoveries are still being made to this day around and under the temple.

The main street that lead past the Pyramid of the Sun and ends at the Pyramid of the Moon is called Calzada de los Muertos ("Avenue of the Dead") currently runs for about 2 kilometers and is thought to have been even longer during the height of Teotihuacan's existence.

There are what appears to be former dwellings and structures along the west side of the avenue and there's quite a bit to see here as well.

Right across the way is the very impressive Pirámide del Sol ("Pyramid of the Sun") which stands at 216 feet (65 1/2 meters) tall.

It's a fairly steep climb to the top, but totally worth it.

The views from the top are amazing.

We celebrated making it to the top by having our croissants...

While enjoying a wonderful view of Pirámide de la Luna ("Pyramid of the Moon").

You notice the photos of dogs above......they all seemed well behaved and really mellow. The most impressive dog was the one that was sleeping at the top of the Pyramid of the Sun! Man, to think this pooch climbed up all those steep stairs!

We headed back down and made our way to the Pyramid of the Moon. It's not just all huge structures at Teotihuacan. There are some interesting murals; like this one of a Puma.

And then we made it to the end of Avenue of the Dead.

And soon enough the Missus had me climbing up the Pyramid of the Moon; which for some reason seemed even steeper than the Pyramid of the Sun!

And the views from here were no less outstanding. The area in front of the pyramid is known as the "Plaza of the Moon" and the part of it with the central altar is known as the "Teotihuacan Cross".

After carefully working my way down the pyramid; we headed toward the Northwest Entrance where we'd be meeting Aaron and took some time to visit the Palace of Quetzalpapálotl to take in the wonderful carvings and bas-reliefs.

And soon enough; it was time to be on our way.

Aaron mentioned that we still had some time and recommended visiting the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. So naturally, we said "of course".

We parked on a side street; under the altar and headed up Calz de Guadalupe. There are actually two Basilica's here. The "Old" Basilica.

Which was finished in 1709. Because of unstable ground the church started sinking and; if look at it from an angle it is actually leaning.

Because of this; a "New" Basilica was completed in 1976, which looks very modern.

The Old Basilica was closed and went under repairs for many years and had just recently been reopened; so we got to check it out.

The entire complex called Villa de Guadalupe is composed of several churches, chapels and is where Juan Diego saw the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe (the Virgin Mary) on December 12th, 1531.

At the top of the hill is Capilla del Cerrito.

Along with other structures like "Las Velas del Marino", which from what I was told is an offering of gratitude for being saved from at shipwreck in the 18th century. It was rebuilt in the 20th Century.

There is much to see here; like La Ofrenda by Aurelio G.D. Mendoza.

And while exploring the various temples and churches, whether it's on an fault line and slowly separating from it's foundation; yet still standing upright due to "the will". Quite interesting to say the least.

Or perhaps the oldest church on this site, dating back to 1649...the Antigua Parroquia de Indios, it's all quite amazing to see. Faith plays out everyday here.

And then to end things off, we visited the "New Basilica" to end our visit here.

This was quite an amazing day and frankly we were bushed. Luckily, I had reservations at a place right down the street that we enjoyed on our previous visit, Pasillo de Humo. I'm not going into detail here, you can read my previous post. I will say, service was great and, at least for us, doing the appetizer thing might be the best way to go here.

And when picking from the Mezcal "trolley", my favorite is the "Ojo de Tigre".....

This was just as good as the last time we visited.

Pasillo de Humo
Av Nuevo León 107
06100 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

Mexico City - Pujol

Yes, we were back in Mexico City. We had enjoyed our last trip so much; that we decided to head on back during the President's Day weekend.  And while this trip was not without some hiccups....more on that later; the linchpin of this trip was reservations at Pujol; considered by many to be the best restaurant in Mexico City; if not Latin America. so, we headed back on the Thursday before the long weekend. The drill was the same as before; though leaving before the long weekend was a blessing as CBX was a breeze. what wasn't a breeze was having had AeroMexico mess up our flight reservations. We made it across the bridge; only to be told that we had to go to the AeroMexico ticket counter because we had multiple reservations for the same flight. How that happened; I'll never know, but we'd lost our Business Class seats on flights going to, and returning from Mexico City. So, we ended up having to spend an extra hour at the AeroMexico ticket counter at the airport. I will say that dealing with the counter staff was amazing as they worked hard to straighten things out. and in the end, all was well, we had our seats going, and a flight change on the return flight.

Like on our previous trip; we got out of the plane, through all the gates, to our hotel transfer....and then had the six mile; forty minute drive to our hotel. We decided to stay at the same hotel as on our previous visit. We really enjoyed staying in the La Condesa neighborhood....and much like Paris, returning here felt much like coming "home".

The Missus decided that we'd walk from La Condesa to Pujol, which is located in upscale Polanco, which was about three miles and change, so about an hour-and-a-half before our dinner reservation we headed out. We'd never really been into Polanco before, so it was an interesting walk; many bars and restaurants; but the area seemed to lack the character of the Condesa and Roma neighborhoods.

We headed down one of the main streets that goes thru Polanco; Avenida Presidente Masaryk, which had me wondering why such a main thoroughfare in the area known as "Mexico City's Beverly Hills", would be named after the first President of Czechoslovakia. Here's a statue of him in one of the roundabouts on the avenue.

This statue was given to CDMX as a gift from Prague in 1999. As for the background on the naming of the street, you can find an interesting article here.

About five block further down the street, you take a turn on Tennyson and end up at the rather discreet entrance to Pujol. We had arrived about 30 minutes early for our reservation, which was no problem since our table was ready. We had a wonderful, discreet corner table, which we loved.

Service during our meal was excellent, very attentive, but not over-bearing. The pacing was a bit off, with some rather long waits between dishes near the end of the meal. But great service overall.

I started with a Mezcal Negroni which I really enjoyed; the Mezcal really tempered the sometimes overwhelming flavor of the Campari. The Missus who really doesn't care for Negroni, even in Florence, actually enjoyed this.

The Missus ordered something interesting from the drinks menu; a Junmai Gingo from Nami, the first Sake producer in Mexico. The sake had a light fruity nose, very clean finish, definitely not a Daigingo Junmai, but I thought this would go really well with our dinner. The only problem was it as served at almost room temperature. We both ended up ordering a second round and asked that the sake be put on ice, which fixed things up nicely.

So here's the part in the post where I need to apologize for the quality of photos. We loved our cozy corner table, but the lighting gave me fits....and sorry, but I'm not one of those folks who fiddles around waaaay to much before taking a photo with a gigantic DSLR. I prefer not to draw attention to myself. My point-and-shoot usually has excellent low light capabilities, but this was not one of those days.

There were two tasting menus available and we decided to get one of each, after all we share tastes. The Missus got the "Maiz" (corn) and I chose the "Mar" (sea).

Things started off with two lovely "Street Snacks". First, a wonderful, mini-sope topped with a lovely, mildly sweet butternut squash....great corn flavors shone thru.

Next, a smoking gourd arrived at the table.

This contained one of Pujol's signature dishes; a baby corn version of the ubiquitous street corn dish Elote. I can see why folks rave about this item. The baby corn has the wonderful, slightly sweet, maiz flavor, the slightly fruity, rich, costeno chile aioli, with nutty crunch provided by Chicatanas (flying ants). A wonderful, complex combination of flavors. Definitely delici-yoso!

The Missus's first item; a Tlayuda, topped with black beans, tomato, wonderfully mildly peppery-citrusy-bitter baby papalo leaf, and crunchy chapulines (grasshopper).

A wonderfully bold, but balanced dish....maiz-good acidity-slightly sweet, nutty......amazing.

Which over shadowed my well made Chayote and Scallop Pico, making it seem ordinary.

There was a bit too much acidity for me from the pico de piñata. The pickled chayote was amazing, but the scallops were sorely overshadowed by all the assertive flavors.

The Missus's favorite dish of the night included two of Her favorite items; Huitlacoche with Black Truffle.

Served with blue corn tortillas; this was fungi heaven; the earthy, but almost sweet flavor of huitlacoche, combined with fragrant black truffle....not much I can say about this other than....wow....

Our sake, nicely placed on ice arrived at this time. A really nice gentleman, I believe one of the dining room managers arrived and asked us about our serving preference and we explained that for us, this type of sake is best served between 6 to 8 degrees Celsius to really bring out the flavors and clean finish....really nice guy...he even took out a book and wrote down some notes.

My dish was the Kanpachi Ceviche.

The texture of the Kanpachi was perfect, just a slight toothsomeness. The cacahuazintle (nixtamalized corn) juice, celery, and yuzu made up the ceviche sauce. The hoja santa leaves added a bit of a herbaceous; slight anise-minty-peppery touch to the dish. The only downside was that this was a bit too salty.

The Missus Earthy-Smokey Eggplant "Tamal" with Swiss Chard was a simple, yet perfect combination of flavors. It was quite wonderful.

I loved the texture of the pulpo in the Octopus Chintextle with Pickled Carrot.

The pulpo was beyond fork tender.....just perfect. The various Oaxacan Herbs added a different touch to each bite. The Chintextle; a Oaxacan chili paste was kind of strange to my palate as it had an almost bitter, turmeric flavor....the paste almost came across as a pseudo-curry. The Missus loved the octopus, but hated the sauce.

The Missus loved Her Wild Herb Open Papadzul.

So many amazing flavors; the chiltomate salsa had a wonderful tangy-mild sweetness, with a hint of heat from habaneros. The quail eggs were amazing; the texture, they must be sous vide...it was like eating butter.  This was simply amazing.

The skin on my Striped Bass was so wonderfully crisp. It was a tad overcooked and a tad too salty though.

The fried fava beans were absolutely delicious, as was the mole verde.

The last main was the signature "Mole Madre" and "Mole Nuevo", an amazing dish with regards to contrasts in textures and flavor.

Chef Enrique Olvera's Mole Madre is aged like a mother sauce and fed when the quantity falls below 10 liters. At the time of our meal it had been aged 2,779 days....yes, that's over 7 1/2 years! Needless to say, there's a lot going on here; it's not spicy, but quite thick, slightly sweet, with a pleasant bitterness.....I've mentioned the Chinese suan-tian-ku-la-xian (sour-sweet-bitter-spicy-salty) metaphor for a flavorful, yet balanced dish the Chinese use. This was it. The Mole Nuevo, was more in your face, in terms of sweetness, spice, like a typical mole. what a wonderful, interesting dish.

Then we were provided with something to refresh our palates.

Before dessert......

Which is usually the Missus's department. Though I have to say; I loved the churros, light crunch, then melting away in your mouth. Not overly sweet, slight salt tones.....

In the end, this was an absolutely fabulous meal, perhaps one of our all time favorites. We loved the flavors, how the dishes were composed; it just suited us. In our Uber on the way back to our room, the Missus and I discussed our dinner. I think we've dined at some fairly notable places over the years. And in looking at one of those rankings things; I quickly noticed that we indeed preferred Pujol over that dinner at a place that has been ostensibly the best restaurant in the world and the place named the best restaurant in Latin America. Pujol, like our favorite restaurant just suits us.

And I'm sure we'll be returning......

Pujol
Calle Tennyson 133 Polanco
Mexico City 11560 Mexico

Thanks for dropping by and putting up with my lousy photos!

Mexico City - Our Last Morning; Panadería Almuerzos and Cafe Toscano (Mercado Condesa)

As we were walking back after dinner at Temporal, it started pouring again. We decided to quickly duck under the awning of one of the taco shops that lined the streets.

There was a group of musicians also using the little shop as shelter from the rain. One of the guys saw us; waved us in.....and they started playing! Just for the other seated customer and us. It was a blast!

Sorry to say I didn't get the name of the taco shop...I tried to give the band a couple of pesos, but they declined.

So, the least I could do was to buy a couple of tacos....to go.

You gotta love CDMX...…..

The next morning was our last in Mexico City. Our flight didn't leave until 1245. So we decided to check out the bakery that was right across the street from where we were staying. It was quite discreet, but we always saw a line and decided to check it out.

This was Panaderia Almuerzos and the breads and pastries looked so fresh.

So, of course we got......

Croissant, which was surprisingly decent; flakey, good butter, light sweetness....light and fluffy inside....and still warm!

Panadería Almuerzos
Av. Vicente Suárez 64A
Colonia Condesa, CDMX, Mexico

We took our croissant to the next block over; the Mercado Condesa.

And we got our caffeine fix.

All while taking in the neighborhood, like all those amazing dog walkers.

Cafe Toscano
Calle Michoacan sn Mercado Condesa
Hipódromo Condesa, Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

Soon enough we had to head on over to the airport. We even had an ok sandwich on our flight.

We had really enjoyed Mexico City. Our experiences, the people, the food had exceeded our expectations.

I'm sure we'll return soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mexico City - Dinner at Temporal

After a fun, but quite busy day enjoying Mexico City; I thought we'd have a nice dinner fairly close to where we were staying. I'd heard good things about Temporal and the modern, seasonal cuisine that was being served and thought it would be a nice dinner for our last night in CDMX. I made dinner reservations for the fairly early (in Mexico City) time of 7pm. The bar was doing some good business but we were seated in the restaurant upstairs which was quiet.

As we found the norm in CDMX; service was excellent, gracious, efficient, warm......

And of course we started with a Cocktail. I had what is named Suerte de Dragon....the "Lucky Dragon"!

Man, this combo of Mezcal, Celery Salt, Lime, Beer, and some really sneaky chili was so good! Not overly sweet, refreshing, smoky-savory, all the things I like in a cocktail. I had two! The Missus really enjoyed Her Old Fashion with Cardamom.

The bread served was wonderful; especially with the salsa verde which had perfect acidity.

The Marinated Octopus Tacos (160 $MX about $8.50/US) were solid.

We didn't care much for the tortillas which were strangely brittle; the rub used on the adequately tender octopus was excellent, nice smoky-lightly spiced-good acidity. What's up with the avocados in Mexico? They always seem to be perfectly creamy, mildly sweet..... The scallion-onion relish really went well adding a bit of mildly sweet pungency and along with the avocado added some really great textural contrast.

The Gulf Crab Sopes (140 $MX - about $7.50/US) were the highlight of the meal.

The crab cakes were moist, tender, full of sweet-savory-briney crab. The sopes added a nice nutty-maiz to the dish. The "raw green salsa" was a perfect foil as was the creamy-milky goat cheese. Just a wonderful dish from start to finish.

The Roasted Cauliflower (130 $ MX - about $7/US) was interesting.

It had a definite salty-savoriness to it. I later found out it was from the Anchovy Cream.

The Cilantro Soup (140 $MX - about $7.50/US) was very smooth and creamy.

Mildly pungent, sweet garlic tones, and perhaps a bit too much citrus in this for our taste.

The Missus and I shared one main; the Braised Shoulder of Lamb (290 $MX - approx. $15.50/US).

Super tender, deliciously gamey; that "flavor of the pasture" coming thru; nicely seasoned, the jus had a bit of a "kick" to it. The cauliflower puree was nice and creamy.

We had fun watching the street below us during our meal. The weather here in CDMX during our stay (early July) was sunny and warm during the day; with folks going about their business.

Then just like on our first night, the skies would open up, we'd be treated with thunder, lightning, with rain coming down in buckets.

Which lasted about 20 minutes....then all was clear.

We really enjoyed our meal at Temporal; like I mentioned earlier, the service was excellent, the prices reasonable, and the food quite good.

Restaurante Temporal
Saltillo 1, Hipódromo, Cuauhtémoc
06140 CDMX, Mexico

Mexico City - Centro Histórico and Cafe de Tacuba

After taking in the wonderful view from Don Porfirio Caffe from the 8th Floor of Sears, we headed to where Avenida Juárez becomes pedestrian only Avenida Francisco I. Madero. There's quite a bit to see here; along with crowds to match. We stopped by the Convent of San Francisco to take a peek.....

This church with a very ornate façade, resides down a sunken courtyard and is all that remains of what was once a large complex that covered 8 acres in the area. This was part of what was the headquarters of the "12 Apostles of Mexico" who were tasked with converting the residents of New Spain to Christianity. The complex was built on the site of Moctezuma II’s Zoo. Yes, he had zoo!

The altars are quite ornate and quite stunning.

On the way to the Zócalo, the Missus wanted to stop at Dulcería de Celaya a famous sweet shop which was established in 1874. Man, this place was quite popular. The Missus bought a box of various confections to bring back to the US. In what was a fairly humorous moment, the box was opened at the airport in Mexico City by one of the security personnel and each piece was brought out and the guy actually sniffed it! He kept saying "no bueno….no bueno!!" Until one of the senior officers came by and told him to put it all back in the box!

After we arrived home, the Missus tasted the sweets and really didn't care for them.....so I kidded Her by saying "no bueno….no bueno!"

Dulcería de Celaya
Avenida Cinco de Mayo 39
06000 Ciudad de México
Mexico City

A few blocks down was the Zócalo (Plaza de la Constitución), the city's main square. In fact, this area has been the heart of the city since the time of the Aztecs.

The impressive Cathedral lines the north side of the square.

We had fully intended on exploring the area around the square and Centro Historical.

But came across an very popular and colorful exhibition....which seemed more like a festival dedicated to Frida Kahlo.

This celebration was called The Colors of Frida and it was indeed quite colorful. It was held to celebrate the famous artist's 112th birthday. And we lucked out to have been able to see this.

The most powerful scene is that of Frida dressed in colorful attire lying in bed. Having contracted polio at the age of six, she spent 9 months in bed. In 1925 she was in a terrible accident; she was "impailed by a steel handrail through the hip" and also fracture three vertebrae. It was during this time that Frida stared painting. she would have health problems for the rest of her life.  In 1953 Frida had her first solo exhibition in Mexico City, but was in bad health. She famously attended the ceremony lying in a bed set-up for her in the gallery.

There were of course, the Conchero Dancers performing.

And those having Limpias (spiritual cleansing) performed on them.

It's also a great place to people, and pooch watch as well.

Nearby is the Museo de Templo Mayor, which was the temple of the people who inhabited Tenochtitlan. The ruins were quite stunning; though we were in need of a break by this time....we'll visit the next time we're in the area.

Plus, it was starting to get even more crowded.

We did decide to duck into the Cathedral Metropolitana for a quick look.

The Missus and I found the Pendulum inside the Cathedral quite fascinating.

Apparently it is in place to check on seismic movement.

The Missus and I needed a break and something light and small to eat. I'd read about a restaurant that had quite a history named Café de Tacuba.

Opened in 1912; this wonderful slice of history not only feeds the body; but the charming layout and décor feeds the soul as well.

Not feeling especially hungry; the Missus and I got our caffeine fix and ordered the Nopales….something which the Missus could not get enough of it seems....

The chips were crisp, the nopales decent, but nothing special, the avocado....like all we had in CDMX was creamy and wonderful. The staff was professional and accommodating. And the décor was wonderful. This was a nice little break for us.

Café de Tacuba
Calle de Tacuba 28
06010 Ciudad de México
Mexico City

We walked up Calle de Tacuba past the Museo Nacional de Arte (the National Art Museum).

That statue in front of the structure is of Charles IV of Spain by Manuel Tolsá; a Spanish born Sculptor and Architect.

Who is much revered for the prodigious amount of work he contributed to New Spain. In fact, the square the statue is on is named after him.

This eye catching garden is named the Garden of the Triple Alliance.

So, we could have kept on going....there is so much to see here if you desire.

For us; well, we'd done quite a bit of walking already on this day. We decided to Uber it back to our B&B and rest up for dinner......

Which turned out to be pretty good....that's coming up!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mexico City - Morning Coffee at Delirio Mónica Patiño, Breakfast at Los Tamales de la Roma, Walking Paseo de la Reforma, and Caffeine with a View at Don Porfirio Caffe

Our second full day in CDMX was another; surprise, fairly walking intense day. The morning in Condesa was quite lovely.

On this day, the Missus wanted to check out Centro Histórico….getting there by foot of course. So I devised a plan...we'd start in Roma, have a breakfast of sorts, then head down Paseo de la Reforma, Alameda Central, before arriving in the Historical Center of Mexico City.

So we headed out, past Parque España, taking a right onto Álvaro Obregón, crossing Insurgentes Sur we came upon a place I had to have a bit of caffeine; a gourmet shop owned by Chef and Television Personality Monica Patiño, named Delirio. I had kept the option open to grab something from this shop, but the Missus just wasn't inspired, so we just sat outside had a nice cup of coffee.

Delirio Mónica Patiño
Monterrey 116
Roma Norte, 06700 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico

So, for a bite to eat, I went with plan B. The Missus really wanted to have some tamales during this trip, so two blocks away we took a left and arrived at one of the many places I had on my "list". A little shop named Los Tamales de la Roma.

We were greeted by the nicest, sweetest, young man, and we had a seat outside....it was such a nice morning!

When the young man brought over the menus, he explained that they did "two style of tamales.....the typical maiz, and those that use plantanos", he told us to please ask any questions we have; "I want you to have the best time possible"! My goodness...… So we had him recommend something.....after chatting with the Missus a bit, he recommended the "Ratatouille", which he said was done in Plantain leaves and had good vegetables and is so healthy. I ordered the Chicharron en Salsa Verde.

The tamal de chicharron was delicious, porky, great corn flavor, a hint of smokiness, nice tangy acidity from the salsa verde.

The Ratatouille was less so for us; fairly bland, in need of more flavor....but very moist.

You know, based on the service, it's very hard to complain about 2 tamales and bottled water that came out to less than $3/US!

This was more than enough for a light breakfast.

Los Tamales de la Roma
Jalapa 99
Roma Norte, 06700 Ciudad de Mexico, CDMX, Mexico

The Missus really wants to check out Tamales Doña Emi next we visit.

From Jalapa, it was pretty much a straight shot to Glorieta Insurgentes, right before the roundabout, we saw a nice church and decided to duck in for a quick look. This was Parroquia de la Sagrada Familia (Parish of Sagrada Familia).

A few blocks later we were standing on the wide and bright Paseo de la Reforma, staring at the Angel of Independence.

This iconic landmark was built to commemorate Mexico's independence from Spain and was completed in time to celebrate Mexico's 100th anniversary of it's independence in 1910. One interesting fact about the structure is that it contains a mausoleum at its base where heroes of the fight for independence are interred, including Leona Vicario.

The avenue is wide and there's much to see in terms of art pieces; like the kind of whimsical, slightly strange Cocodrilo by artist Leonora Carrington.

More on Cocodrilo here.

To the more serious and dignified, like the Monumento a Cuauhtémoc.

And of course, people (and pooch) watch.

That's El Caballito above.

At this point, we took a right turn at the fountain.....

Onto Avenida Juarez and headed to Alameda Central, which was established in 1592; making it the oldest park in the Americas.

We enjoyed the lovely paths.....

Statues....

And fountains., like the "Fountain of Virgin".

There was of course, way more than one could see while walking through the area.

There's even a Barrio Chino on Dolores Street.

The most popular attraction in the area is undoubtedly the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) with its distinctive dome.

And, the Missus had read that if you'd like to get a really great view of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, you can get it from the Sears across the street.

Well, actually from the Don Porfirio Café on the 8th floor of Sears. You'll need to first wait behind a rope if no seat are available...we had no problem since it was rather early and there were seats with great views. And of course, you need to order some coffee, tea, or other beverage as well.

But that view...….well, we think it's worth it.

For at least once...….

Don't you think?

Don Porfirio Caffe
Avenida Juarez 14 (On the 8th Floor of Sears)
Mexico City, Mexico

On our way down the elevator, and older gentleman, who I believe is perhaps one of the Sears managers smiled and said "Buenos Dias"....then asked us where we were from. We told him "San Diego"; and he told us "it is a beautiful city.....there is Sea World. Welcome to our city....it is pretty beautiful too, no?"

Yes, it is quite beautiful too......

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Mexico City - A Walk thru La Condesa and Colonia Roma, Dinner at Pasillo de Humo

After checking out the Museo Nacional de Antropologia and lunch at El Hidalguense followed by a short nap; we headed back out. The Missus wanted to check out more of La Condesa and Colonia Roma. So we headed out on Avenida Michoacán toward Parque Mexico. La Condesa is quite charming with tree lined streets, once upon a time this land was all owned by a Countess ("Condesa"); María Magdalena Dávalos de Bracamontes y Orozco. Parque Mexico is a wonderful park, circled by the street often called the "most beautiful in Mexico City" which circles the park. Once upon an time the street was once a horse race track.

It was quite relaxing watching kids having fun in Foro Lindbergh (Lindbergh Forum).

While it was fairly warm and the sun shone quite brightly; the trees really helped to cool things down. There are quite a few historical houses built in the area and I should have taken more photos, but we were just enjoying the walk.

We took a left up Avenida Mexico; past the very popular dessert stop Churrería El Moro and headed up Avenida Mexico; where came upon quiet Plaza Popocatepetl and its centerpiece, the art deco fountain.

Things got drastically busy when we took the left turn from Calle Popocatepetl onto Avenida Yucatan, followed by another right onto super busy Álvaro Obregón. Crossing over the hectic cross street, Avenida de los Insurgentes we were now back in hip/hipster Colonia Roma. The Missus enjoyed window shopping and we dropped into a few shops that caught Her interest along the street. We even came across a Passage; which reminded us of those covered passages in Paris.

After returning from our trip; I did some research and found that this place is quite well known; El Parian. You can read more about the history of this covered passage here.

We took a right turn down Orizaba, a street lined with restaurants and shops....

I loved the name of this one.

And arrived at lovely Plaza Luis Cabrera; where we took a short break; drank some water we had purchased along the way.

We saw young children trying to track down birds, women sitting and chatting, and some rather interesting "vignettes".

After our break, we turned back around and headed up Orizaba until we came across lively Plaza Rio de Janeiro.

Where we watched parents and their children; of the four and two-legged kind,socializing.

We were charmed. When we thought about visiting CDMX, this was not the mental picture we had......we were really enjoying our time here.

Soon enough, we started feeling a bit hungry. It was time to head back and get some dinner. I hadn't made reservations for this evening, but had a place in mind that was fairly close to where we were staying.

On the second floor of Parian Condesa Food Hall is Pasillo de Humo, which served Oaxacan inspired cuisine. The restaurant itself is roomy and comfortable.

And service was like we'd experienced earlier in the day; friendly and gracious....and they had this hand-truck contraption loaded with Mezcal! My lucky day.

I requested something "fumar" (smoky) and the really friendly gentleman saw that I had the "Eye of the Tiger".....literally.....

The guy was quite playful......at the end of the meal, when I wanted another, he asked the Missus permission! You gotta love it!

The missus ordered a cocktail, the Oaxaquillo, Mezcal, Crème de Cacao, Licor 43, and Cardamom.

This was so easy to drink, that the first words out of my mouth when I had a sip was; "abunai".

The appetizer we ordered was one of the three favorite items we had on this trip; the Memelitas de Papa de Cerdo (140 $MX - $7.25/US).

Holy smokes....how do I love thee....let me count the ways.... Wonderful pork cheeks that had been fried; the exterior crisp, giving way to a tender, buttery, tongue coating, decadence. The flavor was full on porkiness, perfectly seasoned with a mild chile, salt, and pepper. The griddled masa cakes had a wonderful, savory "corniness". The pickled onions helped cut through the richness, as did the mild spicy - acidity of the tomato and chili paste on the memelitas.

I ordered the Molleja de Terna en Chichilo (239 $MXN - $12.50/US). Fried veal sweetbreads in a mole with Chochoyote, those masa dumplings that look like mushrooms.

The mollejas were very mild in flavor, no tininess or metallic flavors. The texture was a bit more firm than I prefer. The mole was also very mild and not too sweet. I loved the pickled onions and all the veggies. The chayote was good and the shaved chile de agua was really good.

The Missus ordered the Pato en Mole Negro (293 $MXN - $15.30/US), basically duck breast in mole negro. The duck breast was very tender and the skin had great flavor.

Mole Negro is pretty difficult to make well; this was a nice version, smoky - not overly sweet - mild spice. The Missus loved the plantains; especially the texture. For some reason the tamal siete cueros was our least favorite thing; it was a bit pasty and very bland.

This was a wonderful meal overall; I especially loved my dessert.....

Cue up Survivor....heck, enough of these and I'd be hitting (not beating) the meat.

We really enjoyed our meal. Another place we have on our "list" to return to. I think we'll make a meal of apps next time......heck maybe two orders of those memelitas!

Pasillo de Humo
Av Nuevo León 107
06100 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

Mexico City - Museo Nacional de Antropología and Lunch at El Hidalguense

After making our way thru La Condesa we crossed super busy Avenida Chapultepec into the land of skyscrapers. I've heard Polanco described as the "Beverly Hills" of Mexico City. This is supposedly where the wealthy live and play. It's also where Pujol is located....hopefully we'll be able to get reservations next time.

We'd only be visiting the district. There were only two items on the Missus's itinerary for this short trip. ne of them was checking out the Museo Nacional de Antropología (National Museum of Anthropology) located in the huge Bosque de Chapultepec, which is the second largest park in Latin America.

There's much to see in the area; from the somewhat maligned Estela de Luz, also known as the "Monument to Corruption" because of alleged corruption which inflated the cost to three times what was estimated.

Instead of heading up Paseo de la Reforma, we instead headed into the park, which is a wonderful green space.

Where the Missus could practice taking photos with Her brand new camera.

We headed up to Monumento a los Niños Héroes.

Where the Missus took a good amount of time with Her camera. Then turning right and walking down Calzada Mahamta Gandhi; yep, Mahatma Gandhi, in CDMX. Apparently Gandhi is very popular in Mexico; in fact one of the largest bookstore chains in Mexico is......you got it Gandhi.

And we got to see more squirrels doing their "tightrope act" along the way.

We got back onto Paseo de la Reforma and soon enough found ourselves at the Monolith of Tlaloc, which marks the street to the entrance of the museum.

This sculpture was found Coatlinchan which has quite a story behind it.

We got past security, bought our tickets....man, at 75 $MXN (under $4/US) this is a major bargain. We got a map at the information booth and the really nice women there marked off the "must see" places for us. The museum has 23 halls and is spread over 20 acres!

Once thru the entrance into the wide open courtyard area, you see a huge towering fountain, named "El Paragas" ("The Umbrella").

I don't want to create another monster 1500 word post; so I'll keep my verbiage to a minimum from here on. Let me just say that we loved the museum; there was so much to see. We found the history of pre-Colombian and modern day Mexico to be so interesting. It's one of our favorite museums and we'll definitely be back. The galleries are set-up wonderfully, things are spaced out well.

And it was interesting to see items from places we had been to before.

There are dramatic entrances to galleries.

This is "El Creador".

The Corazon de Tula.

Rings and a ball used for the Aztec ball game Ullamaliztli.

Kinda scary statue of the Goddess Cōātlīcue.

Xōchipilli, the "Prince of Flowers", god of art, beauty, dance, and flowers. According to Atlas Obscura, the base of the statue has symbols of hallucinogenic plants carved into it.

The Disk of Mictlāntēcutli, the god of the dead. This disk was found at the foot of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan.

And of course the Aztec Sun Stone.

Whew; at the end we needed a break.

Like I said earlier; there's so much to see. We only visited the ground floor. We'll definitely return.

Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Avenida Paseo de la Reforma y Calzada Gandhi s/n
Chapultepec, Mexico City 11560, Mexico

Of course by the time we finished things up, we were starting to get hungry. The Missus was still up for a walk and I'd heard so much about Mercado Roma; so we walked the over two miles back across La Condesa to Roma. The Missus though; wasn't impressed with the hipsterish set-up and available food. So, I decided to check out another place I had on my "list". Just a ten minute walk away was a place that is only open from Friday to Sunday. The place serves Barbacoa; the Missus (who loves Aqui es Texcoco) was instantly sold.

We were warmly welcomed when we arrived and in spite of the place being pretty busy, they found a table for us. The host/server, Juan was so amazingly warm and friendly.

We looked over the menu and decided on two items. After ordering, Juan noticed the Missus trying out Her camera. He asked Her if She'd like to "see the Barbacoa"....of course the answer was "yes". He quickly called over one of the "chefs" and the Missus got Her photo! Check out the barbacoa and the big smile on the chef's face! You gotta love CDMX!

The folks here are so nice.....

And the Missus loved the salsas.

The Blue Corn Tortillas were excellent, warm, full of corn flavor, pliable, but sturdy enough to handle "the goods".....

First up was the Plato Hidalguense (140 $MX - about $7.25/US).

I'd been wanting to have nopales and thought this would work out well. The Missus and I loved the papalo, something we don't see much of here in San Diego. The powerful peppery-citrusy-tannic flavor might not be for everyone, but it's definitely for us. The Missus absolutely adored the avocado, which looked quite firm and under-ripe; it was however, just perfect, super buttery, and really good.

And of course, the nopales.

Easily the best I've ever had. Look how bright and vibrant these cactus pads are! There was just a nice mild crunch to these; the clean green bean-asparagus like flavor came through so cleanly; and as a bonus the slices of tomatoes were perfectly ripe. Talk about delici-yoso!!!

I'd ordered the Mixiote (155 $MX - about $8/US)….though had I seen the barbacoa before ordering; I'd probably gone for that.

The meat was fairly tender, the seasoning was on the mild side, and the meat itself was mildly gamey. A nice dish. Which led us to believe that Aqui es Texcoco does a pretty darn good job with their mixiote.

It was quite a spread!

With a couple of Ciel this cost us less than twenty bucks without tip! And I did learn the phrase "agrega veinte por ciento por favor"...….which I used liberally during this trip.

Juan was an amazing host; the service excellent and welcoming, the food was delicious, the vibe relaxed and laid back. We can't wait to return.

El Hidalguense
Campeche 155
Roma Sur, 06760 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
Hours:
Fri - Sun 7am - 6pm

We decided to take a Uber back to our hotel - Uber is so inexpensive in CDMX, we just used UberX. Our trip cost us 39.90 $MX (with 10% tip) - think two bucks...….sheesh

We decided to take a short break, then head on back out to explore Roma.

Stay tuned!

 

Mexico City - Taqueria Orinoco and Morning in La Condesa

As we were finishing up dinner at Maximo Bistrot; I asked the Missus if She wanted dessert. She said "yes", but not from Maximo. The Missus had something else in mind for "dessert". As we walked out of the restaurant, She told me, "I want tacos for dessert"! Tacos? Well, ok then, I had a place just a few blocks away that was still open in mind. Taqueria Orinoco.

There was already a line forming when we arrived at the taco shop right on busy Avenida Insurgentes.

The line moved fairly quickly and we got up to the counter to order in like 15 minutes or so.

From here, you place your order, are given a number if you are eating in, and if the place is buzzing like on this evening, you wait until a table is ready.

And the place was definitely hopping on this evening.

The tacos here are Monterrey style; that would be Northern....so "trompo" is similar to Al Pastor. We ordered one each of the three on the menu. I think what the Missus enjoyed the most were the salsas; ranging from mild to a really nice and tangy cilantro, to a totally scalding Piquin, which I first ran into during my trip to Paredoncito. The Missus really loved it; but paid the price!

The tres tacos came on a metal tray with griddled onions and really good "smashed" potatoes, basically cooked twice.....my favorite part of the meal.

Our favorite taco was the chicharron, slightly crunchy outside, really fatty, though perhaps a bit on the dry side. The res was dry, chewy, and pretty bland. The trompo, was like Al Pastor, but not nearly as sweet. The tortillas were really good, pliable, but up to the task of enrobing the fillings without breaking. The corn flavor was good and straight-forward.

And while these are considered to be on the expensive side, with water this still came out to just over five bucks US.

As we left there was a line to the end of the block...….

Taqueria Orinoco
Avenida Insurgentes Sur 253, Roma Norte
06700 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
Hours
Sun - Wed  Noon - 1am
Thurs          Noon - 3am
Fri - Sat      Noon - 5am

Needless to say; we were pretty stuffed, and we rolled on back to where we were staying. I slept like a baby, at least until the birds started chirping in the morning. Still, we both fell back asleep after that.

There really wasn't any reason to get up early, the Missus had only one thing on the agenda for the day. We finally rose around 8 and left the hotel soon thereafter.

La Condesa is quite charming. I wish I took more photos. The area is known for murals; like this one across the street from where we were staying.

The neighborhood is quite charming.

And along with "people watching"; there were two things we especially loved checking out.

The squirrels doing the "tightrope walk" on powerlines to get from tree to tree.

And the dogs.....and some of the dog walkers who did a pretty amazing job.

We were really enjoying ourselves...….

Thanks for stopping by!

Mexico City - Chiquitito Café and Maximo Bistrot

*** Warning - this a is a fairly long and wordy post. 

A few weeks before leaving for Budapest, I was already planning our fall/winter trip....the Missus made a request; She wanted something "in between". Waiting those 4-5 months just wasn't going to cut it for Her. So, I went ahead and made plans for two "long weekend" trips.

We'd been trying to make time for CDMX for a couple of years, but could just never find the time. The time was right to finally make that trip. The planning was quick, since it was a mere two months in advance, we weren't able to make reservations for Pujol, but with the help of one of Frankie's favorite Aunties "Alle", who has family in CDMX and usually goes every year, we got some good info.

We decided to fly out of Tijuana Airport using CBX. There were direct flights to Mexico City and business class was about half the price as flying out of San Diego or LAX. Alle, who took care of Frankie, dropped us off at the CBX facility. For some reason I wasn't able to buy the CBX tickets online in advance; though I did complete our FMM forms ahead of time, which did save us a few minutes. Purchasing the round-trip Cross Border Express tickets only took ten minutes. The rest of it....well, it took us nearly 90 minutes to get through Immigration! Crazy. Still, we'd budgeted more than enough time and easily made our flight. We had airport transfer set-up so we basically exited the plane, walked right out to the terminal, to our waiting car, and straight into Mexico City traffic. Yeeesh…..  Our guesthouse was but 8 miles from the airport, but it took 45 minutes to get there!

Alle had recommended that we stay in La Condesa, which turned out to be the perfect place after a busy day of checking out the city. The tree lined streets, restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, and relaxed vibe, along with the really warm and friendly folks made our stay wonderful. The location was excellent; close to where the Missus wanted to visit on our first day, and since we do walk a bit; an easy enough walk to the Centro Historical.....also, when we got tired; Uber in CDMX is super cheap, safe, reliable, and all the drivers we had were very friendly.

We stayed at the Casa Condesa Amatlan 84, a very discreet, comfortable, location. The service was wonderful.

We arrived at the hotel, freshened up a bit. Casa Condesa was really good about making sure you always had drinking water and the folks working there we so very helpful and friendly.

We headed out just to walk around the area. We were a bit out of sorts at first since the streets aren't quite in a grid, there are diagonals, parallel street with different names, roundabouts, and all kinds of stuff. The streetlights are often hard to see; there aren't cross signals at many intersections; so you kind of have to check the lights in the middle of the intersection; and just kinda go with the flow.

In need of a break; it was also a bit humid and warm, we found a little café named Chiquitito Café on Alfonso Reyes and decided to take a break for a couple of cold brews. Which ran us 45 Pesos; think about $2.35 US!

It was a bit on the weak side; but the guys working here ere very friendly and actually spoke English to us, and the coffee was nice and chilled. And it was a nice little break.

It was also fun watching the guy selling cell phone cases come on over and two of the guys working in the coffee shop come on out to shop!

In fact, one of the guys actually bought a case! Go figure.

While we weren't particularly impressed with the cold brew; this was a nice introduction to the friendliness of the folks in CDMX and how wonderfully social they are.

Chiquitito Café
Alfonso Reyes 232
06100 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

I had managed to make dinner reservations at the highly regarded Maximo Bistrot Local, considered to be one of the top restaurants in CDMX and Latin America. We had intended to walk; after all it was only a mile-and-a-quarter away, a nice easy walk, but as we were halfway down Vicente Suarez, the lightning and thunder started, then it came down in buckets. It was an amazing, and from what I got to understand from the locals, very typical summer thunder storm. Our umbrellas were not up to the task, so we sought cover and I requested an Uber which promptly cancelled when it was five minutes away. I then called the restaurant who promised to hold our table until 730; our reservations were for 7pm, and it was nearly 650 by now. Our next Uber arrived a few minutes later and we were on our way; only to get to basically a standstill about a quarter mile away from the restaurant. We'd basically gone less than a mile in 20 minutes! By now the storm had passed and the skies were clear. We thanked our driver and walked the last quarter mile. Getting to Maximo right at 730pm! Crazy....

Anyway, we were seated outside; things were really nice and pleasant after the deluge. It was time for dinner...but first, a well earned cocktail!

I went with the Mescalina de Fresca y Chile de Arbol.

This was pretty mild in the Mezcal department; but the combination of salty-heat, and orange made this quite refreshing.

The Missus got the Julep 16.

Which was also on the mild side.

While we were looking over the menus, a party of two gentlemen left. One of them, by the name of Jorge came on over, and very nicely made some recommendations! Apparently, he's a regular. He'd tell us what not to order ("this is not very good.....but don't tell the chef, ok?") and what his favorites on the menu were. We'd have folks engaging us this way during our entire trip. It just made things so much more fun!

I'll try to include prices as I remember them. To figure out the conversion to US $ at this moment in time; divide by twenty - i.e. $1.04/US = 20$ MXN.

Things started out with an Eggplant dip, smokey, perhaps a bit too salty, with an amazing bread. Perhaps among the best I've had; the crust so crusty and crunchy, the interior soft and fluffly, with just the perfect "chew".

We started with the Pacific Scallops (290 $MXN); which were served on a tostada.

We loved the herbs on this; the scallops weren't as sweet as I expected though it was texturally perfect. The sauce was apparently made with Chicatanas, flying ants, which seemed to add a bit of earthiness to the dish according to my tastebuds. The crunch of the tostada completed the dish.

Next up, the Octopus Ceviche (230 $MXN).

The octopus was  amazingly tender; I'm thinking sous vide? The liquid provided had a combination of lime and tomato and was a bit too acidic for us....and you're talking to folks who love Peruvian Cebiche! The liquid kind of over-powered all the flavors and the wonderfully smooth avocado cream was overwhelmed. The blue corn tostadas had a wonderful corn flavor and texture to them.

Things started getting from decent to great when the next item arrived. We'd ordered the Porcini Mushroom Soup (175 $ MXN). I made Porcini Mushroom Soup at least two dozen times this winter so I wanted to see how this compared to what I make.

While a bit milder in overall mushroom flavor; you couldn't beat the velvet texture of this soup, which was amazing. I also loved (and learned) the toasted breadcrumbs which added a wonderful crunchy-nutty contrast to the dish. It's something I'm going to incorporate into my soup when I start making it during the fall! Very nice.

Undoubtedly, the best dish of the night, and one of the top three of the trip, was the Roasted Quail stuffed with Veal and Foie Gras (450 $MXN).

This was definitely an OH-EM-GEE dish. The quail was perhaps the most tender and moist I've ever had. Even the usual rubbery legs were so very soft and juicy. Paired with a moist, rich, and decadent veal and foie gras pate, this was simply heaven. Mild rich sweet-liveriness just went so well with the mildly gamey quail. And that texture...….

Jorge had recommended the quail and also the Flat Iron Steak (450 $MXN), something that I'd usually not order.

The beef was fork tender, cooked a perfectly medium rare, and had that wonderful, complex, mild gamey-pasture flavor to it. The "mole de olla" sauce had a pleasant, complex, mild sweetness to it. And the spinach and cheese sauce was so delicious as well.

The pacing was a bit off; the service professional, but a bit stiff and the least friendly of all of our meals in CDMX.

We enjoyed sitting outside. After the storm passed it became a beautiful night.

I'm not sure we'd dine here again....but man; perhaps that quail will call us back?

Maximo Bistrot Local
Tonalá 133, Roma
06700 Cuauhtemoc, CDMX, Mexico

Funny thing, when I asked he Missus about dessert, She said "no, there's something else I want....."

Stay Tuned!