Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Quoting John:
"Someone needs to start a new topic "Recommended Mexican Restaurants" with addresses, telephone number, food and cost. I'll believe it when I see someone willing to do the work."

http://eatinglocalatlakeside.blogspot.com/

We have been through this before and the above link provides a good deal of information on eating local. The author has put a good deal of research and thought into his observations and comments. Maybe less biased since he doesn't answer to the "dinner group" and doesn't have to follow the crowd.

I still cannot imagine why a vacationer, a newbie or a local would want to partake of Mexican food while they are in Mexico?
Regards,
Neil
Albuquerque, NM

(This post was edited by chinagringo on Oct 26, 2010, 5:22 PM)

Pita

Oct 26, 2010, 9:02 PM

Post #2 of 24 (5043 views)

Re: [chinagringo] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Thank you, Neil. I'll also add that TOB (chapala.com) does include information on Mexican restaurants in the lakeside area.

Kevin K

Oct 27, 2010, 1:22 PM

Post #3 of 24 (4991 views)

Re: [Pita] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Thanks Neil and Pita for going to bat for local foods. As the author of the aforementioned "Eating Local at Lakeside" blog I decided to write about a few of the good area Mexican restaurants precisely because I kept meeting people who'd moved here or were visiting and wanted to try local places but had no idea where to start.

John's list is okay for gringo food, and John Keeling's restaurant guide booklet, while it gives short shrift to Mexican places, at least does include a few, and has a great menu dictionary. In both these cases there seems to be an assumption that gringos who move here do so in order to be as insulated as possible from the country they are visiting.

As Esperanza pointed out in another thread Jalisco is no Michoacán, Puebla or Oaxaca when it comes to offering unique or intricate Mexican cuisine, but there's still a lot of great food here - particularly the raw materials (fruits and vegetables, beans and chiles), even if there are no high end Mexican restaurants.

The lack of discussion of local food on area web boards and in English publications is an unfortunate reflection of widespread provincialism and ignorance that seems to me to be in sharp contrast with the keen interest in Mexico shown by more urbane expat communities in places like San Miguel, Oaxaca or San Cristobal de las Casas. Why someone would move 2000 miles south to dine exclusively on food that could be had by nuking Stouffer's frozen dinners is beyond me.
http://eatinglocalatlakeside.blogspot.com/

chinagringo

Oct 27, 2010, 1:46 PM

Post #4 of 24 (4987 views)

Re: [Kevin K] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

"Why someone would move 2000 miles south to dine exclusively on food that could be had by nuking Stouffer's frozen dinners is beyond me."

Probably for the same reason, that a fair number hunker down on the north shore of Lake Chapala and consider a trip into Guadalajara to be an ordeal beyond their comfort zone. I would be willing to bet there are a fair number of Gringos who have never even ventured to the south shore.
Regards,
Neil
Albuquerque, NM

Oct 27, 2010, 3:55 PM

Post #5 of 24 (4973 views)

Re: [chinagringo] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Great Suffering Succotash. The level of insufferable elitism has gone way off the scale, guys.

First of all, the best Mexican restaurants at which I have dined aren't in the Lake Chapala area, either North or South. Guadalajara is probably the closest place to find "good" Mexican cuisine, served indoors on a non-plastic chair, with a cloth napkin.

If you enjoy traveling to Guadalajara for dinner, foregoing wine to keep your wits sharp in traffic and then driving back to the Lakeside area afterward, that's your choice. Many of the people who live here are no longer of an age group to find that a desirable evening, so can we add "ageism" to elitism? Since you will never grow old or have physical limitations, it won't happen to you, of course.

You may or may not be aware that many of the expats here have had international dining experiences before they decided to spend their retirement years in this backwater of the culinary universe. They've been there and done that. Maybe they don't feel the need to keep re-upping that area of life to be "with it".

If you know of an outstanding "Mexican" restaurant in San Miguel de Allende, please enlighten me. I lived there for three years and the best food was so-called "fusion", which simply meant that the chef knew what he or she was doing.

Since nearly all of the chefs/cooks in the Lake Chapala area are, in fact, Mexican.......perhaps the best food around here is also "Mexican".

I'm all in favor of someone taking the time to list their favorite local Mexican restaurants, but that's not the same as a series of Put Down postings.

Nothing personal, folks, but I have a limited tolerance for any kind of snobbery.
There. I feel much better now.

johninajijic

Oct 27, 2010, 4:24 PM

Post #6 of 24 (4965 views)

Re: [Gringal] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Gringal - You go girl!!! There goes chinagringo trying to see how unpopular he can make himself. Criticism after criticism and on ad nausem. Too bad he's such a miserable person. He's done that on every other forum at Lakeside. And he doesn't even live in Mexico, although he claims to have a business here. He's just a snob from Albuquerque. I don't know why as Albuquerque is no great shakes when it comes to US Cities. He's the type that belongs with the San Miguel crowd. No thanks.

chinagringo

Oct 27, 2010, 4:25 PM

Post #7 of 24 (4965 views)

Re: [Gringal] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Gringal:

Not speaking for Kevin but my example of not traveling into Guadalajara had nothing to do with going there to eat. Just a general comment about a certain element's habits. Has nothing to do with ageism or elitism or any other label you choose to pick. If you read back through my post, I never used words like: majority, most or any other such term to include everyone with a sweeping broad brush.
Regards,
Neil
Albuquerque, NM

Oct 27, 2010, 5:08 PM

Post #8 of 24 (4956 views)

Re: [chinagringo] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

CG: "Probably for the same reason, that a fair number hunker down on the north shore of Lake Chapala and consider a trip into Guadalajara to be an ordeal beyond their comfort zone. I would be willing to bet there are a fair number of Gringos who have never even ventured to the south shore."
__________________________________________________________________________
Okay, you're off the hook on a technicality with the "fair number" rather than a sweeping generality........but it does walk and sound like a duck to the casual observer: in this case, me.

At this point in time, some good friends from this area are visiting for a month in the San Francisco Bay Area. They were eagerly looking forward to the great cuisine which is unavailable in these environs and which they enjoyed before their retirement. They'll be hitting everything from the Indian restaurants to Chez Panisse, and of course, I'm a bit envious.......but not enough to do the same.

His eyesight isn't what it used to be, nor are his reflexes. They no longer drive to Guad. for those reasons. They are a fairly typical example of the local expat populace who you don't know. I could name many more who are "hunkered down" here. I don't know the "fair number" you are referring to. The people I do know would be justifiably offended by being included in that category.

And then, there are all the people whose digestion now says "no way" to spicy Mexican food. What do you and the other critics think they should do? Eat it out of loyalty to the culture? Plenty of people appreciate the culture, but just don't want to eat the food. And yes, they moved thousands of miles to get here anyway. So? Back in the U.S.A., nobody expects Mexican expats to chow down on anything they don't fancy, just because they moved up there. All that gets as illogical as the "real Mexico" discussions.

One thing this area could use a lot more of is ....less criticism and more kindness. Much more kindness. Life is short and often difficult. Peace.

Oct 27, 2010, 5:52 PM

Post #9 of 24 (4946 views)

Re: [Gringal] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

...and the best food was so-called "fusion", which simply meant that the chef knew what he or she was doing.

Travelling all this way to live here in Mexico and enjoy the great weather and its many other delicías I do get a powerful hankerin' for the kinds of food I ate back when I was living in the US. Being that I spent most of my life in Southern California the type of food it seems I mostly ate was Mexican or a US fusion version of such, and I am not speaking of breakfast burritos from Del Taco.

Oct 27, 2010, 7:47 PM

Post #10 of 24 (4926 views)

Re: [Peter] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Well, here's a small chuckle. We lived for a time in Santa Cruz, CA where there was a substantial Mexican community. There was a really good "Mexican" hippie couple-run place on one of the main streets; always packed. Prices very reasonable. Spicy or not; your choice. Huge burritos. Across the street was a Taco Bell, and it wasn't cheaper, either. Where do you suppose the local Mexicans were lined up around lunchtime? Yep. Some things in life are just mysteries.

(This post was edited by Gringal on Oct 27, 2010, 7:50 PM)

Oct 27, 2010, 9:01 PM

Post #11 of 24 (4911 views)

Re: [Gringal] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Oddly enough, that makes sense. Although Taco Bell bears no resemblance to Mexican food found in any southern California Mexican restaurant it does remind me of some of the items one might find here at a more commercialized chain-type coffe shop.

Setting aside the more traditional cocinas economicas where you may eat a well-prepared guisado accompanied by a never-ending stack of hand-made fresh corn tortillas hot off the comal and freshly-cooked frijoles dipped out of the olla, I expect a coffee shop chain in Mexico to give me canned refried beans with unheated flour tortillas from a plastic package with a splash of a rather tasteless green sauce. Viola! a Taco Bell chili verde burrito. Try a meal at VIP's or a similar place and see if it more closely compares to Sal's Mexican Inn or El Ranchito in Oxnard, CA, or to a Taco Bell or Del Taco.

Pita

Oct 27, 2010, 10:53 PM

Post #12 of 24 (4903 views)

Re: [Peter] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

I'm going to sidestep this whole discussion and make a few suggestions on the topic of retaurants that serve good MEXICAN food. Note, please, I am not including some of tge very worthwhile taco stands and super casual places - the aforementione www.eatinglocalinlajeside.com does an excellent job for that.

El serape - for their soups and chamorro
the new quesadilla place on colon for chicken soup and quesadillas
super burrito for nachos
mariscos Peter and carloli's for fish filets
caroli's for shrimp or fish tacos (NOT baja style, but excellent all the same)
mario's in San Antonio - consistently reliable
viva Mexico in San Juan cosala - just skip the menu and ask what to order. A local treasure.

Papirex

Oct 27, 2010, 10:54 PM

Post #13 of 24 (4903 views)

Re: [Peter] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

We had dinner out again last night at our favorite place in El Centro, in Cuernavaca, Casa Hidalgo: http://www.casahidalgo.com/ That darn Doris didn't stop me from ordering two Martinis that night. No ill effects though. Maybe the bartender was trying to do me a favor the last time we were there and made my drinks stronger than usual, or maybe he just didn't like Yanquis that night. The Martini glasses are huge, at least twice the size of normal Martini glasses. I love the olives in Martinis, but so do Doris and her Mom. I always save the olives for them. Doris loves them, and it gives her a little taste of the Martini, as a diabetic, she no longer drinks any alcoholic beverages.

Anyway, we had a nice dinner in a really nice place that night. The meseros are very attentive, everything is fresh and tasty, the bread and rolls are baked on site. Some of the rolls have Philadelphia cheese in the center of them. Some things are prepared right at our table, and the chef came out to the terraza and chatted with us for a while. He lived in Southern California for 32 years, and he was interested to learn that I am from Napa, in Northern California. It really is a small world sometimes. He was surprised to learn that Doris and I met in Alaska. Everybody seems to be surprised to learn that there are Mexicans in Alaska.

Valet parking is great in El Centro too, well worth the 20 Peso tip I always give the attendant. Our dogs, Goldie and Tuffy loved the treats I brought home for them as usual too. They do understand the English word “treat” it means people food. If we are leaving the house to go to dinner, and I tell them I will bring them a “treat”, they settle down right away. When we come home, they always check to see that I am carrying their bag.

I learned to never ask for a “doggie bag”. If you tell your mesero that you want to take the meat home for your dog, they will think you don't like it. To save the chef from any embarrassment, we just tell them that we want to have some for tomorrow. We have had a chef come to our table and ask us what was wrong with the meat?

There are 3 VIPs coffee shop type restaurants here. I have eaten in VIPs all over this Republic and I have never had a bad meal, service, or sandwich at any of them. Of course, there is always the exception. Remember though, they are not dinner houses, but coffee shop type restaurants. They also participate in the INAPAM discount program. Those discounts are voluntary, they don't have to give them.

This is not The USA, it is Mexico so it is futile to compare them.

There are lots of good, and some great restaurants in our town.

Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

Kevin K

Oct 28, 2010, 7:59 AM

Post #14 of 24 (4870 views)

Re: [Gringal] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Great story, which being a California kid myself reminded me of the fact that Julia Child, who spent the latter part of her life in Santa Barbara, named a local Mexican taco dive as her favorite restaurant there.

I certainly would never suggest that anyone force themselves to eat food they don't like or that their systems can't tolerate. I'm merely suggesting that some level of curiosity about the galaxy of local fruits and vegetables and the health and gustatory benefits of a 5000 year old diet rooted in corn and beans can be worthwhile, as at least an occasional contrast to comfort foods from home.

As Gringal has often and wisely pointed out, we are indeed lucky to have the plethora of restaurant choices we have. Yet the existence of those choices, especially here with too many restaurants chasing too few customers, clearly has everything to do with where we choose to spend our food dollars.

For those who have an interest in broadening their culinary horizons, I heartily recommend Las Quekas del Abuelo, the very nice sit-down Mexican place at Colon #16 in Ajijic just south of the plaza. They're open 9-9 every day but Tuesday and the food is excellent and completely different from any other served at Lakeside. They could survive on just the overflow from Tango down the street (a great place, obviously, in its own right), but whether they make it or not may very well come down to whether enough of us have the interest to try something new and different.
http://eatinglocalatlakeside.blogspot.com/

Oct 28, 2010, 8:49 AM

Post #15 of 24 (4857 views)

Re: [Kevin K] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Second the Quekas del Abuelo. Great hosts, nice environment and delicious food. Spiced to your request by the gracious hostess. Very reasonable prices. GO!....or you'll be missing something excellent.

Hound Dog

Oct 28, 2010, 9:40 AM

Post #16 of 24 (4836 views)

Re: [Gringal] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Re: [Peter] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone by Gringal Post:
Well, here's a small chuckle. We lived for a time in Santa Cruz, CA where there was a substantial Mexican community. There was a really good "Mexican" hippie couple-run place on one of the main streets; always packed. Prices very reasonable. Spicy or not; your choice. Huge burritos

You ole hippy soul. Of course, anyone who has been anywhere knows that Mexican food in Santa Cruz beats Mexican food in Mexico every time. That goes without saying. Especially after a drag on a toke and a glass of Carlo Rossi Red from the big jug. Swing down sweet chariot - it will never get better than that was.

We lived in Santa Cruz (actually Rio Del Mar) in the 70s and then it was known as the murder capital of the U.S. which, by God, it was. They had more gruesome murders there than Detroit on a Saturday night or Juarez City on any weekened. Damn, that was a fun town.

(This post was edited by Hound Dog on Oct 28, 2010, 9:44 AM)

Oct 28, 2010, 10:06 AM

Post #17 of 24 (4825 views)

Re: [Hound Dog] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Well, I don't know about more murders than Juarez, but them hills were alive with the sound of blood curdling screams on occasion.

Yeah, and I'll bet you had a dip in the pool at Club Zayante, too. lol

I have to agree that there was better Mexican food in CA than I've found in Mexico, and that's just a damn shame.........but it has to do with using the best ingredients. You can't make a terrific taco with beef that smells like a cow who died of old age. I even enjoyed that "Mexican" restaurant on the waterfront in Pacific Grove, where you could watch the sea lions from your window table. Food wasn't bad, either.

Now, back on topic buddy: Any Mexican restaurants in the actual Mexico, as in around Lakeside, that you like? I'm open to suggestions.

Oct 28, 2010, 3:41 PM

Post #18 of 24 (4807 views)

Re: [Gringal] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Any Mexican restaurants in the actual Mexico, as in around Lakeside, that you like? I'm open to suggestions.

Well, it ain't Lakeside but here in Morelia but the shocking part is it's in MEXCO! Tere and I just got home and now with comida digested enough to breathe again and I am shocked. In over five and-a-half years around Morelia I had a terrific comida. It was Arrachera Tampiqueña so that qualifies as Mexican food since that means it included a couple enchiladas, guacamole, rice and beans and such. The arrachera was so tender that cut by just dragging my knife across and chewing it didn't remind me I have a few teeth that are bought and paid for. The flavor of everything was excellent and what we carried home as leftovers I was careful to not suggest I might feed it to an imaginary dog.

I don't remember the name of the place though both Tere and the mesero told me what it was but the words did not translate for me. It's near Club Campestre near the pereférico by Camelinas. Best restaurant I've been to my whole time anywhere in Mexico. We're going back again soon and I am going to try the non-Mexican version of some meat thing and I expect it will be great. They had great garlic bread that they serve with every type meal, I guess.

I must have walked or driven past that reataurant at least 50 times and never even noticed it was there until someone pointed it out to me yesterday.

Sorry, back to Lakeside, but this was a good restaurant, IN MEXICO! Just had to mention it.

Oct 28, 2010, 3:49 PM

Post #19 of 24 (4805 views)

Re: [Peter] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Was it perchance "Mercedes"? We were there a few years ago and had a very good meal. Memorable.

The classic old doggie bag story is the family asking for one, with the little boy piping up "Daddy, are we gonna get a dog?"

Oct 28, 2010, 4:01 PM

Post #20 of 24 (4800 views)

Re: [Gringal] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

I would have remembered "Mercedes" so I think not, but these places change names and owners all the time. Seems like it was Solaris de la Somethingoranother, but none of it computed to me.

Hound Dog

Oct 28, 2010, 5:37 PM

Post #21 of 24 (4779 views)

Re: [Gringal] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

You can't make a terrific taco with beef that smells like a cow who died of old age.

Oh, I don´t know, Gringal. This week, after that last tropical storm that just passed through Southern Mexico, they are serving up "drowned cow" tacos in the flatlands of Tabasco, Chiapas and around Tehuantepec and Juchitan, Oaxaca and I hear that it´s pretty good with chile habanero, onions, cilantro and a cold beer. Praise the Lord and pass the tortillas.

In the Southern Mexico we inhabit half the year, a dead cow is a dead cow; don´t be leaving the left-overs to the vultures.

(This post was edited by Hound Dog on Oct 28, 2010, 5:44 PM)

esperanza

Oct 28, 2010, 6:59 PM

Post #22 of 24 (4751 views)

Re: [Gringal] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

In Reply To

Gringal, I think you might mean Fonda las Mercedes, which is in downtown Morelia. The decor is totally over the top, but the food I ate there was (IMHO) mediocre.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Anonimo

Oct 29, 2010, 2:47 AM

Post #23 of 24 (4737 views)

Re: [Peter] Recommended Mexican Restaurants for Anyone

Can't Post | Private Reply

Could likely be "Solar de Villagran"?
http://solardevillagran.tripod.com/
Undoubtedly the restaurant is much better than the website.

Av. del Campestre y Rincón de las Comadres No. 7 Tel. 01 (443) 314 5647

Saludos,
Anonimo

Oct 29, 2010, 8:25 AM

Post #24 of 24 (4706 views)