salomonrobyn

I just returned from my yearly visit to Mexico City. This time I ate at the following places: 1) Mero Toro, Amsterdam 204 (Condesa, at Chilpancingo) 5564-7799. New restaurant from the Contramar owners. I only tried the appetizers. All of them were quite good, but the "callo de hacha" seems to be their signature appetizers and it is superb. Nice, airy location. 2) El Hidalguense, Campeche 155 (Roma, near Mercado Medellín), 5564-0538. Great place to try lamb barbacoa, made the traditional way. They also had escamoles and gusanos de maguey. They open only Fri-Sun for comida. It is a fonda. 3) La Veracruzana. Medellin 198 (Roma, at Chiapas), 5574 0474. Another fonda, this one specializes in seafood. Very good giant shrimps al mojo de ajo. OK fish fillets. Open daily for comida. 4) Pablo el Erizo, Montes de Oca 6 (Condesa, at Tamaulipas) 5211-9696. Another seafood place. Excellent tuna sashimi, nice grilled octopus and also nice escolar fish (?) in mezcal and red pepper sauce. Pleasant sidewalk tables. 5) El Bajio, Alejandro Dumas 7 (Polanco) 5281-8245. A few years ago I went to the original (and then only one) location on Cuitlahuac and it was a great experience. Naturally, this was not the same, although the Mole Xico con Pato is still a great dish. 6) Zefiro, San Jeronimo 24 (Centro, near Isabel La Catolica Metro station) 5709-7983. This is the restaurant from the culinary school at the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana. Very nice place, excellent service by the students. I had the special menu of the day with nice appetizer, very good soup and OK main dish. 7) Contramar, Durango 200 (Roma) 5514-3169. This time I skipped my favourite pescado a la talla. Instead I had crab tacos a la mexicana and esmedregal fish (is it jack fish?) tacos al pastor. Both were really good. I was there early to avoid the crowds, and the service was excellent.

Thanks. This sounds very nice. I'll try to drop by this weekend. Although I have never been at that mall, it seems to be walking distance (about 1.2km, i.e. about 15min) from the "El Angel" on Reforma. Just follow Rio Tiber north for 7 blocks and turn right on Melchor Ocampo (Circuito Interior)

Thanks for the comments. I will take the information with me and I hope I'll have a chance of trying some of these places.

Next month I'll be back in Mexico City. In addition to returning to Azul y Oro and trying Paxia, this time I would like to try Spanish (particularly Vasque) restaurants and also some fish restaurants. Some obvious choices are Tezka for the former and Contramar for the latter. I have been several times to Contramar, so I would like to try something new. I'm considering the following: Alaia, Puerto Geraria, Bakea, Biko, D.O., Xaak, La Mar, Puntarena, Entremar, Pampano. Any comments about these or alternatives would be appreciated.

Last Tuesday I phoned the Healthy Butcher at Queen W looking for calf's liver. The guy who answered the phone told me that yes, they had it fresh from that morning. It was 6:20pm, so I hurried to get there before 7pm when they close. I got there at 6:50pm and there was no sign of any liver. They looked in the back -- no liver. The woman at the counter apologized, but I got really pissed off, since I could have gone somewhere else and gotten home before the big rainstorm. Anyway, I much rather get good service than old-world charm.

Fiesta Farms is on Christie, halfway between Dupont and Bloor, on the West side. The sweetbreads there are quite inexpensive; however check the date on the package -- they are only brought to the store once per week, often on Thursdays.

I don't know about restaurants, but often I get sweetbreads at Fiesta Farms (@ Christie). They seem to get them in middle of the week.

For a recent visit to Paris, we selected restaurants with the help of this forum. I was very impressed with the quantity and quality of the information available here. This is a great resource! We were going to Morocco via Paris, so on the way there we ate lunch at Fables de la Fontaine. We loved the place: friendly, casual, inventive -- top marks. On the way back from Morocco, we decided to try another Constance restaurant, since we were staying nearby (Hotel Valadon which was also an excellent suggestion from this forum). Violon d'Ingres was good, professional, but somehow didn't leave the same impression as Fables. For Sunday night we had a reservation at Pasco, which is also near the hotel, but a relative who lives in Paris insisted on taking us to his local hangout -- Au Pied de Cochon. I don't understand why it is so popular, particularly since it is not particularly cheap, and the food is not better than what I cook at home. We also bought cheese at Marie-Anne Cantin, and while the product is excellent, the costumer service is cold but efficient.

That's too bad. It was on my list for next visit. Jorge Toledo, who writes about restaurants in El Economista, consistently included it in his end-of-year column listing the years best. Here is what he said last January about Taqueria Beatriz (my translation): The best traditional tacos in the city are in Beatriz -- for 100 years at the same location (since the taqueria first open in 1907). They are prepared with extraordinary fat, warm, hand made tortillas, filled with ground chicharron, mole, barbocoa, moronga, and several other fillings, served with watery guacamole and green salsa.

Another possibility is Tezka (Amberes 78, 9149-3000).

Which butchers carry provimi calf's liver on a regular basis?

El Bajio (the restaurant from Carmen Titita Ramírez Degollado) just opened a new branch in Polanco: Alejandro Dumas 7, Tel: 5281-8245

Another posibility is Oro (www.ororestaurant.com)

The Cha Cha Cha owner is an American who is very helpful providing advice to tourists. Therefore, it is reasonable that the foreign tourists go there to eat, particularly since the food is also quite good.

The directions given under Bistro Rojo are for Bistro Mosaico. Bistro Rojo (or Rojo Bistrot) is nearby in the corner of Amsterdam and Parras. Frutos Prohibidos is very close to Bistro Mosaico. The new location of El Bajio is not in Condesa, but in Narvarte. The actual address is: Centro Comercial Parque Delta, Av. Cuauhtemoc 462, Tel 5538-4733 & 5530-7518. It is located just south of the Viaducto. La Taberna del Leon is one of Monica Patiño restaurants. Another one, which I recently visited and enjoyed, is Bistro MP in Polanco (Andres Bello 10). The food is Mexican/Asian. Where exactly is Bella Lulá? El Tizoncito has several branches including: Tamaulipas & Campeche (Condesa), Campeche & Cholula (Condesa), Londres between Genova & Amberes (Zona Rosa) and Aguayo & Cuauhtemoc (1 block from the main square in Coyoacan)