salomonrobyn

I think there is some connection between Los Almendros in Mexico City and the famous one in Ticul, Yucatan, although they are not own by the same people. There are 2 other branches in the south of the city. On the other hand, the Mexico City branches of the Fonda Santa Clara do belong to the same people as the original one in Puebla. The other Mexico City branch is in Insurgentes Sur 1839, a few blocks south of Barranca del Muerto.

I think the writer wanted to provide one place per state, but perhaps couldn't find one for some states like Aguascalientes, Colima, Guanajuato, Nayarit, Queretaro, etc. There is no suggestion that the list is comprehensive, but I think it provides a good starting point. From the restaurants listed there, I have only been to El Tajin, Los Almendros and Maria del Alma. All three are good choices to represent the typical food of Veracruz, Yucatan and Tabasco. I will be in Mexico next month and I'll try a couple more from the list. Does anybody have better choices for regional food than those listed here?

El Universal (Guia del Ocio / Bares y Restaurantes), Aug 3 2006

El Universal published a list with a short description of the typical food of each Mexican State and a restaurant in Mexico City where the food can be tried. For some states, no restaurant was given. Baja California: Acqua. Masaryk 275, Polanco 5282.3292 Baja California Sur: Punta Baviri. Anatole France 115, Polanco 5281.8671 Campeche: La Casa de Campeche. Fuente de Tritones 19, Lomas de Tecamachalco 5294-5694 Chiapas: Chamulas Bar. Bolívar 438, Col. Obrera 5519-1336 Chihuahua: Applebee´s. Plaza Delta. Av. Cuauhtémoc y Viaducto 5519-1195 Coahuila: Noste. Guerrero 222, Col. Guerrero 5526-5404 DF y Edo de Mex: Restaurante Chon. Regina 160, Centro 5542-0873 Durango: Los Dorados de Durango. Durango esq. Morelia, Roma 5514-1583 Guerrero: Fiesta Guerrerense. Bahía del Espíritu Santo 21 Local 6, Anzures. 5260-0318 Hidalgo: El Hidalguense. Campeche 155, Roma. 5564-0538 Jalisco: El Pialadero de Guadalajara. Liverpool 138, Zona Rosa. 5208-3384 Michoacan: La Casa de Michoacán. Lucerna 63, Juárez. 5566-0466 Morelos: La Terraza. Plaza de la Constitución 13, piso 6 Centro 5521-7934 Nuevo Leon: Regios. Río Tiber 71 Cuauhtémoc 5514.2014 Oaxaca: Casa Neri. Bélgica 211, Portales 5539-3386 Puebla: Fonda Santa Clara. Reforma 80, Hotel Fiesta Americana, Col. Juárez 5140-4100 ext. 4264 Sinaloa: Mazatlán. Miguel Ángel de Quevedo 75, Chimalistac. 5661-1048 Tabasco: María del alma. Cuernavaca 68, Condesa Tamaulipas: Antojería del Valle. Amores casi esq. San Borja. 5559-9275 Tlaxcala: San Francisco. San Ildefonso 40, Centro. 5702-9110 Veracruz: El Tajín. Miguel Ángel de Quevedo 687 Coyoacán. 5659.4447 Yucatan: Los Almendros. Campos Elíseos 164, Polanco. 5531-6646

Sunny Meat Market, a chinese poultry place on the east side Spadina @ St. Andrew sells boneless duck breast at $10/lb. Each breast is about 1/2 lb. Obviously these are not from moulard ducks, but still the magrets turn out very tasty. Salomon

To choose a place for a nice dinner next Tuesday, I sent the list to my wife. I added the websites for her to check the menus. 2 susur, susur.com 3 splendido, splendido.ca 4 senses, senses.ca 5 scaramouche, scaramoucherestaurant.com 6 bistro bakery thuet, thuet.ca 7 via allegro, viaallegroristorante.com 8 rain, rainlounge.ca 9 chiado, chiadorestaurant.ca 10 north 44, north44restaurant.com 11 canoe, canoerestaurant.com 13 perigee, perigeerestaurant.com 14 sushi kaji, sushikaji.com 15 jamie kennedy wine bar, www.jkkitchens.com 16 lai wah heen, metropolitan.com/lwh/ 17 didier, restaurantdidier.com 18 george, georgeonqueen.com 19 il mulino, ilmulinorestaurant.com 20 amuse-bouche, amuseboucherestaurant.com

This is a great description. El Bajio address is Av. Cuitlahuac 2709. To get there by car from Polanco, just go north on Mariano Escobedo which then becomes Cuitlahuac after Calzada Mexico-Tacuba. The Metro station Cuitlahuac is right at the intersection of Cuitlahuac & Calz Mexico-Tacuba. The Merced market is quite far from there.

Tell us more about Alquimika. Where is it?

Today the newspaper El Universal has a list of 10 restaurants they suggest to the readers to visit this year. I'm not convinced that they provide useful guidance, but several of the restaurants in the following list have been mentioned in this forum. Kaczka (Polish), Mazatlan #24, MX$450 Bistrot Arlequin (French), Río Nilo #42, MX$250 Paixa, Avenida de la Paz #47 (San Angel), MX$350 Il Postino (Italian), Plaza Madrid # 6 (Cibeles statue), MX$300 Aguila y Sol, Moliere # 42, MX$450 Pujol, Petrarca #254, MX$450 Tezka (Vasque), Ambers #78, MX$450 Restaurant Bar Chon, Regina#160 Don Asado (Argentinian), Michoacan # 77, MX$250 Nagaoka (Japanese), Arkansas #38, MX$300

??? Specia specializes in Polish cuisine (great roasted duck).

I came back from Mexico 2 days ago. As Nickarte says, the Fonda de San Francisco is closed. We revisited and enjoyed Izote and Pujol. We had OK meals at Las Sirenas and Cafe Tacuba. The one new restaurant that we managed to try was Bistro Mosaico (Michoacan between Insurgantes y Amsterdam, next door to Specia). We had an excellent meal. It is a very busy place and they don't take reservations, but the surroundings are very pleasant and there are good places to spend the waiting time: 1) A superb juice place in the corner of Michoacan and Amsterdam (I had a fresh fig juice and my wife a kiwi juice); 2) A good liquor store (La Naval) next door to the Bistro with better selection than the Airport Duty Free and similar prices; 3) The Parque Mexico (one block away). Eventough the Bistro Mosaico is so busy, the service is very good and personal (the maitre d' was greeting me by name each time that I came back to ask about our place in the waiting list; the waiter discoraged me from ordering a very expensive dessert, suggesting instead another that turned out delicious). I had clam soup and a calamari rice (just like in Venice) and my wife had the onion soup (after all this Bistro is owned by the same people that run Champs Elysees, the best French restaurant in Mexico city) and a very good Dorado fish fillet with curry. The bill with two glasses of wine was about Mx$500. Not very mexican, but very good food. The Fonda de San Francisco is closed but will probebly appear in guides and lists for the next ten years, as things are slow to be updated here. MP bistro is good but not very "Mexican", more "Asian fusion" with some Mexican ingredients. And I have heard the same mediocre review of El Tajin. ←

I'm surprised about the strong recommendation for Ligaya. When I was there, the food was OK, but in a very different league from Izote, Pujol, Aguila y Sol, Contramar, etc. It is nice to hear good things about Neveria Roxy (corner of Mazatlan & Montes de Oca), which is very close to where I stay when visiting Mexico City. Great strawbery ice cream. Be warned that this is a modest, old fashion ice cream parlour, which has been there for about 50 years without changing anything. I have been La Hacienda de Los Morales a few times, but always in some sort of large group celebration. Although there is no question that it is a lovely, elegant place, I was never particularly impressed with the food. I was not aware of Cafe Azul y Oro (all the UNAM sports teams wear a blue and gold uniform), nor of Alkimia. I must say that my meal at El Tajin was also acceptable, but nothing memorable. For that matter, the meal at El Bajio was much more special. Has anybody been at Fonda de San Francisco? I will try in my next trip, particularly because it is on Amsterdam -- my favourite street in Mexico. What about any of the Monica Patiño restaurants? I like la Taberna del Leon, so I may try MP Cafe Bistro or Naos.

The following are the restaurants that Fodor's lists as "Fodor's Choice": Aguila y Sol (Good choice) Bistrot Mosaico (I tried to go there, but was always full) El Discreto Encanto de Comer Gallos Centenario La Valentina (I was at the Masaryk location and the service was poor. The staff was focused only on the large groups eating there) Nueva Fonda de San Francisco Specia (good choice) Other comments?

That's great. These is an excellent selection. Many thanks. Any suggestions for a special restaurant with some vegetarian dishes in "El Centro"? We'll go there and catch the Goya exhibit at the Munal Museum. Salomon

Thanks. Would you mind listing the sopas and pastas y arroz dishes? My son is not too picky when travelling. Of course, by now he learned that in Mexico it is not enough to say "sin carne" -- now he adds "sin pollo, sin jamon, ..."

I found Pujol's website which includes the menu. There is a soup (Capuchino de flor de calabaza, leche de coco y nuez moscada), two salads (Ensalada de endivias, melón, queso Oaxaca y vinagreta de limón; Espinaca baby, pera deshidratada, muégano, queso de cabra, aderezo balsámico) and a main dish (Risotto de San Cosme -plátano macho, aguacate, cebolla morada, chile verde y huevo duro) that are suitable for my son, so we will go one day to Pujol. What about the other places I mentioned? Thanks, Salomon

We are going back to Mexico City, this time with our vegetarian (not vegan) son. I don't remember if in places that we ate before and would like to return this time (such as Izote, Aguila o Sol, Pujol, La Fonda de León, etc) there is a selection of dishes without meat or seafood/fish so he can also enjoy the ocassion. Salomon

Instead of flying to Morelia, you could go by bus. The Executive bus service is just outsanding, very comfortable and much more economical than flying (about $30 each way). The buses have only 24 seats which recline completely, A/C, 2 washrooms, free soft drinks, etc and the drivers can't speed past 95km/hr. You can take the ETN (tel 55-50-89-92-00) bus from the Observatorio bus terminal and be in Morelia in 4 hours. There are buses leaving about every 30 min. While you are in Morelia you probably won't need a car. Then you can rent one only for your side trips (or hire a taxi). Salomon

My understanding is that the the program "Hoy no circula" mainly affects old cars. New cars (2003-2005 models) can get a "hologram type 00" which exempt them from the program "Hoy no circula". Slightly older cars (1995 - 2002) can get a "hologram type 0" if their emissions are below certain thresholds and this also exempt them from the program "Hoy no circula". Salomon

Thanks for chiming in. If you'd be comfortable passing along contractor &/or cabinetry recommendations please do (you can always pm me if you don't want to do it openly on the forum). And, which hood did you decide on (noisy is bad!) - I'm leaning towards Vent-aHood at the moment. Thanks, Geoff Ruby ← I sent you a private email message with the details.

[snip] ← We just renovated our kitchen (13 x 9). The cost of the custom made cabinets was $8,300 + tax (includes installation). The granite countertop (49.2 sq.ft) was $3150+tax (installed). Then of course you need to add the appliances (we got a new dish washer and a hood at Caplans) and a new sink + faucet ($1400 +tax at Dupont Plumbing). Finally, you need a contractor to remove the old kitchen, install the backsplash, hookup the sink and dishwasher and install the under cabinet lights and ceiling lights. Originally, the contractor quoted $2500, but of course, we added many more things (not all of them kitchen related) so the contractor cost was about 3 times that. We are very happy with the results. The only thing I was dissapointed was with the hood (too noisy). Hope this helps. Salomon ← Some corrections: 1) Cost of cabinets didn't include installation (installation & delivery is 20%). 2) Contractor cost for kitchen related work: $4,500 (he supplied the materials, i.e tiles, pot lights, etc). Salomon

Not sure how high end we want to go. There definitely is a budget. Our kitchen, while reasonably large (11 x 15 or so) has virtually no cupboard space. (The previous owners kept their cutlery and dishes in a hutch in the living room - 2 rooms away. Seriously. I should post a picture) So, we need cupboards, pantry etc. etc. Wow cupboards are expensive! There's currently no vent hood. That is actually the most pressing need. And, I want to get rid of the electric range and replace with gas (the previous owners had a gas range and pulled it out - I don't think they cooked much). I'd love to keep the budget under 30k. I figure range and vent hood in the 5k-6k range installed if I go GE for the range. Granite counter from Ikea @3.5. If I go soapstone it will be closer to 6k. Even with soapstone that leaves 18 grand for cabinets, lighting, backsplash, sinks and taps, plumbing, electrical, surprises, and if anything is left over, a new coat of paint. Even going the Ikea route for cabinets, I think it's going to be tight given our budget. So, I may have to consider doing some things myself - like the backsplash, and painting. But, I'm not that handy - painting I can do, the backsplash? I don't know. We need a window guy too (we're going to make the kitchen window smaller so we can put a counter there), so any advice on that front is welcome too. Cheers, Geoff Ruby ← We just renovated our kitchen (13 x 9). The cost of the custom made cabinets was $8,300 + tax (includes installation). The granite countertop (49.2 sq.ft) was $3150+tax (installed). Then of course you need to add the appliances (we got a new dish washer and a hood at Caplans) and a new sink + faucet ($1400 +tax at Dupont Plumbing). Finally, you need a contractor to remove the old kitchen, install the backsplash, hookup the sink and dishwasher and install the under cabinet lights and ceiling lights. Originally, the contractor quoted $2500, but of course, we added many more things (not all of them kitchen related) so the contractor cost was about 3 times that. We are very happy with the results. The only thing I was dissapointed was with the hood (too noisy). Hope this helps. Salomon