Patzcuaro / Morelia Dining

[majmaj40]

I am visiting Mexico City,Patzcuaro,Morelia & Guanajuato on my first trip to Colonial Mexico.

For Patzcuaro the ideas I have come up with are:

- Restaurant Cha Cha Cha

- Ice cream stands (neverias) near Hotel Los Escudos (I read something about the city displacing some of the stands).

- Don Rafa – tarcasa soup

- Restaurant Priscillas at Mansion de los Suenos

- El Primer Piso

- La Puerta Roja, spanish tapas restaurant

For Morelia: I have done a little less organized searches. The notes I have included:

Restaurant Casa de la Calzada

Restaurant San Miguelito

I would like to dine mostly at places with Mexican or Spanish food or international with local flair. Anything to add or delete.??

I would like some tips on regional dishes also.

whitefish -(seems to get mixed reports on whether okay with water quality)

uchepos/corunds

Sopa Tarasca

Caharales

Others?

Any suggestions. What about bakeries or light breakfasts?

[salomonrobyn]

I was recently in Morelia and Patzcuaro. In Morelia I ate at Los Mirasoles, which was pretty good.

I considerd trying San Miguelito, but it is not at walking distance from Downtown.

In Patzcuaro, El Primer Piso was better than Doña Paca.

I am visiting Mexico City,Patzcuaro,Morelia & Guanajuato on my first trip to Colonial Mexico.

For Patzcuaro the ideas I have come up with are:

- Restaurant Cha Cha Cha

-  Ice cream stands (neverias) near Hotel Los Escudos  (I read something about the city displacing some of the stands).

- Don Rafa – tarcasa soup

- Restaurant Priscillas at Mansion de los Suenos

- El Primer Piso

- La Puerta Roja, spanish tapas restaurant

For Morelia: I have done a little less organized searches.  The notes I have included:

Restaurant Casa de la Calzada

Restaurant San Miguelito

I would like to dine mostly at places with Mexican or Spanish food or international with local flair.  Anything to add or delete.??

I would like some tips on regional dishes also.

whitefish -(seems to get mixed reports on whether okay with water quality)

uchepos/corunds

Sopa Tarasca

Caharales

Others?

Any suggestions.  What about bakeries or light breakfasts?

←

[Panosmex]

How was your visit? Any recommendations? I apologize for not responding too your OP sooner.

[majmaj40]

I really enjoyed my visit. Morelia was my favorite city of the trip. Great architecture, lively mix of people.

I kind of hate judging restaurants on one time one diner visits.

In Morelia I ate at Los Mirasoles & Fonda Los Mercedes for fine dining. Only eating one dish at either, I prefered Los Mirasoles - more regional dishes. Fonda Los Mercedes was french with some local ingredients thrown in.

Pazcuaro - El Piso was my favorite dish. A white fish with a herb sauce. Cha Cha Cha was also very good - sort of interesting all the diners were english speaking.

I will expand over the weekend.

[salomonrobyn]

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.

I really enjoyed my visit.  Morelia was  my favorite city of the trip.  Great architecture, lively mix of people.

I kind of hate judging restaurants on one time one diner visits. 

In Morelia I ate at Los Mirasoles & Fonda Los Mercedes for fine dining.  Only eating one dish at either, I prefered Los Mirasoles - more regional dishes.  Fonda Los Mercedes was french with some local ingredients thrown in. 

Pazcuaro -  El Piso was my favorite dish.  A white fish with a herb sauce.  Cha Cha Cha was also very good - sort of interesting all the diners were english speaking.

I will expand over the weekend.

←

[kalypso]

Pazcuaro -  El Piso was my favorite dish.  A white fish with a herb sauce.  Cha Cha Cha was also very good - sort of interesting all the diners were english speaking.

←

FYI

ChaChaCha is owned by an American ex-pat from the Bay Area who was in the restaurant business there. It's become something of a gathering spot for other ex-pats.

[majmaj40]

Here are my notes from Morelia.

I spent one night and a few days in Morelia. When I return I will try Mirasols again and make a first trip Casa de la Calzada

I was really looking for a nice meal for the evening. My other food for the day had been 2 day old bakery goods, and a bran bar on the bus. Actually the bran bar was not too bad, flacky crust but some overly sweet pineapple paste.

The cathedral and square below were so lovely I thought I would try La Azotea Restaurante. Everyone seemed to be drinking and not eating. I got frustrated after a few minutes of not seeing any restaurant personnel and no one to seat people and left.

Fonda Las Mercedes (León Guzmán No. 47). The courtyard was beautiful. Open ceiling, plants, and a rock wall. Huitlacoche crepes with béarnaise sauce. Crepes seemed to have a mixture of the corn fungus and mushrooms. Attempt to mix French with local ingredients didn’t work for me, it seemed too rich. Margarita was terrible. Cheese bread was the best part of the meal. The French man with the restaurant told me afterwards he did not like the dish – a funny admission from a restaurant.

Mirasoles – nice tarascan soup. Seemed very similar to tortilla soup, but a thicker broth pureed beans. From the street it looked empty but there is an interior courtyard filled with diners. I tried to get back here for lunch to sample more of their cuisine, but did not open until 1pm and I needed to catch a bus out.

Cathedral Hotel restaurant – Nice place to sit and watch the city and have some breakfast.

I wanted to dine at Casa de la Calzada based on the write-ups but I never made it.

Dulces Morelianos de la Calle Real Av. Madero Oriente 440, much better selection and nicer than Mercado de Dulces

[majmaj40]

Thank you for everyone who took time to post suggestions. I am finally getting around to typing up some of my memories from the trip.

I arrived on Tuesday around lunch and everything I had on my list in the main square area was closed. I opted for some street food of gorditas and neveria (ice cream). Gorditas were from one of the older ladies selling out of baskets on the corner down from the ice cream. Gorditas were filled with a mild peppers, a little overly salted but actually this was a nice setup for the ice cream. I chose the vendor with the most selection – tried for Pinon and Cajeta, but got Pina instead. Pina was very fruity and fresh. The cajeta was a little overly sweet for my taste.

For breakfast had Corunda and Atole. I chose the lady with the blue tarp, mostly because when I came through earlier the man had been so helpful and let me try both atole so I could pick my favorite. The Corunda was terrific softball sized - stuffed with doble crema and rajas (rich, thick cream and chile strips). Crema will be liberally doused over the whole thing too.

Cha Cha Cha – nice courtyard and friendly waiters. A lot of ex-patriates frequent there, so waiters speak english well if you are tired of struggling with Spanish. Excellent Cornish game hen (sorry I can’t remember much more). Guacamole was fresh tasting but could have been a little spicier for my taste. Very good margarita.

El Primer Piso – ate at one of the small tables overlooking the main square. Had a local whitefish with a cream, coriander, and herb sauce. The sauce was great, and the fish was flaky. If you really like fish the sauce may cover up the flavors of the fish a little too much, but I like the fish as a carrier for the sauce and other flavors with the flaky texture. The vegetables were overcooked for my taste.

Santa Clara de Cobre Street Food – took another quick bus. Off the small square I got some pork from a cart, and then tortillas and drink next door where I could sit on the tables, eat and watch. The pork was tender but some soot mixed in was a little unpleasant on a few pieces. Cheap good meal.

Edited December 11, 2006 by majmaj40 (log)

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Next time you go to Morelia or anyplace in Michoacan, try the pasta de nieve ice cream--yummy. Somewhere I have a recipe for it... A very elusive flavor.

N.

[majmaj40]

I did have a small cup of the pasta. I noticed it seemed to be very popular with the locals. What is the flavoring??

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

The flavor comes from honey, cinammon and almond. I found a recipe in Spanish for it, but when I did the automatic translation in Google it was very amusing.

Here's my translation:

1 tin of milk (condensed milk is commonly used in Mexico)

1 small cinammon stick

1/4 tsp. bicarbonate (of soda, I assume, though it's an odd ingredient here)

1/2 c. almond paste

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. honey

Boil the milk with the cinammon and bicarbonate for 15 minutes. Stir in the sugar and honey and boil another 5 minutes, stirring. Mix in the almond paste until the mixture resembles heavy cream. Let cool and freeze as usual.

"Almond paste" was translated as "worn out almond," which I thought was very picturesque. The original wording was "almendra molido," with "molido" being a common word for "ground." I interpreted that as almond paste, but I suppose if one were energetic one could start with blanched almonds and grind them for the recipe.

I think it's the almond flavor that is so attractive. If there weren't 3 feet of snow on the ground around my house I might consider making this tonight...

N.

[majmaj40]

Thank you!

[Marco_Polo]

We visited Patzcuaro a few years back to research the elusive (and fast disappearing) pescado blanco for an article for Slow Magazine (the magazine of the Slow Food movement). Though I was born in Mexico, I had never been to Michoacan before and we loved it. Patzcuaro is a fine, lively little town and I enjoyed the street food and especially trying local dishes like sopa tarasca and corundas, not to mention the subject of our quest. Here's a link to the article in Slow.

Marc

[esperanza]

You might like to have a look at Mexico Cooks!.*

*Warning: shameless self-promotion.