Friday, September 23, 2011

Drinking Again

For many years we longed for a place where one could lounge and hang and have a drink and it just never happened.  Now that my friends kids are old enough to get out and get in trouble we have discovered another side of Merida.  You can start out early at one of these places and end up staggering home after 3am happy as a clam at high tide.

La  68
If it's too early to go out you can hang out or have a light dinner at this cultural center or see a documentary film Wed-Sat at 9 selected by local filmmaker Lorenzo Hagerman.

Mayan Pub
This indoor outdoor eatery drinkery often has live music on the weekends and while it's not comfortable sitting on a bench at a trestle table with 3 out of 4 legs full or termites it's a fun place to be early on a weekend night.  If it's too early have a beer at the Bierhaus down the street and then go the the MP.For many years we longed for a place where one could lounge and hang and have a drink and it just never happened.  Now that my friends kids are old enough to get out and get in trouble we have discovered another side of Merida.  You can start out early at one of these places and end up staggering home after 3am happy as a clam at high tide.


La Fundacion Mezcaleria
You'll want to get here before 10.30 if you don't want to stand in line.  A couple of French guys opened this Mescal and beer joint earlier this year and it's popular with the local artist and the visiting artist crowd and the hipsters and the hippies alike.  It's a mesclada of mescal drenched bohemians and since it's 80's local and the BMW crowd up north is none the wiser it's really pretty cool.  If I can still use that word.  They also serve food.

Casa Pompidou
Your last stop on the downtown bar crawl and one you might want to skip if your over the age of 40.
It's too crowded to dance so people stand around hopping and sweating and sloshing beer on one another.  I think it's great I just think I've been there done that and it's probably a lot of fun if your 21 and high or if your high and think your 21.

It's 3am and your out on the street and you can have a burger on the corner before stumbling home or you should have heard about an after hours party in an abandoned terrano steps away from the bars or a rave at a hacienda just outside of town.  The locals would be off to find a cochinta pibil sandwich about now.

La Fundacion Mezcaleria
You'll want to get here before 10.30 if you don't want to stand in line.  A couple of French guys opened this Mescal and beer joint earlier this year and it's popular with the local artist and the visiting artist crowd and the hipsters and the hippies alike.  It's a mesclada of mescal drenched bohemians and since it's 80's local and the BMW crowd up north is none the wiser it's really pretty cool.  If I can still use that word.  They also serve food.

Casa Pompidou
Your last stop on the downtown bar crawl and one you might want to skip if your over the age of 40.
It's too crowded to dance so people stand around hopping and sweating and sloshing beer on one another.  I think it's great I just think I've been there done that and it's probably a lot of fun if your 21 and high or if your high and think your 21.

It's 3am and your out on the street and you can have a burger on the corner before stumbling home or you should have heard about an after hours party in an abandoned terrano steps away from the bars or a rave at a hacienda just outside of town.  The locals would be off to find a cochinta pibil sandwich about now.

UPDATE 3 OCT 2013

Now you can start to drink earlier.  The owners of Mezcaleria have opened a cantina called La Negrita in a location where a bar has been functioning since 1918 under the same name.  They have artisanal beers as well as the national brands.  They have daily specials and a small menu of snacks and meals.
Great ambiance in the afternoons.

La Negrita Calle 62 x 49 from noon to 10pm
La 68 on Calle 68 x 55
Mayan Pub on Calle 62 x 57 y 55 opens at 7.
Bierhaus on Calle 62 x 57 y 59 open lunch and dinner
La Fundacion Mezcaleria on Calle 56 x 55 y 53
Casa Pompidou on Calle 58 x 55 y 53

Thursday, February 03, 2011

If I can't eat at home

I eat at Miyabi. In fact I do eat at Miyabi often. It's one of the three places I eat lunch almost every week. It get's a little noisy at dinner so I go less often in the evenings. I like the seaweed salad and the salad with pickled octopus or scallops. Soft shell crab rolls and the roll with avocado & tuna on the outside with tempura shrimp on the inside...yummy & fresh. The first time I tasted the miso it sent me back to Tokyo for the first time in 20 years...not bad. Great Iced Green Tea. In fact I've never had anything that wasn't good at Miyabi. Sometimes the bill is painful but otherwise...I love it.

Miyabi
Calle 34 no. 396 x 39 & 41
Colonia Emialiano Zapata Norte




I'm pretty sure I ordered the wrong thing at the cute little seafood taco stand in the Montecristo neighborhood of Merida. It seems to have promise and it came hightly recommended. The little eatery sits behind a little food cart parked in a garage next to Bryan's. The first thing on the menu are crab burgers made with shrimp and not crabs for some reason and they might be delicious if you can eat raw onions (and I can not). Next we had tacos. There are 4 offered and we tried them all. Unfortunately 3 of the 4 were breaded and had been sitting out getting cold all morning. Or maybe they were in the fridge from the day before because I don't see how anything in the Yucatan could be cold at 2pm on the last day of summer with 99% humidity and 95°F. The were octopus, grouper and shrimp. And they would have been delicious perhaps if they were even room temperature or warm but alas they everything but yummy. I'll go back once more to try other things but I'll not only ask them to turn down the music when I sit down, hold the onions and serve me only freshly made food. Otherwise I don't see the Punta!

Punta Del Mar
Calle 18 # 117 x 5 x 7
Fracc. Montecristo
Merida, Yucatan

Tel. 252 6590

I've been back and it was better but I'm not a fan like a lot of other people I know.  It's a place you can go if your in the area and your hungry but it's not a destination.

UPDATE 3 OCT 2013
I heard Punta del Mar closed and I still go often to Miyabi.