Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Great Expectations and Greasy Donuts


As the food critic for The Times (Joanna Weinberg) was staying at Rosas y Xocolate and her two adorable kids were sleeping in the room down below we met on the terrace for drinks on a recent saturday night.  The overpriced wines went down smoothly and the New Yorkers in the group (Richard and Laura) explained the beauty of tequila and sangrita which lead to the merriment and the wish to have a little something to snack on.  We ordered 4 appetisers for the 6 of us and settled in.  The first two came amid the sound of plates crashing and smashing on the stairs...  The fritura del pescado was stone cold and it was explained to us by the waiter that the fried fish was always served stone cold (duh) Laminas de Atun in garlic cream was also refrigerator fresh though tastier than the insipid fried fish.  We asked if that sound of broken crockery had been our other two dishes and promptly canceled the order and moved ourselves down the road to Noche Mexicana but not before passing the owner Karole at the top of the stairs.  Luckily for Rosas y Xocolate they do not need my custom to thrive as they seem to be doing.  It's a truly lovely place to have drinks on the upstairs terrace and the jazz band is just jazzy enough.  The little patio downstairs is where I would always choose to dine were I to dine.  It's already time to redo the lobby and the dining room decor and I would recommend the design team who recently revamped the Hyatt's restaurant Amusa.

It's the first time I'd been to Noche Mexicana in a decade I guess.  Loved the kitsch stage setting it reminded me of the Saturday nights on the naugahyde sofa with wagon wheels watching Grand Ole Opry of my youth in Texas.  We had Ana Sabrina's famous tacos as the Tequila buzz waned...then to console ourselves the very wise and grease loving food critic from the UK ordered a dozen fresh hot Churros.  I shall no doubt go back for hot churros long before I find myself having frozen fish sticks at R & X again.   I'm looking forward to Joanna's article on Merida for Conde Nast Traveller UK and until then I'll check out her blog to see if gets around to reviewing the greasy fries at The Smoking Club No. 1 or panuchos in the Zocalo on Sunday.