tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-383511612024-03-13T11:27:00.922-07:00merida restaurantsRestaurant Reviews and Dining Tips culled from several local guides and mediums.John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-5464177240003628872014-04-15T13:08:00.001-07:002015-02-22T09:49:44.307-08:00Italian Options in Centro<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
Trip Advisor list 33 Italian restaurants in Merida and a quick glance tells me I’ve eaten at only about a third of them. A second glance and recent experience tells me I won’t be eating at the other two thirds any time soon. This year Oliva Kitchen and Bar got a head start on the newly opened Dadaumpa but the latter will give Oliva a run for it’s money. The battle of the pastas will be interesting to watch and taste. Oliva has a tiny dining room that’s charming and cozy in the 90’s woodsy bricky way. The roomier Dadaumpa has potential but at the moment has all of the charm of the dining section of an Oxxo and only half the comforts. At Oliva the kitchen is in the dining room and so the service is good as they can never escape your gaze. You’re not likely to get one of the six little tables so you’ll most likely wait at the tiny little bar. You will be rewarded. La Carbonara seems to be everyone’s favourite dish. Both restaurants offer homemade pastas and I prefer Dadaumpa’s rustic touch to Olivas. At Dadaumpa you should try the classics like putanesca, the arrabiata and above all the spinach and cheese ravioli, but ask for the Sorrentini sauce in place of the cream. Dadaumpa has not quiet mastered the art of the cream sauce. At Oliva try the hearty Della Nona a yummy ragu or La Mora al Mare with calamari and shrimp in a saffron tomato sauce or my favourite the Raviolis stuffed with portabellos, pecans and Ricotta. You’d be a fool to have a pizza anywhere in centro except Rafaello’s. The thin crust pizza cooked in the wood oven on the patio by an equally crusty southern Italian are as good as anything you’ll find in Napa, Brooklyn or dare I say it Milan. The pizza’s are big enough to share but you should order the anchovies so you don’t have too. Rumor has it that Oliva is looking for a second larger location. Dadaumpa has ordered new tables and chairs and has promised to replace the cold florescent lighting and put a candle on the tables…I’d take my own just in case. Mercifully Oliva delivers, albeit tardily. We recently took out from Dadumpa and the pastas were equally good at home and the environment infinitely more charming. I look forward to reviewing these restaurants individually as I gain more experience at their tables….or mine. <br />
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November 2014 another Italian restaurant has opened on calle 43 x 58 & 60 called La Casa de la Nonna. Haven't tried it yet. Tried it and it was absolutely awful. February 2015</div>
John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-31808435874051146232014-01-15T09:04:00.003-08:002014-01-15T09:04:59.402-08:00Great Expectations and Greasy Donuts<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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 <a href="http://joannaweinberg.com/" target="_blank">blog </a>to see if gets around to reviewing the greasy fries at The Smoking Club No. 1 or panuchos in the Zocalo on Sunday.John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-7420947349039015192013-12-30T07:35:00.001-08:002014-01-15T08:18:22.607-08:00Oliva, Like Vultures on RoadkillI've gone often to Oliva only to find it shuttered. Perhaps I always go on Sunday. Below is the phone number in case you are the sort of person who likes to plan ahead. My misgivings have turned into forgivings for the moment. Upon entry Oliva just looks like any other Italian Deli/take out place from the 80's in New York but then you realise it's the dawn of 2014 and you are in Merida. As it fills up, which is rapidly, as there are only 4 or 5 small tables, it becomes as cozy as your favorite neighborhood haunt. When you can't get a table you order take out and go around the corner to your home to wait. That is your first mistake. We ordered at 8.30 the other night and got our cold food (which we devoured like vultures on roadkill) at 10.15...all of our order did not arrive and so we made a quick call which did get us our other two meals a little quicker. It helped that the person who did not get her food is the neighbor of the owners I believe. When I say misgivings it's because I'm not the one to order pasta in a restaurant even if the chef owner is Italian and the pasta is home made like Oliva's. When I say forgiving it's because I've heard so many good things from so many people that frequent the place that I can forgive my first and only meal so far being stone cold squid ink noodles with rubbery overcooked squid and shrimp. I believe that had I been served that meal hot at the table and sent it back, as one should, it would have come back to me promptly and perfectly cooked. I have decided to be optimistic in 2014 and I've started practising early. Like so many recommended places in Merida I'm afraid it's hit or miss. I expect to update soon.<br />
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Updated 15 January 2014<br />
<br />
At last I have succumbed to the charm of Oliva. The ravioli stuffed with goat cheese (Il Capretto) and served in subtile sauce of pimento and tomato was perfection. The large green spinach salad with roasted beets and avocado (minus the bacon for me) was enough for the 4 of us to have more than a taste. Everyone raves about the La Carbonara. Yes it's worth waiting for a table in person given the long wait and cold food at the end of a phone call. <br />
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John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-23920531741875405012013-12-08T08:33:00.003-08:002014-11-30T18:48:26.927-08:00..<br />
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<br />John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-16986593403262494772013-11-12T09:24:00.001-08:002014-11-30T18:54:00.047-08:00Oaxacan Food in Yucatan<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Merida
finally has a real “Mexican” restaurant.
Apoala in the newly renovated Santa Lucia parque is a dream come
true. I was reluctant to
even try it until one night this month when four foodie New Yorkers and Josh
and I were looking for a place to have dinner. Three of the NY’ers had been to Apoala the previous night
but didn’t say a word until we sat down.
They recommended the grilled shrimp on a bed of polenta and I was
amazed. Josh loved quesadillas with
Oaxacan cheese and squash flowers and the tacos barbacoa.
Then Sunday night after a movie we went again with friends from
Paris/Oaxaca/New York and three of us had the quesadillas and Josh had the
octopus tacos. We were all
thrilled. Last night, 3<sup>rd</sup>
time in a week I had dinner with friends from NY who bought a hacienda 5 years
ago and know my eating habits, as Laura said last night I was born jaded. When everyone ordered top shelf tequila
and appetizers I felt my wallet contract in my back pocket. The place is a little bit too pricey
for Merida Centro at least for expats who didn’t sell out soon enough. Astonishingly everyone was happy with
the first course and all six of us shocked and awed by each dish. The house salad with seared tuna was
perfectly dressed and fresh. The
conch ceviche I shall be having again as soon as possible. The stuffed squash blooms would please
any vegetarian. Apparently all of the tacos on the menu, especially the
suckling pig, are divine though as a pescatarian I’ll never know. The bill quickly disappeared as the New
Zealander, our newest best friend, whisked it away. Twelve very happy customers
in so many days. Three excellent
dinners for me and in my twelve years in Merida I’ve never been so happily fed
after dark. My one complaint would
be the expensive bottles of water on the small tables. <span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<b>Update 8 December 2013</b> Inevitably I would discover another flaw in the best new restaurant in Merida dream. This weeks meal was with friends in town from San Miguel de Allende and Los Angeles. They were disappointed that there weren't more typical Oaxacan dishes on the menu. That doesn't bother me so much. What disappointed me was that for the first time we ordered more main courses than appetisers. Not one of them was anywhere near the quality or taste of the starters. The fish of the day I had was overcooked to the point of being rubbery and tasteless and served on a bed of tasteless floury mush they called gnocchi. Josh's filet had all the charm of a freshly thawed steak which he ordered rare and it was in fact cold when served and tasteless. The pasta, which I never ever EVER order in a restaurant was bland, boring and banal. Apparently the Sopa de Lima de rez was OK (not stellar). So my advise is to really just stick to that first section of the menu as that continues to be exciting and flavourful. <br />
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<b>Update 15 January 2014 </b> I continue to frequent Apoala and when I took the food critic from The Times there last week I gave them a little warning in advance that their entrees were disappointing and I had had reports about bad service and long waits. I listened to their excuses and then told them that basically in a restaurant there are no valid excuses. If the menu is too long for the kitchen to provide reasonable service from order to table then reduce the size of the menu. The service was just a little too attentive after that and some dishes were better than others but over all it continues to be the best place in centro for gastronomy or just a decent plate of quesadillas and mescal. Yes I meant the UK times not the Yucatan Times.<br />
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<b>Update November 2014</b> Apoala now all the waiters know my name and I've settled in to my routine habit of ordering the same thing each time I go which is the house salad. A mixed green salad with lots of grilled baby vegetables and seared tuna. I never order the fish because I eat fish else where every week and I'm mostly vegetarian. I do sometimes order the shrimp posole ceviche which has great flavor but strange texture for a ceviche. Mostly I have salads or the excellent mole emoladas filled with quinoa (not pc) but delicious. The squash flowers are always great too. A friend recently went with out me and never got her guacamole after an hour's wait. That happens to me all over town and I usually get up and go to the kitchen and ask WTF is going on and voila....guacamole!<br />
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John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-80691073466072269482013-10-06T20:17:00.000-07:002014-11-30T18:53:40.060-08:00Parque Santa LuciaSunday in the park with <u>Ana Sabrina's</u> divine tacos is still my favourite thing to do before I go to feed my chickens around the corner. But this summer (2013) the old arcades were renovated and new shops and restaurants have moved in and it's a lively place to dine alfresco at night<u>. La Tratto </u>is an American Bistro with the kind of safe food you'd find in any American mall. It is generic fare with no flare but it's a nice setting and you can dine or drink alfresco. If they would cook the pizza in a hotter oven it would be crisp and enjoyable. Much better food can be found across the park at Apaola the new Oaxacan restaurant. <u> Apoala </u>is my favorite place at the moment and I've not experience the awful service and delayed meals I keep hearing about. I like the appetisers much more than the main courses.<br />
<br />
Having grown up in rural Texas where we had to drive ten miles to find a <u>Dairy Queen</u> I was appalled when one turned up with it's unfortunate signage in the arcades of Santa Lucia. Since then I've come to regret the Butterfinger Blizzards and dipped cones even more. Ki Xocolatil has a new location in the corner of the park and this is where you should have your coffee and sugar fix. <br />
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Sunday afternoons there's dancing and live music. Thursday night there is a folkloric dance concert. Both can be very loud...ear plugs are de rigueur!<br />
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<b>Update November 2014 </b><br />
I personally think that Apoala is the best restaurant by far in centro. The wait staff is now experienced and efficient. The kitchen is now working twice as hard as before as the restaurant is always full and you'll need a reservation most nights if you go at prime time around 9 but not if you go early or late.<br />
<br />
La Recova is a Argentine grill that I quit going to many years ago up north but they have just opened on the corner of the arcade. In fact they have barricaded the passage of the arcade and constructed 3 or 4 hideous obtrusive gazebos and taken over the south side of the park. They have totally ruined the ambiance of the park. I do hope they fail and soon.<br />
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Soon to open is a tapas bar called<u> Bottela Verde </u> a great idea in a tiny little corner... more updates soon.John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-1276667933203594462013-03-12T11:03:00.000-07:002013-10-06T19:41:26.671-07:00Trip Advisor WTF?Here are the top 21+ restaurants on Trip Advisor and my thoughts on them:<br />
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1. Cafe Creme<br />
I thought it was going to be awful and it wasn't. We sat in the garden and we were not alone. I'm going back some day soon. I had one of their croissants recently at Coqui Coqui and it was delicious. <br />
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2.Rescaldos<br />
I've not been there for two years and there must be a reason. Heavy handed use of oregano.<br />
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3.La Chaya<br />
Just plain awful. Worse than I expected and my expectations were set very very low. Pretty girl at the entrance and competent friendly waiters but when they don't ask you why you did not touch your main course I think I must not be first the person to hate it. Oh & wilted brown greasy lettuce....yum.<br />
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4.Bruno Bistro Gourmet<br />
Never been, the word Gourmet scares me perhaps.<br />
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5.La Recova<br />
Loved it the first 6 months and went there every week. Hated it the second 6 months after it opened and became trendy. 5 years later never been back.<br />
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6.Hacienda Xcanatun<br />
The most consistent quality for the past 11 years of any of the restaurants in this price range. The only really good Yucatecan cuisine I've had outside of the villages. The restaurant interior reminds me too much of Miami but I love to sit on the terrace. <br />
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7. Helados Colon<br />
This passes for the best sorbet in Yucatan and unfortunately it might be true. It's not a restaurant though.<br />
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8.Hey Joe<br />
Never heard of it. Don't know where it is. Don't care.<br />
All the reviews are from locals and it's an American restaurant so be very very wary.<br />
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9.Acqua<br />
Some people I know like this place. I've never been. I don't like stacked food and squiggles on my plate.<br />
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10. Hennessy's Irish Pub<br />
OK<br />
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11. Bel-Ami Cafe<br />
I don't expect this will be no. 11 for long..It seems the owner has run out of friends to write reviews.<br />
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12.Trattoria La Pasta<br />
I don't eat pasta at restaurants unless there is absolutely nothing else on the menu worth ordering. I've heard less than appetising things about this place...never been.<br />
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13.Trotters<br />
Yuk Yuk Yuk a tan. If you've ever eaten in the upscale restaurant in mall in America that hopes to become a chain then you've eaten at Trotters. Have not graced the threshold in the past 6 years.<br />
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14. Casa San Angel<br />
I've never had anything here that I loved and I've never hated anything about the place. I recommend it for breakfast.<br />
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15. Marlin Azul<br />
*****<br />
<br />
16.La Rueda<br />
I'm a vegetarian but when I wasn't I used to go here. Local steakhouse with lots of families and lots of TV's and bad accoustics. But I did love the place. Ask them not to salt your meat...<br />
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17.Casa Thai<br />
Heard good things. Gotta remember to go when I'm out in the boondocks.<br />
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18. La Pigua<br />
I just cannot bring myself to eat here. The food is not bad if you keep your order simple (not easy).<br />
They use the cheapest fake olive oil on the salads and for me that says it all.<br />
<br />
19. La Tradition<br />
I want to try the new location but the huge photos of food on the facade have scared me away. I've eaten some years ago at the old location near the Fiesta Americana hotel and the food was good though the atmosphere was ... off putting.<br />
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20. Punta del Mar<br />
Can be good can be bad should be better than it is considering the owner chef knows what he's about.<br />
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21. Habaneros<br />
I don't eat at restaurants with clowns passing out menu's ... However pre-clown I did walk in sit down read the menu and walk out .<br />
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26. Rosas y Xocolate<br />
It should probably have a higher rank. This year it has been better than the past two years. If you're going to splurge once I'd choose Xcanatun if your going to splurge twice I'd try RyX.<br />
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34. Ku'uk<br />
I hear it's very Ku but I'm sure it's very Uk. Afraid to go but someday I will.<br />
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38. Miyabi<br />
I'm glad it's number 38 ... if it were in the top 10 where it should be there would be no table for me. I go weekly as do most of my friends.<br />
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60. Alberto's Continental<br />
It was once rated #1 in all the guide books. I think the first review I opened it unfortunately correct. "Overpriced, Good Location-Average food" stick to the Lebanese dishes ... but it's seriously overpriced for what it is.<br />
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UPDATE 6 OCT 2013<br />
Albertos is closed again.<br />
<br />
I'm glad to see that most of my favorite places are very lowly ranked<br />
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<br />John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-22212417020638344002013-01-10T06:49:00.000-08:002014-01-15T08:38:18.324-08:00Oh no, It's Wednesday!Yesterday we went to Miyabi for lunch but Miyabi is closed on wednesdays. Pez Gordo is next door & so.... They have a new menu. The first thing you see is a long list of ceviche's but you don't want to order ceviche here. Also they have another long list of platos (main courses) but you really don't want to be sitting on those uncomfortable chairs next to a TV blaring music videos any longer than it takes to eat a few tacos. They have a new chile relleno taco which is an jalapeño stuffed with tuna & cheese that is delicious...too hot for my friend from Paris but not for me. The Olympio taco which looks great on the menu and sounds great..sashimi blah blah blah is actually awful. Over marinated blobs of tuna they replaced with a Crochi. Crochies are very good fish or shrimp tacos in a crunchy tempura-esque batter with a creamy xcatic chile sauce. It's a good fast food restaurant if you stick to the fast food. <br />
<br />
The real dilemma was finding a place to have dinner. Frida was mentioned. Even Pancho's was mentioned. We thought about just having quesadillas at Mescaleria or a snack at La 68... So on our Parisians last night in Merida on her 4th visit...we went to Rosas & Xocolate... I hadn't been since last new years day Jan. 1, 2012. One always hears that NOW R&X is really good and it never is. Well last night to our amazement it was actually pretty darn satisfying. J & C ordered the fried fish (grouper) with avocado appetizer and I had the octopus aguachiles ceviche with habanero sorbet..sounds stupid but was excellent. They loved their fish too. Then there was a mixup and while I thought I was ordering a veggie plate with mashed potatoes I just got the potatoes. (my mistake) Josh had the mixed vegetable side dish. So we split the difference and we were both happy. Cathy had an nice arugula salad. We drank a bottle of French Vigonier/Chardonay after searching for an reasonable red Mexican wine...not to be found. Coffee and a few chocolates from the boutique in the lobby and we were ready for a drink at Fundacion Mescaleria. Even the jazz upstairs wafting through the downstairs alfresco dining room was pleasant. Maybe Rosas & Xocolate is finally NOW a place you can have a good meal.<br />
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<br />John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-15043714798367690262012-12-16T08:04:00.000-08:002013-10-06T20:06:24.947-07:00Bye Bye Baktun 13Meanwhile 5, 120 years ago the 13th Baktun began and in 5 days it's going out with a gastronomic whimper here in Merida at least. There is a new interest in Mayan Food around the world and all of the good cooks are working in private houses (see Saveur Magazine) or San Francisco. Here we are left with the dregs. Chaya Maya has opened a new place on Calle 55 x 64 y 62 that has the same menu I've heard and cost more I assume and it's called La Chaya. I'm going to stick my head in today on my way to see Ana Sabrina to talk tacos and catering. (It was closed for lunch today but then I drove by and saw it open for dinner).<br />
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The NY Times Style magazine arrives this week to talk about Stylishness in Merida and then World of Interiors is coming to see what they can see next week. What will all of these people eat??? I gave my recommendations <a href="http://yucatanrestaurants.blogspot.mx/2012/12/end-of-world-menu.html" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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But here are a couple of new places in town<br />
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Vite is an Italian place that is somehow related to Elio del Mar in Progresso. I went there with David Vincent and Laura Kirar and the household of Manolo Maestre and we were underwhelmed. But it should be good...it's new so there's room for improvement. Maybe they'll work the kinks out. I hope so. Throwing out the polyester burgundy table cloths from 1972 would be a start in the right direction.<br />
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Vite<br />
calle 16 no. 111 x 13 & 31(circuito colonias)<br />
Colonias Mexico<br />
Merida<br />
<br />
Chaya Maya is still rated at the top of recommended restaurants at Trip Advisor and it's just not that good. But they have a new place that is prettier and roomier (I hear) so I'm going to at least stick my head in the door today. I might go eat there too.<br />
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La Chaya<br />
Calle 55 x 62 & 64<br />
Centro Historico<br />
Merida<br />
<br />
Mansion Merida on the Park is a new hotel in a beautiful old Casona on one of the nicest and noisest parks in Merida. Lots of bus traffic going down calle 59. It opened just before the Phillip Glass concert at Ochil so there were a lot of fancy folk staying there from all over the world & many who stayed there were horrified at the service, accommodations & the food. I walked through the lobby into the restaurant and into the bar. It knew before I asked to see the menu that I would never sit down in the hotel and chance are slim that I will ever sit down under an umbrella in the park but that is more likely. <br />
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Mansion Merida on the Park<br />
Calle 59 at Calle 62<br />
Centro Historico<br />
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<br />
Slow Food Market<br />
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On the corner of Calle 72 (Reforma) & Avenida Colon is an ugly strip center mall and at the back of this compound on Saturday mornings there is a farmer's market with a few suppliers of fresh veggies and a lot of decent prepared foods. Italians making cheese-Hippy Chicks making bread. Checz making kraut and bunny pate. Somewhere nearby is a black hole that is sucking all of the energy out of this solar system and producing krypton. If you drop by and scoop up your arugula and tomatoes and don't get sucked into the granola vibratron you'll survive to shop another day. I lived two years in a commune when I was 15 years old and I do yoga 4 or 5 days a week. I like to think I am immune from most new age nuageness but this place give me the Soylent Greenish creeps. <br />
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Platos Rotos same location as slow food.<br />
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I've started eating in this place again...Chilango menu. I eat the vegetarian things. Love the croquets and the huitlacoche quesadillas. Great salsas. Fresh fruit aguas. <br />
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<br />John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-48943466660643822632012-12-16T07:37:00.000-08:002013-10-06T20:11:34.439-07:00This has nothing to do with Merida except it's the reason I can live here...I leave in the summer.I've just come back to Merida from a 2 month trip in Europe which started on July 7th in Paris and ended on September 8th in Paris. Since I lived in Paris for 12 or 13 or 14 years depending on how I count I decided to not enter any of my old favorites like Chez George on rue du Mail or Anahi on rue Volta. I ate where my friends ate now. My best new find was Chez Rene on Bvd. St. Germain and a tiny little place on the edge of the Marais called Thai Spices.<br />
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A year later...<br />
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I went back to Europe for July and August again in 2012. This year I flew to Madrid where I stayed for 3 days to get over the jet lag. I hate to eat alone so I ate in the food stalls at the Mercado de San Miguel. Greek food is great in Greece but I've never had a Greek meal anywhere else that compares. In Syros the food was outstanding and in Patmos this year almost every meal was out whereas last year every meal was in. In Turkey they've just seem effortlessly produce the most tasty dishes from thin air or the sea. In Paris I learned to not look back...the places I liked last year had lost their luster and my favorite place this year was Bob's Kitchen for lunch and the food stalls at Marche des Enfants-Rouge. I went to Shropshire for the first time and London for the first time in almost 20 years...a memorable lunch at home in London and a great dinner with two Grand Dames at 4 Cheyne Walk in George Eliots home. It was my second year in Tangiers and I don't think I've had a meal in a restaurant yet...the local expats know how to party and entertain and the grilled sardines and frites on the beach in Assilah are unbeatable.<br />
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a year later...<br />
Josh and I both went to Europe this summer from the end of June til the end of August. Back to Paris of course and ten days in Provence which I'll never do in the summer again. It has become a EuroDisney version of itself. Then ten days in Cadaques at a friends house...Cadaques is one of those places you should have been going to for the past 30 years and it's too late to start unless you tag onto a friend like we did. Then ten days in Morocco from Fez to Volubulis & back to Tangiers...Then for three weeks we wandered around Spain. Mostly in Andalusia where I have fantasised about buying a summer house. Now I understand tapas and I'll never reach for the Italian olive oil again.John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-73392457522437767502011-09-23T09:19:00.000-07:002014-11-30T18:56:20.858-08:00Drinking AgainFor 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.<br />
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La 68<br />
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. <br />
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Mayan Pub<br />
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.<br />
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La Fundacion Mezcaleria<br />
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.<br />
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Casa Pompidou<br />
Your last stop on the downtown bar crawl and one you might want to skip if your over the age of 40.<br />
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.<br />
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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.<br />
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La Fundacion Mezcaleria<br />
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.<br />
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Casa Pompidou<br />
Your last stop on the downtown bar crawl and one you might want to skip if your over the age of 40.<br />
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.<br />
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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.<br />
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UPDATE 3 OCT 2013<br />
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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.<br />
Great ambiance in the afternoons. <br />
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La Negrita Calle 62 x 49 from noon to 10pm<br />
La 68 on Calle 68 x 55<br />
Mayan Pub on Calle 62 x 57 y 55 opens at 7.<br />
Bierhaus on Calle 62 x 57 y 59 open lunch and dinner<br />
La Fundacion Mezcaleria on Calle 56 x 55 y 53<br />
Casa Pompidou on Calle 58 x 55 y 53John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-48797315052019784242011-02-03T14:42:00.000-08:002013-10-06T20:12:48.157-07:00If I can't eat at home<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Miyabi</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Calle 34 no. 396 x 39 & 41</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Colonia Emialiano Zapata Norte</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Punta Del Mar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Calle 18 # 117 x 5 x 7</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fracc. Montecristo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Merida, Yucatan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tel. 252 6590</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">UPDATE 3 OCT 2013</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I heard Punta del Mar closed and I still go often to Miyabi.</span><br />
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John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-75349474742121558472010-05-19T20:54:00.000-07:002010-05-19T20:59:08.517-07:00Where I Eat What and at What TimeThis is my 9th year in Merida and I’m a bit jaded about the state of food in the state of Yucatan. You can read my blogs and see where I’m coming from and why I’m so opinionated or snobbish when it comes to tastes and taste. Everyone wants to know why I’m not posting any more & I’m feeling a little guilty about it so here goes…I am avoiding dining out at night this year. Tis part of my New Years resolution to loose weight, save money and eat healthier food. I have a new organic garden with lots of herbs and veggies. If anyone has a good insect or caterpillar recipe please send it on…<br /><br />Breakfast. <br />While you are in Merida you should try all of the tropical fruits in season because there are so many you never see anywhere else besides Ediard in Paris. But if you want your eggs go to the market in Santiago and have huevros divorciados or rancheros at “La Virgen de Moreno” or to the Hyatt which does still have the best breakfast in town. Waynes tacos (huevros con chaya or papas con chorizo) are great for breakfast and on Sundays Ana Sabrina serves great tacos in Santa Lucia Square. Café Club has a decent breakfast and Hotel San Angel has good pastries and cakes if you are on vacation and feel like indulging. Teddy’s Corner has biscuits and gravy and o.j. from Florida from concentrate for some reason. Any time of day you should have juice and licuados from the juice bars around the market. In fact you could just have breakfast every morning the market. <br /><br />Lunch<br />I’m eating fish and loving it maybe 4 or 5 times a week. I go every week to Aquamar, Marlin Azul and Campay Sushi Express and less often I have fish tacos at El Congrejito. On the non fish days I might go to El Reforma and have chile rellenos or I might grab a pizza at Costco. Rafaello’s is much better pizza but it’s not grabable since it’s made to order. I go to Café Almeda for Lebanese or Café Club for soup. I don’t eat at cocina economicas much anymore because I’ve bored with the menus but they are great options for tourist or visitors. One gets a real taste of the real Yucatan. If I’m famished I might go to La Rueda for a steak. Once in a blue moon I might go to La Pigua or Muelle 8 for a more expensive seafood lunch or I might go sit on the terrace of Xcanatun and have a salad and stuffed pepper. <br /><br />Dinner<br />The trendiest restaurants of the moment are at Rosas y Xocolate & C’a D’Oro. For me they are must avoids on the weekend but that is when the crowds compete for service and attention. Nectar and Xcanatun can be just great or just awful. These four restaurants are too expensive too have mediocre service or less than perfect food. For me they all have passed my 3 strikes and you’re out quota. For you it will be hit or miss but you will get over it. I may not. Trotters American Bistro atmosphere or and La Recova ‘s Argentine grill might be a good option if you are with friends and want some noise and French fries with your Steak. All of those restaurants are as expensive as the restaurants in New York (my former home) and not as good. None of these restaurants are in Centro Historico. <br /><br />If you are looking for a more reasonable place to have dinner you could try Italian at Villa Italia or Pane y Vino. People (not me) do like Panchos, and Frida’s for Mexican food. I order the mole at Frida’s but I don’t go to Panchos. I still enjoy having the tapas at Meson de Sergovia. Beware the expensive wine pushed by the charming owner. Most of the wine is good here and all Spanish. I still go to Santiago Market to Reina de Itzalana for tamales and soup. Seafood is not a dinner option in Merida though La Pigua is open at night on the weekends and Muelle 8 is open til 6.John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-5764042602626562662010-05-19T18:45:00.001-07:002011-02-03T14:37:35.016-08:00Something FishyAquamar<br />Calle 62 at the corner of 63.<br />Open for lunch til 5 <br /><br />Aquamar is something I never thought I'd see. A good restaurant on the Plaza Grande. It's a little room with 3 tables that seat 11 people. There is another table for 4 by the kitchen. I've never had to wait for a table but I'm sure that will change. The fresh and flaky filets are thicker than most of the other restaurants down town. The problem is that they run out of filets most days around 2 or 3 or whenever I walk in the door. I like equally well the octopus ceviche or in ink. The mixed seafood ceviche would be perfect were it not drenched in a local green oil called gary. So one must remember to say hold the oil. The shrimp tacos are great but you must wrap your mind around the double un-kosherness of bacon and shrimp. They come with grilled onions and avocados on home made tortillas. They seldom have the empanadas or the whole fish. It is a great mystery why they run out of food because they are owned by La Pigua.<br /> <br />AQUAMAR IS CLOSED. I ran into one of the waiters who told me they are looking for a new place to rent in Centro.John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-26426170459938271662010-05-19T18:34:00.000-07:002012-12-16T21:14:37.991-08:00Try'n MayanShould I move away at some point there is not one dish from the Yucatan that I shall crave. & I don't agree with the recommendations I've read on other websites & guide books or even Trip Advisor. I think that if you have a change to go to Mani and eat Poc Chuc at El Principe de Tutul Xui you should.<div>
The guacamole and the sopa de lima are also good here and try a pitcher of ague de lima the fresh yucatecan citrus that is more like a bergamot than a persian lime. It's a good place to try Relleno Negro too.</div>
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If your staying in town the all the guide books recommend Los Alemendros and if your must (I wouldn't) then try the one in the Fiesta Americana as the one at Mejorada is just depressing. I'd try La Tradicion near the hotel zone or Chaya Maya before setting foot in Los Alemendros but I'd be just as happy with a couple of tortas from Le Smoking Club I as anywhere else.</div>
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I think that ordering the Mayan food on the menu at the Haciendas is almost always a good idea. The Starwood Hacienda hotels have very inconsistent food as the chefs come and go and the cooks who assist are from the villages...at least they know how to make the local fare. Even at the usually very good restaurant at Hacienda Xcanatun the Mayan food is often the best option. </div>
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But really you should go to the Mercado or one of the satellite markets at Santiago or Santa Ana or even San Sebastian for fast food and try the simple soups and tamales and the tacos. Cocina Economicas cannot be beat for lunch and you can find them all over town in every single neighborhood. Local women cooking traditional meals (not usually Mayan) in their homes or little shop fronts with a couple of tables and plastic chairs. You'll find them delicious and hospitable and you'd be hard pressed to spend more than $50 pesos for a hearty meal.</div>
John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-46077229902379658102009-10-17T09:10:00.000-07:002012-02-11T23:54:09.375-08:00Cha Cha Cha Changes.... & ClosingsPane y Vino moved from the location in front of Teatro Merida on calle 62 to the corner of 64 and 59. They now open for lunch but the buffet they offer looks somewhat "cat sucked". Buffet is just a bad idea in this climate FYI. Buffet pasta, NO! I rather liked the filthy walls and posters in the old location. I walked out of a concert at intermission this week and went to look for a place to eat. I passed by Pane y Vino and thought I should give it a try but I didn't see the owners inside and that's a bad sign. I walked over to Santa Lucia and read the menu of the new Poblano-Yucatecan restaurant but It leaned to heavily on the Yucatecan side and the menu was to shinny. I guess I'll try it but not soon. I walked up 62 where all the restaurants were empty and I had about 15 menus shoved in my face by the desperate staff's of the tourist traps between Santa Lucia and the Zocalo. The table on the Zocalo were full of locals and tourists but I suspect the locals were employees and the tourists could not have been happy campers. When my friends came out of the theatre I was there on the steps and we went home, opened a bottle of wine, and in 20 minutes we were eating Pasta Puttanesca on my terrace. <br /><br /><br />Lifted from the front page of Yucatan Today this morning is their restaurant review of La Vie en Noir.<br /><br />"Can you imagine dining in the dark? I don't mean dim mood lighting, I mean pitch black. Think about it...your other four senses will be compensating for your temporary lack of sight. La Vie en Noir is a new restaurant in Mérida (since November 2008), with this unique concept beautifully executed. There are over 20 cities all over the world with the theme of gourmet food in the dark. La Vie en Noir is the first one in Mexico.<br /><br />Dark dining is the brainchild of Jorge Spielmann, a blind clergyman from Zurich. During dinners at his home, Spielmann began blindfolding guests so they could better understand his world - and stumbled upon a new dining concept. In September 1999, Spielmann opened Blindekuh (Blind Cow) in Zurich, and the trend has spread."<br /><br />NEWSFLASH !!! They closed 3 months ago. I've eaten a lot of food in Merida that I wish I'd never seen but I've never eaten anything that I couldn't see before I put it my mouth. <br /><br /><br />On a Positive note. I hear the gordita's on the corner of 71 and 64 are great. I'm going to try them now. <br /><br />Update: I Spoke too soon they were not so good after all. But they were closing and we got the dregs. I'll go back earlier in the day when they might be better. The Masa showed promise if fresh. They don't seem to have a name or need one. Hours 7am-1pm. Chicharron, Papas con Charizo, Papas con Rajas. Waynes and Anna Sabrina do all of these fillings better....John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-37624819498114228392009-10-03T07:13:00.000-07:002011-02-03T14:41:32.944-08:00C'a D'Oro RevisitedFinally! Someone with a passion for food has opened a restaurant in Merida. Ca' D'Oro is an Italian restaurant with a Venetian owner and Neopolian Chef. It opened 2 weeks ago in a horrid strip mall called Plaza Mayor off the Paseo Montejo next door to Segafredo with a stunning view of Carl's Junior. The first thing you'll see when you step through the door, if you don't slip on the over polished marble floor is the amiable chef. Kiss his feet. You already feel transported to one of those modern over lit over mirrored bars in Milan. You'll suck in your gut and square your shoulders as you glance around to see if Donatella or Georgio are tucked into one of the banquettes sipping Negronis. I've been there 5 times already. I loose patience with the menu after 45 seconds. It's too big but in 45 seconds I've already found 10 courses I want to try. There's a page of antipasti, two pages of pizza, two pages of pasta, a page of meat, a page of seafood, and so on and so on. I've already thrown up my hands twice and just asked the chef to bring me some food. They have their own boats in Sisal that bring in seafood daily. The veggies come from Mexico City on thursdays. All the wine is Italian. <br /><br />I have a fear that they will try to train a local person who's never eaten in a restaurant to cook. This happened to Pane y Vino and it's also happend at Elio Al Mare when the owner turns his back on the kitchen. But for now in it's infancy Ca' D'Oro is perfection. I'm not going to waste my time eating anywhere else until I've tried everything on the menu and then I'm going to start over again.<br /><br />Ca' D'Oro<br />Plaza Mayor<br />Prolongation Paseo Montejo x Calle 34<br />Colonia Emiliano Zapata Norte<br /><br />999 948 11 55<br /><br />UPDATE: 8 July 2010<br />Today I revisited C'a D'Oro for lunch. <br />The chef is gone. So sad, there goes the entertainment of watching the chef and the owner trade insults on the dining room floor. I guess he took all the clients with him as well. In the hour (2-3) or more I was there another customer graced the threshold. Without a chef we decided to make it easy on them. They have gone to the trouble to edit the menu. They have taken a few things off and changed all the prices. Instead of reprinting the menu they have cut out little rectangular tags and glued them old prices and my what a good job they have done. Then they took tape and taped over the new prices. It just looks lovely and I'm sure their imaginary customers are going to be happy to paying higher prices. The pizza still has fake cheese on it. The mineral water was delicious and I enjoyed the air conditioning...<br /><br />UPDATE 2011 C'a D'Oro closed owner MIA chef went to Hyatt but I think he left there too.John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-1777973116187019032009-02-07T10:25:00.000-08:002010-08-19T07:11:03.959-07:00UPDATE ON MY DINING HABITS & DOGFOODOccasionally, unavoidably I find myself dinning out after dark. But I've whined and moaned for so long now to friends that invitations from that quarter have dwindled. Normally I cook 3 times a week for the 4 dogs ( a Xoloitzcuintli and 3 fox terriers). I make a boeuf a la mode or short ribs paprika in the crockpot. I alternate the beef with pork and make a pibil or a chicken & rice dish. So I dip into the crockpot or invite friends over for some dogfood which causes much confusion in my canine household. When guest come to town and we are compelled to put on long trousers and go to a restaurant we only have a few choices. XCANATUN'S CASA PIEDRA is the safest choice for guests. I've been there once a month for the past year. I still prefer the barking dogs on the terrace to the piano concerts in the dining room. I was going to a new Argentine "style" restaurant on Montejo called LA RECOVA every couple of weeks but I've given up on the place as of this week. I've order the most expensive steak on the menu, a moderate one and then I just stuck the hamburger until this week of all horrors they decided to add a relish, a cheese like substance and a heap of garlic powder to my burger. For me the hamburger is sacred. When I fell of the vegetarian wagon back in 1981 it was for a hamburger. Still If I were forced to chose between the ever popular TROTTERS (no relation Charlie Trotter & not visited by me this past year) and La Recova I'd chose the latter and have a salad and lots of beer. I might even order a steak and send it back. But sadly a trip to Costco for a bag of mixed greens and a ribeye & shrimp to throw on the grill will produce a meal far superior to anything you are likely to experience in the most popular and expensive eateries frequented by the local gentry, expats who haven't lost their savings and tourist who venture out in search of a normal meal. Last year I was a regular at NECTAR where the owner chef is a talented and gracious guy. But sadly 50% of the food that comes to the table is just downright weird. I'm tired of sending food back or playing Russian roulette with my stomach. I'm also tired of over paying for a bottle of wine and so I've only been there once or twice in the past year. I've no plans to return. My last meal there cost me $75 and that was more than any of the meals I had in NYC in October and not half as good. Oh dear what does that leave. I have close friends who use Via Italia as a canteen. They love it and I don't hate it so I do eat there. I go to CAMPAY a couple of times a month for dinner and once a week for lunch. LA PIGUA is renovated and now open on weekends for dinner but I cannot imagine myself there after dark. I go there every 10 days or so and eat ceviche, oysters or octopus. I never eat the fish only because I eat fish filets every week at MARLIN AZUL. <br /><br />Now for you fortunate few who will not be having dinner with me in Merida there are still some decent options. You can still have a perfectly decent meal at Meson del Segoviano, Casa de Frida, Villa Maria or Pane y Vino downtown and pretty much any where else you're screwed. Or if you don't care about booze with your food you can eat at Rafello's Pizza or La Reina de Itzalana both of which I frequent.<br /><br />For the rest of you I can recommend the dog food. Just don't come on the night I feed them sardines or chicken livers it always puts them in a bad news. I'd offer to share the special diet lamb and rice croquets from the vet's but I cannot afford to share them with you humansJohn Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-42041174851291995772008-06-11T09:03:00.000-07:002010-08-19T07:09:34.601-07:006 Months Later...I realize it's been 6 months since I posted a new restaurant or a review. Well here is something new and below I've updated a few places.<br /><br /><br /><br />I've recently had a change of heart about La Pigua thanks to Sir Francis Drake. I'm bored with the menu at Frida's. It's great if you've never eaten there or you don't live in Merida but I'd like to see her add a daily or a least a weekly special for us desperate locals who like her kitchen. Villa Maria has finally made a change in their menu but it's in the wrong direction. The big change is they raised their prices. The menu is tired. It's been 4 years.... change it!! Every time I think of going to Pane e Vino I drive downtown, park, and discover it's Monday and they are closed. But it was still good and still dirty the last time I went.<br /><br />My conclusion after almost 7 years in Merida is this: Lunch is still better, cheaper and easier to digest than dinner. I end up eating a lot of seafood. Each week I go to El Cangrejito for tacos, Marlin Azul for filet of Grouper and Campay for sushi. (yes I still eat sushi) The worms have already eaten that part of my brain that makes one cautious about what one eats. I drop into a cocina economica most weeks and I'm rarely disappointed. I started going back to an old standby called Platos Rotos in Garcia Gineres. I'd give it mixed reviews for sure but there are some very good things there. The problem is figuring out what they are on any given day. The posole is always good.<br /><br />Yet another Italian has moved to Merida and opened a Pizza restaurant. Pizzeria Raffaello calle 60 and 49. It took him a couple of months to get the crust right but on my recent and 3rd trip it was perfect. The toppings are all fresh. The only problema is there is no wine or even beer. The good news is they deliver in centro. tel 924 99 43 Rafaello also spicks the english.<br /><br />Good LuckJohn Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-4820693416116126652007-12-01T19:19:00.000-08:002010-08-19T07:11:48.798-07:00As the Stomach Turns....I'm probably going to have to make a new blog just for this new telenovela (soap opera) that is all about where to have lunch and it happens about the same time every day.<br /><br />Iguana Blanca<br />calle 7 no.72 x 6 y 8<br />colonias Garcia Gineres<br /><br />This weeks episode starts with lunch with Suzanne and Keith at Iguana Blanca an Italian 'Cocina Economica' in a 60's suburb of Merida. The football game that the cook was watching when we came in was quickly switched to La Costes lounge music on the same TV, via SKY, and the sound bounced off the spotless white ceramic tiles and ubiquitous cement block walls until I finally asked for the owner to 'bajar el musica'. Lucas the owner is so nice and the place is so popular with expat's that I'm baffled as to why I don't "love" it. I've always liked what I've eaten here but I've never overwhelmed. Still if you must have lasagne it's usually on the menu here. I'll always remember this as the lunch where Suzanne confirmed that I had more venom than blood surging through my body. p.s. Lucas does catering<br /><br />UPDATE: JUNE 11, 2008<br /><br /><br /><br />Tio Will<br />calle 70 no. 506 x 65 y 63<br /><br />Around the corner from my house. I'd never eaten here til yesterday. Josh's parents gave us 24 hours notice and popped in from San Diego. Yesterday on the menu were pork fajitas something I did not see anyone ordering and something else I'd never heard of. I'll have to go ask Tio Will what the spelling was. It was shereaded pork patties in a pasilla chile sauce that made my head spin and my heart patter. I'll probably go back to Tio's for breakfast this morning.<br /><br />Update: Feb. 7, 2009 <br /><br />Tio Will seems to have disappeared yesterday and left the kids in charge of the kitchen. The first choice was enchiladas suiza which generally means we don't have anything in the house but some old tortillas, some inferior cheese and a can of green sauce. 2nd choice was breaded pork filet which means freezer to microwave to the breadcrumbs while the grease heats up. I went for the 3rd choice which may have been sitting around for a couple of days but was definately sitting around getting cold about the time Josh and Suzanne's pork hit the breadcrumbs. Tio Will get your ass back in the kitchen.<br /><br />Campay<br /><br />I eat lunch at this Japanese restaurant in Campestre at least once a week and sometimes we have dinner at the Colonial Mexico on Thursdays when the rolls are 1/2 price. When everything is 1/2 price it seems just like the place around the corner from "your" apartment in NY. This Thursday we had dinner there with Seamus and Abe right after their pilates class. Eric and Charles picked us up and we ran into Fritz & Werner who are always leaving a restaurant that we are arriving at. Hugs all around. I always order the Teka Maki and the Maguro Maki. Suzuki rolls made with fresh sea bass and tempura rolls when they are hot are divino.<br /><br /><br />El Cangrejito<br />calle 57 no.523 x 64 y66<br /><br />Went here with Josephina who just got back from 4 months in Buenes Aires...She came to see my new house which was finished while she was gone. When I suggested we have lunch at Cangrejito she almost fainted. "No it cannot be" Turns out her parents used to have the Cangrejito come and make tacos around the pool at home when she was a kid. When she was married El Cangrejito was the favorite of her new Swiss husband and that was at about 35 years ago. So when we got there and it was the same and owner was alive we quickly ordered our cevezita's and got down to business. And recently I discovered that it was possible to eat 5 or 6 merengues after you think you could not put another thing in your mouth......<br /><br />UPDATE: June 11, 2008<br /><br />I am still eating lunch here almost every week. It has become a favorite of most of our guests at Urbano Rentals too. But lately there is a disturbing trend I've noticed when I ask for the bill and there is more than one blond at the table. They just make up the bill and when I ask for a printed copy of the bill it has dropped about 100-150 pesos. It does not keep me away but it is really annoying after all these years to be treated like a tourist....<br /><br />UPDATE: Feb 7, 2008 Still loving Cangrejito and holding my breath when the bill comes.John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-35754416699722964872007-11-27T04:00:00.000-08:002007-11-27T04:35:25.942-08:00Last Night and Last Week on Paseo MontejoWe went to eat at one of my least favorite places in town, <a href="http://www.yucatantoday.com/culture/eng-rotm-10-07.htm" target="_blank">La Tratto</a>. It started like this. Host: "Where would you like to sit" Me: "as far from the speakers as possible". That turned out to be no where so we sat at the extreme edge of the sidewalk where we'd be able to thrust ourselves into the oncoming traffic on Paseo Montejo if need be. It was 2x1 Carne night (Mondays) and that is what got us there in the first place. I don't know why you'd eat at this place if it wasn't 1/2 price. Beware of Wednesday's when it's 2x1 over cooked, over sauced, over priced pasta night served up with more insipid loud music. Any way the Cowboy Steak (ribeye) was excellent. Was served on a bed of overcooked veggies and the fries came for dessert. Steak Dinner for 4 with beer no appetiser no dessert was 1000 pesos. and that's half price. <br /><br />At least it was edible. Last Week we were stuck on the other side of town because there was a parade from Paseo Montejo to the Zocalo for the anniversary of the revolution. We ended up driving to the Prolongation of Montejo and eating at <a href="http://www.yucatantoday.com/culture/eng-rotm-05-05.htm" target="_blank">La Parillia</a>. It turned out to be just as vile as I remembered from 5 years ago. The ribeye here was indeed so vile that we brought it home intact for the dogs....and they loved it. Luckily it was not my ribeye that night. I had the posole which was actually good. Here we also sat on the sidewalk because of the noise inside.<br /><br />So at 3am I was up with ... gas ... and found this <a href="http://rovinggastronome.com/" target="_blank">blog</a> written by Zora O'Neill. She writes for the Rough Guides. I usually rough it when I go to Tulum because I usually go with at least a couple of dogs. (for the record they love the steaks at the Argentine in Tulum). Any way she seems to get off the beaten path and her food blog is great..It must be it's 6 am and I'm still reading it....or is it the gas that's keeping me awake?John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-12585832575288794512007-11-07T05:44:00.000-08:002007-11-27T05:31:14.595-08:00Skip DessertWhere ever you're having lunch skip dessert and head over to cafe at the new Hotel San Angel. The owner is a former Olympic athlete who fell in love with Mexico back when they hosted the Olymics in 1968. Thank the gods she fell out of love with Mexico City and came to Merida a couple of years ago. She is the most gifted pastry chef in town and you can really loose yourself gazing into the vitirine of cakes and pies. Loose all sense of self control and order a plate of assorted cookies too. Go for breakfast and faint on the sofa in the corner from sugar shock. There is a book shop in the cafe and the best craft store in town. A Fonart. Not open on Sunday is about the worst thing I can say about this dreamy spot. She threatens to serve meals soon. So far there is only a sandwich menu. Home made breads to go and a few gourmet items for take out. San Angel is on calle 47 at Blvd. Montejo<br /><br /><br /><br />Near Santa Lucia park where you can have a nice lunch at the Casa Santa Lucia and the lovely looking desserts suck you can hop over to the new chocolate shop <a href="http://www.ki-xocolatl.com/eng/" target="_blank">ki-xocolatl</a>. In the Mayan and the Nahuatl languages, the word Ki-xocolatl means: delectable chocolate. Indeed. This is the newest venture by the Belgian owners of L'Almandine chocolates. They don't have the assorted chocolates that they sell in their other two locations, fools, but they have several exotic bars of chocolate and chocolate milk. We went there with a couple of strollers full of 2 and 4 year olds and no one left unhappy. Calle 55 no 513 between 60 x 62<br /><br /><br />L'Almandine is owned by a young Belgian couple Mathieu and Stephanie Brees. We quickly befriended them and have them over for dinner all the time in hopes they will bring a big box of chocolate. Sometimes we order a special dessert from them and sometimes they make ice cream and that is when I regret that I ever left the Rue de Seine apartment in Paris. More about my Berthilon withdrawals later. They use the best organic chocolate from Tabasco and they have 5 generations of master chocolatiers to back them up. The play a mean game of petanque and I'm thinking of putting a petanque court in my new house just to lure them in. They are not easy to find as they are located in a neighborhood you'll never go to called Pensiones. They are behind the La Ceiba Clinic off Circuito Colonias. Calle 5-D #313 between 38 and 38-A Tel: 920-58-69.<br />They have another locataion which is in the North. Calle 49 no 215 colonias San Antonio Cucul. Alas there is no L'Almandine in Centro.John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-90555911710974185542007-11-07T05:07:00.000-08:002007-11-23T03:38:47.087-08:00A Day or Two in the CountrySo, Answering an ad in the paper a couple of weeks ago we went out to Oxkutzcab and saw a 500 acre property down a dirt road that was more mud than dirt. The guy showing us the property had bought the best bit but we bonded after we were stuck in the mud. So he agreed to show us more property. Starving at the end of the day we had lunch in the new (opened June 3 2007) location of El Principe Tutul Xui. The dining room is a giant palapa on the second floor and the food is just as good as Mani but he old locataion is much more charming. Still if your starving in Oxkutzcab....<br /><br />Then a week later we went on another wild goose chase to see an abandoned hacienda. 3 miles down a worse road that was impassable by car because of the rain and on foot because of the brush. (Where is George Bush and his buzz saw when you need him?) So we dropped in at the Hacienda Santo Domingo de Yunku to see if we could catch the gardeners napping. So about 5pm we got around to having lunch at the nearby Hacienda Ochil. Now they offer a huge buffet of yucatecan cuisine or an a la carte menu. As we were late and they were taking down the buffet they offered to bring us a sample from the kitchen of everything on the buffet. We accepted. It was really great. If I could remember the name of the little deep fried masa balls filled with shreaded pork and achiote I would recomend them highly. alas I cannot. <br /><br />So Ochil is a great place to have lunch after visiting the museum at Hacienda Yaxcopoil or on your way to Uxmal. And El Principe Tutul Xui is still the best place for Puc Chuc in the world. And I found an orchard 4 km. from Oxkutzcab where I want to build my art studio, weekend retreat and fox terrier spa.John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-76529678711243759992007-10-30T06:47:00.000-07:002011-06-15T09:25:57.923-07:00Autentica Comida EspanolaI'm renovating a house in the neighborhood of Mejorada for a bitchy NY artist and so find myself starving most everyday. Normally I have lunch at Cafe Club (calle 55 x 60 y 58). There I only ever order veggie soup and french fries with a picher of watermelon or papaya juice. Or sometimes I go for lebaneese food at Alemeda (calle 58 x 55 y 57). I used to go to the Templo (calle 59 x 52 y 50) but when I tried to go with my carpenter and his wife last week there was a sign on the door that said open 6pm til 2am. No great loss to lunch as it always took a millinium to get your food or even a drink at lunch time even if you were the only table there. As a result we decided to walk around the corner and go to Los Alemendras, perhaps the most famous restaurant in town (God only knows why). But as we rounded the corner I said let's try this place I went to 5 years ago that was not bad. But it was closed. after we passed the cook walked out and we asked if they were closed. Contrary to appearances they were open and we went in. Oh Joy divine.<br /><br />It was the best meal I have had in Merida in years or maybe ever. I remember going through Spain a decade ago looking for a salad or a green bean and by the time I got down to Granada I thought I had scurvy. The food was so heavy and rich and hammish I thought I would explode. The first dish at Meson del Segoviano (calle 50-a no 433 x 59 y 57) gave me flashbacks. It was a roasted rib. The meat melted off the bone. I gulped down my Jamaica and ordered a beer. Soon we had a table full of Paella and an order of the freshest crispiest fried calamari I've ever had. (yours will no doubt be served half frozen and soggy). I was really in shock. The food is so mediocre in Merida for the most part that I am pretty much unshockable. But the best thing we had was a marinated octopus (end of the season now) with savory potato salad and red chile. The Segovain owner came out to see how we were and we were on the floor and the ceiling. We had exploded with the shock and awe of a perfect meal. So we had dessert. I don't remember what the others had a flan perhaps and a fried creamy thing. I was too deeply immersed in my Catalan custard. It was a rustic creme caramel that brought me back into my own body long enough to have a good strong expresso and pay the check. I was so happy I picked up the check even though I had balked at the prices. about double what you expect to pay for lunch in town. <br /><br />On wednesday next the Working Gringos are coming over for a drink to see the new house and we are going to Meson del Segoviano. It was with them that I had my first meal there 5 years ago. Hopefully it will not be my last. And yes I am prepared to be disappointed. In fact I'll be shocked if it's any good at all.<br /><br />UPDATE: Nov. 7, 2007 <br /><br />The Working Gringos' loved it too and so we went again last night for the 3rd time in 2 weeks. Each time we have been the only table in the restaurant. Hopefully it will survive to live through the upcoming season and prosper. <br /><br />Meson del Segoviano<br />calle 50-a no 443 entre 59 y 57<br />Plaza de Mejorada / Centro<br />Merida<br />tel 999 924 0055<br /><br />MESON DEL SEGOVIANA HAS MOVED<br /><br />New address is not in centro it is in Colonias San Ramon Norte near Ki Xkolatil boutique.<br /><br />calle 32 no. 219 Plaza 32 upstairs<br />col San Ramon Norte <br />glorieta del Pocito<br />Merida Yucatan 97117<br />tel 924 0055 cel 999 163 3196<br /><br />Food still good. Atmosphere more hip and younger crowd. Lack's charm but the food is still very good.John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38351161.post-84216719470235501762007-10-28T10:00:00.001-07:002007-11-23T03:24:43.360-08:00Recent ExperiencesOften, but not often enough, a new restaurant opens in Merida and closes with in 6 months. Some locations seem to absolutely jinxed. One such location is the old Jacques Dessange Salon where we used to have 2 or 3 mm trimmed from our coif about every 3 months. Now it's a 'confusion cuisine' dining room that opened with a bang in the Society pages of the local paper in September 2007. I print this date because I promise you it will not be there in 6 months time.<br /><br />I went there for lunch with this <a href="http://www.los-dos.com/local-review/verarticulo.php?IdArticulo" target="_blank">reviewer's</a> partner.<br /><br />We were the only ones there for lunch that day. We ordered a platter of empanadas which he had tried on a previous visit. They were teeny, tiny and tastey. Then he had a caesar salad. I was going to order that damn it. Instead I had something called the nasi gehring. It was inedible. I took one bite and it was so salty I thought I'd just send it back immediately. But I did not want to embarrass my dining partner. I took a tiny bite and put my fork and knife down on my plate where they remained for 10 minutes. The waiter ignored me so we chatted about the blandess of the salad and whether or not we should keep our parking space and walk over to Burger King. Finally I hailed the waiter and asked for the check, sending back the offending dish. The service was fine. The place is nice enough. But the dish which sounded like a Thai Paella on the menu was nothing more than a dish or rice that had been cooked in soy sauce til it was reduced to pure salt with a few tiny shrimp tossed in way to soon to be considered edible on their own right.<br /><br />So dear Cecil, I give you 6 months to survive and I won't be attending your funeral.John Prentice Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270834200693865439noreply@blogger.com0