Tag: food photography

Postcard from Oaxaca, Mexico: Two more dining destinations

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The enclosed patio of Los Danzantes is always a favorite, with top-notch service and a diverse menu. With the accompanying tortillas, the queso fundido appetizer with an abundance of huitlacoche, corn smut, is hearty enough to completely fill up two. The delicate tuna tartar tostadas are a more manageable starter for venturing farther down the menu. A giant leaf of hoja santa is filled with goat cheese and surrounded by a tangy sea of tomatillo sauce. Regional goat cheese flavors the creamy rice and fills a hearty serving of chicken with a huitlacoche sauce. The chocolate cascada releases warm, molten chocolate, and crème brulee is tinged with fragrant rosemary.

creamy rice at Los Danzantes
apple tart at Los Danzantes
fried bread at El Olivo Gastropub
rosemary creme brulee at Los Danzantes
queso fundido with huitlacoche at Los Danzantes
arroz negro at El Olivo Gastropub
coffe ice cream at El Olivo Gastropub
seafood paella at El Olivo Gastropub
cascada de chocolate at Los Danzantes
El Olivo Gastropub
tuna tartar tostadas at Los Danzantes
Los Danzantes
eggplant at El Olivo Gastropub
goat cheese wrapped in hoja santa at Los Danzantes
chicken stuffed with goat cheese in huitlacoche sauce at Los Danzantes
shrimp with pernod at El Olivo Gastropub
vegetarian lasagna at Los Danzantes
coco de jamon at El Olivo Gastropub

Many people head to El Olivo Gastropub for tapas, but we found their main seafood dishes are amazing, even after spending six weeks in Spain this past summer. The arroz negro, blackened with squid ink and fortified with an assortment of seafood and vegetables, was the Mister’s favorite dish during our month-long stay in Oaxaca. The pernod flavoring the shrimp dish had me hooked. The coffee ice cream with nut brittle tucked under it was both better and, amazingly, less expensive than the helados peddled on the Plaza Socrates in front of Soledad. The rooftop is fanned by breezes on even a warm afternoon.

Postcard from Oaxaca, Mexico: Settling into La Biznaga

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It would be easy to simply blame it on the margaritas. They are a major magnet. We are absolutely convinced La Biznaga shakes up the best ones anywhere, and we begin every meal there with one. It’s the first place we go when we hit town and the last place we go before leaving.

But our love of La Biznaga also lies in its menu. There are so many different dishes to try, and servers don’t mind if all you order is a quesadilla (under $2) or a bowl of soup. A new favorite for the Mister this time was the luscious blackberry mole over turkey breast meat. I confess I stole a little of the mole and drizzled it over seared tuna encrusted with amaranth seeds; it was perfect for it. The light and refreshing mushroom “ceviche” one day left room for us to share the rich coconut flan bathing in a mezcal-infused cajeta sauce.

watercress salad at La Biznaga
margaritas at La Biznaga
mextlapique of wild mushrooms at Cabuche
spinach and grapefruit salad at La Biznaga
seared tuna encrusted with amaranth seeds at La Biznaga
Cabuche
coconut flan mezcal-infused cajeta at La Biznaga
dorado ceviche at Cabuche
turkey breast with blackberry mole at La Biznaga
tuna with green beans and avocado at La Biznaga
cappuccino coffee at La Biznaga
chicken and plantains in guava mole at La Biznaga
sopa azteca at La Biznaga
chicken breast with oregano and plantains at La Biznaga
tasajo with sausage and chile poblano at La Biznaga
mushroom “ceviche” at La Biznaga

La Biznaga does have a younger sibling restaurant in town, Cabuche. The menu is entirely different. We enjoyed Cabuche’s fresh ceviche and the unusual Mextlapique, a roasted corn husk stuffed full of smoky wild mushrooms native to Oaxaca.

We thought of returning, but big brother Biznaga does have an unfair advantage, that magnetic margarita served on a spacious sunny patio….

Postcard from Puebla, Mexico: An unlikely trio of favorite restaurants

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When you stay a month somewhere, you have time to assemble a list of your favorite food spots. This trio of restaurants has virtually nothing in common with one another, aside from the fact that we liked them, repeatedly in two of the cases.

Although we arrived rain-soaked, the craft cocktails at Pinche & Chef helped us recover quickly. The thinly-sliced roasted beet salad is layered with mandarin oranges, fresh lemon balm and Boursin IPODERAC cheese, created from goat’s milk by a Swiss-born cheesemaker who relocated to Atlixco, Mexico, more than two decades ago. A perfect avocado was filled with shrimp cocktail for a refreshing appetizer.

The queso Bourdin made a return visit accompanying salmon with a light chile poblano salsa. The Mexican take on risotto is a rich and creamy combination of chile poblano, corn, huitlachoche, mushrooms and an artisanal cheese from yet another Mexico-based cheesemaker. We finished the meal with a wonderful house-made blackberry gelato.

The only reason we did not make a return trip to Pinche & Chef was that we prefer to walk places, and it is located in a strip center out beyond the centro historico of Puebla. Once inside, the strip center location is well-disguised. The interior is casually elegant, and the chef-driven cuisine is fresh, contemporary and well-worth the inexpensive cabfare. Go for it.

Pinche y Chef beet salad
Moyuelo salad with grilled peaches
Moyuelo zucchini tempura amuse-bouche
Restaurante Lola resident musician
Pinche y Chef avocado stuffed with shrimp cocktail
Moyuelo shrimp chalupas
Moyuelo crafted cocktails
Moyuelo condiments
Restaurante Lola sandwich
Pinche y Chef poblano and corn risotto
Restaurante Lola mezcal
Pinche y Chef salmon
Moyuelo queso
Moyuelo chile poblano
Moyuelo cemita soup bowl filled with corn and poblano soup
Restaurante Lola mojito
Moyuelo open kitchen
Restaurante Lola
Restaurante Lola fish and shrimp tacos
Restaurante Lola salad
Moyuelo dried shrimp aguachile
Moyuelo mushroom soup
Restaurante Lola caprese
Moyuelo croquettes
Pinche y Chef blackberry helado
Restaurante Lola house salad
Moyuelo grilled platano creme brulee
Moyuelo cemitas
Moyuelo awaiting ceremonial pouring of mushroom soup
Restaurante Lola guacamole

Moyuelo, on the other hand, was only about three blocks from our apartment. Cocktails are crafted slowly, so sit back and order them prior to food. The kitchen always supplies you with a tasty, amuse-bouche, but absolutely do not fail to order the chalupas de camaron confitado. This combination of plump shrimp, gremolata and a salsa that leaves no tastebud in your mouth unstimulated served atop blue corn tortillas on a slate plate currently is my absolutely favorite dish anywhere. The aguachile preparation of dried shrimp and guacamole is a great starter as well.

During the season in August and September, Moyuelo turns out a perfectly executed version of chiles en nogada. The restaurant’s walnut-sauced chiles studded with pomegranate seeds were among the most handsome we saw, but the recipe is so highly regulated by Puebla’s chiles en nogada council that restaurants dare not deviate from the classic preparation of the city’s hallmark dish.

Soups at Moyuelo are far from ordinary. The mushroom soup is poured ceremoniously into a bowl dusted with dried mushrooms and epazote at the table. The cream of chile poblano, squash and corn soup is nestled in a bowl carved out of a sesame-topped fresh cemita roll.

Moyuelo has elevated the famous cemita sandwiches found everywhere on the streets of Puebla to lofty new heights. The Mister was hooked on the traditional milanesa, tender pork loin coated in a garlic and cheese crust and crowned with pesto, artisanal cheese and avocado. Sure you can consume a milanesa cemita standing on a street corner, but why would you when the chefs of Moyuelo are turning out a far superior one for less than $5? And the addictive accompanying little chile-spiked roasted potatoes should be available in larger quantities as a side order.

And then there is Lola. Located close to the Main Plaza on a shady pedestrian street, laid-back and friendly Restaurante Lola was our major hangout for lunch in Puebla. Lola offers one cocktail, a freshly-muddled mojito. We customized ours by requesting mezcal instead of rum. Order it before your main courses, or they overlap and you won’t be have time to progress to a glass of the inexpensive house red.

Everything at Lola is a bargain, but that is not what kept us coming back. Guacamole is made-upon-ordering and arrives with crisp totopos. The salads are always fresh and equal to those served in high-end establishments. The bright red tomatoes layered with an ample supply of fresh mozzarella made the caprese one of our go-to dishes. Sandwiches are made on artisanal bread, and the grilled vegetable one is outstanding.

Comfortable as your favorite pair of jeans, Lola is the perfect place for enjoying lighter fare and people-watching in downtown Puebla. And we did on numerous occasions.