Tag: restaurant reviews

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

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.

 

Postcard from Madrid, Spain: Flavorful food memories

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Yearning for a great arroz dish, after much reading, we settled on a Madrid classic – El Caldero. The paella pan of beautiful looking rice arrives tableside, and, with much formality, the waiter divides it up and then tops it with the seafood in a dark, rich broth. As we looked at it, we were happy he divided it fairly because there really was not much there, considering the price, once you removed the shells – a small piece of bonito each, one or two shrimp, maybe two pieces of squid. The rice was good, but did not bowl us over. The fried eggplant appetizer, however, was heavenly. Most of the people in the restaurant were suits conducting serious international business of some kind or another. In other words, El Caldero was a bit stuffy for this pair of travelers.

The place we preferred down the street a few blocks definitely was more casual. In fact, it was chaotically crowded, with walls covered with funky collections of random things. The place was inexpensive. Dishes arrived in no particular or predictable order. The seating was upon uncomfortable wooden stools at wooden tables too small to accommodate all the pots of food presented. But we really liked this place, Taberna Maceiras, enough so that we ate there at least three times. A skillet of sizzling padron chiles made for a great starter. We enjoyed Galician style octopus rice, fried calamari, traditional bean stews, meat stews and perfectly prepared mussels in this polar opposite of El Caldero.

Another wonderful rut we slipped into was Gastromaquia Chueca. Maybe it was the grilled goat cheese caramelized with honey and topped with a glistening pesto. Or the scoops of lemon basil sorbet with rum poured over them tableside for a refreshing mojito-style desert. Guacamole was served with ultra-thin plantain chips; seafood arroz topped El Caldero; and richly curried mussels were moist and plump. And, as we were regulars, we enjoyed sipping Spanish liqueurs offered us at the end of our meals. Please, fly me back there today.

kim bu mbu
taberna maceiras mussels
gastromaquia curried mussels
taberna maceiras toys
saporem vegetables
arabia entryway
gastromaquia dessert mojito
saporem
a.n.e.l. pepper stuffed with rape and shrimp
la vaca y la huerta entrecote
kim bu mbu fish wrapped in banana leaf
kim bu mbu fish croquettes
el caldero arroz
saporem chicken curry
gastromaquia grilled goat cheese carmelized with honey and topped with pesto
gastromaquia liquers
saporem arroz with shrimp tempura
le cabrera fried potatoes
arabia grilled eggplant
le cabrera grilled asparagus
gastromaquia roasted artichoke hearts
el caldero seafood
a.n.e.l. salmorejo
la croquetta eggpant with honey and croquettes
taberna maceiras traditional stew
a.n.e.l. vegetable tempora
gastromaquia squash soup
la croquetta apple dessert croquettes
gastromaquia papas bravas
gastromaquia arroz with mussels
a.n.e.l calamari
la vaca y la huerta orange flan
gastromaquia guacamole
taberna maceiras fried calamari
la vaca y la huerta minestrone
le cabrera grilled trout with pureed squash
saporem fish
el caldero fried eggplant with salmorejo
el caldero amuse-bouche
la vaca y la huerta salmon
gastromaquia stuffed zucchini
le cabrera classic jamon iberico bocadillo
la vaca y la huerta squash soup

Croquettes can be found everywhere, but many of them are not worth the calories. We opted to go to the specialists, La Croquetta. Squash and eggplant croquettes arrived with a refreshing sauce of yogurt and mint, and the jamon Iberico ones were perfect. Melting goat cheese in one was studded with nuts and raisins, and fried eggplant was drizzled with honey.

Salmorejo is a seasonal favorite in Madrid. The creamy rich cousin of gazpacho traditionally arrives with bits of chopped egg and thinly shaved jamon Iberico in the middle. One of the places we spooned into this was a.n.e.l., a popular neighborhood tapas spot a block from our apartment. This was a nice stop for lightly battered vegetable tempura, fried calamari or sliders; although I never understood its name.

Directly across the street from our apartment in the Casa de America cultural center was Le Cabrera. The comfortable patio offered bargain lunch specials, many of which emerged from the kitchen of the extremely tony restaurant next door, Cien Llaves. Grilled asparagus topped with thin slices of parmigiano reggiano and grilled trout were among the dishes we tried. We probably would have eaten there again, but, by lunch time, we generally had wandered far from home.

Also close to home was La Vaca y la Huerta, a place that fills up completely at prime times. Here the Mister could find beef entrecote served as rare as he wanted, while I could get a beautiful plate of grilled vegetables or salmon.

We enjoyed the comfortable atmosphere of Saporem during two of our lunches. While the bowl full of vegetables looks bland, they were wonderfully prepared. Shrimp tempura atop rice was nicely presented with a spicy sauce.

In a capital city, one needs to experience some of the cuisines imported from abroad. We loved both the look and food of Arabia, but photos turned out too poorly to share. Falafel and grilled eggplant topped with fresh chopped tomatoes were artfully presented, and the lamb couscous was tender.

Then we decided to dip into Sub-Sahara African food at Kim Bu Mbu, easier to type than say. The small intimate restaurant is nothing short of handsome inside. Among the specialties were fish croquettes with eggplant sauce and fish steamed in a banana leaf.

Now, I’m stopping because I have made myself starving.

If you know us at all, you are probably wondering where are all the photos from Italian restaurants. Believe it or not, we didn’t find an Italian restaurant in Madrid we liked enough to include.

If you are staying in Madrid for any length of time and read Spanish, revolt against TripAdvisor. Guia Metropoli Comer y Beber en Madrid is written by locals for locals and is updated radically on an annual basis. The paperback doesn’t have quite enough information to replace internet research, but it doesn’t just rattle off the tired top 10 tourist favorites.

Postcard from Salamanca, Spain: Reflecting on restaurants away from the Plaza Mayor

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While waiting for a train, an American college student studying in Salamanca asked us how many times we had eaten on the Plaza Mayor. Our answer was not once, aside from a scoop of ice cream. Looking over what was being served atop the tables as we strolled through, we determined to seek Salamancan specialties elsewhere. We were well-rewarded.

El Club Nautico is a simple, straightforward restaurant preparing fresh seafood allowed to stand on its own. No overpowering sauces disguise their natural flavor. The grilled pulpo was seasoned the traditional Galician way, with paprika. Scallops were doused with olive oil and a touch of oregano. And vegetable-hungry, we were presented with a mountainous platter.

Naturally, we sampled a vegetarian restaurant, El Laurel. As with several restaurants, there is one host/waitperson/busser on the floor with the tables. The kitchen is on a floor below, a dumb-waiter linking the two. Somehow one person manages more efficiently than three or four at home. El Laurel’s salad arrived on a platter laden with rounds of goat cheese, fruits and greens. The asparagus risotto was wonderful, but the vegetable paella with its rather ordinary vegetables could be skipped. The ample salad and risotto would have been enough for both of us anyway.

La Hoja 21 “moneybags” of goat cheese
La Hoja 21 grilled calamari
La Hoja 21 arroz con pulpo
El Club Nautico mountain of vegetables
jamon Iberico
El Laurel asparagus risotto
El Pecado creamy lentil amuse bouche
El Pecado risotto
El Pecado jam-stuffed tomato salad
El Pecado entryway
El Laurel salad
El Club Nautico grilled pulpo
La Hoja 21 raba de toro
La Hoja 21 salad with cubes of mushroom pate
El Pecado grilled vegetables
La Hoja 21 dessert
El Pecado lemon dessert
El Pecado seafood pizza-crepe two
El Laurel vegetable paella
El Pecado reflection
El Club Nautico scallops
La Hoja 21 salmon
El Pecado seafood pizza-crepe one
La Hoja 21 eggplant and mushroom risotto
helado on Plaza Mayor
typical empanada of jamon and lomo

La Hoja 21 has a soothing dining room that drew us in twice. Although we rarely eat three courses at home, afternoon menu del dia combinations represent such incredible bargains in Spain. If you choose the one at La Hoja, you must remain in the front room without the linens. But you will not dine alone in exile; that seems to be where most locals eat as well. Delicate pastry tied up an appetizer of goat cheese-filled “moneybags.” Arroz con pulpo was enhanced with chunks of chorizo, and eggplant risotto was infused with the deep smokiness of wild mushrooms. Both salmon and grilled calamari arrived perfectly cooked, and the sauce of the Mister’s raba de toro (bull’s or ox-tail) was so vibrant and rich not a drop remained on his plate. What looked like an average fresh salad was filled with fluffy light cubes of wild mushroom pate. Definitely a restaurant not to miss.

If dining at El Pecado is sinful, we are doubly-guilty. The Mister fell for the light pizza-crepe bearing huge amounts of seafood; the one on our return visit proved even better than his first. On both visits we were greeted by a creamy lentil amuse-bouche. Tomatoes filled with raspberry jam and topped with rounds of goat cheese made a refreshingly different salad, while a honey-mustard sauce sweetened a plate of grilled vegetables. A rich risotto was among the menu del dia specials, followed by a sweet lemon crème topped with tart grated lemon peel. We would have sinned again if our stay had been longer.

And in Salamanca, jamon Iberico is found everywhere. Considering trying to seduce my sisters away from our traditional Smithfield ham at Thanksgiving….