Monthly Archives: March 2010

Elton John is Coming! (coming to the Yucatan)

Life in the Yucatan, , , , ,

Sorry about the headline if it threw you off there for a minute.

Since I wrote about Sarah Brightman and her concert at Chichen Itzá, I should probably do the same about Elton John. I only wish that I could announce that Sir Elton’s visit will result in a great increase in tourism which in turn will benefit someone other than a few officials.

In a few weeks – April 3 to be exact – Elton John will present a concert at the Mayan site of Chichen Itzá, supposedly to ‘promote Yucatan’ in some vague touristy sort of way. I am pretty sure that Yucatan is already on most people’s tourist maps and that the money paid to bring Eltom (as he is know locally) could be better used elsewhere.

But whatever. Who am I – a neurotic foreigner – to question the infinite wisdom of the sage decisions made by the higher-ups?

All that exposure will mean more people coming to the Yucatan and then wondering how the hell you can have such a huge tourist attraction as Chichen Itzá next to the dirt covered poverty of the nearby hamlet of Pisté, whose residents evidently receive little to no benefit of having this cash cow next to their village.

Rosas y Xocolate for Dinner

Casual Restaurant Critic, , ,

After getting such a good impression from their breakfast the other day (the review got lost on this blog as old stuff was imported from blogger.com – oops) and hearing nothing but raves, the Critic invited the always gracious Better Half out for dinner at Rosas y Xocolate.

It was a Saturday so the Critic called ahead to reserve a table for two. “Inside or out?”  Inside, since it was a bit ‘chilly’ by Yucatecan standards. A few moments later, a phone call to inform the Critic that the restaurant was full inside; would the interior patio be OK. Fine. Packed an additional layer of warmth and off to dinner!

Upon arrival, a hostess at the door either didn’t understand the Critic (he mumbles occasionally) or was so distracted by the amount of people inside that it was not immediately clear that she knew about the reservation. Another hostess-like person appeared and took the Critic and BH to a small table for two in the interior patio area, where a lovely, quiet breakfast had been had before.

However, this Saturday night the place was far from quiet; Rosas y Xocolate was packed, and not just with tables of 2 or 4; most were tables of 6 to 12 people, raucously celebrating perhaps their good fortune at having been born into the ‘haves’ category. Waiters ran this way and that, trays in hand while the hostesses moved among the tables with their arms behind their backs, seating people at the few remaining tables. The owner himself moved smoothly among the tables like a grey wolf, patting arms and chatting with his guests.

After about 10 minutes of sitting at the table, listening to what was obviously a talented singer doing the usual bar/lounge classics at a volume inappropriate to the space involved, the Critic and BH debated leaving since no one had actually acknowledged the fact that the table was now occupied. The Critic decided that it would be an interesting experience to see how long it took to get some service. Another 10 minutes passed before the owner showed up at the table to ask if everything was alright, at which time the Critic and BH mentioned that a menu or a drink would be a nice touch.

Watching the action, the Better Half noted that the staff were running around like ‘chickens with their heads cut off’.

To make a long story (and wait) short, it was 40 minutes before anything edible arrived at the table in the form of the restaurants’ homemade bread and this only happened because the Critic literally stopped a busboy passing by who has a tray of bread and some pats of butter.

The food, six appetizers chosen from the menu, was fantastic.

A duck salad, sauteed shrimp, fried octopus, beef carpaccio, palmitos and salmon chunks on crispy wontons were brought out in twos and each was exquisite, especially the octopus and the salmon.

But the service throughout was haphazard and extremely unorganized from what could be observed. Of particular concern was the cleaning lady who passed the table at least 7 times on her way to and from the bathrooms, wearing one white latex glove with which she apparently cleaned the garbage baskets in the bathrooms, and carrying everything from the mentioned waste baskets with toilet paper in them, fresh and or dirty towels depending on the direction she was walking, toilet paper rolls etc. BH commented that this was the first time she had ever seen something like this and was absolutely fascinated in an unbelieving and incredulous way that this could even happen in a restaurant of any caliber.

In short, Rosa y Xocolate is a fine place for dinner, but the Critic recommends not going on a Saturday night when the place is packed.

S’Tai Restaurant – Review by Chris

Casual Restaurant Critic, Inspired, , , , , , , , ,

Hi William. I check out your reviews whenever I’m looking for some place decent to eat out in Merida. We’ve been curious about S*Tai for a long time and finally went last night. Have you been there and did you review it? I didn’t see a review if you did.

We were pleasently surprised – very nice tuna encrusted with black sesame appetizer (but small – order something additional if you’re hungry,) chicken with green curry – overly spicey and salty BUT edible. Last but not least – a delicious Pad Thai (with pretty hefty grilled shrimp) – that was the highlight of the night. It was the one thing we ate that pretty much hit the mark on authentic thai cuisine.

The decors is nice, modern, very loungy and comfortable. Typcial yucatecan service…..after carefully reviewing the menu and the special card that was laid on the table, we were ready to order and ordered the scallops that were on the special card. Of course – they were out of scallops – something the waiter should have mentioned when he laid the special card on the table. Lots of waiters and bus boys walking around but no one got around to cleaning the wet noodles off of the table and we had to track people down whenever we needed anything additional (like a glass of water.) We were the ONLY table in the restraurant – you’d think that they would have been more attentive to our needs. Oh well……can’t have EVERYTHING!

Chris