Guru is a new Lebanese restaurant that the Critic and a party had a chance to visit last night. You may have seen this restaurant, lit up at night with a bar right on the street in front of the Mouriño Pemex gas station, beside the Famous All Star restaurant which the Critic hopes never to have to visit, near the Golden Island casino, Merida´s largest. Hopefully that whole spiel will help you locate the Guru restaurant!

Since it was raining, the party sat inside, a large, extremely noisy room since it is completely furnished in all hard, sound-rebounding surfaces. Conversation was difficult and at times it was easier to just ignore the conversation since it took a real effort to read peoples lips across the table.

Service was great, the waiters were friendly, funny and always there to take away plates and/or bring things. The food was good; appetizers were ordered al centro which means the center of the table and everyone helped themselves. The arrachera plate was full of tender beef and loads of grilled sweet peppers. The kafta, a lamb skewer was delicious and the party raved about the kibi crudo, a raw meat dish famous in Lebanese food that is prepared by the individual with olive oil, raw onion, mint leaves, salt and pepper and eaten with soft Lebanese bread. Kibi bola was delicious, as were the empanadas.

A few glitches: flour tortillas were asked for to accompany the arracheras, but they were out. At dessert time, the popular pay de datil – date pie – was ordered but the party was informed that it also was no longer available either. At that moment, the owner, a friend of one member of the party, showed up and when she heard about the pie shortage, informed the party that she would go to her house and pick a few pies that she had in the oven (she is the chef). The pies arrived a short while later and if you can imagine a pecan pie, but made with dates, then you have the general idea. Warm and tender and extremely flavorful, the pie was out of this world. And the fact that the owner went out of her way to get it was unheard of!

The Critic would give the restaurant a 4, based on the food and the service, and will be back to sample the menu! The restaurant also features a Lebanese all you can eat buffet on the weekends, so that is another reason to return!

Florida that is.

Sometimes it’s nice to get away and last weekend the Critic did just that, with his better half, and to get away they went to nearby Miami. The upside of Miami is that it is under 2 hours flying time away, a plus for the Critic who hates planes and the merest suggestion of turbulence. There is something unnatural about being at 30,000 feet, bumping around in a cloud bank, moving along at hundreds of kilometers and hour.

In Miami, besides the usual stops at shopping centers and malls, as well as just hanging out, there was some great restaurant sampling!

Shorty’s BBQ – South Dixie Hwy, Dadeland Mall area

The Critic loves barbeque and this is a down and dirty, high volume restaurant complete with long wooden picnic tables, concrete floor and paper bags for your bones. Fingerlicking good ribs and the corn on the cob hot ans sweet and drenched in something resembling butter. Mmm good!

Latin Café

Another standout was the Latin Café – a chain of restaurants – serving Cuban food in a Cuban atmosphere complete with supercharged mojitos and friendly/surly wait staff. If you are in the mood for a torta cubana this is one of probably a million in Miami where you can get a good one. Slabs of roast pork, Spanish chorizo, Virginia ham and melted swiss cheese in a crispy toasted pan cubano is unbeatable here. It’s the Latin 2000 and it’s a sodium bomb so make sure you have access to liquids later on, because you will need them.

On a second visit, the Critic tried the masitas cubanas, which are marinated and fried chunks of pork, succulent, chewy and oh so good. Served with pickled white onions, a huge helping of congrí and tostones (crispy fried bananas) these were absolutely scrumptious. Highly recommended for those days when you need real sustenance and a serious shot of bad cholesterol.

Latin Café locations are all over Miami – the Critic visited the one on LeJeune near the airport and another location on Biscayne Ave, near Bayside Market.

Sushi Samba – Lincoln Road, Miami Beach

Another place that is well worth a visit is Sushi Samba on the Lincoln Road pedestrian mall. While the rest of the party had some OK rolls, the Critic opted for the waiter’s suggestions, called Moqueque or something along those lines, which was a delicious seafood stew/paella/oriental combination, piping hot and featuring everything from shrimp and mussels to cashews and sprouts. All kinds of spices and condiments and then there is a luscious tender rice in the middle to soak up all the goodness. The photo hardly does the dish justice.

The green tea also deserves a mention, since they serve it with a bit of crushed fresh mint which gives it a real refreshing kick.

The Critic’s Better Half had a lemonade which was so much better than a regular lemonade that everyone at the table had to have a sip.

Try this link to see pics of the restaurant!

Nothing like a little trip out of town to refresh the palate and inspire one to write good things about food and restaurants. Enjoy.

The Casual Restaurant Critic is deeply aware of the fact that no one wants to read reviews of this American chain restaurant. But since it is the only restaurant visited lately and something must be said about all the available options in Merida, here goes.

Chili’s Altabrisa (in the new Altabrisa mall) is a notch above the Chili’s located in Liverpool, where the Critic was amazed at how bad the service was. Here, in the sparkling new mall and across from the already reviewed Fogoncito taqueria, the service is a little better while the food is the same gringo fare found at the other locations.

The Critic’s better half ordered her usual hamburger which was good enough (Carls Jr. is better), the MiniCritic ordered her favorite, cream of broccoli soup which she enjoys, and the curmudgeonly Critic ordered baby back ribs. All the food arrived without utensils of any sort and the party had to resort to hissing and whistling and finally just grabbing a bus person walking by to get some forks n knives. The burger was good, the soup was good, the ribs were OK (Friday’s has better ribs). Basically they were dry and the extra sauce asked for when the food was brought to the table took an eternity to arrive.

An on the rocks “Top Shelf” Margarita was served without any of the problems and difficulties encountered at the Liverpool location and was delicious and refreshing as usual.

The bill was asked for and once the money had been placed in the little bill-thingie, it took another eternity to get the change back. Finally the party’s waiter approached the table with the bill holder tucked under his armpit. However, he was distracted by the bus station and stopped to help roll up cutlery elegantly in wrinkled paper napkins (do not use the wrapping napkin to wipe your mouth – trust the Critic on this one). The Critic assumed he was going to do two or three to take to a table, but after watching him complete his seventh roll, he realized that the waiter had forgotten the change and bill holder in his armpit and so the waiter was called by name and he promptly came over with the bill at that point.

Please keep in mind that a Chili’s hostess will attempt to sell you a ‘membership card’ that is good for 10% off your bill at any of the participating restaurants. There are about 8-10 listed of which one is in Merida. The rest are in the D.F. You decide if it is worth your while.

Again, nothing that Chili’s did here made the Critic change his mind about the fact that this chain should be – with the notable exception of their great margaritas – near the bottom of your out-to-dinner list when in Merida.

Merida has a new restaurant that you might want to check out if you are in ‘el Norte‘, that part of town where all the action is.

The Casual Restaurant Critic first heard of this place in Plan B, that information-packed, Thursdays-only supplement in the local Diario de Yucatan newspaper. There was a catchy ad, and lo and behold, a whole page dedicated to the restaurant, which has, apparently, two locations on the entire planet: the first one, located in Amsterdam (Holland aka Netherlands for those geography-challenged, Left Behind readers) and now Mérida.

Amsterdam and Mérida share little else (understatement of the year, perhaps?) but now they share this cute little restaurant idea where the signage is funny, the food is interesting and they even have those little oriental food take out boxes complete with chopsticks.

It works like this – you pick your base, which can be rice or noodles, the latter of the rice or egg variety, which come with a bean sprout-y mix of basic veggies. Then, you add ingredients according to the contents of your wallet, the size of your appetite or your delusional thinking that you are a great chef and will invent something new. There is everything from shrimp to peanuts to choose from, each with it’s own price. Finally, you have a choice of about 7 salsas or sauces to bind it all together. Black bean garlic, Thai curry and coconut, that sort of thing. The cashier takes your money while the cooks whip up your concoction right there and then in one of two enormous woks being slaved over behind a protective sheet of glass.

The result? Before you can finish a cigarette outside, your little boxes are ready to go. The
food itself, the Critic found a little bland. Of the three combinations ordered, the Shanghai sauce was the only one with enough kick to make it tasty. The other two were rather bland, in the Critic’s humble opinion.

What about price you ask? Well, since you add your choice of ingredients and the prices are all over the map, you could probably eat cheap. The Critics meal, three orders for three people, two with shrimp and shiitake mushrooms, ran $250.00. Pesos of course.

On a scale of 1-5, the Critic rates this one a 3 for now. Take it or leave it.

Oh what fun, it is to find, such a lousy place to trash!

Chili’s with the Mini-Critic. She was hungry, the Critic was not. The Critic asked for a Margarita, not a regular one mind you, but a “Top Shelf Margarita”. The photo showed a frosty glass mug, salt rimmed and the margarita with ice. Perfect for thirst quenching after a nice MSG-infused lunch at Win Fa in the Gran Plaza!

The waiter came back after an eternity with the naranjada for the Mini-Critic. A while later, the margarita appeared, slushy as a 7-11 Slurpy. Not what he ordered, the Critic took one sip and then called the waiter. You can’t quench your thirst with a slushy, thick Slurpee.

The Critic waved his arm to get the attention of the waiter who was busy talking to one of the eight other waiters and waitresses in the barely-occupied restaurant. “I wanted this on the rocks, like in the photo. Not ‘frozen'”

A puzzled look came across the waiter’s face. “Asi vienen” he said. (this is how we make them). No, the photo indicates otherwise and the description reads ‘frozen or on the rocks’. So he took the drink and was gone for a while before he came back, with the same drink and said that that was how they were made (yes, already said that) and if the Critic wanted another one, he – the waiter – would have to pay for that one.

So whatever. The Critic, still thirsty ordered another one, on the rocks, and said to charge him or not, whatever. “Can I take this one then?”. “Yes, please do.” A long while later, another margarita appeared, this one on the rocks and delicious.

More hand waving to get the order for food.

The Mini-Critic’s sandwich arrived; unfortunately the fries were from earlier as demonstrated by their soft texture and luke warm temperature. The Critic had already given up on Chili’s by this point, so no further complaining was in store for the absent minded, nervous and completely clueless person masquerading as a waiter.

He then had a flash of inspiration gleaned perhaps from a moment when he was paying attention during the training process and came to the table to ask “Is everything alright with your sandwich, Miss?”. This was so contrived that the Mini-Critic almost lost her mouthful of food, trying not to laugh outright.

More hand waving for the bill. The bill one gets at the table has a space for adding the tip, before they take one’s credit card and that bill to run it into the cash register. This is different and since the letters are so small, the blind Critic can no longer read and so was told by the waiter that if he wanted to leave a tip then that was the time and the place to put it was on the bottom of that little bill. He waited patiently at the Critic’s side while a 10% amount was filled in. On this bill is a note regarding comments and an email address. Great! The Critic can write to someone about the wonderful service!

Off he went and soon the receipt was on the table and the ordeal was over. On the receipt that they leave you, there is mention of comments and no email address, that bill stays in the restaurant. They must really be interested in your opinion, so be sure to whip out your laptop in the time you have between them taking that bill and you getting your other receipt.

And yes, they charged the Critic BOTH margaritas, although they did take the frozen one away.

Clueless waiters (they can however, spin menus and bill holders on one finger, always impressive), formulaic gringo food that is served lukewarm and a terrific policy on handling waiter’s screwups (charge the client!!) makes Chili’s a place to avoid. The Critic gives it a solid 1.

The Casual Restaurant Critic has not eaten anywhere in downtown Mérida for eons it seems, and there is mention everywhere about the wonderful-ness of the Casa de Frida restaurant, on 61 between 66 and 66a in the formerly white city, so it was exciting to be able to try this restaurant with some Canadians who wanted to try the “chiles en nogada” that the restaurant is famous for.

After a 15 minute delay trying to find parking – the lot mentioned in Yucatan Today had a large ‘Solo Pensionados‘ sign which the Critic obeyed without question, respectful of authority as he is known to be, and forgetful of the mention of a buzzer – a spot was found on the street, about 2 blocks away, and the Critic and his ever-more-lovely Better Half was seated comfortably under a starlit sky with a boisterous group of Canadians from Quebec. The couple at the next table were assured that their quiet dinner was going to be a bit louder than they had perhaps expected.

The Critic’s overall impression of the restaurant was that it is a comfortable, welcoming ambience with details alluding to it’s namesake scattered throughout with lots of bright blue and yellow paint everywhere.

There was far too much gossip going on for any inspection of the menu, and when everyone at the table ordered the ‘chiles‘ the Critic just had to try something else. No appetizers were ordered. A quick look at the limited menu items available as main courses, the duck and mole option caught the Critic’s eye.

After a few copas of red Chilean wine and much chatter, the dishes arrived, not before several orders of camarones al mojo de ajo (garlic shrimp) made their sizzling and overpoweringly fragrant way past the table, making everyone’s tastebuds tickle with anticipation.

The chiles en nogada are exceptional. The Critic’s Better Half was in heaven and declared them the best she has ever tried, anywhere, including Puebla, from where the dish originates. The Canadians too were rapturous and cleaned their plates contentedly. Meanwhile, the Critic had before him a breast of duck, covered in rich red/chocolate colored mole sauce, served alongside a small bed of steaming white rice, perfectly cooked. It is hard to describe mole but one could start by pronouncing it correctly (MOH-lay) because when you read it in English, it sounds like a rodent thing. The Critic was blown away by this exquisite home-made mole, it’s sweet, spicy, thick smoky flavor – and the portion size was perfect. Of course the Critic shared the duck and managed to obtain in return, a bite size morsel of the chile and it was fabulous.

Afterwards, the out of towners were treated to Xtabentun, an almond tart (the sliced almonds on top were toasted and still warm as they rested atop the smooth, not too sweet tart) and got to meet the chef, Gabriela, who received a round of enthusiastic applause from the table.

As for the rest, the service was, in the Critic’s humble opinion, a little slow on the uptake; not keeping their eyes on wineglasses and the table in general. When something was needed – another glass of wine, another Xtabentun, the bill – one had to get the attention of one of the 3 or 4 waiters working the three tables occupied at the time.

The overall experience was very good and the Critic will be back, with more time to actually look at the menu, sample some appetizers and perhaps another main course. Stay tuned! Meanwhile, the Critic gives Frida’s Casa a solid 4.5 which is almost perfect. The food certainly is!