Tag Archives: chamorro

The Casual Restaurant Critic at La Galeria Cantina Artesanal

The Casual Restaurant Critic and his Better-than-Ever Half, had the opportunity (by invitation) to visit this cantina/restaurant and sample some of their amazing food very recently. With expectations not really high nor low but somewhere in between, both the Critic and BH were blown away by the food, which is on the level of some of the best they have tried in Merida, and if you are fan of Mexican food prepared with imagination, creativity, and attention to detail, you are in for a treat.

The room itself is a mixup of an art gallery – there is all kinds of art on the walls – cantina and restaurant. Real tables and chairs, cool and dark, and music videos on the television monitors.

Service is a little distracted until Salvador, one of the owners, shows up and then things improve dramatically. When asked what beers they had, the answer was “Sol y Lager” and when asked for more detail and what other beers there were, as in artisanal beers, the information became a little more detailed. La Cantina offers a chocolate stout and an IPA by Tatich, a local craft beer. The Critic ordered the dark which was a delicious accompaniment to the food that followed.

Salvador told the Critic that the idea of the restaurant/cantina is to provide guests with a relaxing space where the beer is cold and not expensive (at $25 pesos it’s much cheaper than other places that serve free botanas) but with excellent food also at a reasonable price. A place you can visit 2 or more times a week and not break your pocketbook. And the food, dear readers, is truly amazing! Ingredients and recipe ideas from all over Mexico -guacamole w mezcal anyone? – are combined with Yucatecan influences to create original, delicious dishes that are generously portioned and extremely satisfying. You will not feel you are in a normal cantina; this is a much more gourmet experience and will please the most ardent foodie.

Enjoy the photos and come to eat here soon! La Galeria Cantina Artesanal is located on the corner of 54 and 35, very close to the CMA hospital just down the street, and open from 1-11 PM. Credit cards and cash are accepted.

A dark cool place to escape the midday heat

Blue corn chips for scooping up these delicious lentil and bean dips

The room. Plenty of art everywhere

Castacan con pulpo salad. This dish is gigantic and can be shared among many. Not to be missed!

Real mushrooms, real gouda cheese, looks as good as it tastes!

 

Poc chuc

Octopus tacos and grilled tuétano!

Blue corn tortillas

The men’s bathroom is worth visiting, truly

Entry to the bathrooms; if you’ve had too much to drink, you might find all the glass and mirrors somewhat disorienting. But this is the nicest baño you will ever find in a cantina, guaranteed.

More art on the walls!

The bar

Piece de resistance: pork chamorro bathed with home-made mole sauce

Roasting those bones

Chef Miguel Uicab at work

The Man behind the Magic, Miguel Uicab

The Casual Restaurant Critic is buying new pants – Hermana Republica reviewed!

img_9914

Hola!

Just when you thought it was safe to visit a restaurant without some idiot snapping photos of every single dish, the Critic strikes again, camera in hand, to review the Hermana Republica on the Merida-Progreso highway.

If you haven’t seen it, you have been spending far too much time in El Centro de Merida, where admittedly the offerings have been improving and where the Critic does not often venture, what with the dearth of parking and the enormous amount of time it takes to get there from his casa.

The Hermana República (sister republic) is an affectionate term for the Yucatan, employed by long-time fans of an independent Yucatan and the occasional jokester who understands that the Yucatan is a different place from the rest of the República Mexicana.  The restaurant that bears this name is located just after the Xcanatun exit on the afore-mentioned highway and features a very large, very in-your-face Yucatecan flag flapping proudly. This flag was the actual flag used when the Yucatan was an independent state back in the day, separate from the hated waches and other foreign meddlers (except for International Harvester – that was alright)

But, and in the keeping of this long-standing blog, the Critic digresses once again.

You want to hear about the restaurant and the Critic can tell you without hesitation that the food is great! While Better Half had pork cooked with mushrooms and a delicious gravy that warranted ordering the excellent (really – excellent!) french fries to soak up the juice, the Critic ordered the pork ribs cooked in smoky adobe. To the side of the ribs was sour and crunchy esquite corn, sans cream thank god. Both dishes were fantastic. Five stars on the food. Again, just to be clear, the french fries are disturbingly delicious – the Critic had to have them removed from the table in order not to devour the entire generous helping.

Appetizers included the guacamole with chicharron and sikil-pak, which is a must for any restaurant flying the Yucatan flag so proudly. That was really the only ‘typical’ dish on the menu. No queso relleno, no poc chuc, no relleno negro. The truth is, no hacen falta. No need to duplicate what others are already doing, in some cases well.

There was also a trio of very fresh salsas: tomate verde, chiltomate and habanero. It’s been a while since the Critic had such fresh salsas; they literally dance on your tongue and don’t just lie there like a tomato-flavored piece of sock as is so often the sad case in many Merida restaurants. The tostadas too, deserve special mention. They are baked apparently, thick and smoky tasting, like in some pueblo – and anyone who appreciates such subtleties can not stop eating them.

Service is adequate and friendly with the usual quiet/shy/unsure component shining through ; the room is essentially a box but a tastefully decorated and well air-conditioned one so it feels cozy. The furniture is real, no plastic.

img_9907

Skip dessert; the apple pie with vanilla ice cream was the choice but the pastry is too dough-y, which is overbearing and those poor apple chunks (and there aren’t that many of them) get lost in their heavy casing. It is warm though and potentially could be good with the ice cream on the side. Perhaps switch to a crumble? No photo because by the time the Critic remembered, the poor tart had already been jackhammered to death.

It should be noted that this is (out back) the actual brewery where Patito beer is made. You have heard of Patito beer? It along with Maneek and Ceiba are the microbreweries that are putting Yucatan beer making back on the map where it should be. So of course beer is highlighted on the menu also and one can order 2 samplers with four beers each (5 ounce glasses – you can do this) to try all eight varieties of local, microbrewed cerveza.  From stout and porter to Weizenbier, there is surely a cerveza for you here. Critic’s choice? Vanilla Porter and Belgian Blonde. Take a chew of a tostada between each beer to cleanse the palate.

Outside, there is a courtyard with wooden picnic tables and a row of food trucks that start up in the evenings, creating a biergarten atmosphere, hidden just a few meters from the busy highway. No retenes either out this way!

img_9903

img_9904

img_9905

img_9906

img_9909

img_9911

img_9913

Au Pied de Cochon in Merida? Really? Well, kind of.

The Critic saw the sign, a vinyl banner on one side of the Intercontinental hotel here in Merida, announcing the fact that Au Pied de Cochon was in their restaurant, a temporary visit by the chef with all his great food and the complete menu! Until the 17th of February, which yesterday, was tomorrow and is now today.

If you know the Au Pied de Cochon restaurant in the Distrito Federal, you know that it is a nice – very nice – place to have some fantastic food and enjoy the good service typical of Mexico City’s restaurants where you had better provide good service to your customers or there are 17 people standing in line for your job. If you know that, you will understand the critique. If you don’t, click on the link to see their menu and location and by all means go and soon.

The Critic made a reservation – the day before – for the Better Half and the MiniCritics both and all four arrived at the Frutas y Flores Restaurant in the Intercontinental restaurant here in the formerly white city of Merida, turning into the hotels underground parking lot in sentido contrario as it is not really clear that this is an exit, but the Critic digresses once again from the subject at hand which involves pigs and their feet; that is, the restaurant.

Standing in the entryway to the restaurant, the Critic immediately felt both silly and dismayed. Silly because he had made the reservation and dismayed because the restaurant, with the exception of one table, was completely devoid of human activity except for the waiters. At 8:30 PM, perhaps it was early. The young man at the door welcomed the party and when the reservation was mentioned, he smiled and said to choose any table. He then left the group to get to the table of their choice appearing when it was reached to help the ladies with their chairs.

A bread basket, containing white rolls, probably baked on site, slightly warmed and accompanied by a pat of hard butter with the signature Au Pied de Cochon wax paper arrived soon after.

Let’s stop here for a moment. If you have had the fortune to visit the Mexico City location, you have probably noticed that this is not what happens there: a) you will never find the restaurant empty; b) the hostess will never let you stroll in unaccompanied and pick any table and c) the bread basket contains a variety of delicious breads, only two of which are white rolls. If you haven’t been, you’re probably thinking everything is hunky-dory up to this point, or at least normal for Merida.

The appetizers arrived and the usual Yucatecan question arose: the waiter picked up the French Onion Soup, looked at the diners and asked “Sopa de Cebolla“? The Critic has written about this infuriating lack of a system to identify diners before and so another demerit point was silently added to the experience. Why, in an empty restaurant, the waiters cannot make a note of who ordered what is beyond the Critics comprehension.

The French Onion soup was superb. Cheesy, hot and full of flavor. The tomato soup was, well, a tomato soup, only luke warm and offered little in the oohs and aahs department. The Critic had fallen in love with the clam appetizer in Mexico City and had looked forward to this buttery cholesterol bomb all day and when it arrived, it disappointed. Both luke warm and lacking in the fatty deliciousness of the Mexico City version, it was just OK.

The main courses. The ‘entire menu’ concept was a little misleading as there was no lechon confitado, con  lentejas  y tocino which the better looking Better Half had enthusiastically enjoyed and so she ordered the scallops. Mini Critics ordered duck confit and roasted pigs foot with Bearnaise sauce. The waiter returned a short while after taking the orders to inform the table that the duck confit was not available and would a duck breast do? Alas, the pigs foot was also unavailable and it was suggested that the roasted chamorro (a little higher up on the pigs leg) could be ordered instead. Perhaps it was because this was their last day, but still, one would expect they have everything on the menu when dealing with this level of restaurant. Just a thought. The Critic chose the rib eye with French fries and a green peppercorn sauce, thinking that it would be something along the lines of Trotters Steak au Poivre, with those delectable thin crispy potatoes that you can’t stop eating once you start.

Everyone – well, almost everyone – thoroughly enjoyed their meal; the flavors were delectable although again, the food temperatures were not as hot as they should/could have been. The Critics rib eye steak dinner was the worst of the four: it was unevenly cooked, luke warm, thin as a bistek and the French fries were almost surely of the frozen in a bag from Costco variety. Highly disappointing, even with the addition of the rather glutinous green peppercorn sauce.

For dessert, a creme brulee which was very good.

In summary, the Au Pied de Cochon franchise lent it’s name to a promotion that will probably not garner them any fans and for those who are already fans, it was a huge disappointment. A recommendation or not is a moot point as today is their last day.

Uruguay vs Netherlands

The Critic and I enjoyed a rousing semi-finals World Cup soccer match while chomping on crispy chewy pork chamorro washed down with a frosty German Schwarzbier.

Don Jürgen, el owner, stopped at each table to chat and mentioned that for tomorrows über-exciting match between Spain and Germany, every single seat was already reserved; standing room only!

In any case, I will on the road, somewhere between Progreso and Uxmal and will have to conform to the radio version of the transmission on W Radio on FM.

Nothing like the World Cup!