Saturday, June 25, 2011

Rehash: Four Morelia Restaurants Revisited




We were in Morelia over a weekend recently, and revisited three restaurants which we'd reviewed earlier. The results were mixed.

Friday afternoon, we went to El Pescador, on Avenida Cuautla, just south of Av. Madero Poniente. This will undoubtedly be our last visit. Its not that the food is bad, it's that it fails to meet expectations through lack of attention to detail.

A michelada con clamato was passable, but came with a branch of celery  that had seen better days.

I had a Coctel "Viagra". of mixed seafood. It had some really unattractive shrimp "cooked" in lime juice and other chunks of seafood, all in a "chabela goblet" with an acidic tomatoey broth. The bits of green olives added nothing to the overall good.


Doña Cuevas ordered Camarones al Mojo de Ajo. It was overcooked and the garlic was burnt. It was accompanied by the usual insipid, sweet mayonnaisey, shredded carrot salad and some unimaginative salad garnishes.



Moderate, but not worth the price at that.

We did much better late that night, returning from the Morelia Airport with our in-laws to Hamburguesas Richard's, Av. Morelos Sur # 396. Weekend nights are the best time to eat at Richard's, if you want to enjoy the special Hamburguesa al Pastor, a freshly cooked, all beef patty topped with crisp shavings of pastor meat. Our vegetarian in-laws loved the fresh cut papas fritas. We think that they are the best in Morelia.

But this is the classic combo: a hamburguesa con queso, an order of French fries, some searingly picante chiles toreados and grilled onions on the side, and a soothing glass of horchata.


A bargain!


On Saturday morning, we walked from our lodgings at Casona Rosa to the Mercado Niño Santo, Calle Nicolás Bravo at Calle Granaditas, to breakfast at at Cocina Económica Doña Feli's, aka Local # 127.



We enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and ate some Chiles Rellenos de Queso, frijoles y arroz.


What distinguishes the chiles rellenos at Local # 127 is that they are dipped in the egg batter and fried only when ordered. It is attention to detail that is not usually found in most restaurants.

We also enjoyed a tall glass of melon juice, brought up from the juice stand on the main floor below.

A bargain!

On Saturday afternoon, we took a cab from Casona Rosa to Spaghetteria Gian Carlo, on Av. Aquiles Serdan at the corner of Calle Revolucíon. It's across from the Hotel Pórtico.

There we split an Ensalada Árlequin with a excessivly thick but delicious cilantro dressing. Doña Cuevas then had Spaghetti Palermo with tomatoes garlic and chunks of swordfish. I had a simpler plate of Spaghetti with fresh shrimp, tomatoes and parsley. My in-laws, Ellen and Dave, both ordered penne pasta dishes, one with butter and fresh sage; the other with cream and gorgonzola cheese. The gorgonzola dish was deemed to be the better one, as the sage was very understated in the first.

Spaghetteria Gian Carlo rates as one of the best Italian restaurants that we've vsited in Michoacán. Perhaps it's because they focus on pasta, salad and panini, without venturing into meats, poultry and seafood dishes. That also keeps the prices low.

The "wine list" is extremely limited. You can get a glass of house red or white. I didn't care for the white. It was more yellow and tasted sweeter than I like, with a "cooked" taste.

A bargain!

5 comments:

Michael Dickson said...

Nice rundown, Señor Cuevas. But wait! You took vegetarians to a hamburger joint?

Steve Cotton said...

I was wondering the same thing. I wonder if they felt like I did my second night in Mexico when my land lady took me to the local transvestite bar? At least the hamburger joint appears to serve up good fare.

Tancho said...

Thanks for the update, we are always looking for someone who has gone there as no one before....

Anonymous said...

moving to japan next month so i guess you won't be cooking our 30th anniversary dinner after all. remember when i talked about coming down for that? looks like we'll be eating a lot of sushi and other delicious japanese food instead. and, considering we got married in japan, it will be fun celebrating our anniversary there.

we will eventually make it down to mexico someday so i still hope to meet you.

have a great weekend!

teresa in lake stevens

Don Cuevas said...

Caballeros: there's more than one variety of vegetarian. My in-laws are tolerant, flexible pescatarians; and most of all, non judgmental nor proselytizing.

They also love desserts. Tomorrow, we'll take them to Mariscos La Güera Campestre. It will be their farewell dinner.

I'lll have more, later, on some of the luscious vegetarian meals we prepared for them. Stay tuned.

Saludos,
Don Cuevas