A Taste of Capula

We went today with two friends to Capula, Michoacán, where we bought pottery items. In the town itself, we sampled some "pan corriente" (regular, common bread, but hardly common to us.) We snacked on some good examples of pan hojaldre in its various forms.

It was Míercoles de las Cenizas, and fresh fish was sold around the Plaza.
But we weren't prepared to buy any to take home, so we sought lunch elsewhere.


First, we went "fishing", but caught nothing.
On the way back toward Quiroga, we first stopped to check out a fine looking new restaurant, next to an even finer, yellow house, at El Puerto. That was "Mariscos El Puerto". It has been in business for about a year, but because we seldom travel that route, we were unaware of it. The stentorian owner was sweeping out the dining room, just getting ready to open. We looked over the fairly limited menu, and decided that, under the circumstances, we would eat elsewhere, but were willing to try Mariscos El Puerto another day.



The next place is no turkey.
Not too far down the road to Quiroga, we saw the more down-home-type roadside eatery, "El Jacalito de Los Pavos", also known as "Los Pavos". The first name means something like "The Turkey Hut or Coop." As soon as it came into view, I exclaimed, "This is my kind of place!"



We went into the cool, dim interior and were surprised by the ample space and seating there. It seemed a likely stop for tour buses, and when I asked, I was told that is indeed the case.

The baños are out the back door and down some stairs. They were nice looking, from the glance I made and there was a shared hand washing sink, with a bar of soap and improvised paper towels, similar to that purplish-gray paper on which tacos are served.

I sneaked a glance into the back kitchen. It's clean and well organized.

There was no comida corrida available, but the a la carte menu was moderately priced. Turkey was not available except on Sundays. So, no turkey for us! Out back, the unaware turkeys were foraging for their food.

Our selections were:

• Costillas asadas de res, an ample, if rather chewy blade steak. It came with a bowl of nice frijoles de olla.
• Mole de Pollo, con sopa seca de arroz. Standard, but decent mole. Chicken was a bit resistant to the fork, too.
• Enchiladas Suizas; extremely rich chicken enchiladas in salsa verde, covered with melting white cheese and generous lashings of crema. No beans nor rice.
• Bisteces a la Mexicana, good, homey version of Mexican Pepper Steak: diced onion, tomatoes and mild chiles.

There was a bowl of a very good dark salsa based on chile pasilla and/or negro and tomatillos. There was another bowl of coarsely cut salsa fresca of tomatoes, onions, and chiles manzanos. It was tasty but less picante than the other. (Less interestingly, it had no cilantro in it.)

La cuenta was $220 pesos. That included a jarra de limonada and a Fresca sabor toronja. Propina extra.

I've uploaded some photos of both restaurants, starting here at Mariscos El Puerto.

Update: I regret to report that three of our group who ate at Los Pavos got sick in varying intensities. The illness (traveler's diarrhea or vomiting) manifested itself the next day and grew worse for two of the group last night. This is circumstantial evidence, but the common factor seems to have been the limonada. I, who had the Fresca instead of the limonada, have had no illness.

All three have now recovered at least partially.