I'm going to try to be more concise this time around. Our other eating experiences in Zihuatanejo can be divided into two categories: more or less forgettable; and memorable.
In the first category was a lunch at Salvador's on Calle Adelita: two cocteles de camarones, $55 each; an order of tasty sopes de frijoles (3 count), $70; an order of ordinary French Fries, a beer and a good limonada.
The cocteles de camarones were of the style we'd had two years previous at El Burro Borracho, on Playa Troncones. It's a cup of seasoned ketchup with diced tomatoes, chopped onion and shrimp. The shrimp is drowned in so much ketchup that you can hardly taste them. I plan to ask in the future how the cocteles are prepared.
Our bill was $119 pesos, but written as $290. My wife caught the error, and the waiter quietly corrected it.
That same Wednesday night, the touted Nardo's seafood at the town end of Adelita was not open, so we went to La Rana René, almost directly beneath our hotel. The waiter was a bit over eager, pushing us to get our order in before the larger party seated on the beach. We succumbed and one of us chose the Pulpos and the other the Huauchinango Al Mojo de Ajo. The octopus was o.k. although at first seeming too salty. The large red snapper was fine, although I've had better even inland at Mariscos La Güera in Pátzcuaro.
We shared a pitcher of limonada, and our bill was in the vicinity of 235 pesos.
We did eat at two places worthy of mention. The first was the justly famed Tamales y Atoles "Any", in Zihuatanejo centro. The service and the food quailty were both superior, although I was surprised to find prices higher than expected. After all, it's located decidedly in la Zona Turística. Some English is spoken.
I enjoyed a very good, generous, spicy Mole de Olla, $100 pesos. La Esposa had a well made Consomé de Pollo $60 or $70, I forget, loaded with vegetables, rice and shredded chicken. There were good salsas and hearty handmade, blue corn tortillas. A couple of decent cafe de ollas, and we were satisfied. We would return there when in Zihua again.
Later that day, we braved the afternoon heat, to walk 10 minutes to Fonda Doña Licha, on Calle Cocos, not far from the Plaza Kioto glorieta. (roundabout). This spotless place is the real deal and from our limited sampling, I highly recommend it. (Plus, it was nice to again hear Spanish spoken in a restaurant in Mexico.)
The orange uniformed waitresses are competent and ours was energetic and perky. There's a nice selection of dishes for the daily comida corrida ($45) but Thursdays are Pozole Days. My wife ordered the delicious Pozole Verde, which came accompanied by a plate of botanas, including a cooked and perhaps pickled pig's hock (which we didn't eat), pickled vegetables and chiles; taquitos and crunchy tostadas. The only tiny flaw was that the condiments on the table included powdered, not leaf orégano.
Botanas
I went off the Comida Del Día Menú, to the Especialides, where, for only $70, I had Cecina de Yecapixtla, Morelos, (semi-dried salted beef) accompanied by rice and salad. The white rice was perfectly plain and perfectly cooked, just the thing for muting the salty preserved cecina. I enjoyed it, but I confess that the last half was getting a little monotonous in its saltiness.
I had a beer, then an agua mineral, and Doña Cuevas a tall glass of refreshing Agua de Jamaica.
Our bill was a very reasonable $180 pesos.
On our last morning, we returned for breakfast to the good value Casa Cafe, on Calle Adelita, where we both had pleasant Southwestern Omelets, filled with sliced avocado, bacon and cheese, and covered in a mild tomato sauce. La Casa Cafe is a good place; just avoid any elaborate concoctions when the place is busy.
