A Mexico City Weekend Part 4

An evening at "La Embajada Jarocha*".


Sunday night, after our walk through the park, we were hungry again. After all, our meals that day had been light picnic fare and a lot of coffee.

None of us wanted a big deal meal nor to travel very far. We did a Google Maps search for Colonia Roma Norte and restaurants. Near the top of the results was "La Embajada Jarocha", only 6 or so blocks from our hotel, at the corner of Calle Jalapa and Calle Zacatecas. Doña Cuevas and I had eaten there in 2009, and had mixed feelings about the food, but we were willing to give it another try.

La Embajada Jarocha, esq. C/ Jalapa a C/ Zacatecas

Of the two dining rooms, the ground floor one is plain and simple. The upper dining room is spiffier. It's also where the nightly music happens. There's a Cuban style band and a small dance floor.
We are not fans of music while we dine, but the sounds were irresistible, and after our meal we went up to enjoy the scene and the music.

Upstairs at La Embajada Jarocha

The menu consists of carnes (which we never have seriously considered) and seafood dishes, most in the Veracruzano style. On our previous visit, Sra. Cuevas ordered Arroz a la Tumbada, which is a spicy seafood stew over rice, but the cook forgot to put in the rice! Undeterred, she ordered it again, and this time it was complete: not only was there rice, but lots of seafood in a slightly oversalted caldo.

Huachinango a la Veracruzana

Ron asked the waiter about a filete de Huachinango a la Veracruzana, but it was available only as a whole fish. The price was $180 pesos. That was fine with Ron, but he wanted it prepared without additional salt. Our solicitous waiter brought Ron a small dish of the Veracruzana sauce so he could try it. (I would have thought that the sauce should be prepared to order.) Ron was pleased with the dish. I had a taste, and would have preferred it without raisins and with fewer carrots.

On our earlier visit, I'd had a filete de pescado al acuyo. Acuyo is the Veracruzano word for the lightly anise flavored Hoja Santa. The filet had a clean, fresh and mild flavor.

This time I ended up with a similar preparation of filete de mero, but seasoned with chile, limón and parsley. The waiter warned that the chile was habanero, so I asked for poquito chile. Really, I should have ordered it "as is", but it was fine. The method of cooking filets of fish with herbal seasonings, wrapped in aluminum foil seems a favored technique at La Jarocha. Although the presentation might be more attractive and the flavor subtly better if, for example, banana leaves were used, it's just not that fancy a restaurant. It's an unpretentious, neighborhood kind of place.

Filete de mero al chile-limón

Upstairs, the band was groovin' and the customers dancing.

 We stayed a while, enjoying it all. We then tipped the band and walked back to the hotel.

RATINGS

Food: ***
Service: ***1/2
Price: $$
Ambience: Simple ground floor dining room (take a table away from the dish pass through); upstairs dining room is decorated with murals of the Port of Veracruz. Full bar upstairs. Overall, a friendly neighborhood spot.
Restrooms: O.k.

* The name is tongue in cheek, meaning "The Jarocha Embassy". "Jarocho/a" is a term for a person from Veracruz.