Restaurante Carácuaro

Restaurante Carácuaro (Web photo)

It has been a couple of years since we spotted the Restaurante Carácuaro from our Mexico City bound bus. I was intrigued by the yellow, tile roofed building on the western periférico highway of Morelia. There's another restaurant of the same name and family, on Calzada La Huerta, at la salida a Pátzcuaro, just before the overpass bridges.

We passed the restaurant during several more bus trips, and some Web research yielded sparse results. All we knew was that it featured La Comida De La Tierra Caliente. A comparison with the venerable Fonda Marceva in Morelia Centro is inevitable.

It wasn't until last Thursday, September 22, that we joined our friends Peter and Tere for comida at the Carácuaro.

The dining rooms are somewhat "downmarket" but not unattractive. We chose to go up to the mezzanine dining area to escape the street noise coming into the screened windows as well as the tv blaring near the bar.

Main dining room

Our pretty waitress, dressed in flowing white traje with color accents brought us botanas of salsa, totopos, (tortilla chips), requesón cheese (similar to ricotta) and crema. Of the two salsas, one was muy picante, the other less so. Both were good. This was a nice touch, and a highlight of the meal.

Botanas

We were then brought some toqueras, roughly milled, fresh corn pancake. I'd left the table to go wash my hands, and when I returned to my toquera, it had cooled and toughened. Still, it was good with some salsa and crema on top.

Toquera

Contrary to the usual form, our waitress did not take or drink orders until some time had passed. When she did, Tere and Doña Cuevas shared a half pitcher of naranjada, Peter had a michelada preparada con Clamato; and I a very nice mezcal accompanied by slices of orange sprinkled with coarse salt, plus a bottle of agua mineral. Peter commented that the michelada preparation came with the cerveza alongside; a nice touch, I think.

Michelada

Mezcal

Who could pass up an appetizer with the name "Chavindecas"? Not I. It consists of two soft tortillas with your choice of bistec, pollo or chorizo, moistened with thinned crema and covered in a chopped salad of lettuce, tomato, onion, I think, and avocado plus crumbled queso fresco. Overall, not bad, but the sum of the parts was underwhelming. It may be a relative of the Sonoran-Arizonan "chivichanga" or "chimichanga". The latter are fried burritos heaped with salad, guacamole and sour cream. I couldn't finish my chavindeca, mostly out of boredom. I wanted room for what was to follow.

Chavindeca

Peter and Tere shared an impressive order of uchepos. Unlike those at El Gorjeo and La Mesa de Blanca in Ziracuaretiro, these were more salty than sweet. They were smothered in crema and queso Cotija. (I may be wrong about the type of cheese.)

Uchepos

On to our platos fuertes, Tere went all out and selected a Pechuga Empanizada Rellena de queso, jamón, chorizo y camarones. It was even richer than anticipated. It's the over the top Carácuaro interpretation of Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Pechuga Rellena

Peter tried the aporreadillo, a traditional dish of la Tierra Caliente of shredded dried beef, scrambled eggs and a picante salsa. He reported that it wasn't his favorite version, for the reason, among others, that the salsa was too soupy.

Doña Cuevas had Mole de Pollo. Oddly, only thighs and legs were available. The mole was good, but not outstanding. It came with a side of the most peculiar corundas we'd ever seen. They were flat and wrapped in banana leaves. Unfortunately, the masa was dense, salty and completely unappealing.

I wanted to compare the Frito de Puerco with that I'd had at Fonda Marceva. In either case, it's a lusty sort of dish of fried pieces of pork, some with bone, in a picante, brick-red sauce. This was better than anything else I tried, yet the version served at Fonda Marceva had more complexity, and above all, less grease. The accompanying rice was dreadful, mushy and overcooked. I think it was a reheated leftover. The frijoles were just "o.k.".

Frito de Puerco

We were served one large pretty good tortilla each with our meal. That sounds meagre, but it was really quite enough, although we were offered more, late in the meal.

Afterwards, Tere and Peter shared a small portion of flan that looked pretty good. I had a cafe de olla that was richly brewed. It was a a good dessert.

Our earnest and sincere waitress did a good job, but her service was unpolished.

Here's the score, from my point of view.

RATINGS

Food: ***


Service: ***1/2


Price: $-$$ Our bill was $536 pesos, before tip. Inexpensive.

Ambience: Eclectic clutter. Noisy. Less so upstairs.

Rest rooms: Downstairs men's room needed attention, but was tolerable. Upstairs ladies' room lacked drain pipe from hand sink to main drain.

Would I go again? Maybe, to try the Mole de Olla, (weekends only), the uchepos, and a few other items.

There's also a mariscos menu, something I would not be tempted to order, and a breakfasty menu of chlaquiles, huevos and the usual.


Periférico Independencia No. 3067 Fracc. Mariano Michelena Morelia, Mich.


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Live Music Advisory: there was a small group preparing to perform as we were leaving at around 3:00 p.m.

A forum discussion of Restaurante Caracuaro can be found here.