Hardly a visit to Colonia Roma is complete for us without a nosh stop at Hamburguesas a la Parrilla where we snarf flash grilled burgers standing up while trying hot to dribble juices on our shirtfronts; while drinking refrescos Jarritos.
A lot of change was noted along Avenida Álvaro Obregón, from the Hotel Milán westward. The old coffeehouse/restaurant that served Fair Trade but mediocre coffee has been replaced by (hold on tight for this) The Monkey Bar ~A Bar For Humans~. In my opinion, it's another step in the further Yuppification of La Roma. (We didn't sample any of its specialty libations.)
Next door to the Monkey Bar is the Burger Bar Joint, or BBJ, a hip happening that looks like a cellar from Brooklyn, specializing in burgers (natch) starting at $99 pesos. Ouch. We did stop there, as a sacrifice, in service to my readers, and had a mezcal Alipus and a BBJ Cocktail, made with an almost undetectable amount of mezcal, at $100 pesos OUCH!) pesos. We also got an order of onion rings, which weren't bad, but it seemed very like that the batter coating was made from pancake bater and That Is So Very Wrong, IMO.
The bill was $268 pesos. Two drinks and an order of OR. Yikes.
The next morning, we made a return pilgrimage to Bisquits, Bisquits Obregón, at the original location. It was Saturday morning and the place was packed with customers. I like BBO, more for breakfasts than other meals, always starting off with the signature café con leche. This time we skipped the pan dulce, as we'd had some already in our hotel room, and we had an early lunch date with some Internet friends.
At BBO, Doña Cuevas had Huevos Divorciados, accompanied by frijoles refritos. I had a very good Omelet Campesino, filled with Queso Oaxaqueño and nopalitos, dressed in a light, fresh Salsa de Jitomate.
The bill was only $167 pesos, and it was all good. It mystifies me why BBO received such opprobrium in Mexico foodie circles, as on Chowhound.com. It has been nicely described as a Mexican Denny's but IMO, it's much better than that.
Cafe Toscano Roma stood by as always for good coffees, but in general, we prefer to drink, not to eat there, mostly due to languid service.
No visit to La Roma is now complete without at least one meal at Macelleria Roma, this time with our Russian-Polish Internet friends and a friend of theirs. Sra. Cuevas had a Roasted Tomato Soup, which was excellent, but the gimmicky "Grilled American Cheese Sandwich' on the side was totally boring and skippable.
I had an Ensalada de Endivias with a Balsamic dressing ( I asked for it on the side and it was so done.) The endive is split and grilled, and festooned with bits of caramelized walnuts, bits of blue cheese and more. Highly recommended.
I then had the famous, sexy French Dip Sandwich, as recommended by sinmantel.com.mx which was excellent, on a good baguette, with melted white cheese and a luscious jugo de carne con sabor de champiñones; that's to say: The Dip.
Simantel wrote:
"Aquí tienen EL MEJOR french dip de la ciudad sin duda alguna, ya había ido al Belmondo buscando este sandwich y me pareció bueno, pero después de que probé este, creo que todos los demás son un escupitajo.Truthfully, it's good, but the arrachera at Parrilla Express in Morelia is even better. (Sadly, the Parrilla version lacks the jugo de carne, which struck me as odd, as they serve it in their upstairs dining room.)
La carne es jugosa y perfecta, el pan recién horneado en su horno de piedra, el queso derretido en su punto y un jugo de carne espeso y delicioso para sopearlo, no hace falta agregarle nada, ahora mismo que escribo el post siento como se me empieza a hacer agua la boca, no pierdan el tiempo con nada más, este es un sandwich al que te quieres coger, no hacerle el amor, cogértelo, es como un montón de carne jugosa y desparramada, algo lujurioso lujurioso, un sandwich buenote en pocas palabras."
Our last full day in Colonia Roma, we met Lourdes Gamba, owner and baker of the Puerta Abierta Bakery, on Calle Colima. We went with her on a croissant delivery to Cafe Ojo de Agua, a tiny, nuevo Bohemian, organic oriented noshery in front of the Fuente de la Gloria Citlatéptl, in Colonia Condesa.
There we enjoyed the specialty chilaquiles and huevos pochés ahogados.
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| Ahogado de huevos pochés |
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| Chilaquiles con pollo Ojo de Agua |
That's all for now.
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
6 comments:
Major food!
At the Monkey Bar and BBJ, you were hanging out with juniors. I wouldn't do that, but to each his own. Notice how the Monkey Bar uses English on its sign? Pretension.
BBO has great biscuits. I buy them by the wheelbarrow load when I'm in Mexico City. To go. Eat one every morning with honey.
Juniors!? OMG, if I had only known that in advance.
Note that we didn't actually go in the Monkey Bar, and the drinks and snack at BBJ was purely for experimental purposes. I would never return. Just not our sort of place, nor our type of prices.
This is more our style>>>
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-M_mLEhVFdKA/Uoh2WURphII/AAAAAAAA7-0/p9l6KvBYBEk/s512/Birria%2520y%2520cervza.jpg
BBO bisquits? Bisquits are among my least favorite type of Mexican pan (breads). I much prefer my home made buttermilk or Angel biscuits.
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
Sounds like you may have never tried biscuits there. Do so. Nothing "Mexican" about it.
Why? Because it's Mexican "pan" and you do it better at home. Give them a test drive. They're right up there with biscuits from Popeye's, but probably better.
Hockey pucks!
ja ja ja!
DC
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