Monday, January 05, 2015

Comida at El Camino Real Pátzcuaro

Today we met our friend, Ron (the Coffee Maven) friend at El Camino Real on the outskirts of Pátzcuaro. We arrived just before 1:00 p.m. The dining room was busy but not yet full. Tables had as usual been prepared in the semi-outdoors for the inevitable Sunday overflow. The strings of Christmas candies still festooned the ceiling.

Deck the halls with strings of dulces

The tables were set with crusty teleras rolls, butter and bowls of very picante pickled carrots, onions, salsa verde and chiles perón.



Most of the diners seemed to be eating breakfast. In fact, when our friend ordered, he asked for Huevos Camino Real, a version of huevos albañil, or softly scrambled eggs in a spicy tomato and chile sauce.

My wife and I requested the Menú del día. There were more than 25, even 30 main dishes from which to choose.



I started with an excellent bowl of Sopa Tarasca, followed by a small plate of not bad, not great rice with a spoonful of just passable mole on the side.

Sopa Tarasca

After much deciding, I requested Enchiladas Suizas con Pollo. The dish was creamy and delectable. I added some salsa verde from the salsera on the table, which cut the richness just a bit without adding picante heat.



Doña Cuevas had the Bistecitos en Salsa Negra, a savory but not especially picante dish.


We drank café de olla, hot tea (this was a seasonally cold day) and agua mineral. (Drinks are extra from the comida. The comida completa itself cost $70 pesos. USD $4.72!)

We were offered a choice of desserts, which came in the usual mini plastic portion cups. We chose tamarindo pudding, which wasn't bad.

When we were leaving, at about 2:30, the dining room was starting to fill. El Camino Real is a very popular restaurant with visitors to Pátzcuaro, and with good reason.

Ratings:
Food: ****
Service: *****
Price: $
Hygiene: looks good.
Would go again.
Plenty of parking
Hours: approximately 8:00 a.m to 6:00 p.m.
Location: Outskirts of Tzurumutaro on the east side of Pátzcuaro , behind the Pemex station on Carretera 120.

5 comments:

DonCuevas said...

Señora Cuevas briefly considered the quail, but she had confused codorniz with conejo. The conejo at the PEMEX is second only to that at La Mesa de Blanca, but it wasn't on the menu yesterday.
The only quail we have had, elsewhere, was either incredibly tough or cooked to serious dryness.



DC

jennifer rose said...

What I've had sold as codorniz there, several times, was actually more the size of patridge. A decent chunk of fowl.

DonCuevas said...

Maybe it was really Cornish Game Hen (which is another name for a small chicken breed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_game_hen)

I love the word, "codorniz", especially with a Castellano lisp.

Saludos,
Don Cuevas

Felipe Zapata said...

And the folks in the parking lot will wash your car for 25 pesos while you eat.

DonCuevas said...

Wow! A bargain carwash! Thanks.


DC