If you’re walking around SMA, trying to keep up with the new restaurant openings, we’ll make it easy for you; here’s a short list.
We hit
January with an enormous appetite and these restauranrs delivered, along with something
extra. Five
of them are new. Our number six – Café Casa Blanca – recently introduced a new
concept we fell in love with: Wednesday Kebab night.
Here’s
a quick look at this delicious mix: Mezcal Art, Le Mexicain Bistro, Fiamma, Silverio
Urban Coffee and Mixology Bar, Jose Yanez Pre-Hispanic Cooking and Café
Casa Blanca’s Kebab night. These restaurants offer a more casual dining
option but best of all, the price is right!
Buen
Provecho!
Mezcal Art
This laid-back, outdoor patio is covered in murals is a great platform for trying some of the many brands that Mezcal Art carries.
In addition to Mezcal, there are Sotols, Raicillas, Bacanoras, Tequilas and red
wines on the menu along with Oaxaca inspired food. Their inventory includes
brands from Guanajuato, Michoacan, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi, Guerrero, Tamaulipas,
Durango, Zacatecas and Puebla. The house Mezcal, an Espadín that was made by owner
Alejandro Vasconcelos’s cousins in Oaxaca, was superb; more so than some of the
selections we sipped along the Mezcal trail in Oaxaca. It’s obvious Alejandro
Vasconcelos knows his brands - all 142 served at the restaurant and the 80
labels inside the retail store that’s adjacent to the eatery. Although we’re
a newbie when it comes to Mezcal, we grow fonder of this elixir with every new brand
we try. We also anticipate the cross in the bottom of the glass; a rendezvous
left over from our years of Catholic schools. Drink up! Although the spirit can
be up to 160 proof, it’s also known to leave you headache free.
The extra? Our
bill! Where else is life this good for $2.63 USD a glass?
Calzada de la Estacion 59
Tuesday – Saturday 1:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Le Mexicain Bistro
The Torta de Chilaquil is a popular
dish in Mexico City and it’s our favorite dish on Le Mexicain
Bistro’s breakfast menu. A remedy for excessive drinking the night before, don’t
count the calories in this sandwich; it’s an overkill of grease and carbs but
it’s also pretty delicious. The cost is $49 pesos ($2.58 USD); breakfast for
under $3.00 USD.
Another dish, if you’re into healthy eating or
doing a January detox, is the fruit plate; an assorted mix of seasonal fruits for
just $65 pesos ($3.40 USD).There’s also multiple blends of fresh squeezed juices,
served in an oversized glass. They also dish up comida and there’s a high-end
burger on with my name on it, so we’ll be back next week.
The extra? An enormous bag of
YELLOW onions sitting on the floor. Yes, this restaurant also has a retail market.
The owners drive to Central de Abasto in Mexico City every Monday morning to stock up on fresh produce for the
restaurant and the market; some of the best we’ve seen in SMA so bring a bolsa
and fill up before you leave. You’ll be amazed at the quality.
Salida a Celaya #71
Breakfast Daily 9:00
AM – 1:00 PM
Comida Daily 1:00 PM
– 6:00 PMOwner: Mi Bistro 300, Quebrada 18-D
Fiamma
Our pizza appreciation has
grown-up this past year since Italian born Maestro, Fulvio
Carbonaro of Culinarian
Expeditions taught the pizza course he took in Naples to some of
the knowledge-thirsty Mexican chefs at OCRE
(who opened last year with a wood burning pizza oven and like the other restaurants,
use fresh tomatoes and Italian flour when they create their pizzas), Marsala
cocina con acientos, Aperi, MiVida and Atrio so when we ran across this off-the-street
pizzeria that’s owned by an honest-to-goodness Italian-born chef, we were there.
The only other Italian chef
we know and love in SMA is Chef Laura Buccheri of Trattoria de Laura a los
Mezquites by La Cucina di Afrodita but she’s in the country and with little or
no gas in town, we weren’t going anywhere we couldn’t walk to.
Marco
hails from Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy and still owns a pizza restaurant on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. He also makes
a perfect pie, which took only one sitting to figure out. At $130 pesos ($6.79
USD), it’s a great split for two with a side of the wonderful and fresh tomato
salad.
Besides a charming owner and a great pizza, this restaurant also features a spacious Beer Garden where you can waste away an afternoon on Modelo brews and conversation. Marco will be stocking more varieties of artisanal and other beers as he finds them.
Marco didn’t want to
complicate matters with an extensive wine list so he personally selected only
two labels from Italy; a red and a white. Marco also leaves the desserts to his
friends at Buonforno,
putting all of his efforts into providing authentic, Italian food. The formula
works.
You’ll never have to worry about
forgetting a name at Fiamma because
Marco’s pizza chef is also named Marco. Marco Palacio, who has always worked
for Italians, was previously a chef at La Loggia, a well-known restaurant and
pizzeria in the Polanco district of Mexico City.
Fiamma will conduct pizza
making classes with spots for up to five students in a kitchen that’s totally dominated
by the wood burning pizza oven. It’s a cozy class but its genuine Italian cooking,
just the way we like it.
The extra? We know this guy! It
turns out that we met Marco Bruzzone when he first came to SMA and was staging
for Ricardo Sautto at Bacco Ristorante in Hotel Sautto. Somehow, we knew back then
that this chef was destined to have his own restaurant. After all, there can
never be too many good Italian chefs in SMA.
Salida a Celaya #6
Open 12 Noon – 10:00
PM daily except Thursday closedChef/Owner: Marco Bruzzone
Silverio Urban Coffee and Mixology Bar
Silverio
Urban Coffee and Mixology Bar is their sixth restaurant/bar – all the others in
Queretaro - and with its prime location on San Francisco, they draw a mix of tourists
and locals as well. David Torres is
the young chef; he’s been cooking since he was 14. David is also the younger
brother of owner Carlos Torres, who is also a chef. We went for breakfast
and ultimately selected the Motulenos: a dish of sunny-side up eggs over fried
tortillas with platanos covered in panela, avocado, cilantro and a generous
helping of Arrachera. It was accompanied by a tomato sauce that was spicy, not
hot and served on the side. The most expensive thing on the breakfast menu was $1.49
pesos. The food was good; so was the service. Open just 3 weeks, doing a New
Years Eve dinner for $600 pesos was a great start. Like many casual restaurants
in SMA, the prices are affordable for the quality of food they serve.
We
like the story of how Silverio unearthed their coffee. Owners Luis and Angel Aguilar’s
sister, a Biologist, met the coffee plantation owner when she was out trekking
around Veracruz studying a species of monkeys that are no bigger than the size
of your thumb. Six degrees of separation on that one and perhaps it’s the narrative
that makes this brew so special. It’s also very strong so if you’re looking for
an instant morning wake-up, this is your place.
Between
the restaurant and the rooftop bar is a cozy Mixology bar on the second floor.
Every Friday night, they celebrate TGIF with half price drinks; not early, like
most bars, but after 8:00 PM. Silverio brings in their DJ’s from Queretaro, who
could be any of the 14 DJ’s they use on a regular basis; all of them with a
reputation and a following. At Silverio, it’s all about the music; electronic
music at that.
The
extras? “Adults Are Kids With Money” is the neon sign that sets the tone for
this rooftop bar. As George Bernard Shaw once said “we don't stop playing
because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. A venue for instant
play, this restaurant has something we’ve only seen at the beach: a set of
swings at the rooftop bar.
We
assuming it’s always warm here by the number of heaters they have on the roof
so count us in, especially since we can get a strong cup of coffee or a half
priced Margarita on the side.
San
Francisco #12
Daily
8:00 AM – 2:00 PM/Bar open 7:00 PM - 2:00 AM
Jose Yanez Pre-Hispanic Cooking
We savored many dishes – he’s done meals with up to 22
courses - including fried Sopitos with crunchy pork noodles (my favorite) served with a simple tomato,
Aporreadillo: a memorable Michoacan recipe with dried meat, egg, puya chile
sauce and guajillo chiles, Frilojes Chinitos and the classic Chilaquiles made
with two day old tortillas cooked in a casserole with a sauce of chipotle,
guajillo, chili de aebol and pasillas.
The extra? We continue to be amazed by the number of exceptional
and unusual dishes that are generated by this cook who is now offering pre-Hispanic
cooking to curious eaters in SMA. Most of the recipes are from his family, composed of an
inconceivable number of ingredients that result in precisely balanced flavors. We’re
never quite sure how he always pulls it off but he does.
Club
Luna, a private dining group organized by Franklin Terry and Rick Thompson, has already booked him for their monthly dinner
in March.
Cafe Casa Blanca
There are many excellent, Mediterranean dishes on the menu at this year-old restaurant. We’re adding Café Casa Blanca to our list because Chef J.J. Castaneda started
something new: Kebab night every
Wednesday at 5:00 PM. Priced under $200 pesos, you get two
generous kebabs, along with sides of cous cous, yogurt and pita bread.
We always settle in on the outdoor patio at Café Casa
Blanca to soak up what’s left of the late afternoon sun. It’s one of the few alfresco
eating spots in SMA where you can also get a more casual ambiance.
The Lamb served with pomegranates
and walnuts was our top pick. What we LOVE most about
Café Casa Blanca is their lamb; the meat thermometer is always set to perfect. The Chicken with preserved lemon,
feta cheese and pickled onion is also impressive.
There’s magic in the
sauces that accompany these kebabs; they unquestionably defined both dishes. Just like in the Mediterranean, count on feasting
for at least two hours; you’ll want to savor the food because the flavors are remarkable. There’s also Eggplant, Pork
and Blue fin tuna kebabs on the menu. The pork will be our next draw; we’ve always
liked Café Casa Blanca’s pork as well.
The
extra? Take a deep breath. Fatima, the long awaited rooftop restaurant at Hotel
Casa Blanca 7, is rumored to open in February. Stay tuned and on this news;
we’re already celebrating.
Juarez #8
Breakfast: 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Comida: 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM Closed: Monday
Chefs: Donnie Masterton and J.J. Castaneda
Don’t miss Chefs Donnie
Masterton and J.J. Castaneda on the winter tour at Outstanding in
the Field, hosted by Vintner Allessio Bellafiore of Viñedo San Miguel on
Saturday, January 26 at 1:00 PM.