My Overview Of Oaxaca And Its Hinterland
El Retiro "Pajaro De Nieve," A Turnkey Retreat And Unsurpassed Culture Center At "La Villada" In Oaxaca, Mexico
"Pan con Madre" bakes "the only real bread in Oaxaca":
El Restaurante La Azucena Zapoteca is a lovely, economical restaurant right on the Andador Turistico which surrounds diners with walls and little galleries of high-quality art and handcraft. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1800637-d1799374-Reviews-Azucena_Zapoteca-San_Martin_Tilcajete_Southern_Mexico.html
Casa Taviche: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g150801-d10384342-Reviews-Casa_Taviche-Oaxaca_Southern_Mexico.html
La Nonna - La Abuela is a loving little restaurant specializing in very good, inexpensive comida tipica right alongside Jardin Conzatti named after La Nonna's great grandfather, Cassio Conzatti, who went on to become one of Oaxaca's most notable botanists and an educator of national renown:
Don't miss eating in Mercado 20 de Noviembre's meat-and-vegetable corridor where you pick out your cut of meat and the vegetables you want roasted along with it.
Las Tlayudas Oaxaca, a spacious, inexpensive restaurant in Barrio Jalatlaco where I live. Tlayudas, tacos and frequent live music.
The open-air street-corner tlayuderia across the street from the north end of La Casa de Cultura at Calle Colon and Calle Gonzalez Ortega. In addition to the delicious tlayudas, don't miss the chocolate-atole, a pre-Columbian, corn-based drink which -- along with hand-made corn tortillas -- are Mexico's original comfort foods.
La Candela. If you like latin dancing, this is a fine venue. However, it is not my purpose to review dance clubs. The ground floor of this same building -- but in a different section altogether from the dance club -- is home to an afternoon-only comida corrida restaurant where the food is quite good and very reasonably priced. But most notably, magic is afoot here. Somehow, the ambiance of this centuries-old, unrestored comedor popular transports you to the 1800s. And the time-traveler effect is not just because the space "looks like" the 1800s but because you "feel" you've gone back in time. N.B. Although you can get to the restaurant through La Candela's entrance on Calle Murguia, the direct entrance to the restaurant is on Calle Pino Suarez, around the corner from Murguia and 30 yards to the north.
La Casa de La Chef on Calzada de la Republica, the curving road that separates the Historic District's right-angled grid-platted streets from Oaxaca's only outlying colonial neighborhood, Jalatlaco:
La Choza, an old eatery in the heart of town, two blocks east of the zocalo. Good comida corrida and more. Live music.
La Gran Torta - a little dog-eared but good food and excellent posole:
Don't miss Boulenc's Bakery right alongside equally superb Boulenc Restaurant:
Gourmand with its in-house charcuterie, home-brewed beers (and other Mexican artisan beers) is a great, very comfortable little restaurant where you can watch your food being prepared in the back-room charcuterie:
El Restaurante "Catedral":
Berlina German restaurant. A beer of glass of wine comes with each of the 10 fixed plates. I think this restaurant is very under-rated. The co-owner - a Oaxacan man married to a German woman is a sweetheart.
"Carnitas La Luz," Barrio Reforma. If you like carnitas like I do, this is The Place. You can have a kilo delivered for 280 pesos, complete with all the fixings. 6-8 people can feast for $15.00 U.S. dollars. Also some awesome soups. And if you eat at the restaurant, the two carnitas preparers put on a worthwhile "show." The owner is a cheerful "up by his bootstraps" entrepreneur named Marcos. Live music on weekens. https://www.yelp.com/biz/carnitas-la-luz-oaxaca
Taqueria "Tacos Alvaro" in Oaxaca's Historic District at the corner of Quetzalcoatl. Good tacos. Great pozole! Economical and open late: 1:30 a.m. every day but Friday and Saturday when they're open 'til 3:30 a.m. "Tacos Alvaro" deserves much better ratings than it gets online. (Bathrooms are tiny and unattractive.) https://www.yelp.com/biz/tacos-%C3%A1lvaro-oaxaca-2?hrid=6Ifz0ORSEJ9h5CUZ9a4u-A
El Restaurante La Azucena Zapoteca is a lovely, economical restaurant right on the Andador Turistico which surrounds diners with walls and little galleries of high-quality art and handcraft. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1800637-d1799374-Reviews-Azucena_Zapoteca-San_Martin_Tilcajete_Southern_Mexico.html
Casa Taviche: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g150801-d10384342-Reviews-Casa_Taviche-Oaxaca_Southern_Mexico.html
Mezzaluna serves good pizza "hand-slung" by the L.A. trained chef/owner. A great place if you plan to eat out on a warm night. You can see Santo Domingo Church from the rooftop eating area.
Le Crepe: Good, reasonably priced food with three balconies for two-three overlooking the Andador Turistico with partial view of Iglesia Santo Domingo two blocks away.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g150801-d1032456-Reviews-La_Crepe-Oaxaca_Southern_Mexico.html
For seafood, there are three restaurants called "La Red" MarisquerÃa with a big, mouthwatering reasonably-priced menu. One branch is just south of the Zocalo on Calle Las Casas, 101 . However the second floor ambiance of the branch "behind" El Mercado Publico De La Merced is more attractive. The third branch, which gets the best reviews of all three is in Barrio Reforma just north of El Distrito Historico.
For seafood, there are three restaurants called "La Red" MarisquerÃa with a big, mouthwatering reasonably-priced menu. One branch is just south of the Zocalo on Calle Las Casas, 101 . However the second floor ambiance of the branch "behind" El Mercado Publico De La Merced is more attractive. The third branch, which gets the best reviews of all three is in Barrio Reforma just north of El Distrito Historico.
La Jicara - has a wide-ranging menu but is a vegan Mecca.
La Nonna - La Abuela is a loving little restaurant specializing in very good, inexpensive comida tipica right alongside Jardin Conzatti named after La Nonna's great grandfather, Cassio Conzatti, who went on to become one of Oaxaca's most notable botanists and an educator of national renown:
Buffet Breakfast (for a little under six dollars) on the second floor of Restaurante Terranova on the east side of the zocalo - from 9 A.M. til 12:45 p.m.:
Don't miss eating in Mercado 20 de Noviembre's meat-and-vegetable corridor where you pick out your cut of meat and the vegetables you want roasted along with it.
https://www.heyoaxaca.com/2019/02/18/mercado-20-de-noviembre-mercado-de-las-carnes-asadas/
Comedor "La Rosita" inside Mercado La Merced on the southeastern edge of Oaxaca's Distrito Historico. https://www.yelp.com/biz/comedor-rosita-oaxaca
Highly engaging video of El Pasillo De Las Carnes Asadas inside Mercado 20 de Noviembre
Comedor "La Rosita" inside Mercado La Merced on the southeastern edge of Oaxaca's Distrito Historico. https://www.yelp.com/biz/comedor-rosita-oaxaca
Las Tlayudas Oaxaca, a spacious, inexpensive restaurant in Barrio Jalatlaco where I live. Tlayudas, tacos and frequent live music.
The open-air street-corner tlayuderia across the street from the north end of La Casa de Cultura at Calle Colon and Calle Gonzalez Ortega. In addition to the delicious tlayudas, don't miss the chocolate-atole, a pre-Columbian, corn-based drink which -- along with hand-made corn tortillas -- are Mexico's original comfort foods.
La Candela. If you like latin dancing, this is a fine venue. However, it is not my purpose to review dance clubs. The ground floor of this same building -- but in a different section altogether from the dance club -- is home to an afternoon-only comida corrida restaurant where the food is quite good and very reasonably priced. But most notably, magic is afoot here. Somehow, the ambiance of this centuries-old, unrestored comedor popular transports you to the 1800s. And the time-traveler effect is not just because the space "looks like" the 1800s but because you "feel" you've gone back in time. N.B. Although you can get to the restaurant through La Candela's entrance on Calle Murguia, the direct entrance to the restaurant is on Calle Pino Suarez, around the corner from Murguia and 30 yards to the north.
La Casa de La Chef on Calzada de la Republica, the curving road that separates the Historic District's right-angled grid-platted streets from Oaxaca's only outlying colonial neighborhood, Jalatlaco:
La Choza, an old eatery in the heart of town, two blocks east of the zocalo. Good comida corrida and more. Live music.
La Gran Torta - a little dog-eared but good food and excellent posole:
The next three economical restaurants come highly recommended although I have not yet eaten at any of them.
Comedor Tipico "La Abuelita":
La Hormiga (in Barrio Reforma):
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g150801-d2426000-Reviews-La_Hormiga-Oaxaca_Southern_Mexico.html
Other links to provide additional orientation:
"Oaxacan Market Food and Street Eats"
Be sure to sample corn on the cob/elote with all the fixins and the streetside corn soup called "esquite."
https://www.afar.com/travel-tips/market-food-and-street-eats-in-oaxaca
The following Atlantic article, "The Pop-Up Food Shops Of Oaxaca" is 8 years old. What it lacks in currency, it compensates in its overall feel or Oaxacan food.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/04/the-pop-up-food-shops-of-oaxaca/255347/
Of the outlying market towns, Zaachila, Etla and Tlacolula, are probably the best.
Here's a good article about Tlacolula out Oaxaca's eastern valley where there are wealth of other things to do and see.
Other links to provide additional orientation:
"Oaxacan Market Food and Street Eats"
Be sure to sample corn on the cob/elote with all the fixins and the streetside corn soup called "esquite."
https://www.afar.com/travel-tips/market-food-and-street-eats-in-oaxaca
The following Atlantic article, "The Pop-Up Food Shops Of Oaxaca" is 8 years old. What it lacks in currency, it compensates in its overall feel or Oaxacan food.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/04/the-pop-up-food-shops-of-oaxaca/255347/
Of the outlying market towns, Zaachila, Etla and Tlacolula, are probably the best.
Here's a good article about Tlacolula out Oaxaca's eastern valley where there are wealth of other things to do and see.
"Tlacolula Shopping List: Oaxaca’s Sunday Market"
And although the following title is debatable, the content is worthwhile:
"The Two Best Market Restaurants in Oaxaca, Mexico"
"8 Essential Things To Do In Oaxaca City Mexico For Foodies"
Meat Alley + Grasshopper Tacos in Oaxaca
Highly engaging video of El Pasillo De Las Carnes Asadas inside Mercado 20 de Noviembre
"The Rough Guide To Mexico"
Online
The section on Oaxaca begins on page 594, including the best map of Oaxaca City's Historic District
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