Week two in Mexico City featured two unexpected guests. My brother, Kiefer, and one of my cousins, Nathan. I’ll sum up some of the things we did since it was an incredible and heavily packed week. However, I’d like to say, as the first cousin trip this set the bar high.
I’m very used to traveling alone and with people I meet along the way. We have, with our families and at a younger age traveled a bit together. Obviously, Kiefer and I have done quite a bit together. However, as a trio, by ourselves, and as adults was a different thing entirely. I’d recommend traveling with close family if you can. There is a different type of closeness you get with family. Even if you “hang out” less than some of your friends, there is a knowledge of where they came from and a deeper understanding of how each other work. Anyways, it made for a great trip. Not to mention on this particular occasion, neither of them had done any work, so I had to bullshit my way through as a tour guide. We made out pretty well. If you happen to know either of them, just ask them about “El Caifan”.
Roma
For the first few days, we stayed in Roma. Roma is a bit more upmarket and hipster than some of the other neighborhoods in the area; littered with coffee shops, skate stores, and restaurants with clever interior designers. When Nathan arrived, I knew what we had to do first, get tacos. We hit Orinoco which was a few blocks from where we were staying. They have incredible Al Pastor, the other stuff isn’t bad either…If you’re thirsty you can grab a liter of jamaica juice (hibiscus).
Have you caught the theme that I talk a lot about food yet?
Nathan is a bit of a "style maven” or at least he postures like one. So we hit the nice area, Polanco, where he could look at all the designer and street wear as well as see where all the rich folk are. Not surprisingly there are A TON of killer restaurants here.
Cabanna was dinner #1. Solid fish tacos. A rule for me is always get quality pulpo and raw tuna when available. It delivered.
The next day we did a little sight seeing and prepped for Kiefer’s arrival, which meant we bought some Lucha Libre tickets and booked Puyol…oh and Quintonil. Both two of the best restaurants on the planet. Not my opinion (though I agree), like the actual “experts” voted on it. Just know that if you call in, you have a MUCH better time getting into these fine dining places, even though they are booked over 2 months out. I’m assuming it’s like that everywhere, but Mexico for sure.
…I’ve been trying to do mini workouts in the mornings because the bulk of what I do is eat or look at stuff. So if I start looking pudgy in my Insta stories, you’ll know why…
Kiefer was lucky to have missed Tuesday. Not that he didn’t miss out on some stuff, he did. But some of the stuff he missed out on was stuff no one wants to really do. Nathan and I cruised north to Guerrero area to go see some ruins and a very modern and unique library.
Turns out we walked through a very busy market and, you guessed it, the hood. Now you might say, Brandon, that’s just poverty. But when you have cops looking at you funny and obscuring your view of “happenings” with someone they look like they apprehended, you know something is up. Anyways, we kept our speed and heads down and made it to the library, which as I mentioned, was totally worth the trek.
At night, we went to Soul la Roma, which is a kind of Americana/cocktail bar/burger joint. It’s got that “we went to the states and liked the minimalist gastropubs so we brought one back here” vibe; much like Palermo in Buenos Aires or Barranco in Lima. Anyways, the food was amazing, to say the least. Most burger joints back home can’t compare, so don’t sell somewhere short just because it’s not “theirs”. Another example is Darren from Final Table (a show worth watching btw) who gets crap from people for making Japanese food as a white dude in Alberta, Canada, but makes clearly delicious food. (As I’m typing this and linking to the restaurant, it looks like they’re also a motorcycle company — which explains the motorcycle as decoration. Cool combo, Deus Ex Machina-esque except for that they have a full blown restaurant vs. cafe. )
Ok so since there was so much other stuff we did, I’m going to do the highlights again with some of my impressions. Get ready for some more stream of consciousness…is there any other way?
Puyol: Where do I begin. When I walked in, my first feeling was, “I want my house to look like this one day”. The courtyard is so simple and stunning and once you walk inside, you know you’re in for a hell of an experience. The lights sit behind pitch black circles so the dining room is illuminated by eclipses. There is also a ton of glass that opens to the garden in the back, it is just incredibly inviting. It also automatically dims your voice and gives you a sense of awe I imagine medieval people felt in churches. I don’t know what that says about me, is food my god? I don’t know about that, but I’m sure a fan.
Once we got to the food we went through a 6 (but more like 8) course meal including all sorts of things like ants and ash that you wouldn’t expect to work, but it does. Each dish tastes like Mexico in a different way, without even knowing what it tastes like, I understand. Odd sensation. Watch the Chef’s Table and you’ll get it a little more.
Quintonil: After Puyol, Kiefer and had been to 2 of the top 3 Latin American restaurants (the other is Maido) according to this list. Why not hit another top 10 member? The tasting menu was a different style and we got it for lunch so it was different. It was roughly the same price (~$130 after tax + tip) but here it was less fancy and about twice as many courses. As it happens, my favorite dish was made out of ant larvae, so always have an open mind. My other favorites were actually off of the pescatarian menu which Kiefer got, the seabass and some cactus fungus tortilla thing. If you couldn’t pick up the theme, it’s like a traditional Mexican flavors dressed up to be fine dining. Honestly, amazing. The restaurant itself isn’t anything crazy but the flavors are unlike anything you’ve ever tasted or imagined.
Not fine dining, but I ate here 4 times in two weeks. Nathan and Kiefer fell in love as I expected and it’s a place you could eat daily. The al pastor torta and salad bar leave nothing to be desired, they are perfect.
Self proclaimed creators of Al Pastor — I call BS since everything in the states is the best or award winning or whatever, I don’t trust that. BUT this is the best al pastor I’ve ever had, better than El Caifan. I had 6 tacos. I could’ve have eaten more had it not been for some (limited) common sense. Salsa was also amazing. Street atmosphere not great but it doesn’t matter because the tacos are music to your taste buds. How’s that for poetic?
Thanks to our Uber driver for this recommendation! Seriously, they are a good source of local info if you can manage some conversation. We managed to squeeze this one after bragging about El Caifan’s al pastor. Seriously, we didn’t shut up about it.
Zinco Jazz Club
Maybe we got a good band, or we just found a great spot. After asking some construction people if we could walk through the construction site, we descended a little door that sat a tad below the street. You enter a small hallway and on the left is a quintessential small club. We grabbed some fries and beers to chill and watch the show, really suave spot.
Lucha Libre @ Arena Mexico
Honestly, one of the best forms of entertainment I’ve ever seen. Cheap tickets, raving fans, cheap beers, midget fighting, old fat dudes, high flying rope leapers; it has it all. Super high octane and never a dull moment. Knowing Spanish isn’t even that important since it’s so dramatized. Everything goes is semi slow motion until you see the camera-capture on screen.
One of the most impressive old monuments that I’ve been to. Given the age range (~2100 years old I think), it’s incredibly well preserved. Two massive temples are there to be climbed, with great views and a realization that Mesoamericans must have had the biggest thighs. A quick stroll through the avenue of the dead lets you meet a bunch of peddlers selling useless crap (Nathan bought a whistle) and the and they try to sell you the garbage while you want to really just climb the Pyramid of the Moon and Pyramid of the Sun.
Other highlights w/o anymore info, sorry mates.
