Final roundup from Tulum

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willifred
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Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:51 am

Final roundup from Tulum

Post by willifred »

Well I'm stuck in the airport in Cancun with overweight, sunburned, American tourists with their wristbands still on. Plane is delayed in the States
I went back to the Spanish place for dinner one more time. It was a seafood dish that Adolfo serves at Rio Mar.. Zarzuella.. When we arrived, there was a platter of marinated veggies (cold). The owner took the top off this very old looking pressure cooker, steam escaping wildly. People started coming from all directions. Lots of garlic.....crab fish clams shrimp....in a rich reddish slightly thick sauce. Lots of the good crusty bread to soak it up. After consuming way too much of this, we had 2 desserts, traditional flan, but with a sugar glazed top on it , and a "cheesecake" flavored with mango, the crust being made with homemade cookies. At that point I took out a litre of Havana Club 7 year old, took the top off and flipped it through the air across the room, landing in the small trashcan. One guy started yelling "Michael Jourdan, Michael Jourdan" it was hilarious....the bottle was obviously drained in short order.
To make sure you understand you can kiss a frog or two down here, 2 examples of "bad" meals.New place on the beach.. Las Estrellas.....I spent a hundred bucks and had a crappy piece of frozen fish that they admit was imported from Canada. Enough for that one, it makes me ill when I think about blowing one of my meals on such crap. The other was the reopening of a place called Ginger. Tiny piece of fish, maybe 4 ounces over some rice with a little spicy pineapple salsa. It was interesting that there was a birthday party going on for some Euro Trash developer....When the band started warming up, the bass player was hitting some serious funk licks. We talked a bit, and his hero/idle is George Porter. Even though the meal was bad, we had a great time with the band.
My friend Millie turned me on to a place at the far end of town called Camello Jr. It is owned by the head of the fisherman's co-op. His logo is a Mexican "Arab" riding a camel with fish in a net in his mouth. Ceviche of fish, shrimp, octopus, and conch one day. Fish tacos another, Grilled fish with garlic another,a wonderful speciality of the house...Sopa de Mariscos,whole fried red snapper very plain with lime,and the best was a giant lobster tail (at least a pound/pound 1/4 for a lousy 20 bucks, I felt so guilty)....this was my real discovery of this trip,the co-op guy keeps the best for his restaurant, then sells the rest.
A new French place opened, La Selva. I had duck breast with prune sauce that was not bad at all, but it had been frozen for too long and just wasn't particularly great, won't go back.
My german friends have a place called Azafran (saffron). Breakfast/brunch place. They do a "deli" dish that I love. French pate and sausage, Spanish ham, house cured salmon, house made roast beef, herbed goat cheese, and a nice chunk of brie....it can vary from day to day..he also makes his own bagels and Millie bakes German rye
To finish off this novel, our go to place is Pequino Buenos Aires. Our friend Sergio owns it. Lots of you guys like La Boca,me included, but this is how I would draw one up. Open grill, (lady doing the grilling), walk up and pick out your steak, stand there and supervise how you want it done.The house cut is Vacio, along with several other cuts. This,I think is the Flap meat that they sell at Whole Paycheck, or at least as close as we can come. La Boca runs this as a special from time to time,and I love it. But La Boca has flank steak on their menu as Vacio. Sorry to say, but that ain't right. As a matter of fact, Adolfo has told me that himself. Advertising I suppose....PBA has the proveletta cheese and several empanadas to choose from, picadillo being my fave. Last night we had a new young man wait on us. He was handsome and devilishly charming...perfect english, 28 years old. Sergio and I were drinking a Martinelli 2002 reserve Pinot, having had an 06 Uberoth Vinyard Turley Zin a few nights before, and an 03 Numanthia (Spain)a few before that. We offered the kid a taste thinking he would be impressed, but he is the one that did the impressing. He broke down the wine element by element, with expert authority. Turns out he had just returned from working for Kim Crawford Winery in NZ, having worked at other New Zealand wineries, and Ausie ones. He wants to work in Napa or Sonoma, so I'm going to get his res to a couple of people I know out there....the guy was as impressive without being overbearing as anybody I've ever met related to wines.
At the end of most nights we stroll down to a little Italian ice cream place. Last night I finished my trip with a Blackberry/lemon pie cone (house made cone for sure). But my alltime favorite is Cajetta....caramel made with goats milk instead of cow (dulce de leche).
Thank you for your patience if you mad it all the way through this...like I said, I've got to kill 4 hours.
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Isabella Maja
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Joined: Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:48 pm

Re: Final roundup from Tulum

Post by Isabella Maja »

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing all you did!
Again, I love details, it is a pleasure to read about your adventures!
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