Our latest trip to Morelia

Well, we returned after about a year, and found a few things a bit different this time around.

First, the Virrey de Mendoza had slid down the scale somewhat. We were endlessly subjected to an intolerable level of noise since the theatre next door is undergoing renovations. That plus the fact that there were no staff on night duty to answer phone calls. We are now looking at a few days vacation from our vacation. Sadly this is not what one would expect from what purports to be a five star hotel. 12 hours sleep last night hasn't as yet cut it. The artichoke soup is still good.

Second, we did eat at Lu, and were sorely disappointed with that as well. For some unknown reason, the chef made some unique decisions on what foods combined well with others. An example, chicken stuffed with pickled carrots, not a winning combo. Neither was a salad with spaghetti like spirals of the same pickled vegetables. This might be better avoided if you value good food, as we do.

We did meet up with Pete and Tere, so did enjoy ourselves.

A very nice meal was had at Emilianos, hope I spelt that right. Very good eats, and a charming atmosphere.

Don't shoot the messenger. Just reporting the news.

If it is any consolation Tere and I enjoyed your visit very much and I am glad we could recommend one good restaurant that lived up to expectations. Unfortunately time was somewhat limited so we could not take you to some of our favorite places like Spaghettería GianCarlo's which is both great and innexpensive, but there are only so many meals in a day.

Just after meeting you folks at your hotel and having a couple drinks there at the sidewalk service Lu's was suggested for comida. I have had reservations about their food but although Hotel Casino's restaurant was a favorite when I first landed in Morelia some six and a half years ago it has continually gone downhill and Lu took over the place. I found it usually passable though declining until our visit there together where it has reached new lows.

I will have more to say about our visit to Lu's in La Comida forum as soon as I think of how to be delicate but blunt. Until then I should caution all about a seasonal specialty they are currently serving, Chiles en Nogada. The one Tere ordered was hot as a firecracker, too spicy for even me to eat, and its stuffing was far from the treat that local home cooks prepare.

Other than that we really enjoyed our time visiting with you two. Glad we could make you a home-cooked comida from our kitchen.

Lu didn't exactly take over the restaurant at the Hotel Casino; her mother is the owner. You are going to find yourself in deep, deep mierda if you criticize the place, because she whose name cannot be uttered but starts with a C and ends with an S (and it is not 'Crutches') will jump down your throat and proclaim that you have zero knowledge of Mexican cuisine before she stomps her feet and runs away.

Crusty(s)?? She must have some sort of arrangement with them for her travel guide adventures. I realize she is very por-Lu, but is the most non-traditional traditional Mexican cuisine I've ever had the displeasure of eating. At one time that restaurant was a favorite in the Centro but the dishes I liked best have fallen off the menu. I keep giving the place the benefit of the doubt and trying different dishes hoping to find her specialty, but no such luck. Many people I meet up with in the Centro want to try Lu's based on some ill-given (IMHO) reputation and I am OK to go along, but I think I found rock-bottom and this sort of insanity must stop now.

To be supportive I can say my Sopa Tarasca was good when we visited there the other day, the desserts we had and shared with our spouses were good, but perhaps the true nature of our main courses was hidden with some sort of traditional cuisine name double-talk because I had no idea my pechuga adobada was going to be stuffed brimming with sharply-pickled carrot slivers.

From a marketing standpoint it was clever though. Our main courses were so unenticing that we had to order dessert to have our hunger satisfied. The chile en nogada was a fireball which is unusual for the usually quite tame poblano chile. Though a hot one comes up now and then this one was too much for even me. It was stuffed with a picadillo of sorts, but whereas local cooks I know fill theirs with a sort of Mexican mince meat delight full of fruits and sweet spices this one was nowhere even close to that.

Best I can do is give up any past memories of what that place used to be and accept it has become something else now.

The same four of us went a couple night later to Emilianos, had a great dinner with desserts all around, beverages with our meals and coffee with our postres, no vendors or beggars or musicians singing in our ears while trying to converse, great decor, Emiliano's was better-priced to boot.

Sorry, Crusty, I know if I have nothing good to say about the place I should just quit going. I quit recommending it long ago but I've been a tag-along several times with others that wish to visit there. I keep hoping Lu will come up to speed or that I will re-discover what I used to enjoy there in years past. I'm afraid now I will expend the effort to pursuade those daring souls who wish to try it to avoid making that error. Dessert and coffee in that lovely Portales setting, and nothing more.

It took only one visit to Restaurante Lu for me to never return.

But I think this dead horse has been beaten beyond all reason.

That's funny. Emiliano's has more fans than any other restaurant in its class in the city -- everyone loves Emiliano's. But somehow our old friend Crusty trashed it in some public forum. It just didn't meet up with her finely tuned standards. That, or else the owners didn't recognize that they were in the presence of a singularly great and esteemed food critic who knows more than everyone else.

Emiliano's is one restaurant which gets it right every time.

It's too bad about the Hotel Casino. The restaurant was quite good until it started upon that path of becoming Crusty's favorite. It has been downhill ever since then.

Amigo wrote:

That's funny. Emiliano's has more fans than any other restaurant in its class in the city -- everyone loves Emiliano's. But somehow our old friend Crusty trashed it in some public forum. It just didn't meet up with her finely tuned standards. That, or else the owners didn't recognize that they were in the presence of a singularly great and esteemed food critic who knows more than everyone else.

Since I never have and certainly never will live in Michoacan and have never eaten a memorable meal there despite several attempts to do so in various areas over the years at various restaurants recommended primarilly by a one time old friend you folks keep referring to as "Crusty", I have some observations I´d like to make even though I have no bone to pick with her or the Michoacan expat community in general but, based upon my reading of the comments here, I feel it is my privilege to give my opinion on what has transpired between Crusty and those who may have formally held her in more esteem than that in which she seems to be held today among her detractors.

My opinion, for what it is worth, is that Crusty is an accomplished food writer with no or limited talents in the kitchen or at the table and therein lies the, at first, invisible but later smelly and omnipresent elephant turd in the room.

Dawg loves Cheese Whoppers and, to tell the truth, the best meal Dawg ever had in Morelia was a Cheese Whopper at the Burger King in that town´s central plaza accompanied by a fine Herradura Blanco Tequila straight up with a sangrito chaser purchased at an old-line bar adjacent to that franchise joint and a fine meal it was to Dawg but I can say that to you folks in unpretentious jargon or swell that pedestrian meal into a world feat of historic proportions and, yet, when you sit down to ingest a similar meal at a later date your senses will tell you whether or not you have been conned by a bullsh*t artist and that´s the rub. There is only a finite amount of time that one can derive satisfaction out of supercillious rubbing and then one rebels if one retains enough grey matter to feel ultimately offended by having been shined on incessantly and that seems to me to be the reason you folks are so pissed at present once our shining Joan of DF has moved on to finer pastures and is remembering those once of importance to her self-esteem as foundering hillbillies too primitive to even find their way to Uruápan without a guide - preferably the only guide historically of Michioacan importance now having graduated to the big time and sophisticated megalopolis with its myriad treasures not to even be dreamed of by Michoacan rubes who have failed to discern the true destination of the yellow brick road and its promise. Dawg believes that this empty pretention is the underlying factor that is irritating you, not her shallow reviews of bad restaurants which are a dime a dozen so get over it.

You can´t take these things personally. One of the wost meals Dawg ever had in Mexico or anywhere else for that matter was served to Dawg and his bride and described by Crusty as "...the best enchaladas on the face of the earth....-" and was served up at some street tent adjoining the minor plaza in Pátzcuaro by an indigenous woman who was "a friend" of Crusty and we were served roasted chicken that had been on the fire for so long it had transformed itself into tasteless and inedible cardboard yet no even remotely negative comments, even in private, regarding this atrocious food, was invited or tolerated. And you thought the Politburo had been dissolved.

Taste is subjective, accomplished prose is also subjective. Harrumph on us all.

I'm sure I know the enchilada shack in Pátzcuaro you refer to. They are remarkable for the sheer size of the platter they are served on. Outside of that there is really nothing special about them. Tere and I shared a platter one evening on one of our stay-over trips to Pátzcuaro a couple years ago. Fortunately our pollo was not so overcooked as yours so we had the luck of the draw. I am not a big fan of our local style of enchiladas that are served filled with diced potatoes and carrots nor do I find them especially repulsive, just not how I would serve them myself.

The "fine Herradura Blanco Tequila straight up with a sangrito chaser" you describe was most probably purchased at The Onix restaurant and bar next to your BK - which bar BTW is owned by a friend of mine, Geraldo. Their bar is excellent and their food quite good but overpriced IMHO. Actually, by the prices in the Portales restaurants in general they are about par with the others of lesser quality there. From here on I will no longer "not" recommend them considering how the alternative a couple doors down has slumped. Gerry will be glad to see me bring guests.

As for Burger King in the Morelia Portales, I've done it, more than once - without the tequila though. My best burger in Mexico was eaten in DF at Johnny Rocket's though. I am still hoping they open one here in Morelia, and I am hoping it will be at the new commercial center being constructed near my home. I have heard there is a new Carl's Jr. in or near Altozano whose sign is there but to my knowledge has not opened yet.

I would gladly settle for Carl's Jr. here at our new center instead, though the Karcher onion rings are sadly inferior to Johnny Rocket's. McD's or BK even here in Mexico I consider just a bit too pedestrian. Those were the two choices on all our military bases, and after retiring from a long career with the US Defense Department and having acquired a thick and extensive stack of travel orders I just am not to excited about BK and McD's. They are still superior to most humburguesas sold in street stands here - the exception being those Tere is now selling out of the front room of her place on weekends now. She is following my lead by using 100% carne molida with no fillers, fashioning her patties with a tortilla press, and keeping the toppings basic with lettuce, tomato, and onion. Two weekends at this now and and she is doing a fairly good business here in our colonia. Opening a JR's here would put a big damper on things, but she has the price advantage, $20mx for a single.

Crusty - I had no idea Crusty didn't like Emiliano's. Makes sense though, an Italian/steakhouse there is no one to dupe with the "traditional Michoacán cuisine" ploy.

I pinged Crusty for bragging and dropping food names but providing no information with it. "I bet more than 90% of you gringos have never even seen or heard of menguiche, tortitas de huazontle, or..." Well come on Crusty, what are they? Tell us about it then. None of my lifetime Michoacano friends have ever heard of menguiche either. I never could get a straight answer, she probably didn't really know either. Pressed for more information she told me menguiche was made with eggs and queso and I think she said you had to mix in harina also. I got the idea it may be a sort of Mexican quiche but was never quite sure about that. I was hoping I could get a better recipe for the huazontle, but that was not forthcoming either.
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Tere makes the tortitas de huazontle and puts them in a batter like chiles rellenos are made with, but leaves in the stems so you sort of need to pull these tortitos apart branch by branch, run them between your teeth to remove the good part to eat, then toss the stems - kinda messy. Tere wouldn't take my suggestion to use a butter knife to drag the stems through to remove them then make the tortitos with just the good part. She quit making them after my suggestion to do that, and my reluctance to eat them with stems intact. I found a recipe on Rolly's site - http://rollybrook.com/ar-huazontles.htm The author had the same complaint about having to pick out the stems like fish bones in order to eat it, suggested it may be better made with spinach.

Peter:

I have no doubt that we were simply unlucky on that night in Pátzcuaro when we got the cardboard chicken at the enchilada shack which was very busy that day during some sort of festival celebrating something I cannot recollect. You are correct that, while the chicken was inedible when we were there (due, no doubt, to the luck of the draw), the servings of what are called "enchiladas" in Pátzcuaro were enormous and we now understand, thanks to your explanation, why we, as outsiders, didn´t recognize what we were served as what we traditionally think of as enchiladas. We don´t expect perfection at all times in any eatery this being earth and eateries being run by imperfect human beings but this was to have been an incomparable meal transcending all past experience and expectations. Why not just say that these friends of (mine) make very good local enchiladas and, by going there, we will have experienced some local cooking identifiable with that part of Michoacan. Then, when the cook screws up, simply admit that, blame the hectic conditions and suggest a return try when things were less chaotic.

Incidentally, I was being a bit facetious when I said that the best meal I ever had in Morelia was at the BK on the plaza. What made that Cheese Whopper so good there was probably that Herradura Blanco accompanying it and the only three places I know of where one can dine on a Cheese Whopper while scarfing down great tequila are the plaza in Morelia, the airport at Guadalajara and on the Andador in the historic center of San Cristóbal de Las Casas where the BK (architecturally correct for the area of course) sits across the Andador from the Revolution Bar where one can take one´s Cheese Whopper and accompany it with liquid fire while admiring walls of photos of Che Guevara and the Buena Vista Social Club out of Havana. Talk about great exotic experience - a Cheese Whopper (the essence of capitalism) and tequila in a commie bar in historic San Cristóbal. If you don´t enjoy that concept then you are not trying.

I must say, since you brought up Johnny Rockets, that one of the things I really miss about San Francisco is that Johnny Rockets franchise on Union Street in the Marina District. Dawg loves Johnny Rockets burgers and also misses the In-&-Out Burgers in Napa. Damn, don´t remind me as I am now depressed and missing California for the first time in ten years and for the most superficial of reasons.

If they open a Johnny Rockets in Morelia let me know and I´ll detour off the autopista the next time I drive by there.

Speaking of regional cooking, we had great regional cuisine in both Cuetzalán, Puebla (El Portal Restaurant) and Papantla, Veracruz (El Sorrento) and I´ll talk about that when I post comments on our trip to those cities.

Having finally recovered from our particularly unrestful stay at the Virrey, which will not be repeated, let me say this about that. It would appear clear that Crusty has some highly peculiar tastes in food, and for that very reason, neither of us will ever take a recommendation from her, and will avoid any places which she does frequent or advise.

The very best food we had in Morelia was at Pete's, hands down. Pete has kitchen expertise and a stove to match. We are currently on a diet! Second best was Emiliano's. The four cheese soup with chipotle, was unbelievably good. The atmosphere one of the best we've experienced in Mexico.

The Virrey still has some good items, however when sitting in the outdoor café, we were subjected to an endless parade of beggars and shoe shine guys. I'd say roughly every 3 to 5 minutes. That got old very quickly.

We tend to cook at home most of the time, and even if I do say so myself, we do a pretty good rendition of both tacos and enchiladas. Not haute cuisine by any means, but very tasty indeed.

Regarding fast food, our favorite is Carls Jr. and they have a yummy new chicken wrap as an alternative to the always good hamburgers.

Could it be that Crusty's one of those food critics whose reviews only get better with the spectre of free food? Emiliano's must've expected her to pay her check, so that's why it got checked off her list.

Speaking of Emiliano's, I do not think anyone would pretend that it's the best in the world, the best in Mexico, worth beating a path up from San Cristobal de las Casas or even Toluca, but it's good for Morelia.

Oops! Sorry Peter, Dawg acidentally edited out your comment asking about Crusty´s favorite chef at the Ajijic driving range in which you inquired as to whether or not he was still there. Sorry. I don´t know how to correct my error. Damn! I am a technical wus.


Peter:

The Joven from the Ajijic driving range is long gone as is his formulaic and uninspired cooking which could be considered haught cuisine only in Peoria Upon Sump . I think he will be a good chef one day when he reaches maturity but by then I will be wearing clappers or a shroud so I hope he prepares good soups in case we are talking clappers. The driving range is just now reopening with a new chef but Dawg is not there to review the results for our readers. If it fits the Ajijic mold, the cuisine will be suitable for ancient, sensitive tummies valuing bland mediocrity above all and brought to the dining table by geezers in tennis shoes and pork pie hats seeking 2X1 Early Bird Specials Hold the Mustard.

Dawg

Hound Dog wrote:

Since I never have and certainly never will live in Michoacan and have never eaten a memorable meal there despite several attempts to do so in various areas over the years at various restaurants recommended primarilly by a one time old friend you folks keep referring to as "Crusty"

Just to point out, "Crusty" is a fictional character inspired by The Simpsons clown character of that name, and partly inspired by a composite of a former Moreliano food and entertainment blogger and some other characters with similar pursuits. Crusty has evolved in these forums and is now a satire of some of whose exploits may be somewhat similar to these actual and cartoon characters lives and endeavors, but whose stories have been exaggerated, fictionalized, caricaturized.

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I feel it is my privilege to give my opinion on what has transpired between Crusty and those who may have formally held her in more esteem than that in which she seems to be held today among her detractors.

Right, The Simpsons' Crusty is an aging unfunny clown with morbid leanings and a bit of a sham artist that had his heyday but is now seriously taken less seriously these days than when at the height of his fame.

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My opinion, for what it is worth, is that Crusty is an accomplished food writer with no or limited talents in the kitchen or at the table and therein lies the, at first, invisible but later smelly and omnipresent elephant turd in the room.

Dawg loves Cheese Whoppers and I can say that to you folks in unpretentious jargon or swell that pedestrian meal into a world feat of historic proportions and, yet, when you sit down to ingest a similar meal at a later date your senses will tell you whether or not you have been conned by a bullsh*t artist and that´s the rub

That's the spirit. Our Crusty possesses much the same credentials, or lack thereof. There is a bit of used car salesman in our caricature Crusty as well.

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...described by Crusty as "...the best enchaladas on the face of the earth....-" and was served up at some street tent adjoining the minor plaza in Pátzcuaro by an indigenous woman who was "a friend" of Crusty and we were served roasted chicken that had been on the fire for so long it had transformed itself into tasteless and inedible cardboard yet no even remotely negative comments, even in private, regarding this atrocious food, was invited or tolerated. And you thought the Politburo had been dissolved.

Taste is subjective, accomplished prose is also subjective. Harrumph on us all.

I think we have all known some Crusty characters in our time. The Crusty in these forums is going to resemble someone in nearly everyone's past. If we recall some tale with one of those memorable characters in our past I'm sure the people, the times, and the story have changed and are only a reflection of the actual persons or events. Perhaps it is better we fictionalize them a bit and let Crusty be those someones that everybody has known at one time or another. If we are going to recall someone real that person may not really be at all on their insides as we depict them. I would rather we think of our fictional clown who can be all of those things at once, just as we tell of them, and not a real person who may not be the person we recall.

Crusty is first off an amigo and not someone we would just cast aside in their moment of need. When the chips are down we would take that person in as we have no doubt been taken in by that person innumerable times in the past. These are memorable people who have added a bit of color to our lives. To one extent or another they are sham artists that take themselves more seriously than we have learned we ourselves should have, but for a moment probably did.

You read about Crusty here and you get a snicker or laugh. It may conjure up a person we have known but it is obvious we all haven't known the same one, not all of us, but we all share the memory and the laugh and conjure up an image in our heads of someone this person could be even if we have never met the one who the storyteller is inspired by.

Crusty is real, Crusty is a sham, Crusty is a satirical caricature of someone we have learned to not take as seriously as they seem to be taking themself. Crusty makes us laugh so Crusty really is a funny clown afterall.

Well summed up concisely and irreverently, ¨Peter.

Dawg, at this poiint, lays the issue to rest. Past time to move on to matters more significant.