Eating local in Cozumel

We’re just back from a quick trip down to get our place ready for the rental
season.

On many of our trips to Cozumel, we find that our eating pattern follows a
theme. One trip turned into the search for the best fajitas on the island. On
another, it was the quest for the perfect flan. This trip might be described as
“eating local.” Because we were so busy working, we didn’t really make it
to all of our favorite restaurants this time but we did manage to eat very well
and for the most part, very inexpensively.

We enjoyed dinner on more than one evening at Serra’s, our favorite taqueria
on Ave 30. With Tacos Al Pastor at $4.50 pesos, two of us could eat very well
for US$6-$7.

After driving by it for years and always seeing a good local crowd, we finally
had dinner one night at Otatah’s on Ave. 15. In addition to the usual
selections, we loved the pasòle: pork (or it could have been dark chicken
meat) soup with hominy and vegetables.

We had a great seafood lunch at Santa Carlos back on Ave. 50-B. A starter of
mixed conch and octopus ceviché followed by a whole fried snapper with several
beers ran us about $160 pesos for two. Since our last trip there, they’ve
expanded and improved the seating area for dining out back.

A new discovery that we liked so much that we ate there twice was El Candela at
the corner of Calle 2 and Ave. 15. This place does a big take away business but
also has a few tables that usually fill with locals by about 2:00-2:30pm. For a
set price of about $50 pesos, you get a choice of soup, a choice from 3
entrées, either rice or spaghetti, a choice of steamed vegetables or new
potatoes and unlimited refills on jamaica, an herbal tea-like cold beverage
made from hibiscus flowers. The selection of entrées changes daily but usually
includes a chicken cutlet stuffed with ham and cheese, the same pork in tomato
sauce recipe that we’ve always loved at La Chosa plus one or two others. We
only ate lunch there so I’m not 100% sure they are open for dinner.

Twice during our trip when we were so busy we couldn’t take a lot of time for
lunch, we stopped by El Laurel on Calle 11 between Ave 25 & 30 and picked up
lunch to go. A lunch of chicken salbutas, bean and cheese empanadas and chicken
tamales ran us about $50 pesos total for two.

Most mornings we ate breakfast at home. I love to get up early, put the coffee
on and run down to the fruiteria at the corner of Ave 30 and Calle 15 for fresh
squeezed juices. This trip we discovered tangerine juice. Yum.

After our experience at Casa Dennis last Christmas (that was so bad that it was
almost comical), we were interested in giving it another try. We are happy to
report that everything was back to normal. We had the same waiter as in our
Christmas story. I don’t think he remembered that visit and but he remembered
us well enough to know that I like the Sandia Grande as a beverage without me
having to order it. The prices seemed a little higher than I remembered but the
food and service were terrific this time.

We had a nice leisurely dinner one night at El Turix on Calle 17 between Ave 20
& 25. The owners there are such nice people and the food including desert are
still good. Right next door to El Turix in the space formally housing La Cocay
is a new restaurant, Mesa 17. We didn’t have the chance to try it but talked
to lots of people who did (including the owners of El Turix) and everyone raved
about this place. We did take a look at the menu and the prices are a bit high
for Cozumel but if the food is as good as we heard, very much worth the
expense.



JK
http://www.mxtravel.com/cozumel/cozu...staurants.html
http://www.mxtravel.com/cozumel/santa_fe.html

mediakzar@aol.com (Mediakzar) wrote in message news:<20041127101055.21770.00001205@mb-m14.aol.com>...

> This trip might be described as “eating local.”

And I thought it was a cannibal's guide to where one can find the best
cooked Mayans or other "locals".

Nice post, Joel. I guess I'll have to settle with local FOOD, or some
euphemistically call them "cuisine".

Heading out tomorrow to the Marquesas group of islands, Nuku Hiva,
Hiva Oa, etc., and see how "eating local" in the French Polynesian
islands taste.

Ob scuba: this will be the SECOND time I'll dive in Huku Hiva.
This was how I described diving there the first time, last year:

==============
There is only one dive shop listed in Nuku Hiva:

marquisesdives@mail.pf Centre de Plongee des Marquises.
www.marquises.com (689) 920.088

Since that was the only dive shop on the island, I was pretty sure I
would have no trouble finding it after we took the earliest tender to
shore. And when I saw a boat with scuba tanks in it at the pier, I KNEW
we were in luck. As it turned out, the scuba shop was right at the pier!

We were the only two divers from the cruiseship making the dive though.
Four other divers I met who wanted to dive today were too late by the
time they got to shore because the shop would not make another dive
until it's too late in the afternoon for them to do so.

It turned out that we were DOUBLY lucky today, besides making the dive.
We learned from the dinner waiter later that this was the FIRST time
the Tahitian Princess visited this island ... and ... it was the most
fantastic dive I've done for quite awhile because of the hammerheads
and manta rays we saw in our dive at Sentinelle aux Marteaux (Hammer-
head watch). The DM Jonathan said they don't normally see mantas at
this site -- only the hammerheads. But today we saw mantas throughout
the one-hour dive -- large ones, at least a dozen of them (from the
different markings I could tell).

On descent to 80 fsw, we immediately saw three hammerheads (about 6-7
feet in length) and two large mantas. Except for a brief reappearance,
we didn't see any more hammerheads the rest of the dive. Instead, the
manta rays kept coming back, in groups of 2, 3, and 4, sometimes below
us, sometimes above, but never afraid of us -- one swam toward me and
glided right over my head where I could have touched it. I suspected it
was curious about my hood which had a shark's fin on top of it. That
manta was probably wondering if it was a new species of shark or a large
unicorn fish it encountered. :)
=================

-- Bob.