Where to Drink in Merida: La Negrita, An Exceptionally Pretty Cantina

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La Negrita was just a regular cantina when I lived here, which means it was the kind of place my university friends and I would go to after finishing afternoon class and spend the remainder of the day drinking cheap beer. They always insisted on walking me to the bathroom, and occasionally had to do so while stretching their palms out guarding the backs of wasted men always on the tip of falling off their chairs.

A few years ago it was remodeled, and while I have nothing against a typical cantina, the remodel is cool, without being pretentious. Typical cantinas are day drinking places, with cheap beers and free snacks. All those elements are there, it just feels a little more curated now. I’ve heard that some people love the remodel (mostly people who didn’t go before) and old regulars hate it, which is pretty much how it goes across the universe when dive bars are remodeled.

Flower-patterned oil clothes cover the tables, the old hand painted tiles line the floor, and art— a black and white mural of some kind of tribal queen, a scientific diagram of the body with parts labeled in Maya, and vintage mirrors—hang on the walls. There are party streamers over the doorways that lead into various rooms and out into the large patio. The light green saloon swinging doors are illuminated by the sun beating down on the centro. Old school Mexican romance ballads fill the room. It feels like the beginning of a party.

They have a number of craft beers on the menu, in addition to the regular suite of Mexican beers. There’s a small selection of mezcal (but larger than your typical bar in Mexico) and cocktails are nothing fancy, but made well and strong in pint-sized glasses. Daiquiris, mojitos, and cuba libres are two for one during the day, and happy hour is from 5-8 pm when most drinks cost $19 pesos, which is awesome and scary.

I ordered a beer and with it came a number of botanas: black beans, sikil pak (pumpkin seed dip, which is typical in Yucatan), cucumber and jicama in lime and chile, and pigs ears stewed with tomatoes and onions.

They have live music on some weekend nights, but are typically closed by 10 pm. Hopefully you’ve reached your two for one limit by then.

https://www.facebook.com/LaNegritaMerida
Calle 62 x 49, Centro
12-10 pm

Also, a friend mentioned that his friend just opened Cantina El Cardenal, so it’s worth a look!

Cooling Off In Chicxulub

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On a 100 degree day in Merida the centro is like a fiery pit of cement. I know I went to school in heat like this when I lived here, but on this two day trip with no obligations I decided it was wiser to sit in my friend’s pool eating mangos until 4 pm, when I headed for the gulf coast.

The drive into Chicxulub makes time slow and fade. It’s a small coastal town to the right side of Progreso, the area’s main port and beach. It’s made up of the same colors as the other gulf towns I know: washed into pastels by the salt, soft pinks and blues that sit in the same color pallete as the gulf’s hazy sea foam green. When it’s not spring break or summer, movement is easy: two kids sit on the hood of a turquoise buggie looking up at the clouds, a woman in a polka dot dress on the back of a motorcycle swings her legs off the side, a couple cuddles on the hot pavement stoop outside their canary yellow house.

Los Barriles is right on the main drive across from two different taco stands that are closed on the day I’m there. It’s a long hall with orange and white columns, faded sol beer posters with white ladies in bikinis, and coconuts cascading off the bar and onto the floor.

My friend Mario has taken me here as he said he would last time I was in town, promising a place that beats whatever ceviche I’ve been eating on the Progresso wharf or whatever beach shack meal my hungover friends would take me to after an all night beach party.

It lived up to his hype. The camarones al mojo de ajo, one of my favorite (yet simplest) beachside dishes was full of caramelized flavor from the onions and garlic. The filete de pescado en cilantro, a creamy cilantro sauce balanced by the sweet plantains on the side was perfection. And the coconut water doesn’t come in a coconut because they drain multiple, giving you an entire glass full. Prices are cheap, roughly $7 per plate.

Before you leave the area, head towards the junction at the exit of another nearby town called Chelem, on the other side of Progreso. There are typically three roadside stands all serving coconut treats and cold coconuts. I bought the empanada, the crema de coco (served in a plastic cup) and my favorite, the boli, a frozen popsicle blend of milk, sugar and coconut in a plastic bag that is so frozen it’ll last an entire ride back to Merida.

Sucking a popsicle through the hole of a plastic bag brings up my favorite memories of being a college kid living in Mexico, and for many of my Merida friends it reminds them of their childhood trips to the beach. I can’t guarantee that it will do the same for you, but I can promise that it’ll keep you cool for a solid 20 minutes, which is certainly something you’ll remember.

Last three photos by the talented Mario C. Jiménez.

Los Barriles
Calle 19, entre 18 and 16. Chixculub. About a 20 minute drive from Merida. (It’s pronounced Cheech-choo-loob)
Coco Stands
Leaving Chelem towards Merida. Ask for the puestas de coco in Chelem.

Meet The Yucatan’s Culinary Soldiers

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Chefs Obed, Jose, Alicia and Wilson. — Chefs Obed, Jose, Cristina and Wilson.

I met Chef Wilson Alonzo in the patio of Restaurante Frailes, plucking flowers from the chile xcatik bush, a bright orange chile the shape of a tiny christmas light, with flowers so delicate they looked like they could easily fly out of his ceramic white bowl.

Chef Wilson is the executive Chef at Restaurante Frailes, as well as the President of the new Gastronomic Association of Yucatan. He invited me to sit and interview a few of the member chefs about their work and their goals. They each drove a few hours after work to meet with me. He, like his colleagues are teaching at universities throughout the state, in addition to running their own kitchens or businesses.

Their goal? Develop regional gastronomy through the academic, business and social sectors. In other words, promote and study Yucatecan food.

What does Yucatan taste like?
Corn
Smoke from an underground oven
Ash
Achiote
Charred chiles
Acid, lime
Sour orange
Tomatoes

You’ve mentioned the word rescue, why does Yucatecan cuisine need to be rescued?

It’s not necessarily rescuing Yucatecan food, because we’re not superheros, it’s more about reconnecting with it and preserving it.
~Jose

When we say rescuing, we’re talking about the indigenous dishes in small towns throughout the state. There are many family recipes that are disappearing and we’re not documenting them. We want to promote them so that people know about the variety of gastronomy in the Yucatan that you don’t see in Merida. Our cuisine has been dumbed down just to salbutes or banana leaves.
~Cristina

We got used to foreign cuisine, and only appreciating our own food when someone from abroad validates it. Now you see foregin chefs making Yucatencan cuisine, but as Yucatecans we haven’t had the courage to do it ourselves. We should be the ones making it and learning about it from top to bottom.
~Jose

How do you plan to promote Yucatecan cuisine, not just to outsiders, but to people here who are going into cooking?

The biggest problem in Yucatan is access to education. Even though we’ve studied in government schools and have attended less-expensive universities, we had to work very hard to get there. Most of our students are first generation college students, and it’s very hard for them to pay for it. Now that there’s the first generation of gastronomes in the state, I think we’ll start to wake up.
~Cristina

One of our goals is to sponsor students and give scholarships. There are people who want to study and just don’t have access.
~Obed

Another one of our goals is to go to universities and give workshops about Yucatecan cuisine. We see there’s a deficiency in our educational programing in that there’s no regional cooking classes— it’s all focused on technique, but we can teach both.
~Wilson

What do you see for yourselves and for this project in the next three years?

We hope to have a section dedicated to Yucatan in the national conservatory of food. I think that will give Yucatan the spotlight it deserves.
~Obed

I hope we’ve published our dictionary of Yucatecan ingredients.
~Cristina

I hope that in three years the people that are our students now are doing what we’re doing. That alongside us there’s an army of cooks making Yucatecan cuisine, bringing Yucatecan cuisine to the world, and loving Yucatecan cusine.
~Wilson

Follow their work here.

Five Restaurants to Try in Merida

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I’m headed back to Merida soon, and I can’t wait to eat all of this. Here are five restaurants that represent a spectrum of food in the Merida area, and I’m hoping to make it a solid ten after my trip.

1. Los Frailes, Conkal
Skip the wimpy salbutes served at the plaza-side restaurants in Merida and take a twenty minute drive to Conkal. You’ll pass the rows of houses in the Merida suburbs stacked like cigarette boxes, through a country road that circles around the stone church built in 1549, and past the bodegas with hanging bananas and backyard smoke.

Los Frailes is built to remind you of a hacienda, with quirky outdoor artifacts (naked wood carved saints, for example) and tiled patios. The food will fade out any details though, and take you to the very essence of Yucatecan cooking: masa, smoke, sour oranges, and charred chiles. Chef Wilson Alonso is the head chef here and also the president of Association of Yucatecan Gastronomy, more on them later.

Go for the poc chuc, wood fired pork cutlets with pickled onions that look like jewels. Don’t skip on the chicharron de queso afterwards, crispy cheese with dark amber burnt-sugar and honey glazed papaya.

2. Kuuk, Colonia San Ramon Norte (in the north side of the city)
Kuuk is contemporary Yucatecan food at its brightest. Part scientists, gardeners and chefs, the team here knocked me off my feet with almost every dish. Once you try the bread made with the “essence” of cochinita pibil, tiny pillows of achiote-pink bread and dipping butter dusted with charred onion powder, you might think there’s no going back to the traditional. But that’s far from the point at this place where indigenous Yucatecan herbs and plants crawl up the restaurant garden walls, eventually sliding into a pungently fresh lemon-basil margarita. It’s no wonder the chefs are traveling the world for events with Food & Wine and the like, most people have never tasted Yucatan like this. A higher end place, with a tasting menu that in the U.S. would easily be double the cost.

3. Tacos Wayan’e, Circuito Colonias
I have learned that breakfast tacos is a thing in the Yucatan, and that Tacos Wayan’e is the king of them. Damn me for not being more adventurous when I lived here, I must have passed this place everyday on my way to school. Lesson learned, and redeemed when I stepped up to a long bar overlooking casuelas full of stewed and chopped meats. Go for the castacan, pork belly with the fat trimmed in crispy grilled squares; the juevos con xcatik, a generally spicy chile that’s sweet with a slight kick in this instance, and the juevos with chaya, the local dark leafy green.

It’s crowded from early until about noon, when things start to run out. Despite the hurried atmosphere, don’t be afraid to ask questions, the owners were quite helpful. There are a few aguas and sodas here. For four tacos and an agua it was $62 pesos (about $4).

4. Flamingos, Progreso
Some of my favorite memories of living in Merida are eating ceviche on the gulf coast near Progreso the day after an all-night party. Tired feet in the sand and my ceviche doused in hot salsa to sweat out the hangover. It’s much more civilized though to head to Progresso and sit with all your senses intact at Flamingos, right on the wharf. Get a ceviche mixto and a victoria, it’s one of the most refreshing meals possible.

5. Apoala, Centro
My hosts took me to Apoala when I first arrived to Merida, and we sat outside with a mezcal cocktail on a red and white tiled table, overlooking a plaza that ten years prior had been nothing but, well, a plaza. Now Apoala offers visitors a fusion of Oaxacan, Yucatecan and Mexican flavors fueled by Chef Sara Arnaud, a humble and talented kitchen goddess. She and her brother moved here from their native Oaxaca to open the restaurant just last year.

Oaxacan dishes make frequent appearances on Bay Area Mexican menus, but I had to laugh when I bit into my tasajo, (thinly sliced strips of beef that are salted or dried). Not like here. The tasajo flavors tingled in every corner of my mouth, the chile xcatik stuffed with melted queso oaxaca and crispy grasshoppers was a simple and tasty ode to Yucatan and Oaxaca, and the side of chilaquiles a genius addition (who doesn’t want a side of chilaquiles with everything?) Try over 30 mezcals here.

Treat Yourself: Ice Cream and Chocolate in Merida

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Boy, have my taste buds changed. Ten years ago when I wasn’t drinking a beer in the Merida plaza I was sitting across the street at Helados Colon enjoying an ice cream. There’s nothing special inside this classic parlor since 1907, but the tables outside have a perfect view of the cathedral and plaza. However, on my return I ordered a mamey ice cream and it was so teeth-aching-bubble-gum-syrupy-sweet I couldn’t take a second bite.

So, here are a few places I stumbled upon that don’t quite have the same view but taste much better:

La Principal

My friend Mario said that when he was little La Principal was the go-to ice cream cart and that everything is still made the same way, with real ingredients. The original owner sold the business but the new owners have kept the recipes. I tried the peanut and the elote, both of which tasted like the real things. Don’t expect any bells and whistles here. Just ice cream in a styrofoam cup.

Pola

I was drawn to this new gelato shop on a cute stretch of 57th by their bright blue sign with three ice cream cones and the bicycle resting below on the two toned peach building walls. Gelato, an unlocked bike, and sunny walls… Merida is a city, but sometimes it feels just like a big town. I didn’t try the gelato, but I did have a guanabana sorbet which was light and a little icey, but with such a clean, natural flavor I didn’t mind. Other interesting-looking flavors included chocolate with chile and watermelon with mint.

Ki’Xocolatl

Not only is this sleek little chocolate store on the Santa Lucía plaza making their own chocolate bars and operating a lovely café, they’re also starting to grow their own cacao beans here in Yucatan. Chocolate goes all the way back to Moctezuma times (royalty used to drink chocolate all day, every day) but for some reason it’s not cultivated in the Yucatan peninsula anymore. I can’t wait to see how it goes.

The hot or cold chocolate drinks are served in white modern mugs, but you’re still required to quickly stir lollipop-like chocolate sticks to melt and whisk the chocolate, just like you would with a traditional molino. It’s a fun touch.

Got the travel bug?
La Principal
Calle 65 x 66

Pola
Calle 55 x 62 y 64

Ki’Xocolatl
In the Santa Lucia Plaza
Calle 60 X 55

TAP

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