A "soft" opening for people that have not heard of that reference is where the place opens up, serves diners, friends, relatives, contractors and any and all persons a day or two before actually opening up for business.
This is down as a shake down to find out what needs to be tweaked, fixed, changed and aborted.
( I felt better medially knowing the kitchen staff and food had the perfunctory blessing......)
We were graciously seated in the outdoor dining area which sported about 8 or 9 table canopies which adequately covered the table set for 8. Table cloth covered the tables and silverware a few notches above the cheap stamped tin ones which usually are provided by local restaurants.
The menu will have the usual stuff, soups, caldos, arracherra, various meats grilled and BBQ and the usual pork carnitas
There are 4 or 5 fruit waters, from the jimica to one that was made with pineapple, cucumber and agave juice.
All that we tasted were well balanced, not exhibiting the overly sugary sweetness usually foisted on restaurant patrons in the area.
What was served to the table was a sampling of what there were going to provide on their menu.
I was given a Oxtail soup with tomato base, to which a large tender piece of tail bone was swimming in a well seasoned broth loaded with corn kernels. My wife had the arrachera plate which included a delicious piece of chorizo, beans, small salad. Of what I tasted of the meat it was tasty but had a tad of gristle which I found unappealing. I would have cut it out of the meat prior to cooking it.
Looking around the table the carnitas were plenty full on a plate, another person had a great looking caldo de camerones which is one dish I will definitely order on our next visit here.
The shrimp were of a good size I would guess there were 21/25's and looked like there were at least 5 or 6 of them swimming around in a medium sized bowl.
My friend had the carnitas plate which had a generous portion of carnitas which he allowed me a generous taste of, which I immediately placed into a freshly hand made corn tortilla. The tortillas were as good as the ones my wife makes at home when I can convince her to make a batch.
The have the usual beers, sodas and other refreshments available. At this time they didn't have any coffee or postres available, otherwise it would have been a great midday meal, which I would say went very well considering it was their first time dishing out a large quantity of food for about 100 guests all in a short amount of time.
We will return and will bring some friends to this joint, our afternoon was made entertaining first by a local duo guitar group and later by a single solo guitarist in the background.
We had a nice visit with the owner and his wife, Enrique and Lucia, they expressed the desire to make simple dishes with the best ingredients possible from the area. I asked him about how vast his menu would be and was told that they plan at first to just have a half dozen items available with consideration of requests from patrons.
The owner handed out comment sheets asking for genuine feedback. I was able to read some of them as he shared some of them with me. They were mostly positive for the food and very positive for the dining ambiance, grounds and views.
For some our friends who enjoy the LaGuera Campestre restaurant which is located on the road from Morelia to Patzcuaro about 3 or 4 km outside of town you will know exactly where this place is.
It is next door.
Located directly across the street from the New Pemex station that opened up about 2 years ago.
It is open Thursday through Sundays from 9 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon.
The building is a large single story expansive flowing ranch style that has a 40 ft tower on the front of the building. The main part of the building is shared with the studios of the local Del Lago TV television channel which is owned by the same owner.
We are looking forward to our next visit which will really be the test to see how they will be pulling off doing preparation and service for paying customers.......
No comments:
Post a Comment