Mérida Bed and Breakfast Association

Taco de Cochinita

Recipes from the Yucatán find their way in the “Slow Food” cookbook, and our region’s cuisine caused a sensation in San Francisco in the summer of 2008 when “Tamales  Yucatecos” were served at the Slow Food Nation convention, the first ever, in the United States.  That said, we can also say with confidence that international fast food restaurants are consistent around the world.  McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Chili’s, etc. in Mérida are the same as what you find anywhere else.  The same can be said of the kinds of restaurant choices one finds at international hotel chains, from the Marriott to the Hyatt, the Fiesta Americana to the Intercontinental.  We are neither reviewing nor listing these restaurants in this section, since they are found in most guidebooks and online resources.

Ceviche, marinated seafood

Now, a word about why yucatecos don’t frequent great restaurants.  For a variety of reasons, cultural norms encourage home cooking, and many families boast tremendous culinary talents in their families.  That is different from having a society, like in Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Tokyo or Paris, where people go out for great meals, whether at a sidewalk café, neighborhood bistro or full-service restaurant.  The same can be said of the United States and Canada, where even in New York, the city that pretends it is the city that never sleeps, almost all kitchens take their last orders at 10:30 p.m., and if it’s 1 a.m. and you want a meal, you’re likely to end up at 24-hour fast-food place.  If you notice that our listing differs from what you find in your guidebooks, remember: Travel writers are seldom restaurant critics, and many concentrate on the familiar paths tourists take while in town.  This is not a criticism; it is reality.  Not one guidebook, for example, lists Restaurant Byblos, probably because none is prepared to venture to the Lebanese Social & Sports Club, thinking that it is a private club.

Chiles en Nogada

Finally, since we live and work here, we do know where to eat and we do care where our guests eat!  We are innkeepers: We live here, we eat here, we know about the great little places that aren’t found in the any guidebooks, and we offer our personal advice to our guests.  “It says that’s a great place to eat in that book? Maybe that was years ago, before so-and-so left.”  “You mean to say they don’t even mention this great place?  What a terrible omission, go and tell so-and-so I sent you!”

With this background, what follows is a list, by consensus, of great places to eat in Mérida that offer great food, excellent value, and are places that you will remember. 

We first list “Cheap Eats,” where you can find excellent meals at mom-and-pop run places around town.  Most are market stalls, but don’t be hesitant: they use purified water, and the only problem you’ll have is if you put too much habanero chili in your food!

Then we list sit-down restaurants, where you find exceptional food, value and a great eating experience.

And afterwards, we mention a great place for sorbets and a good bakery.

Tacos al Pastor

Cheap Eats

It is a myth that eating where the “locals” eat is a dangerous practice, where you run the risk of becoming ill.  While we don’t recommend you eat from a street vendor, the same can be said of other places: You’re crazy to eat a hot dog from a vendor in front of Rockefeller Center in New York, or a samosa chaat from a stall in Whitecross Street in London, or a crepe at Montmartre in Paris.  That doesn’t mean that there aren’t terrific “cocina económicas” in town where you can’t have a great meal, for less than what you’d expect to pay for a “value meal” at a fast food restaurant. 

Remember, before there was fast food, there was simple, home-style food prepared by cooks who went to market first thing in the morning and prepared their “Daily Menu,” or “Menú del Día,” to reflect what was seasonal and fresh at the market that day.  Guess what?  This is the old-fashioned way still do things in Mérida.  Listed below are places that, for the price of some fast food combo, you can get a real meal.  The members of this association live and work in town, and these are simple, unpretentious and family-run “economical kitchens,” where you will enjoy very good meal, and that you wouldn’t otherwise know about – since they are not in any guidebooks.

Here are our recommendations:

PLATOS ROTOS – Calle 33-D #498, Suite 3.  Telephone: (999) 925-3097.  A family run sidewalk restaurant, Platos Rotos offers consistently good, satisfying Mexican-style meals, at an incredible bargain price of $36 pesos (about $3.25 US).  This includes your choice of soup or rice plate, plus the main entre, which changes daily.  The enchiladas are great, and so are the chicken and pork dishes.  The “aguas,” refreshing drinks made from seasonal tropical fruit – try the tamarind, lemonade or guanabana are wonderful.  Daniel Segoviano, and his sister Angeles, serve breakfast and lunch, closing up around 3 p.m., when they are done for the day.  Together they provide an exceptional value, and the side, tree-lined street is a great break.  The address is difficult, so here are directions: Make your way to the intersection of Avenida Colón and Avenida Reforma.  On the northwest corner you’ll see the 24-hour office of the CFE.  Walk to that corner, then head north, past a couple of shops and the Teatro.  When you are at the corner, take a left and they are located a few stores down, just past Café Orgánico.  Expect to pay, with a tall glass of agua fresca, $5-6 USD.  Enjoy!

LA LUPITA – In the interior of the market next to the Santiago Church, La Lupita offers simple tacos, soups and pork sandwiches.  Staffed with about a dozen cooks and preps, try tacos de cochinita (pork marinated in chipotle sauce and baked in banana leaves), tacos de lechon asado (Cuban-style pork marinated with garlic, onion, slowly cooked in an underground pit), pavo en relleno negro (turkey soup with polenta-like corn dumplings marinated in a dark, smoky sauce (the sauce is made with burnt chiles de arbol which are then crushed and made into the sauce.).  The orange juice is freshly squeezed, and the horchata is freshly made.  You’ll see employees from the electric company (CFE), health department (Salud) and other office workers enjoying a hearty breakfast.  How to find them?  From the park entrance to the Church of Santiago, walk north, and you’ll notice a series of vendors, then an opening into a corridor.  Turn right, and you’ll see the main entrance to the vegetable and flower market.  Walk that way, but before entering, turn to the left, and it is on the corner, on your right-hand side.  They close when the food runs out, which is around noon.  Expect to pay about $4 USD for a satisfying meal.

EL BUEN GUSTO – As long as you are in Santiago, another place is El Buen Gusto, “The Good Taste.”  This is a modest restaurant, but one that is well-known among Canadian and American ex-pats for making great tacos de camarones empanizados – tacos of breaded shrimp.  Freshly delivered from the Progreso Port each morning, and made with fresh, warm tortillas, these tacos are a meal, and when enjoyed with a freshening glass of orange juice, or “agua de sandia” – watermelon natural drink, it is a light, satisfying lunch.  Their sopa de lima, or lime soup, is very good.  Again, you’ll see families and employees from the health department (Salud) and the electric company (CFE) around.  Be mindful that as a family-run business, they close up shop when the food runs out – usually around 2 p.m.  From the park entrance of the Church of Santiago, just walk north, and it is the third stall on your left.  Expect to pay $4-5 USD for lunch.

EL NEGRO – When you find yourself in Santa Ana, on Calle 60 between 47 and 45 Streets, you’ll notice a lively market on the southeastern part of the square.  There are stalls selling clothing and souvenirs on the southern side of the street (on Calle 47, between 58 and 60 Streets), but around the corner towards the park (if you’re walking towards the Pemex gas station, you’re walking in the wrong direction), there are a series of food stalls.  All are decent, but a perennial favorite is El Negro, which serves among the best banana-leaf wrapped tamales and delicious sopa de lima, or lime soup, to be had anywhere in town.  If you go there in the heat of the day, one option to consider is to cross the street (south side of Calle 47) and buy beers from the convenience store, then head to El Negro for a savory lunch.  They won’t mind your bringing your own beer, especially since none of the market stalls are authorized to do so.  Expect to pay $4-5 USD for lunch.

TIO WILL – Calle 70 #560-A, between 63 and 65 Streets.  Telephone: (999) 924-4021.  A few blocks north of the main bus station, and a three blocks south of the Church of Santiago one finds “Uncle Will.”  For almost a quarter century, Wilber has been cooking away, mostly for the folks who live in the neighborhood – which includes a good number of American and Canadian ex-pats.  The quality of his menu, with simple, every day fare, garners good reviews, and several Bed & Breakfasts have lunch delivered from Tío Will.  That certainly is a vote of confidence.  The place is simple to the point of being Spartan; the feel is of being in an old Western movie, where cowboys arrive at a dusty Mexican café in the middle of the desert.  You expect Kirk Douglas or Clint Eastwood, guns drawn to enter through the doors at any moment.  But that’s just wishful thinking.  The specialities are queso relleno, which is a hollowed-out Edam (Dutch) cheese, where the soft part of the cheese is removed, and the rind is stuffed and steamed.  Also try the Enchiladas Suizas (creamy enchiladas served with Chicken, tomatoes and green chile).  Two pork dishes stand out: Puerco empanizado (breaded pork) and Poc Chuc, a Maya dish.  Born in the Yucatecan countryside, when electricity – and therefore refrigeration – was rare, pork was salted to preserve them.  Poc Chuc uses sour orange and vinegar to remove the saltiness of th meat, and it is slow cooked until moist and tender, with onions added to round out the flavors, which are heightened when eaten with warm corn tortillas.  A nice selection of “aguas frescas,” and soft drinks rounds out a good lunch.  As with most other cocinas económicas, Tío Will closes when the food runs out: Hours are from 7:30 a.m. to around 4 p.m.  Expect to pay $4-6 USD.

CAFÉ LUPITA – Just south and to the west of San Sebastian Park, on Calle 81-A, steps from the corner of Calle 72.  This is a simple, unpretentious restaurant in a charming part of town, where grandparents escort their grandchildren to elementary school, and youngsters chase each other down the streets and the park  Few tourists venture in this area, and if they needed an excuse to stroll quiet, colonial streets where they can see yucatecos at home and play, away from the familiar tourist haunts, then this gem of a cocina económica is an incentive to go.  With a charming outdoor area under a comfortable tile roof, this restaurant specializes in grilled steak (bistec a la Mexicana), which includes roasted tomatoes and a savory jalapeños, with a side of black bean soup; and grilled chicken (pollo asado), served with a side of rice or vegetable soup.  Throughout the Yucatán, you’ll find that “vegetable” soup consists of three or four kinds of squash and pumpkins, carrots, celery and onions.  The horchata, a refreshing drink made of almonds, rice and sugar; and the aguas frescas – their sandia (watermelon) and lemonade are wonderful – will set you back about $1 USD.  And if you arrive between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. you are sure to see a sight that is memorable, and a sign of a good place to eat: neighbors showing up with their containers getting food to go – to take back home and serve their families.  Expect to pay $4-6 USD.

Remember, there are dozens of wonderful cocinas económicas.  Just ask your hosts at the Bed & Breakfast you’re staying at for other recommendations.

LEBANESE – Restaurant Byblos at the Lebanese Social & Sports Club.  Only in Mexico can a Lebanese refugee escaping the civil war in his country in the 1970s end up here and create such a wonderful meal that when the President is in town, he is asked to prepare a meal.  George Chehade serves up the best Lebanese food anywhere on the peninsula, and his restaurant is the culinary center of the Lebanese-Yucatecan community.  If you didn’t know that there are thousands of immigrants from the Middle East, who first began to arrive in the 1860s, then be prepared for a culinary highlight.  Lebanese cuisine centers olive oil; fragrant herbs and spices; fresh fruits and vegetables; and there is an emphasis n dairy products, cereals, fishes and meat, particularly lamb.  The Lebanese kitchen is extremely rich in flavors, textures and colors, yet often the recipes easy to prepare and suitable for a healthy Mediterranean diet.  Chef Chehade specializes in lamb and eggplant dishes, with an elaborate array of salads including Tabboule and Fattouch; along with the caviars Hommos and Moutabal; and the stuffed grape leaves.  Restaurant Byblos also offers a few Yucatecan dishes, with an emphasis on a clear-broth version of sopa de lima, or lime soup.  On Sundays, there is an all-you-can-eat buffet, and not only is it a great value, but it allows you to see Lebanese-Yucatecan families fill up the place, the day when families, extended families and friends gather to fill up the enormous restaurant.  Entrees range from $75 to $150 pesos, and Chef Chehade sits in a corner by the kitchen’s entrance, willing to say hello (he speaks some English), although often times he’s on his cell phone talking away in Arabic.  Restaurant Byblos, Calle 1-G #101 between 14-A and 16 Streets, Colonia Mexico Norte.  Telephone: (999) 948-4602.  If you don’t have a car, then take a cab, and the instructions are best summed up thusly: Head north on Prolongación Montejo until you get to the “Burger King” fountain, where you take a right, and stay in the left lane.  At the light (just past the Chapur Department Store and Starbucks), take a left, and you drive about a dozen blocks, turning a right on Calle 1-G (there’s the Plaza Líbano strip mall on the left), and the street dead ends into the Club.

ITALIAN – Iguana Blanca Bistro.  If this Italian Bistro is consistently ranked on TripAdvisor as the best place to eat in Mérida, there’s a reason for this: It probably is.  Yes, there are more elegant places, and more expensive places, and places where there is a more expansive menu, but when it comes to properly prepared, consistent, and flavorful food, this place cannot be beat.  Chef Luca Cuturi, who was born in Rome and trained in Milan, embarked on the quest to bring “Slow Food” to Mérida, and he has succeeded.  The focaccia, gnocchi, the pasta for the lasagna are all made from scratch.  The ingredients are fresh, organic, locally procured.  The preparation is exacting and simple, without elaborate sauces or overburdened with spices.  The careful, hour-long preparation that goes into making the lasagna, vegetarian dishes and desserts show that the effort is worthwhile.  Chef Cuturi is faithful to the principles that fresh, flavorful ingredients properly prepared is the right approach.  The meatball and mashed potatoes (polpette al pomodoro), the soufflé with spinach and potatoes (souffle di patate e spinaci), and the curry chicken picadillo (sfoglia al curry) are consistently ranked as favorites by diners.  There are four Bed & Breakfasts a short stroll from the Iguana Blanca, and we consistently find is that our guests will return to dine there several times during their visits.  The food is excellent, and the prices are more than reasonable.  That there is a wide selection of vegetarian dishes means that many visitors and residents who are “eating lower on the food chain,” find their way to this Bistro.  The vegetarian antipasto, consisting of grilled vegetables, Italian bread and cheese, and the “lasagna alla chaya,” with chaya being a similar to spinach and kale, get great reviews.  So do the salads: Innkeepers in the area routinely have salads – Greek, Nicoise and Caesar – readied for pickup or delivered.  The result is a wonderful place, where you find visitors from the world over; American and Canadian ex-pats, and yucatecos all enjoying meals in a lovingly restored mansion, with an open air terrace garden, and the attentive Chef Cuturi visiting every table to say hello, and make recommendations.  It is the kind of place that one envisions when reading advertising showcasing the “warmth of Mexico.”  You won’t be the first guest who wishes this Bistro was closer to your home. Iguana Blanca, Calle 59 #572 between 72 and 74 Streets, near Santiago Church.  Telephone: (999) 240-8858.  Please click on the image to the above right to see their menu.

What if you’re not up for a full meal, or want something on the run? 

Here are our recommendations on a place where you can get great sorbets, one good bakery and the one street vendor whose food is so good, her recipes have been published in the New York Times – the only street vendor in Mexico who can make that claim!

El Colón

Since 1907, Sorbetería “El Colón” has been making wonderful, natural sorbets.  In the land where chocolate and vanilla originated, one would expect to find fantastic chocolate and vanilla sorbets – and one does.  The “chocolate” and “mantecado” sorbets at El Colón rival any found anywhere else.  Their coconut (coco) sorbet is exquisite.  And, this being the tropics, go ahead and try something exotic.  The menu board lists the flavors of the day, which reflects what’s in season: tamarindo, guanabana, mamey, zapote are wonderful fruits.  But if you want to stick to the familiar, remember fresa is Spanish for strawberry and duranzo is Spanish for peach.  And there is one flavor that you simply have to try: elote, which is corn.  As counterintuitive as it may sound, Maya corn sorbet is sweet, and refreshing, and so extraordinary, you’ll wish you could buy it back home.  One final vote of confidence: Whenever the president is in Mérida, pints in all varieties are sent to his office, a long-standing tradition that began in the 1920s.  There are two locations.  The main branch is on the northwest section of the Main Square (Zocaló), Calle 62 #500 between 50 and 61 Streets.  The other location is on Paseo Montejo #474.  Telephone: (999) 928-1497.  A sorbet runs about $2.25 USD.  And here’s a good-karma suggestion: If you speak a little Spanish, and a young child selling candy and gum approaches you, treat them to a sorbet.  For the kid, it will be such a treat, and for you, it will make your soul feel good.

El Retorno

El Retorno Bakery is an exceptional bakery, where the coffee cakes (with pumpkin, cheese or condensed milk) are wonderful, and the pastries are light without being too sweet.  As a general rule, great bakeries and bread are difficult to find in Mexico.  Why?  Well, as any anthropologist will tell you: societies are classified by the primary carbohydrate in their diet: Europeans eat wheat and Latin Americans eat corn.  The culture of transforming wheat into wonderful baked goods is the tradition of Europe, not the Americas.  El Retorno, however, offers one of the best selections of baked goods in town.  It may not impress the French or Italians, but if you are eager for a good bread roll, coffee cake or pastry that’s not too sweet, drop by.  It should also be pointed out that prices for many baked goods are controlled by the government, and that means that many baked products are an exceptional value.  True, a loaf of French bread is twice as good at Fauchon in Paris or at Zabar’s in New York, but bread at either of those places cost 5 or 7 times as much.  The main branch is in the Colonia (suburb) of Cortés Sarmiento, but there is a branch steps from the Main Square (Zócalo), Calle 62 #500, Suite I, between 50 and 61 Streets.  Telephone: (999) 928-5634.  The entrance is a set of sliding glass doors on the eastern side of the street, just a few steps north of the Main Square along Calle 62 – easy to miss, so be mindful.