This is a wonderful ceviche dish that I just discovered recently. Alagua is one of the best seafood restaurants in Mazatlán, and they do a spectacular version of the famous Sinaloa dish.
The freshest of shrimp are shelled raw, “cooked” in lime juice and served with chopped cucmbers, onion and a jalapeño purée.There couldn’t be a more perfect dish to eat right at the beach with the warm breeze on your face.
Culiacán is a nice, big city with a balance between the historic and the modern. Here is the lovely cathedral in the historic center of the city.
When is the last time you saw a Woolworth store? They’re still thriving in Mexico. In Acapulco a few years ago, I saw Woolworth stand-alone restaurants that appeared to be competitors of VIPS. Not surprising, given that Woolworth was the largest restauranteur in the U.S. until it was overtaken by McDonald’s.
The stores have a special meaning for me because I worked for the company for 15 years in Canada and the U.S., and in 1992, I was offered the position of Chief Financial Officer of the Mexican company. Instead, I lost all my money producing independent films.
Everywhere you go in Mexico, there will be a Doctor Simi dancing wildly in front of a Farmácias Similares outlet. They’re a huge chain of drugstores that provide medical services, and sell generic versions of most drugs. In Nuevo León a few years ago, I had some sort of insect bite on my foot that threatened to ruin my trip. A visit with a nice doctor, and a prescription from the drug store cost me slightly over $10, and the trip lasted another 3 weeks.
I’m always happy to see the dancing doctor.
I took a long taxi ride to the beach in Tijuana to try a restaurant that Anthony Bourdain featured on his show. Guess what? Terraza Vallarta isn’t there any more. $22 in cab rides later, at least I had a nice conversation with the cab driver… It was one of the less expensive little white cabs, so I probably made his night.
On Saturday night in Hermosillo, I took another long cab ride – not as long this time – to a Sinaloa style seafood restaurant called El Charco. Before the taxi could leave, a lovely young woman raced out to tell me that they closed at 7:00 pm. I’ve come across this with other seafood places in Mexico.I ended up at La Cobacha, a huge place with an extensive menu. I had a mixture of shrimp, scallops and avocado in a sweetish red sauce called Manjar de Neptuno… Finally got my seafood fix.
After years of doing it the American way, I finally went for a real Mexican breakfast. My usual favorite place for breakfast in Mexico is VIPS, sort of a Denny’s equivalent, but there wasn’t a VIPS anywhere near where I was staying. So I went to the Mercado Municipal, where everyone else seemed to be at that time of day.
All the food stands were trying to lure me with their delicious cabeza (head), but I wasn’t ready for that. Instead, I went for the Gallo Pinto, a northwest Mexico specialty that they assured me was a highly traditional breakfast.
Gallo Pinto turned out to be a rich soup with big chunks of beef, hominy and lots of pinto beans. Sprinkled with cilantro, chopped onion and chile flakes, it was truly satisfying, and didn’t leave me sluggish, as I feared, in the brutal summer heat.
Maybe I’ll eventually break my Raisin Bran and yogurt habit.
They told me the ride would take 12 hours, but it turned out to be 13 and a half. Not a big deal.
The scenery was mostly desert, but the first couple of hours covered some remarkable arid mountain scenery. The bus drivers with the Elite bus company couldn’t have been nicer. When they saw me taking pictures, they made a special stop at a “mirador” so I could get better shots.
I just started this trip on Thursday, taking buses from Los Angeles to Tijuana, and from there to Hermosillo, and I’ve had a surprising number of invitations to eat the heads (cabezas) of various animals. The picture of the steaming skull is from my favorite taquería in Tijuana, Tacos El Gordo. The others are from the Mercado Municipal in Hermosillo. Each time I passed a food stand, they tried to lure me in for breakfast with their delicious cabeza… So far, I’ve managed to resist the temptation.
Bruce Critchley's Mexico Here and There 