bajajazz - 10-11-2009 at 10:55 PM
Many of you will remember the French restaurant that started out where La Boheme is now, then moved to a location near Teatro Juarez on B. Dominguez
near Independencia, next to El Gato Negro, the art gallery jointly managed by a consortium of fine local artists including Nora White and Peter Coles.
Anyway, La Bistrot (as I think it was called) is no more and in its place is a restaurant named La Mision. We stopped in the other day for the comida
corrida and were so pleased by the meal that we returned a few days later for dinner. We enjoyed sitting in the patio for our comida corrida and
found the quality of the meal to be superb for a 50 peso lunch. Many if not most comida corrida meals seen like thrown together gangbang affairs that
serve the utilitarian function of quieting hunger pangs but offer no satisfaction in terms of taste and quality of preparation. Not so at La Mision.
Javier, the new owner, a distinguished gentleman who hails originally from Veracruz, obviously keeps an eye on what
comes out of the kitchen and our meals were prepared and presented with care and attention.
When we returned for dinner a few nights later, I ordered the ravioli carne de res which was served with a nicely seasoned tomato-based sauce, good
grated cheese and a loaf of hot bread with an ample dish of butter. My S.O. had the lamb in a caper sauce accompanied by anise-flavored rice and it
wasn't as successful as the ravioli, alas. The lamb was a bit tough, the caper sauce was more floury than capery and the rice -- while flavored
nicely -- was not cooked through.
However, on the up side we enjoyed having a dinner in a restaurant with no soccer games blaring on the television, no television sets at all as a
matter of fact, and Javier's taste in music mirrors our own -- lots of Cole Porter tunes and old Louis Armstrong classics. And the desserts were
winners. My wife had a home-baked flan like I haven't enjoyed in La Paz for years -- it used to be all over town, you could stop in at a number of
places and get flan to go and eat it like finger food off a piece of wax paper and continue on down the street. I had a chocolate sundae made with
unusually good ice cream and next time I'm there I'm going to ask Javier what brand it is.
La Mision, on B. Dominguez between Diez y Seis and Independencia. Prices: Inexpensive to moderate. Ambience: Quiet and loaded with Mexican charm, a
good place for serious dinner conversation.