Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
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Tijuana Weekend, Some Very Good Eating
From poster eatone888 at Chowhound.com
"Arrived Saturday, lunch at Carnitas Uruapan, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz 12650, excellent carnitas served with tortillas, beans, chilies, cilantro, onions,
limes and a couple of salsas. The salsa rojo was strangely flavorless, but otherwise everything was excellent. The carnitas were crispy at the edges
and very tasty.
Saturday dinner was at La Differencia, Blvd. Sanchez Taboada 10611-A, Zona Rio, and it was fantastic. The place is very pretty, comfortable, the
service was impeccable. Fresh chips and salsa came to the table. The salsa verde had some bite and a truly great fresh flavor. The black beans were
very good with a nice porky taste, once again the salsa rojo didn't have a lot of flavor, but was better than at lunch. We started off with Crepas
Huitlacoche (which they spell Chuitlacoche). They were truly incredible, perfectly thin crepe pockets - almost more like dumplings - stuffed with a
lot of huitlacoche and just enough Oaxacan string cheese. They were served on a roasted poblano cream sauce that was amazing. We were drinking it with
a spoon at one point. For main courses, my friend had duck - kind of duck carnitas - served with a tamarind sweet and sour dipping sauce, cilantro,
onions and freshly made blue corn tortillas and it was fantastic - crispy on the edges, moist and tender, flavorful. I had a chile relleno stuffed
with crab and topped with a tomatillo cilantro chile verde sauce that was great. The chile was lightly breaded and perfectly fried, the stuff was
perfect. We had wines from Baja as well that were surprisingly great. I had a fantastic Tempranillo from the Santo Tomas Winery. I have got to try and
find it in the U.S. My friend had a Cab that was a bit unusual but nice, not as nice as the Tempranillo though. For dessert, the flan was excellent,
the only low point was the coffee - espresso would have been perfect but they only had fairly week brewed coffee.
Breakfast, at the recommendation of the bellman at our hotel, the Pueblo Amigo - nice enough, clean, reasonably priced - was at a place called Super
Antojitos in the Plaza del Rio shopping center. Fresh orange juice, good coffee. I had the breakfast Mexicano with chiliquilles verde that were
superb, served with fried eggs, rajas and beans. Just what I needed. My friend had the Azteca - ham on top of a tortilla with fried eggs, sprinkles of
bacon, avocado, a light chile rojo and excellent tripas on the side, as well as beans. I will definitely be back for breakfast again the next time I'm
in Tijuana.
We spent about an hour walking around the Mercado Hidalgo, which is a great market - some really unusual dried chile powders - especially green ones -
and then we had tacos at Tacos El Gordo just outside the entrance to the market. The al pastor was good, but not as good as I remember it being. It
had an odd, white, slightly creamy spicy salsa on it that kind of hid the taste of the meat. My friend liked her tacos cabeza very much.
All told, a good weekend and some very good eating."
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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sanquintinsince73
Super Nomad
Posts: 1494
Registered: 6-8-2010
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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Carnitas Uruapan was thee place to eat about 40 years ago. Sadly, they no longer fill the place like before. I know that their prices are outrages. My
last time there I paid $25.00 for a kilo de carnitas and the accompanying nopal salad and salsita.
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 17649
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Hot n spicy
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Gypsy Jan
From poster eatone888 at Chowhound.com
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who?
difficult to trust anonymous reviewers. with the local papers in san diego at least i know who is good reviewer and who is untrustworthy reviewer.
i always discount reviews that compliment everything. if they found nothing less than excellent, perhaps they have bad taste or no sense of taste.
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Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
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Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
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Dear SQ
I have been to Carnitas Uruapan and in my humble opinion, they suffer from being a service place to the high rise buildings and hotels near by.
Convenience, not quality.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
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To mg+666, Which I Believe is Your Own Perverse Idea of a Sense of Homour
Chowhound is a naturally, self leveling and self-deflating forum, that calls BS when it appears, much like Baja Nomads.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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sanquintinsince73
Super Nomad
Posts: 1494
Registered: 6-8-2010
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Gypsy Jan
I have been to Carnitas Uruapan and in my humble opinion, they suffer from being a service place to the high rise buildings and hotels near by.
Convenience, not quality. |
You've awakened a carnita craving, Jan. Back in the day I remember carnitas Uruapan would cook the pork outside in these gigantic copper ollas. We
would stand outside with the cooks and have a beer while conversing with them.
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Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
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Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
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Carnitas Craving
Hi SQ73,
Please tell me where they do the old school, copper-pot-version these days.
TIA, GJ
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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sanquintinsince73
Super Nomad
Posts: 1494
Registered: 6-8-2010
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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I see it done in San Quintin at a carnitas place but I've never stopped. The guy has his ollas outside and then stuffs the carnitas in a taco cart.
Doesn't look to clean.
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k-rico
Super Nomad
Posts: 2079
Registered: 7-10-2008
Location: Playas de Tijuana
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Gypsy Jan
Hi SQ73,
Please tell me where they do the old school, copper-pot-version these days.
TIA, GJ |
Carnitas Ruben on the west side of Paseo Playas de Tijuana about 1.5 miles south of the bullring. I think it's 120 pesos per kilo but that could be
1/2 kilo, not sure. I always buy the tacos for 14 pesos each. 2 and you're full. Great stuff, lots of salsas, corn tortillas, chiles, etc.
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bajaguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9247
Registered: 9-16-2003
Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
Member Is Offline
Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
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The best!!!!
Carnitas La Flor de Michoacana in Rosarito
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