Brunch in Mexico City

In New York I used to be married to a woman who claimed she hated Sunday brunch. She felt it was a gringo anomaly, evidence of pitiable culinary indecisiveness. Since it was neither breakfast nor lunch, she didn’t think it was anything at all, at least not anything worth eating.

It was easy to be supportive of her. I didn’t care one way or another about brunch, and I tend to encourage any strategy that will keep me inside the house all Sunday morning. So I never ate brunch in New York and of course in Mexico City never even thought about it.

Until my friend Juliet Lambert, the founder of Spice Catering, told me that each Sunday she was going to prepare brunch at a fonda that went unused on the weekends, at Calle Puebla 301, almost at the corner of Salamanca, Colonia Roma Norte. I went last Sunday and can only use superlatives. Juliet served the creamiest and most lemony eggs Benedict I’ve ever had. Accompanied by perfect hash browns: impeccably greasy, crunchy and salty.

Although I was almost weaned on them in New York I can’t remember the last time I had lox and bagel. Eating the one pictured above was a little like Marcel and the madeleines.

There are even Belgian waffles cooked by an actual Belgian.

There he is, poaching an egg while Juliet makes the hash browns. When he is not assisting her, Olivier DeKeyser is the best pastry chef in the city.

The best thing about Juliet’s Sunday brunch is that you don’t have to get up early for it. She begins serving at 11 am but most of the people who arrive early are deviant gringos. Unlike in New York you can have brunch on Calle Puebla until 6 pm. I think even my ex would be seduced.

Labels: Mexico City

Jews in the centro

Photo from awtravelogues.com

Trotsky was not the only Jew who emigrated to Mexico. Most of us who’ve come here have been luckier than he. If you are interested in the history of the Jews in Mexico City, next Sunday, June 16, Mónica Unikel will be giving a guided tour of Jewish history in the Centro Histórico. Among the places she will take you are a housing complex that, before Jews moved in, used to be a convent. She’ll also show you where Jewish street vendors sold their wares, former tailor shops, Yiddish theatres, and kosher butchers. I have taken Mónica’s tours before and they are a delight –  both informative and entertaining. If you would like more information or want to reserve a spot on Sunday’s tour you can write to sinagogajustosierra@gmail.com.

Labels: Mexico City

Show business

He and his dummy wander from cantina to cantina around calle Bolívar in the centro histórico, willing to exchange banter with even the most inebriated customer, in exchange (he hopes) for a tip. Never mind that his lips move when the dummy is supposed to be speaking. Despite the almost perpetual smile, he reminds me of one of those sad clowns from the black-and-white Fellini movies.

Labels: Mexico City

They don’t do decaf

On the corner of Dinamarca and Liverpool in the Colonia Juárez, Gabi’s is a resolutely old-school cafe. Decorated with ancient coffee grinders, espresso pots and drip coffee makers, the clientele is mostly from the neighborhood. You will not find any of the kids with stylishly asymmetrical hairdos that buy their java in Starbuck’s or its Mexican upstart competitors, Cafe Punta del Cielo and Cielito Querido Cafe.

In fact, this place is such a blast from the past that, on a recent afternoon, when someone asked for a decaf, the waitress looked at him as if he came from a distant galaxy.

It’s a great place to while away an hour in the afternoon, reading, writing or chatting, as the light streams in from the picture windows.

Labels: Mexico City

Still life

If you go through the archives of this blog, you will find I have posted about mannequins more than any other subject in Mexico City. Is it because they are so much a part of the fabric of life here — their lifeless figures abounding? Or are they my obsession? One theory doesn’t preclude the other.

After one of my posts, I began to receive persistent and annoying emails from a company in China that made mannequins, suggesting I buy some of their product.

In any case I was walking on Insurgentes Avenue and saw this. Naturally, I looked up the website (www.manisamex.com.mx), to find out that they are a distributor of some very sophisticated mannequins. Not that you’d actually notice from the window display.

Labels: Mexico City