"Poblano" Cooking

After visiting Cholula last Saturday, Alejandro and I decided to drive a short distance to take Nancy and Fred to the city of Puebla for dinner.  When we visited Cholula in August we had a terrible dining experience, but we knew of a very good restaurant in Puebla from a trip there a couple years ago... "La Fonda de Santa Clara".  "La Fonda de Santa Clara" specializes in "poblano" cuisine (the word "poblano" refers to anyone or anything from Puebla).  The city is famous for being the birthplace of some of Mexico's most famous dishes.

When Alejandro put the restaurant into his GPS we realized that there are several branches of "La Fonda de Santa Clara".  We went to the one nearest to us, which was on the edge of the city's historic district rather than the one downtown where we had eaten before.  

As we entered the decorations for Day of the Dead provided some photo opportunities that we couldn't resist.

The Day of the Dead "ofrenda" at the entrance honors the family of the restaurant's founders.

We were all very pleased with our dinners.  Nancy had the traditional "mole poblano".  Fred especially liked the "manchamanteles", another type of "mole" which is flavored with fruit.  Alejandro had enchiladas with three different kinds of "moles"... "mole poblano" and red and green "pipián" (a sauce made with roasted pumpkin seeds).  I had "tinga poblana", pork flavored with "chipotle" peppers.  I think this restaurant was even better than the downtown branch where we had eaten before.

As an unexpected treat, before we left an "estudiantina" showed up in the restaurant.  An "estudiantina" is traditionally a group of strolling musicians who are university students.  These musicians looked too old to be students (maybe they're professors?), but they were from the nearby University of the Americas.

A great ending to a fun day.  After dinner we hit the road and returned to Mexico City.