Open at Last!

I have been waiting for two years for "Restaurante El Cardenal" to open its new branch just down the street from my apartment... ever since I saw the big sign at the shopping center saying, "Coming soon!"  It took forever for "soon" to arrive, but yesterday was finally the grand opening of the restaurant.  I made a point to go there for breakfast.  I arrived only a half hour after opening time, but there was already a crowd.  I waited about twenty minutes for a table.  When I left there was an even bigger crowd in the waiting area.

The two story, modern restaurant lacks the old-fashioned charm of the original location in the Centro Histórico and the glitz of the branch in the Hilton Hotel.

However, the food is just as good, and the service was super-attentive.  Staff was scurrying all over the place... not just waiters and busboys, but fellows with pitchers of Mexican hot chocolate, others with trays of freshly baked "pan dulce", and management going around and asking if everything was good.

I started out with a cup of hot chocolate and a very yummy pastry that was somewhat like a cheese Danish.

I then had a plate of four enchiladas with "carnitas" (chunks of braised pork).  It would probably be too spicy for some people's palates, but it was delicious.

The restaurant opened too late for me to take Gail and Annette there... too late for Alejandro and I to have a weekend breakfast there on this trip... BUT it will definitely be at the top of my list of neighborhood breakfast places for the next time I have visitors in Mexico City!