A New Place for Lunch

As I have mentioned previously, the main meal of the day in Mexico is the afternoon dinner, or "comida".  There are countless little restaurants which are only open in the afternoon and which offer a low cost "comida" for people taking a break from work.  The meal usually includes beverage, bread, soup, and dessert, as well as one of several main courses from which to choose.  These "comidas" are not fine gourmet cuisine, but at some places they are tastier than at others.

As I was wandering around my neighborhood of Nápoles I came across a little restaurant that I had not noticed before.

The place is called "Deleite 124"  ("Deleite" means delight, and the numbers refer to its street address on Filadelfia Street.)  The sign says that it serves " fine home cooking".  It looked like a pleasant place, and even though it was still a bit early for "comida", quite a few of the tables were already occupied.  A good sign. So, I went in for lunch.

I took a table, and I was brought a pitcher of "agua fresca"... in this case water flavored with guava... a basket of rather flavorless bread, and a small plate of spaghetti.

The spaghetti is what in Mexico is called a "sopa seca" (dry soup), a rice or pasta dish, instead of a "sopa aguada" (wet soup), what we think of as soup.  Although that plate of spaghetti looks quite naked and bland, it actually was surprisingly tasty.  It was lightly covered with a slightly spicy green sauce and grated cheese.

I looked at the blackboard with the choices for my main dish.  I was torn between the enchiladas and the most expensive dish, salmon with a coating of three chiles.  I asked the waiter if the salmon was very "picante".  He said that it was a little spicy.  I know that means that it is probably too spicy for the palate of many "gringos", but within my range of tolerance.  So I ordered the salmon.

The salmon was served with sides of rice and spinach.  (I had never seen spinach served as a side.  It may look like an unappetizing, green blob, but it was quite tasty.)  From its regular shape, I assume that the fish was from a bag of frozen salmon steaks.  It tasted good, however, and the coating of chiles was nicely spicy.

My meal cost 125 pesos... less than $7 U.S.  I would say that it was a notch above other restaurants of its type, and I would return again.