Yucatán Alfresco

Shortly after arriving at my apartment, I explored the neighborhood, and I discovered another nearby restaurant that had added some outdoor seating.  The place is called Seis28 (that's its street address on Insurgentes Avenue), and it specializes in food from the Yucatán Peninsula.  It is relatively new, but I have been there a couple times and the food is quite good.

I went there one evening and sat outside.  It was cloudy, and  although the forecast did not call for rain, the weather looked threatening.  At one point the wind started blowing and there were a few drops of rain, but that was it.  I was not driven inside.

I began my meal with something that is not from Yucatán, but which you can probably find almost anywhere in Mexico... tortilla soup.  I have had tortilla soup in many different restaurants, but this one was exceptionally good.

For my main course I had a very typical Yucatecan dish called "queso rellleno" (stuffed cheese).  The cheese is Edam cheese, and there is much speculation about how a Dutch cheese came to be a mainstay in the cuisine of the Yucatán.  One story says that a Dutch vessel with a cargo of Edam was shipwrecked on the coast; another story says that it was contraband from the Dutch colony of Surinam that arrived by way of Belize.  

The round Edam cheese is supposed to be hollowed out and filled with the stuffing, although many restaurants, such as this one, take the easy way out and simply serve the stuffing on top of a slice of cheese.  The stuffing is a hash made of ground pork, capers, olives, almonds, hard boiled eggs and numerous spices.  It is then covered with a mild sauce.  The first time I had this dish was at a restaurant, which sadly no longer exists, in Mérida, Yucatán.  It was absolutely exquisite.  I have had "queso relleno" in other restaurants, but no where has it been the equal of what I had that first time.  Nevertheless, this was very tasty, and I left Seis28 satisfied.