In with the New

Here in the Mexico City neighborhood of Nápoles where I rent an apartment, the pandemic and its economic downturn have led to the closure of many businesses, including quite a few restaurants.  On the upside, however, quite a few new businesses have appeared.

First, here are some of the places that have disappeared from my neighborhood...

"La Caraqueña" was a Venezuelan restaurant where I ate a couple of times.  It appears to have been closed for violations of some sort.  If you look carefully you can see what is left of a couple of torn government placards saying "Suspensión de actividades".

"Loma Linda" was a new branch of a chain of very expensive steakhouses.  I went there once, ordered the cheapest steak on the menu, and it was still perhaps the priciest meal I have had in Mexico City.

This used to be the entrance to a place called "The Food Trade Center"... a play on words since the World Trade Center is just a block away.  It was another pricey place, but the food was good, and Alejandro and I ate here a couple of times.  All that is left is a sign saying "Restaurante" over the door.

I ate once at "Tortas Don Beto", but it was nothing special.  There are other places with better "tortas", traditional Mexican sandwiches.  The sign says that the business premises are for sale.

And now for some places that have recently appeared in the neighborhood...

This used to be the location of a branch of the taco chain "Taquearte", but then it moved to bigger and fancier location across the street from the World Trade Center.  Now we have a small café called "La Exquisita" that serves light meals.  Alejandro and I have already tried it out, and the food was quite good.  It's just down the street and around the corner from my apartment.

I'm not sure how new this place is, but I have never noticed it before.  "Frankfurt" sells sausages and beer.

Just a couple doors down from "Frankfurt" is another place I had not noticed before, a vegan taco joint called "Tacomido".

The original "La Parroquia" is a famous café in the port city of Veracruz.  There are a couple of branches in the historic center of Mexico City.  It's a great place for a traditional "café con leche" (coffee with steamed milk).  Now there is a shiny new branch along Insurgentes Avenue not too far from me.

Alejandro and I have already tried out this new place.  "OK Flautería" sells "flautas"... a tortilla wrapped tightly around a filling such as chicken or cheese and then fried in oil to a crisp.  Not bad.

In this spot across from the World Trade Center, there used to be a little restaurant / French bakery.  When my friends Nancy and Fred came several years ago to visit me, we ate breakfast here a couple times.  Nancy really liked their avocado toast.  Unfortunately, that place closed, and the spot is now occupied by a restaurant called "Paparilla".  They serve baked potatoes stuffed with grilled meat and cheese.  They also serve breakfast, so I tried it out yesterday.  The menu was very limited, and my breakfast was cold by the time it was put on the table.

This new place, called "Mi Corazón de Maíz" (My Heart of Corn), is not a restaurant but a "tortillería", a store that sells tortillas.  Throughout the city you will find loads of "tortillerías", but there was not a single one in my neighborhood of Nápoles.  This is an affluent district, and I guess serving a stack of tortillas with dinner each day is too plebian for the housewives here.  However, this is not the typical place that you would find in working class neighborhoods.  This shop is a gourmet "tortillería".  Here they offer fancy products such as "tortillas de maíz azul" (blue corn) or "tortillas de nopal" (cactus is added to the corn dough).  I haven't checked it out, but I suspect that the average Mexican housewife would find the prices exorbitant.

Finally, across the street from the "tortillería" there is this new bakery called "Alpaca Bakery and Creampuffs".  Businesses sometimes use names in English to give their establishment a cachet of upper class snobbery.  I went to this place yesterday and bought three pieces of pastry.  They cost 90 pesos... $4.50 US.  I told Alejandro, and he was shocked by such an outrageous price.  However, I have to admit that the baked goods were really, really good!