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Nativity

Thursday, July 25, 2024

Dinner at the "Privada Roja"

As I wrote at the end of the last post, I planned to have dinner at a historic building called "Privada Roja".  The word "privada" means a private street.  This structure, which was built in 1907 consisted of a long alleyway which was lined on either side with fashionable apartments.  In the 1960s the building fell into disrepair when it was taken over by squatters.  In 1993 legal action was taken to evict the illegal residents, and work began on restoring the "privada".  Today it houses three restaurants, a couple of art galleries, and Airbnb rentals.  It was used as a film location for some scenes from the movie "Frida" with Salma Hayek. 




 I ate at one of the restaurants, a place called "Mimbre".  Its menu offers a mixture of Mexican and Italian dishes.  It is also a bakery, and even though it was not breakfast time, I was offered sweet bread.  I chose a "chocolatín" (the Mexican equivalent of the French "pain au chocolat"), and it was excellent.

As a starter, I ordered a tray of three "sopes".  "Sopes" have a fried corn dough base with the sides crimped up to hold fillings.  These "sopes" were filled with beef, sausage, caramelized onions, cheese and "crema".  They were outstanding.



For my main course I had a breaded chicken cutlet, covered in tomato sauce, manchego cheese and pesto.  It was very good also.



The word "mimbre" means wicker.  As a souvenir, patrons receive a tiny wicker basket.  With it came a piece of paper similar to what you would find in a fortune cookie.  The humorous proverb said, "Never put off for tomorrow what you could do the day after tomorrow."


 

It was a good restaurant, worth a return visit.

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