In Honor of the Table Salsa

The table salsa, is what I call it: the salsa that the waiter brings to your table, pretty much no matter what you order, though you usually have to ask for butter, and even at times for salt. Pretty much, this salsa is going to be great. The taqueria on the corner has two: a green avocado salsa that is spicier than it looks and a deep red pepper one that is milder than it looks (more smoky than spicy).
Yesterday, the dutch guy at our hostel who is riding his motorcycle all the way down to Patagonia said he thought the tacos there were really spicy. I looked at him in confusion and finally asked, "Did you put salsa on them?" He said, "Yes. I put a little green salsa on the first one. The taco was so spicy that I put a lot more green salsa on the next one to try to make it more mild." Me: "Um, the green salsa is pretty spicy. The tacos are not at all..."
Today's breakfast came with two salsas: a red one of medium spice that I slathered on my fried eggs and on the ubiquitous refried beans, and a small container of habanero salsa -- I tried that one and then left it alone. At the table next to me, I saw a Mexican woman put a fair amount on her sandwich and admired her strength.

The best restaurant in Morelia

I found a blog of a woman who lives here in Morelia (though she seems to be not from here). She recommends restaurants at times, so we decided to go to one for comida (the mid-day meal here, which is the big one, whereas cena [dinner] is minor). The first one we tried has closed for good, so we gave up and decided to go to what she says is the best restaurant in Morelia: The restaurant at the Best Western. It is called Restaurant Lu, after the chef who has taken it over and made it fabulous, Lucero Soto Arriaga.

Just yesterday, I wanted so sit and sip a cappuccino in the main square, and I scoffed internally at the idea of going to the Best Western. Yet today, there we went. And boy was it good. I had read about the tasting menu the chef has made in celebration of 2010's bicentennial of the independence, so we both ordered that.

The menu took us through three stages of Mexico's history and then gave us dessert at the end: Pre-Colonial, Colonial, and Independence.

Pre-Colonial included two small, squash-flower, soft tacos steamed in banana leaf; a tiny corunda, or triangular tomale, and a clay jar with some soup or sauce in it, with the top covered in masa then cooked. The highlight of this dish was a salsa made from pumpkin seeds, I think.

Colonial: Salad jumping out of a cucumber with blackberry, grapefruit or orange, lettuce. Sope (thick tortilla) of pickled pig's feet (I tried one bite), sope of hibiscus flower (delicious! interesting!), and sope of some kind of chile (I liked more than Peter).

Independence: Red white and green dishes: Enchiladas with lettuce and jicama. filled with avocado slices, and chile en nogada (something that readers who read my last Mexico blog several years ago will know that I don't like, but this one was good -- only she used a different, small chile, which was too spicy, so we just used bits of it with our sweet mincemeat and absolutely perfect walnut sauce and pomegranate seeds). Both of these were great -- super rich flavors.

Dessert was maybe the best part, if a little large. It was Ate with Cheese in three sectures. Ate is fruit gel. Like membrane if you have had that. This one had guava gel, then guavas that were stewed or something, stuffed with a brie-like cheese and with a mild soft white cheese across the top. Super delicioso.