TableConversation.com

A Book with Good Food and a Purpose

There are two good reasons to buy "The Lula Cocina Cookbook." 

One, it's a beautiful book, as colorful as the Mexico you picture in your wildest dreams.  The author, Geraldine Gilliland, opened the restaurant Lula Cocina Mexicana in Santa Monica 28 years ago. The subtitle tells what's inside: "My favorite Recipes from Mexico to Malibu."   

The food is genuinely Mexican. Gilliland (above) has devoted herself to the cuisine since she went to Mexico City to study with Lula Bertran, a Mexican culinary great. Bertran is the Lula of the restaurant name, and some of her dishes are in the book.  

The other reason to buy it is, all proceeds go to a project Gilliland is as passionate about as Mexican food: rescuing abused and abandoned dogs. If you watch the video on her nonprofit site, Chiquita's Friends, you'll for sure want to buy the book, and help in any other way that you can. 

So take a look at what you can learn to make. These versions of the dishes were presented at Melissa's Produce, where Gilliland appeared to talk about the book, now in its third printing.

Guacamole--it's everywhere, but nothing like Lula's version, which Gilliland attributes to bar manager, Raphael Lizarde. Look below for the recipe.

Crab salpicon (above) goes onto tostadas, a recipe created by Lula Bertran during a visit to Santa Monica.

Poblano chiles stuffed with picadillo (above) are fabulous, but you can use the filling on its own, making two recipes in one. Picadillo is ground beef mixed with raisins, almonds and seasonings that include cinnamon and cumin.

For 20 years, Gilliland refused to put fajitas on Lula's menu, because this grilled meat dish did not originate in Mexico. Now it's the biggest seller, she said. The photo above shows the grilled meat, ready to be stuffed into tacos. 

"Malibu" in the book title is where Gilliland established a ranch and accounts for a few non-Mexican dishes. One of them is this vegan arugula, kale and quinoa salad with agave-lime vinaigrette. 

And, surprise, what Gilliland thinks is "the most amazing recipe in the book" isn't Mexican at all, but raw vegan chocolate coconut truffles. 

But the way she makes Mexican flan is also amazing. Tasters at Melissa's raved about her vanilla flan, which contains canned cream of coconut, a sweet seasoning for drinks. Gilliland presented the flan with churros that were amazing too, flavored with orange zest and not greasy. 

The beverage was chia limeade, which startled diners when it first appeared at the restaurant. "Everyone thought there were bugs in the drink," Gilliland said, meaning the tiny chia seeds.

The fact that Lula Cocina Mexicana exists and that we have Gilliland's wonderful Mexican recipes is pure chance. Gilliland is Irish, from Belfast. Coming here for a vacation in 1975, she delighted in the fresh ingredients available and fell in love with Mexican food.

After reading an article about the Círculo Mexicano de Arte Culinario, an organization of elite women chefs in Mexico, she contacted Bertran, who was part of this group, and asked to study with her.

Mexican ingredients are totally lacking in Ireland, she said, so it was inevitable that she remained in Southern California. With her in the photo above is Viktor Budnik, whose mouth-watering photos will make you want to cook everything in Gilliland's book and go to Lula Cocina Mexicana to eat the food in person.  

RAPHAEL'S GUACAMOLE
From "The Lula Cocina Cookbook" by Geraldine Gilliland.

4 large jalapeños
3 large Hass avocados, ripe but not soft
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
1 good squeeze of fresh lime juice
1/4 medium white onion, peeled and diced
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
Tortilla chips, for scooping

Roast the jalapeños over an open gas flame, until charred all over. Rub off the burnt skin using a paper towel. Cut the chiles open and remove the stems and the seeds. Place in a bowl and mash with a fork to a thick green paste.

Cut the avocados in half and dislodge the pit with a large knife. Scoop out the flesh into the bowl and mash with a fork to a chunky consistency. Season with salt, pepper, and lime juice. Add onion and cilantro and serve at once. This is best not made ahead of time, as it will discolor badly.

Makes 6 servings.

A Farm Dinner and the Film "Esfuerzo"

This taco is amazing--and that's in a day when tacos are everywhere in any form you can think of.

This one appeared at a dinner at Buttonwood Winery & Vineyard in Solvang. The tortillas were made with locally grown green Oaxacan corn dried and processed into masa.

The masa was formed into balls and hand-pressed into tortillas that were grilled just before the dinner.

The lamb, raised at Buttonwood, was braised for two hours, then seared, placed on the tortillas and topped with a poblano-tomatillo salsa, a radish slice and cotija cheese.

The tacos were part of a farm-to-table dinner that showed off not only Buttonwood farm products but a documentary film about the role of migrant Mexican vineyard workers.   

Stars of the film attending included Armando Zepeda, Buttonwood's vineyard manager (above), who planted the first vines there in 1983.

His grandson Fidencio Flores (above) farms the grapes with which he makes Esfuerzo wines, which were served at the dinner. Buttonwood's cellar master Lupe Flores, Fidencio's father, was present too, as well as Alana Maiello, who conceived and produced the documentary. 

The showing took place on the darkened farm, with a full moon rising beyond the screen. Now appearing at film festivals, it's called "Esfuerzo" (effort) like the wines.

The three poured at the dinner were the 2017 Pinot Gris and Rosé of Pinot Noir and the 2015 Grenache.  Here Fidencio Flores pours the Pinot Gris. 

Fidencio collaborated on the dinner with chef Conrad Gonzales (above), who has a restaurant, Valle Eatery and Bar, in Lompoc and a taco shop in Los Alamos. The two plan to develop purple corn tortillas as well as the Oaxacan green corn tortillas and market them to chefs.  

Armando Zepeda contributed grilled tri-tip strips and his signature BBQ chicken, seasoned with spices from a nearby market.

Farm produce appeared in every course and decorated the tables on the tasting room veranda. 

Appetizers included caprese skewers with farm-raised cherry tomatoes and basil. 

Really fresh corn got nothing more than a coating of crema.

These jalapeños were stuffed with goat cheese and topped with a ribbon of bacon.

Dinner started with a summer salad combining watermelon, tomatoes, cucumber, mint and cheese.

Then came the tacos, followed by chicken, steak and the Grenache. 

Farm-raised rainbow potatoes and a black bean salad accompanied the meats. 

The dessert combined the best of the vineyard and the farm--rosé gelato and sweet tamales flavored with fresh peaches. Buttonwood is famous for its peaches, which are sold in season at the farm and at farmers markets. 

The dinner only increased interest in the film and appreciation for the Flores family and others who worked so hard to bring such good food and wine to the table. 

Buttonwood Winery & Vineyard is just outside the town of Solvang, at 1500 Alamo Pintado Road. (805) 688-3032. Esfuerzo wines are produced by the Flores Family Vineyards, which has a tasting room at 140 Industrial Way, Buellton, CA 93427. (805) 245-1578. Hours are ll a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.   

Sol Cocina Opens in Playa Vista

Sol Cocina opened splashily in Playa Vista with oceans of margaritas and a make-your-own guacamole bar stocked with things you may not have thought of adding to avocado, such as raspberries, blackberries and pineapple, chile-dusted dried mango, nopales and chipotle shrimp.

Already open for 10 days, the restaurant made it official with a party. It was great fun to watch as enthusiastic servers went back and forth with trays of margaritas, tequila shots, oyster shooters and more.

A taco bar turned out tacos of carne asada on a base of two small corn tortillas. What set them apart was a layer of cheese and chiles between the tortillas. You won't find that at your neighborhood taquería.

Next to these were fish tacos gobernador, with a lime-citrus aioli, melted cheeses and pico de gallo.

Jumbo peel and eat shrimp cucarachas are a Sol Cocina signature. They're roasted with garlic, lemon, chile and cotija cheese. On party night, you could eat as many as you wanted.

These esquites, seasoned corn kernels like they serve on the streets in Mexico, were the best I've tasted.

The Baja style seafood menu offers seafood samplers, fish, oysters, crab, shrimp, ceviche and more. But there are burritos, tortas, steak and ribs too, as well as tortilla soup and designer salads. 

Desserts such as a dark chocolate banana bread pudding and blondies may not be Mexican, but who cares when the blondies (above) are as good as they come?

The food is smart and contemporary, thanks to executive chef Deborah Schneider, who is a partner in the restaurant group.

I met Chef Deb on a culinary tour in Mexico when she was researching "The Mexican Slow Cooker," one of six cookbooks she has authored.  She's a hard worker, with great taste and depth in her approach to Mexican food.

That's apparent is this new Sol Cocina, which is the chain's third location. The restaurant occupies a corner in a brand new community of apartment blocks, home to smart tech types. Here, they'll find a pleasant escape from their cool, spartan environment.

The apartment buildings are so blank and similar, I wonder how they'll find where they live after an evening of Sol Cocina's margaritas, which are so spectacular, you can't help but try several.

If you like spicy, ask for a jalapeño/cucumber margarita.

Prefer sweet and fruity? Then go for Bubbles and Berries, composed of muddled strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, lime juice and agave with tequila, Cointreau and a splash of sparkling white wine.

Or slurp up a mango and chile frozen margarita, with a chile and salt rim.

You get the idea that Sol Cocina is bar-centric when, as you approach, you see this spectacular window of liquor bottles.

Inside, it's cozy and dark, with a glassed in kitchen that exhibits stacks of wood for grillng steak, lobster tails, corn and the like. At first, the restaurant was open only for dinner, but now you can have lunch there too. 

Sol Cocina Playa Vista,  12775 W Millennium Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90094. Tel: (424) 289-0066.

EatMx.Com: A Brand New Blog

Want to learn about Mexican food--what to cook and where to eat?

That's what I'm writing about  in my brand new blog, EatMx.com, which will cover everything related to Mexico on both sides of the border and, possibly, other places too.

Check it out today. You'll start with a welcome cocktail--that's it above--then move on to a series about great Mexican dishes in Los Angeles and a post on a fabulous place to eat in Baja's Guadalupe Valley.

Coming up is Mexico's answer to L.A.'s best dishes--10 top tastes chosen from five states. Then a recipe for chilorio, which is spicy, delicious taco meat that you can easily make at home.  And then five fun places to eat in Mexico. And much more.

TableConversation will continue to explore Asian and other ethnic foods,  American cuisine,  restaurants, wines, ingredients, recipes, cookbooks,  tastings and other happenings.

The Mexican posts and recipes in tc.c will remain there, but from now on, everything Mexican will go to the new blog.

Mexico City's Izote Reopens

The hottest restaurant news from Mexico City is that Izote has reopened.

The formal inauguration takes place this Thursday, but Izote actually opened last Tuesday, when chef/owner Patricia Quintana (right) returned from a trip through northern Mexico and Michoacan. 

That trip was a gastronomic tour de force called Aromas y Sabores de Mexico, which Quintana set up to show off Mexican cuisine to an international group of chefs and media people.

While on the road back to Mexico City, she got the news that the restaurant was set to open. After a quick change to an outfit from her extensive indigenous wardrobe, she arrived in time to greet the first diners.

Established in 2000, Izote was closed for a couple of months for renovation.  "We needed to have a new look," Quintana said.

The changes include addition of an upstairs terrace for smokers, a new, temperature-controlled wine closet (right), a banquette that runs the length of the room and a lighter, sleeker, more open look.

For Tuesday's soft opening, Quintana invited her travel companions to a dinner of small plates. The food was traditional, because she has a passion for ferreting out and preserving authentic flavors, but the presentation was up to date.

That night's camaron en chía (shrimp with chia seeds) was one example. Barely cooked in lime-seasoned liquid, as for aguachile, the shrimp came in a small tumbler hardly bigger than a shot glass, with chopsticks for fishing them out and a spoon for scooping up the liquid.

Chia seeds often show up in Mexican agua de limón (limeade). Perhaps this was the inspiration for sprinkling them into the shrimp liquid, where they added subtle nutty flavor.

Sweet, fresh red snapper and green chile strips were tucked into a cornhusk to resemble an open-faced tamal, but without any masa. 

Above the fish, a tiny banana leaf packet contained black beans sweetened with caramelized onion, a small taste that made one long for more.

Dinner started with sopecitos camineros, miniature salsa- and cheese-topped sopes.

These were flanked by a knotted strip of cornhusk on one side and an ornamental smear of sweet red chile salsa on the other.

A  cornhusk container of esquites (seasoned roasted corn kernels) came on a plate with a leafy salad. Sliced bread was stacked in a guaje (gourd).

A clay mug held only a small taste of sopa Tarasca (Quintana had just been in Tarascan country in Michoacan), but the soup was so dense and rich that a larger amount could have been cloying.

The components included pasilla chiles, black beans, diced avocado and strips of cheese.

The wine did a good job of matching such a wide range of flavors. It was Casa Grande Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz 2006 Gran Reserva from Casa Madero in Parras, Coahuila, which had been a stop on Quintana's tour.

The dessert was as traditional as they come--natillas, a soft custard to which Quintana added a slim chocolate bar and chocolate truffles.

Quintana says she has researched Mexican cuisine since the age of four and is still making discoveries. On her trip, for instance, she saw for the first time the source of escamoles, ant eggs that are in season in Mexico until July.

Author of 26 cookbooks, she is widely copied, but not always successfully. One restaurant purloined her stir-fried duck in tortillas with black mole but cooked the duck improperly and used storebought mole. A perfectionist, Quintana makes the mole herself.

She acknowledges the celebrity chef movement in Mexico City. "The boys want to stand out," she said. "It's a new interpretation of the cuisine. The chefs are creating their own styles with eclectic, European tendencies."

But Quintana is already at the top and intends to stick to her own style, which is to preserve authentic flavors and ingredients while presenting them in new and stylish ways.

"I'm not doing the foams and gels. I'm doing the food that tastes good, in beautiful presentations," she says. "Why do you have to reinvent, when it's all there, in our cuisine?"

Izote de Patricia Quintana, Presidente Masarik 513, Polanco, Mexico City, Mexico. Tel: 52 80 16 71. 

An Updated Look at Zihuatanejo

Forty years ago, Zihuatanejo was empty, isolated and spectacular, rocky mountains plunging to a curving bay. It wasn't hard to guess that one day this quiet Mexican village would boom with tourists. Only the flashy resort Ixtapa just up the coast stole its thunder, and Zihuatanejo faded into a worker community.

This has changed too. Now both are such hot destinations that they go by a single name, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. And tourism has replaced agriculture as the main industry.

The land is thick with coconut palms, mangoes, papaya trees, tamarinds, cashew trees and other tropical riches.

Corn is important too. Perhaps that is why restaurants liven up plain white rice with a few golden kernels.

Just-picked coconuts supply refreshing water to drink. The dried meat goes into candies such as the little pyramids of shredded coconut in the photo above.

Zihuatanejo's municipal market shows off piles of mangoes, guanabanas, jícamas, different types of local bananas, avocados, thin-cut meat hung up to dry, spices and herbs. 

Rather than the neat sprigs of cilantro one sees in the United States, cilantro here is plucked in long stems with feathery tops.

Market shops display soft cakes of tamarind, some of it red with chile, also sea salt, and sacks of coffee grown in the hills of Guerrero, the state where the twin resorts are located.

Fish stalls sell such varieties as cocinero, rongo, salema, medregal, cuatete, ojon and boba.

More familiar varieties such as robalo, dorado and atún (tuna) are there too. Or you can buy dried fish, such as that at the sidewalk stall of the woman at right.

Seafood is so abundant that it is almost taken for granted.  But what every inhabitant eats most often contains no seafood at all. It is the meat and corn stew pozole. The official day to eat pozole is Thursday, and restaurants hang out signs announcing that they'll have it that day.

An unusual variation made with seafood turned up at a tasting during Food & Wine magazine's recent culinary festival (right). But on that occasion, dishes were spruced up to impress visitors.

What local people prefer is white pozole with pork. And what they drink with it is mezcal, not from Oaxaca but produced in the hills of Guerrero from Agave cupreata, known in this region as papalote.

In the early days, one flew from Mexico City into Zihuatanejo in a tiny propeller plane that bounced scarily through the clouds. There were no stewardesses. You helped yourself to drinks and snacks from a drawer.  The terminal consisted of two banana trees, an open air structure that shaded a counter with a typewriter, a water bottle and a couple of bathrooms.

This has been replaced by an air-conditioned building with gift shops and other airport amenities--and long, slow immigration lines.

The simple home cooking of the past  has given way to Italian restaurants, sushi bars, gelato shops and hamburger joints.

 
Ruben, who opened the hamburger place in the photo above, cooked for 20 years at Playa La Madera in Zihuatanejo before upscaling to larger quarters in Ixtapa.

The grilled burgers are very good, I hear. They're served Mexican style, with pickled vegetables and jalapeños.  I saw this view of Ruben's several times a day from my hotel. It was frustrating to be so close and not have time to go there.

The well heeled stay at places such as The Tides Zihuatanejo (at right)  and La Casa Que Canta (at top), where room rates can soar beyond $1,000 a night,  

The super rich have their own majestic villas, molded onto steep, rock-crusted hillsides. The mode of architecture, using natural components such as palapa roofs and earth tones that blend with the landscape, is so typical that it is known as "Zihuatanejo style."

It's a big change from the past, but the seafood is still good, and it's easy to get there, only a couple of hours nonstop from Los Angeles.

If luxury isn't your style, you can hang out at market fondas.

Delia (right) offers a comida corrida, a set meal that includes rice, beans and handmade tortillas with the main dish.

Or you can mingle with locals at places such as the Cenaduría Callita on Nicolás Bravo in downtown Zihuatanejo, not far from the market.

You go to Callita for fried tacos dipped in guajillo chile sauce and buried under lettuce, tomato, pickled lalapeños and crumbled queso fresco. Or tamales with atole, followed by fried bananas in syrup. Not fancy but a real feast, just like the old days.

Cilantro Chicken--for Breakfast

In Mexico, breakfast is BIG. I've watched skinny women dig into  huge plates of eggs and meat, beans and rice. How did they stay so slim? By leaving half or more of their gigantic meals uneaten.

The breakfast buffet at the Dorado Pacifico in Ixtapa, where I stayed when I went to Food & Wine magazine's recent food festival, was loaded with meat.

 

There were things like cochinita pibil, cilantro chicken, chicken in cream sauce, pork in green sauce and Mexican style beef steak in addition to eggs, chilaquiles with red or green sauce, fried bananas and, one morning, grilled nopal cactus.

The cactus is on the plate above, along with red chilaquiles, a chunk of fried banana and a couple of sweet breads.

There were salsas too, red, green and fresh chopped, as well as thick crema, to top anything you wanted.

The bread and dessert section always included a loaf of flan along with a variety of pan dulce, cookies and bouncy orange and green gelatin squares.

You could start with fresh fruits from the area such as bananas,  pineapple and papaya along with juices including, one morning, a green blend of grapefruit, nopales, celery and parsley.

What really brought out the best in breakfast was a beautiful view out toward coconut palms, with netting underneath to protect anyone sitting at the tables outside from getting an unexpected bonk on the head. 

Although I'm a light eater in the morning, I really liked the cilantro chicken. Another festivalgoer, Ruth Alegria, who lives in Mexico City, told me how to make it.

Ruth is the International Association of Culinary Professionals' country coordinator for Mexico. Check her blog for culinary tours if you're headed to Mexico and to see photos of the Food & Wine festival.

Ruth cooks the chicken in a green salsa made with tomatillos, chiles and lots of cilantro. For more intense flavor, she recommends using the miniature variety of tomatillo called tomatillo milpero.

I see these often in Mexican markets in Los Angeles. If you can't find them, select the smallest tomatillos available, not those that have become large and yellowish rather than bright green.

POLLO AL CILANTRO
Cilantro Chicken
With thanks to Ruth Alegria

3 pounds small chicken thighs
Water
Salt
1 pound tomatillos milperos or other small tomatillos
1/2 small onion, cut into wedges
2 large cloves garlic
2 serrano chiles, seeded, coarsely chopped
2 cups cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons oil
2 cups reserved broth

Remove the skin and the fat from the chicken thighs.  Place them in a Dutch oven.  Add water to cover and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, 45 minutes. Let cool in the broth.

Preheat a griddle over medium high heat.  Remove the papery husks from the tomatillos. Roast them on the griddle until flecked with brown but not burned, turning as needed. Remove and cool slightly.

Place the tomatillos in a blender container. Add the onion, garlic, chiles and cilantro.  Blend until pureed.

Remove the chicken from the broth and set aside. Strain the broth and reserve 2 cups.  Use the rest for another dish or a first course soup.

Clean the Dutch oven.  Add the oil and heat.  Add the pureed cilantro mixture. Rinse out the blender with some of the reserved broth and add with the remaining reserved broth to the Dutch oven. 

Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Taste and add salt as needed.

Place the chicken pieces in the sauce and simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes, or until heated through.

Serve with rice and tortillas.

Makes 6 servings.  

Memorable Mole at Fonda Lety

You can rave about complex Oaxacan moles and talk worshipfully about Puebla's intricate mole poblano.

But at the moment I can't think of anything more pleasing than a plate of red mole (mole rojo) at Fonda Lety in Zihuatanejo's municipal market (right).

The pure red chile flavor is simple but memorable. There must be more ingredients than chiles in the sauce--nuts, seeds, and so forth--but they blend so harmoniously that you can't single them out.

Tubs of ready made mole paste are on sale in the market, but Fonda Lety makes its own. 

The plate isn't photogenic, just a blob of chicken smothered in thick red sauce, without decoration. 

Lety's beans are pale and soupy. Rice contains bright yellow corn kernels. But all you really need is a basket of freshly made steaming hot tortillas (above). With these and the mole, you have a perfect meal.

According to the menus on the wall, Lety offers a surprising variety of food--chicken, goat and shrimp soups, aporreadillo (machaca), beef ribs, fried tacos, enchiladas, shrimp any way you like them, fried fish, steak and eggs prepared to taste, chops and milanesas.

Chicken soup (caldo de pollo) is a beautiful bowl of chicken and vegetables.

Enchiladas (right) are soaked in a guajillo chile sauce. Like the tacos (above), they hide under a mound of salad, avocado, soft white cheese and crema.

Everything is fresh, light and delicious. For that, one owes thanks to the proprietor, Señora Belen Ramos Ramirez, whose name and New Year wishes are on the calendar posted on the wall.

Fonda Lety, No. 213 in the Mercado Municipal, Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico. Tel: (755) 554-6294. 

El Tiburón's Lure is Seafood

A giant shark hangs from the ceiling of El Tiburón de la Costa. The shark looks scary, but it isn't real. It's there because "tiburón" means shark.

Located in Barrio Viejo (real name San Jose Ixtapa), a quiet town not far from Ixtapa's resort hotels, El Tiburón is noted for seafood. Rick Bayless ate there when he came to Ixtapa Zihuatanejo for Food & Wine magazine's recent gastronomic festival.

"The seafood is impeccable, all of it prepared with a sure hand," he said.

Bayless was intrigued by cucaracha del mar, a crustacean that grows on rocks in this area. It tastes like West Coast sea urchin, he said, slightly creamy and a little firm.

For lunch following the Bayless demo, El Tiburón put a few pieces in a botana, an appetizer plate that also included sea scallops, shrimp and abalone (right). This dish won an award in a local restaurant contest. To me, the cucaracha had a rich, scallopy taste, but the pieces were cut so small it was hard to tell.

My group also ordered camarones a la diabla (deviled shrimp), which Bayless ate at El Tiburón before demonstrating his own version at the festival.  El Tiburón's sauce was very spicy and a little sweet. One of the ingredients was pineapple. 

The surprising sweetness in fish ceviche (right) came from other sources, orange juice, orange soda and catsup, added along with diced tomatoes and Bufalo hot sauce.

The kitchen sent out the classic local fish dish tiritas, raw fish strips mixed with lime juice, red onion and, in this example, plenty of hot chile. The fish was swordfish.

One of the reasons seafood tastes so good at El Tiburón is that it is very fresh, like the components of aguachile mixto, a spicy lime juice treatment of assorted shellfish.

Of all the main dishes ordered that day, I liked mine the best. It was camarones sarandeados (right), big, butterflied shrimp soaked with red adobo, grilled and then topped with sliced guajillo chiles and garlic. Even the mashed potatoes on the plate were good. The rice included corn kernels.

Tiburón specialties that sound a little touristy include shrimp stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon and bathed with chipotle sauce.

Another is shrimp breaded with coconut and placed on a bed of mango-coconut sauce (right). 

El Tiburón's namesake, shark, isn't on the menu, because it's rarely available. If the restaurant does get some, it is likely to go into ceviche which, I hear, is really good.

El Tiburón is perfect for a vacation lunch. The dress code is so casual that one guy came in wearing an undershirt.

It's  upstairs, open and breezy, with ceiling fans to make it really cool.

The peaked roof is lined with pine boards and beams of palm wood, like a log cabin.  White plastic "Corona" chairs surround tables covered with blue and white checked oilcloth. The decorations are sea-inspired.

Your hosts, says the menu, are the owners, the Camarena brothers. There's no formal street address. If traveling from Ixtapa, you turn from the highway onto the main street of Barrio Viejo and look for it on the left.

El Tiburón de la Costa, Avenida Principal, San Jose Ixtapa, Guerrero, Mexico. Tel: (755) 552 6234.

In Zihuatanejo, Try Carmelitas

There's no reason to leave the beautiful beaches of Ixtapa Zihuatanejo--unless you want to taste real home style local food.

Then the place to go is Carmelitas, where you can watch tortillas made by hand and eat dishes you might not have seen before.

One of them is aporreadillo rojo. That's the local equivalent of northern Mexico's machaca, made of sun-dried beef scrambled with fresh farm eggs and a red sauce.

Aporreadillo is at the back in the photo above. The dish is front is another specialty, lengua (tongue), which Carmelitas prepares with a variety of sauces, among them chipotle and tomato with pineapple.

Along with these, you might try requesón guisado, a soft, spreadable fresh cheese blended with epazote, chiles and garlic, which you fold into tortillas or spoon up with chips. Or squash flowers cooked with corn kernels and epazote, either by itself or tucked into quesadillas (above). Or chicken enchiladas with a mild tomato sauce.

Carmelita is Maria del Carmen Ramirez de Gonzalez (right). She laughs a lot and gets excited if you like her food.

Her restaurant is comfortable and casual, with checked tablecloths and ceiling fans, open to the breezes and the garden outside. The kitchen is spotless.

Local people come for Sunday specials. These include pancita de res (beef stomach), which is a hangover curative like menudo. Another is hard-to-find goat blood sausage, moronga.

If that sort of dish isn't to your taste, the specials a couple of Sundays ago included pork, lengua with chipotle sauce, fat chiles rellenos (right) and calabacitas--pale Mexican squash cooked with onion, garlic and tomato and blanketed with thick crema and queso fresco.

The menu offers almost any antojito (snack) you could think of, including fried chicken tacos (tacos dorados), sopes, enmoladas, sincronizadas and quesadillas. 

Breakfasts are popular. With your huevos rancheros or chilaquiles, beans and tortillas, you can drink coffee from the hills of Guerrero.

The sweet breads (pan dulce) are delicious. They come from the Zihuatanejo market, where I spotted a stall that claims to sell homemade bread.

The chicharrón (fried pork skin) in green sauce is said to be outstanding.

I didn't see that dish, except for a bite of crisp, light chicharrones, served like chips. But I can tell you that seared tuna (above) with green spices has to be one of the restaurant's best dishes.

Carmelitas also turns out a superior plate of tiritas (right), strips of fish "cooked" with lime juice and combined with chile and red onion. It's a local specialty, so you'll find it at many restaurants. At Carmelitas, the flavor seemed to be especially bright.

The signature drink is pale yellow agua de maracuyá(passion fruit). which is  light and natural in flavor, not heavily sweetened like Mexican drinks north of the border.

Desserts are standard, like ice cream, strawberries with cream, peaches in syrup and fried bananas. But the best choice may be a fresh mango. Those I tasted at Carmelitas were super sweet, not surprising because mangoes are a leading crop in this part of Mexico.

Carmelitas Cafe and Restaurant, Avenida Morelos, Centro, Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico. Tel: 554-3885.