A Real Cantina
Growing up in the great state of Texas, we often heard intriguing stories from our many tex-mex friends about the great old cantinas of Mexico. So, I've made it a point to visit some of these old cantinas since we now are residente permanentes. While in Mexico City, we grabbed a few strong cocktails at Tio Pepe, one of the oldest opened in 1869 and at El Manatial in San Miguel Allende, circa 1920. Not quite as old, but just as authentic here in PDC is Don PP. It's a true Mexican cantina with great delicious food, friendly attentive service, and happy festive vibe.
We arrived at the door and was greeted by the smiling manager standing just outside. My strict rule-following wife announced her reservation for 6 to the manager. He then stunned her with his hilarious reply "Reservations? We don't take no stinking reservations!" As my wife grimaced, his smile widened as he said "Come on in and bienvenidas" swinging the door open.
Inside there was a pre-holiday fiesta happening, with a nearly full house of patrons laughing, eating and mucho drinking. We found a big table and ordered a round of bebidas. They quickly arrived with a small bowl of surprisingly tasty bean broth soup. In honor of Estados Unidos Mexicanos, four of us ordered the famous, iconic chiles en nogada. The others tried the pierna de cerdo and pollo enchiladas aka braised pork shank and chicken enchiladas.
As we shared stories and cracked bad jokes, the cantina's fiesta level slowly grew by the minute with everyone having a great time. Soon the food began to arrive and everything looked fabulous. The chiles de nogada displayed the Mexican colors as it was beautifully prepared. It was a large poblano pepper stuffed with ground beef & pork, almonds, raisins, carrots, dried fruit among other yummy ingredients and covered with a creamy walnut sauce. Sweet and savory, it was the perfect combination of favors. The pork shank was Fred Flintstone sized, served with rice. Our fellow Texan expat friend devoured it in no time. I think the shank was actually bigger than his forearm! The enchiladas disappeared just as fast as my chicken crazy, yet also steak loving esposa also sipped on her tamarind margarita. She's keeping Playa classy!
As we were leaving, we ran into one of our Mexican friends. We smiled and exchanged hugs and she exclaimed "So good to see you at a real cantina". We couldn't agree more. You should visit Don PP, around calle 14 and 50, and get your own cantina scene on. Feliz dĆa de la independencia! read more