This was my favorite cafe during my stay here, with great food, great service, and great…read moreatmosphere. Located in the courtyard of the Casa de las Artes, the beautiful outdoor seating and great food attract a nice crowd throughout the day, and the proprietor is visible and involved--making his dedication to delicious food and a great experience obvious. Cafes are VERY common in this area, and you will find that there is a 'typical' Mexican cafe menu: coffee drinks, juices, smoothies, sodas, breakfast, salads, and sandwiches. Cafe Haus isn't deviating from the classics, like the hipster-esque Besame Mucho and Mate Bistro, or staying tried and true, like Restaurant Plaza, but instead the menu has all the staples with a modern flair. Take elevated technique and attention to detail and you've got Cafe Haus.
My favorite Mexican brunch-type-food is called a 'mollete', which is toasted bread smeared with beans and topped with cheese--it's very, very simple, so how is it you can really make them stand out amongst others? ask the owner because that dude's got the answer.
Huevos Rancheros are everywhere. Everywhere. It's a fried egg with a savory tomato and onion sauce on top; but the sauce here was awesome--complex but balanced. The same could be said of the chilaquiles, which were not overly sour or acrid, as they can sometimes be; both those dishes were the best of their kind that I had.
The sandwiches here were also my favorite, specifically the skirt steak sandwich. https://youtu.be/fqCrJc2b9kw Goddam that sandwich. The meat is flavorful, cured and cooked; I thought it would be tough, but it was tender and juicy, and it's paired with a nice, soft, rich, fatty bread. The best thing I ate (in a restaurant) during my vacation.
The drinks were also very good, especially the sodas. The coffee drinks, while not bad, aren't great, but the truth is we went elsewhere for coffee before/after coming here. The flavored lattes and cappuccinos tasted really good, but I prefer unflavored, so I stuck to the sodas, specifically the Italian Melon, which was freaking awesome. But in general, here too, the ubiquitous soda flavors were better than other places.
I think the best way I can sum up the general attitude towards foods here is by mentioning the orange juice. When a few of us ordered orange juice, the owner informed us that (because of the season) the oranges weren't very sweet anymore, so he was adding a natural sweetener "to balance the flavor". That's it right there. None of us (two of which are residents of this city) had ever heard of someone sweetening fresh juice, but his reasoning made sense to us and the juice ended up being great--it was even clear that the juice had benefited from it. With delicious, thoughtfully made food, great drinks, and a relaxing and beautiful atmosphere, it's definitely a place to check out if you're in the area.
