Restaurants Near Candelaria & Santiago

Pane e Vino
64 x 59

If your looking at the wonderful art deco Teatro Merida you'll miss out on the best Italian food downtown. Across the street Pane e Vino offers honest Tuscan food in a bohemian atmosphere with a mix of locals, expatriots and tourists. I am never sure if the owners are still cooking here or not. But since I always order the same things and they are always good I quit asking. The menu is huge and exhausting. In fact my favorite thing to do is sit up front and watch the tourists read the menu. They flip the dirty pages of the menu on the stand. They look at unpainted walls and the rustic floors. They waddle off to somewhere nicer. It may or may not be cleaner that will poison them for sure. I assume it's the menu and dirt that scares them off and not me hissing at them. I like the ragu sauce on gnocci or tagliatelle. I loved loved loved the panacoti until they changed the sauce from caramel to insipid black berry.

after dinner stroll around the zocalo or visit the Olimpo art gallery. In the corner to the right of the front door of the Olimpo are posted the current cultural events for the month.

Update Oct 2009
The owner doubled the rent in the middle of a tourist/financial crisis so Pane y Vino has relocated to a cleaner, prettier, bigger and I suspect cheaper location 2 blocks away. No longer in front of the Teatro Merida now in front of Telmex they now offer a lunch buffet which I'm 99.9% sure should be avoided. Hopefully they are still fresh pasta to order in the evenings and I'll check it out one day....soonish.

La Casa de Frida
61 x 66 y 66a

The owner recently gave up on having a huge menu and I can only say amen sister! Now you can sit in the courtyard and enjoy the homage to Frida decor although you can no longer enjoy the stars. Now there is a plastic roof over the once open patio. Chiles en nogada and mole are the things to order. The service has vastly improved.

before dinner you can shop at the real "Casa de las Artesanias" on calle 63 x 64 y 66 until 8 pm. Here you'll get a good idea of what you can expect to find in all the shops and here the prices are fixed and fair.


Alberto's Continental
64 y 59

It's been 3 years since Hurricane Isidoro wiped out the giant rubber trees that shaded the colonial courtyard of Alberto's. They've grown back and now you don't have to rely on the owners charm alone to enjoy a drink in the garden. Order from the Lebanese side of the menu. There are antiques for sale in the back and if your nice or cute he might open up the boutique for you after dinner. If you see a bus load of tourists in the dining room you should probably return on one of the nights when the place is empty...

La Reina de Itzalana
Santiago Market
57 x 72
They are not called tacos but the local fast food here is excellent. Five years ago when we were building our first house we ate here 3 or 4 times a week. The panuchos and salbutes are the best. All the tamales are great. I like the simple consume more than the lime soup but they are both exceptional. The fresh fruit aguas and liquados are great. There is a decent ice cream stand a few steps away toward the church. Open in the early evening til late at night.