Reviewed Janaury 2006
See also RestaurantRatings, Restaurants, and FoodSafety
Regional Cuisine
After 25 years experience in the Food and Beverage industry, 13 of them here in Mazatlán, I feel passionately about this subject. I am a self-proclaimed food geek so I feed qualified to address this subject.
Mazatlán has its quirks when it comes to food as well as its own regional specialties and styles of cooking. Here are some of the most common dishes, not found in other areas.
Asado a la Plaza – Boiled beef and potatoes, cubed, seasoned with salt and pepper (very unusual in Mexican cooking) and fried in lard. It is served with caldo which is the beef stock, cooked with tomatoes and puréed. It is topped with vegetables such as shredded lettuce, carrots, zucchini and pickled onions.
Pollo a la Plaza – Poached chicken and sliced potatoes prepared as above. It is usually ordered by specifying the piece of chicken you want.
Chilorio – Shredded pork, highly seasoned with vinegar and chiles usually served at breakfast.
Pescado Zarandeado – Butterflied whole fish covered with sliced tomatoes, peppers and onion with usually a mayonnaise-based dressing, cooked over coals. This is usually ordered by size of the fish and is a must-try dish here in Mazatlán.
Smoked Marlin – It is served many ways here, in Escabeche which is a sweet and sour preparation with carrots and onions and other veggies. Estofado, stewed or ala Mexicana with tomatoes, chiles and cilantro.
Desserts include Pastel de Elote, sweet corn cake; Jamoncillos, a caramelized fudge-like treat (it is akin to penuche); Coricos, a mildly sweet cookie made with corn masa flour; Cocadas, shredded fresh coconut in a sweet syrup either dyed either a bright red or yellow color or baked without coloring.
The best local restaurants tend to focus on only one thing. An example of this is that chicken places seem to serve only chicken, seafood places only serve seafood so a non-seafood eater would be hard-pressed to find something to suit you the menu. You would likely be limited to quesadillas or rice and tortillas. You would never find chicken in a taquería, nor would you find seafood in the evenings as it is thought by many people to be dangerous and hard to digest at night. Speaking of taquerías, those that are open in the daytime serve tacos based on guisados which are stewed meats, while those open at night serve broiled or spit-roasted meat. Some seafood places are mainly for men and women who go there alone may be mistaken for working girls.
Lani Wooll
Fighting bad Spanish and bad food since 1992 (Sorry folks, it’s taking longer than I thought)