known as tapatíos. Eating in a fonda
is just one of many ways to sample
Guadalajaran cuisine.
Like fondas, loncherias are also typical
places where locals eat lonches. “Great
lonches start with freshly baked birote
bread, plenty of sour cream, freshly
sliced tomatoes and a good tomato
salsa made from fresh tomatoes,
never canned,” says Don Ernesto
Garcia Cortes, owner of Guadalajara’s
El Guero, one of the city’s most
famous loncherias. He uses the same
recipe his father taught him 50 years
ago, and he sells about 300 lonches
a day. “When I run out of bread, that
means I am done for the day,” says
Garcia Cortes.
The city also has cenadurías. These
are eating houses where only dinner
is served. Service usually begins
at 7 p.m. and food is served as late
as 3 a.m. Cenadurías vary from
formal restaurants to private eating
houses, where modest dinner tables
and chairs of different colors and
styles are arranged together and
placed outside near the sidewalk.
As a native of Guadalajara, I
remember numerous occasions
when my mother would take my
younger brothers and me to eat in
these places. I vividly recall people
of different social backgrounds
enjoying the food together as if we
were members of the same family.
Fortunately, the city of Guadalajara
still offers this tradition to locals and
visitors alike.
Restaurantes campestres, another
common culinary destination, offer
entertainment such as mariachi
bands and feature a variety of grilled
and barbecued items, including
birria, slow-roasted goat in tomato
sauce. Lamb and pork carnitas are
also common menu items in these
country-style restaurants. Every
campestre restaurant features its own
salsa de molcajete and usually has two
cooks whose only job is to hand-make fresh corn tortillas to order.
Most of these restaurants are located
around the city peripherals and offer
al fresco dining. Campestre cuisine
is so different from stereotypical
Mexican food that were it not for
the tortillas and typical salsas, diners
could easily imagine they were eating
in an Argentinian restaurant or
Brazilian churrascaria.
Another dining option is restaurantes
de mariscos or marisquerías, seafood-themed restaurants that specialize
in freshly caught seafood prepared
many different ways. Most of the
seafood comes from Puerto Vallarta
or the state of Sinaloa. Popular items
include shrimp cocktail, ceviche
tostadas, garlic-scented shrimp,
seafood empanadas and others.
traditional, yet
contemporary
Of course, the city also offers
glamorous and sophisticated
restaurants that specialize in
international cuisine. Guadalajara
is located near Puerto Vallarta,
which, in recent years, has become
opposite: Guadalajara
Cathedral
top: Sour cream and freshly
grated Cotija or fresco cheese
finishes chilaquiles, a common
breakfast dish.
bottom: Fresh onions, julienned
lettuce and a squeeze of fresh
lime complement pozole, a
festive entree stew.
