Oaxaca, Destination for Great Food? Here is our take.

We came to Oaxaca prepared for a taste extravaganza. We ate in high end restaurants and in hole in the wall joints in the City of Oaxaca and at the beach in Mazunte. We’ll talk about our disappointments first and get that out of the way. Criollo is one of the most highly regarded restaurants beloved by foodies, but our experience was not that good. First off, we were only offered the tasting menu (their intriguing regular menu is hardly, if ever, offered…hence, no tongue for Jojo) which consisted of two fish entrees one of which was a confit of a chopped up unidentified fish. The other dishes were a bit too heavy on the cream and butter. Secondly, the wait staff seemed somewhat unengaged and distracted. Casa Oaxaca is another much touted restaurant. Here Mitch ordered canejo stew (a favorite of his) expecting to suck on some tasty bunny bones only to be served a square of dry confit of chopped up rabbit. The staff here was very professional and friendlier, and the setting is lovely, but we were happy to get back out on the street which was joyous and authentic, and where you can get four or five GREAT meals in scores of local restaurants for the price of what you pay for one at the restaurantes de lujo. One higher end restaurant that is worth the visit for a late lunch is Coronito, which serves up its wonderful “Seven Moles” dish.

The Seven Moles at Coronito.

Now, let’s get to Casa Crespo, a cooking class run by chef Oscar Carrizosa, which was indeed quite spectacular.

Meet Chef Oscar. After selecting our menu we all went to a nearby market for the ingredients.

Back at the school the initial ingredients had been laid out for us.

Our menu was: Cevich, Roasted Tomato Salsa, Mango and Habanero Salsa, Fresh Dough Corn Tortillas, Pumpkin Flower Tomales, Mixed Peppers Stuffed with Piccadillo, Lentil Soup with Plantain, Pineapple, and Bacon, Mole Bueno, Sweet Corn Ice Cream, and Oaxaquean Chocolate Ice Cream, There were 14 of us in the class. We worked swiftly under Chef Oscar’s precise open hearted direction. Some of the ingredients had been prepped by the staff which was efficient and unobtrusive but most of the slicing, dicing, blending, mixing, frying and of course the eating was done by us. Delicious!