# Merida/food



## mr g53 (Jun 19, 2017)

Thinking of moving to Merida. being from NYC, pizza & bagels is a weekly staple. Any pizza shops in merida? any good? what about fresh bagels?


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

Pizza is right up there in popularity with tacos in Mexico. Unfortunately most Mexican pizzas are a large flour tortilla covered with cheese. It is a test of taste. Mexico City for bagels. What I would give for a fresh, salt bagel.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

You may have to learn how to make them , the bagel that is.. THe pizzas here are eaten with ketchup...


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

I have become a pretty darn good pizza maker by necessity. I grew up in Chicago where there is a fantastic pizza parlor ever other block. I need a good pizza every 14 days at a minimum!!

The pizza in Mexico is generally horrible, they consider Domino's fantastic pizza, so I was forced to develop my own pizza making chops. 

We did find a good pizza joint in Xalapa. An Italian guy got himself a brick oven and makes a pretty good traditional Italian style pizza. Outside of that, bleh.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Pizza in Mexico sucks! The so-called bagels are even worse. The last time I had a bagel was when a cousin was visiting from the States and brought me a dozen, which I immediately froze for future use.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

Call me a connoisseur if you must, but the best pizza in Mexico comes from Costco's restaurant.


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

We live no where near Merida - but - we do have an excellent Italian restaurant in town - with a real brick oven. The pizzas are very good. The place is 'very' Italian (wink wink). Our biggest problem with the place is that they open for lunch on weekdays at 2PM and 1PM on weekends. We have trouble waiting that late in the day to eat (we are up at 5AM).

At the moment - our second best pizza choice is Costco. They will make a decent pizza in about 15 minutes. So we order, shop, and then pick up our pizza to go. It is a large step up from a PizzaHut or Domino Pizza.

For bagels - the best we have had are Thomas' - from Costco. The same company which makes Thomas' English Muffins. We also buy Philadelphia brand cream cheese.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

In San Cristobal de las Casas we have quite a few Italians and lots of them have restaurants. We have an excellent pizza place a block from our house..


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

citlali said:


> In San Cristobal de las Casas we have quite a few Italians and lots of them have restaurants. We have an excellent pizza place a block from our house..


Count yourself as extremely fortunate!


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

The food in the Yucatan is good.. I particularly like the small yellow tortillas..and many of the local dishes, the habanero can be on a hot side but I like to eat down there ..


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

citlali said:


> In San Cristobal de las Casas we have quite a few Italians and lots of them have restaurants. We have an excellent pizza place a block from our house..


Do you remember if that's the place we had lunch at one afternoon when I was staying with you a few years ago?


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

Isla Verde said:


> Pizza in Mexico sucks! The so-called bagels are even worse. The last time I had a bagel was when a cousin was visiting from the States and brought me a dozen, which I immediately froze for future use.


Yes, I agree. They seem to think bagels are just bread dough in a bagel shape. I don't think they boil them first, nor use an actual bagel dough recipe.

But almost everything in a traditional Mexican bakery tastes almost exactly the same anyway, just in different shapes, some things with a bit of cheap jam or cream inside.
So not surprised about bagels.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

surabi said:


> Yes, I agree. They seem to think bagels are just bread dough in a bagel shape. I don't think they boil them first, nor use an actual bagel dough recipe.


Truth be told, most bagels you find in the US are like that too, bread in a bagel shape. To get the real thing, you have to live in a city where bagels are created in Jewish bakeries, not made on assembly lines in bread factories.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

surabi said:


> Yes, I agree. They seem to think bagels are just bread dough in a bagel shape. I don't think they boil them first, nor use an actual bagel dough recipe.
> 
> But almost everything in a traditional Mexican bakery tastes almost exactly the same anyway, just in different shapes, some things with a bit of cheap jam or cream inside.
> So not surprised about bagels.


I am not sure why, but in Jalisco, every little panaderia sells baguettes have a taste and texture comparable to good French baguettes. They come in several sizes, bolillos (locally called birotes), saladas, etc. They are world's above the bolillos sold in other parts of Mexico.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Yes the birotes are better than most bolillos from other places...We have a good French bakery in the neighborhood and the birotes do not come close to a good French baguette but if you do not have the real thing to rmind you what great is the borottes are very good..


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

I've given up on finding real bagels in my neighborhood, but there is now a tiny bakery/coffee shop that makes what tastes to me to be really authentic croissants. And in the Superama bakery I can purchase baguette-shaped _pan de centeno_ that appears to be a cousin to pumpernickel, along with cute little rolls that taste just like Jewish rye bread with seeds.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Isla Verde said:


> I've given up on finding real bagels in my neighborhood, but there is now a tiny bakery/coffee shop that makes what tastes to me to be really authentic croissants. And in the Superama bakery I can purchase baguette-shaped _pan de centeno_ that appears to be a cousin to pumpernickel, along with cute little rolls that taste just like Jewish rye bread with seeds.


I have been inspired by this conversation to make bagels again. I have never gotten them to be as good as some I have had in the US, but they are better than most of the bagel chains in the US these days. There used to be a good bagel shop in Palo Alto, California. I don't know how it compared to a Jewish bagel in New York, but theirs were much better than the stuff put out by Einstein Bros.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> I have been inspired by this conversation to make bagels again. I have never gotten them to be as good as some I have had in the US, but they are better than most of the bagel chains in the US these days. There used to be a good bagel shop in Palo Alto, California. I don't know how it compared to a Jewish bagel in New York, but theirs were much better than the stuff put out by Einstein Bros.


Costco bagels baked in their store is or used to be Einstein Bagels. I presume the dough came from them. I read it on the bag they came in once.

We are lucky here in San Luis Potosi. There is a German bakery that bakes German rye bread loafs and other German breads and buns but only on certain days. They all weigh a ton and are the thin sliced type. They specialized in cakes and struddel though.


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

Isla Verde said:


> Truth be told, most bagels you find in the US are like that too, bread in a bagel shape. To get the real thing, you have to live in a city where bagels are created in Jewish bakeries, not made on assembly lines in bread factories.


I was once told that you need the right water to make a good bagel.


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## AnneLM (Aug 16, 2016)

I have had very good luck back in the US using this recipe: https://delishably.com/baked-goods/...bagels__its_as_easy_as_baking_a_loaf_of_bread I am not a New Yorker, but I do know what great bagels taste like! I can't say these are equivalent, but they far surpass what I can find in the Midwest.
Water quality is probably an issue, but I am more concerned about altitude once we move to Mexico City this fall, as the recipe involves not just baking but boiling.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

AnneLM said:


> I am more concerned about altitude once we move to Mexico City this fall, as the recipe involves not just baking but boiling.


Yes, that is an issue. I haven't dialed it in still but water/liquids boil more quickly but at a lower temperature so you have to boil for longer. Most things I have been able to adjust but oatmeal just won't come out close to right. My wife's family makes "avena" but it is more of a beverage and they just boil a big pot of water and milk with some oats, sugar and cinnamon sticks and let it boil for a couple hours. 

For baking I just use my eyeballs to watch because different baked goods seem to behave in their own way.


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

citlali said:


> You may have to learn how to make them , the bagel that is.. THe pizzas here are eaten with ketchup...


... and mayonnaise, sometimes Maggi Seasoning.

We just ate the last of our homemade pizza, out of the freezer then heated in a toaster oven. Some spinach and the rest anchovy.

I won't say it's easy to make.


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

joaquinx said:


> Call me a connoisseur if you must, but the best pizza in Mexico comes from Costco's restaurant.


It's relatively decent, but not great.

There are good restaurants that make pizza, in Mexico City, (and Morelia) and we have one in Pátzcuaro that makes an unusual but good style of pizza.


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## 7711rogerrovic (Mar 21, 2017)

from a New Yorker, AMEN Bro....many food items are better to my taste in Mexico, butter milk simple pleasures. Costco provides coffee pizza, but yes Mexico brings beautiful fruit dif no fructose soft drinks. even Pepsi,Coke. It is for me more about different, Viva Mexico


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Coke in Mexico uses real cane sugar and is sweeter, most mayonaise come with lime...yes things are a little different , lemons the chichon ones or yellow ones are not available in the country and you can find some on the supermarkets ot fome of the large sities otherwise forget it.. Tropical fruit are better here otherwise forget the great peaches, apricots, the pears and apples are imported as a rule.. they grow some in Mexico but the best are imported.. raspberries , blueberries grown in Michoacan and Jalisco but otherwise are not easy to find. strawberries are nice but there are not many varieties.. and so on.. buy local stuff otherwise it is expensive and not very good. The Cheeses selction if you are French is terrible, there are a few good cheeses but usually pretty tasteless and you can get brucellosis if not pasteurized. Most yogurt has sugar in it .. natural does not mean without sugar.. Food here has more sugar and more salt as a rule.

If you think the diet is great and healthy look at the rate of diabetis and obesity in the country and think about it. If you make everything from scratch you have all the ingredients for a really healthy diet but the Mexican diet is tasty and pretty unhealthy.

The butter unless you buy Lala has a really off putting taste. GLoria is the worst.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

citlali said:


> Coke in Mexico uses real cane sugar and is sweeter, most mayonaise come with lime. . . .


The Mexican coke that is imported to the US is made with real cane sugar, but the stuff that is drunk in Mexico is just like the high fructose coke and other soft drinks. 

Lime to prevent spoilage. Does anyone know of a Mexican household that has the refrigerator set to cold rather than cool?


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