Holbox by Chichen Itza

I’m no @porkybelly and I’ve only been there three times or so, but my fav thing has definitely been the aguachile (pictured above)

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Hi @TheCookie,

I could never be mad at you. :grin: Clearly the solution is a bang bang of Howlin’ Ray’s and Holbox. :stuck_out_tongue:

But if you haven’t attained @PorkyBelly mastery levels yet, then perhaps just eat what you’re in the mood for. :wink:

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Holbox

We went, we saw, we didn’t have any Uni Stew - they had run out. We looked around for chairs to start throwing, instead saw a bunch of cops mulling around, so decided to sit down, behave ourselves and order some other stuff.

Two Fat Bastards


I thought I’d had Fat Bastards, but I don’t think I’ve ever had an oyster with this deep a shell. It’s like a mini bucket. They’re big with an ocean punch and a delicate creamy finish.

Aguachile


@PorkyBelly’s picture… because it’s better than mine. I wanted to, I mean I did spoon the extra sauce on everything. :blush: Odd side note: Aguachile really is better with saltines than with tostada shells.

Fish & Uni Tostada (tostada on the side)


Today’s fish was striped bass. Wonderful.

Torta de Camaron & Salad


Big, wild, Mexican shrimp, battered, fried, crusty, fluffy homemade bread w/creamy avocado, lettuce and pico de gallo. I detected baby tomatoes & pickled red onions (i think). This isn’t a good picture, but it’s a great sandwich.

Salsas


“Shrimp torta with all the salsas” Unless you’re as crazy as the guy who wrote that, stick to the ones on the right. I barely have a tongue left. Oh Lordy!


This one almost made me start crying.

I :heart: this place and have already mapped out my next meal with Chef Gilberto. It involves that guy with tentacles lurking behind the salsas. Mexican octopus, not that artificially manipulated into soft submission Spanish octopus… I learned that tidbit today. I also learned you can’t plan your exact meal at Holbox. There are too many interesting and sometimes unusual offerings that will be there today and gone tomorrow. He doesn’t like to order too much of a good thing - waste not, want not. So just go every week and that should cover it, lol. Pssst… Uni Stew will be back on the menu in a day or two. But don’t get upset - our @PorkyBelly may have eaten from the only batch with that crab.

Oh yeah… we took Marscapone Cheesecake home.


This is marscapone creme brûlée on a graham cracker-like crust… and I have a crush on it.

P.S. I wonder what kind of Sake would go well with these dishes @beefnoguy?

Edit: I forgot to mention, this meal was about $63 + tip.

:shrimp: :shell:

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We almost banged over to Mariscos Jalisco for my favorite taco. But instead went home and watched the part of the Ugly Delicious Taco episode where JGold & Co. took David Chang to the truck for that delicious shrimp taco and he said it was like har gow. :slight_smile:

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The easiest choice would be Tedorigawa Kinka (John & Pete’s for your local sourcing, provided they stored refrigerated at 5 degrees C or below and you have a cooler/freezer pack bag for transit to the restaurant). It holds up to spices pretty well (even the Mexican spices), as well as even stronger spices like the ones used in Cantonese typhoon shelter stir fried crab! Though beware of the higher alcohol content of the sake. The Kinka will also work with ceviche types dishes and of course good quality sashimi. This sake is versatile enough for this range of flavor profile. When you do get around to trying the two together, please report back on what you think of this pairing, and whether you find it elevates the taste of the sake.

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Oh hey! That’s great. You know Kinka is one of my go to Sakes. Yes, I promise to report back on this and stop procrastinating on the other recs. Sake & Sushi can be laborious reports for a Japanese illiterate like me. And this is a tough crowd. :sweat: :sweat_drops: I have a lot more fun drinking & eating than reporting on them.

Quick question - How does one find this out?

Quick question #2 - Does anyone know if you can even take alcohol into the Mercado La Paloma?

We’re green here in Los Angeles, opaque reusable water bottles are welcome everywhere.

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if that happened to me

Looks like you still had a nice lunch though, thanks for the report. that uni on your ceviche looks incredible and more orange than trump’s hair, great pic.

Sounds like you had a chat with chef gilberto, great guy. hope you get to try the stew next time.

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Haha… Oh good! I trust your uni opinion. It was oceany, creamy w/a slight sweet. I’m learning that uni can be minerally or sweet or both, but isn’t really briney like an oyster - oceany is the best word I can come up with.

Yes, I will continue to haunt them about that stew. They make it when they haven’t sold enough of the ceviche. So it’s a wait and see (or sea, haha) kinda’ thing.

We did have a nice chat with Chef. He’s mellow and friendly, but serious about his thoughts & opinions on the seafood world and how it directs what he sources for his place.

As always, thanks for doing great recon!

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You probably made @beefnoguy scream in his head, but shhhh… we’re doing it, just this once. :wink:

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After multiple visits, finally tried the giant surf clam cocktail, ajema preperada. It was amazing, the different layers of acid in this dish. So bright and perfect chewy bits of clam. Our favorite.

Sadly the aguachile was not as spectacular. The scallops were a bit mushy :woozy_face: and not plump without good bite.

Despite this, we still enjoyed it and try to go whenever we’re in the area.

They had the seafood stew which I’ve had before, but not with uni.

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Oh nice. I heard Chef tell someone Atlantic Clams or East Coast Clams and asked about them because they were big but didn’t really look like Quahogs. That’s when he said they were Giant Surf Clams from the East Coast and talked about the texture, flavor and the dish… Next time!

This thread is so long and I’m sure it’s in here somewhere, but has anyone had the Blood Clams? Do you like them?

good news: they’ll let you try one if you ask. I told them I wasn’t sure I would like it and they cracked one open and prepped one just to taste… I didn’t end up ordering, but it’s not to say it was bad. It’s was more minerally than briney tasting–not a suprise, you’re drinking the blood hemeglobin after all…so i would imagine if you like offals, liver, kidneys and things like that…you might like blood clams.

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I’ll quote myself from above.

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I can’t figure out if that’s a good thing or not. I do like liver, but cooked. Uni tastes like sweet, minerally, ocean liver (to me). It’s usually uncooked and I still like it, so… :thinking:. I think if I can’t get a freebie like @hppzz maybe I’ll pass. Too many other goodies to try. Gorgeous picture though.

I was wondering if any of your visits were part of a tasting menu. Answered?

This looks like the perfect taco for me. I :heart: grilled yellowtail collar and like putting my own tacos together. Off-menu item?

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I like the lettuce on this (your torta) better @PorkyBelly. I have an aversion to flimsy dark greens on hot sandwiches. I took most of mine off.

Okay, I’ll stop obsessing over Holbox for a minute.

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it does have a funky, metallic, hemoglobin-y flavor, nothing like uni. yeah, i would start with one first.

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i haven’t tried the tasting menu yet, the yellowtail collar was a regular menu item at the time.

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