I thought that this post was already done, but was mistaken. I'm so behind on travel posts, but just wanted to make sure to get this one done as it was our favorite meal in Guadalajara.
After a nice, busy day of exploring Centro Historico, we took a nice break. When it came time for our last meal, I went with a place that no less then five people, all locals recommended to us. A place located in our favorite neighborhood; Colonia Americana, which I briefly mentioned here.
The restaurant was described as Modern, yet very Mexican, relaxed, with an interesting menu. Tikuun Comedor Local. The restaurant was located near the University, closer to the Northeastern side of the district.
The restaurant had a nice outdoor patio area overlooking the quiet street, so we decided to dine there. The service was quite friendly, though it got a bit slower as customers started coming in. It's quite a popular place.
The menu featured traditional Mexican cuisine with international touches. Which can sometimes really disrupt the soul and key flavors of dishes. Here at Tikuun it seemed to work well in most cases.
I stuck with a couple of cervezas with dinner and the Missus enjoyed the house win here.
As we will often do; we went with a meal of all starters as those dishes seemed the most interesting to us. Like the Pellizcadas de Chicharron de Pork Belly.
For those not familiar with Pellizcadas; it's masa based, sort of like a sope; though I believe these have the "boundary edges" like a like Picaditas. The maize tones came out so clearly; as did the porkiness. The black beans "grounded" the dish which had a bit of acidic heat. This was out favorite dish of the evening.
The Sea Bass Aguachile with Katsuobushi was a nice dish.
While we initially had doubts about the freshness of the fish; this was wonderfully fresh. The brightness of the marinade went quite well with the uber-savory, umami katsuobushi. Nice amount of spice in this one as well.
Of course, we couldn't resist ordering the Sweetbreads; even though it was prepared with Ssamjang!
While the sauce was a bit much for the dish, the pickled onions and radishes were essential in balancing things out. Still, the buttery texture of the sweetbreads contrasted nicely with the greens and veggies. The addition of the spicy-fermented-savory Ssamjang and the Chiltepin chilies made for an interesting heat. The blue corn tortillas were really good as well.
The Scallops were so sweet, tender, and briny.
The firm, nutty-earthy fava beans added an interesting texture and a nice layer of flavor. Good acidity as well. The gremolata had peppermint in it which kind of rendered pungent tones out of the equation. 
As you can see; this was an interesting dinner, which we really enjoyed. The sometimes novel combinations worked more often then not. And heck, if Tikuun were here in San Diego we'd be eating here every once in a while.
Tikuun Comedor Local
Calle Emeterio Robles Gil 50
Americana, 44600 Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Well, we had really enjoyed our time in Guadalajara and really can't wait to return!
Yes, there are places that seem a bit on the "gritty" side…..
But folks were so warm, kind, and welcoming. We took a short walk after dinner. We started noticing some interesting places…..
As we walked thru Parque Revolucion; instead of heading back to the hotel, we headed north a bit up Calz del Federalismo. This busy district was again a total change from the other neighborhoods we'd visited on this stay. Which made sense since the metropolitan area of the city is home to over 5 million.
This had been such a fun stay!
We can't wait to return. But on this trip, our next stop was Tequila, the town, not the drink. Though we'd have our share of that as well!
Thanks for stopping by! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!
I was pleasantly surprised to see that Marbled Rye was used, which added an interesting yeasty-tangy-sourness to the sandwich. As a whole, a routine sandwich, basic mass produced sliced turkey; we enjoyed the cucumber and sprouts the most. It was enough for our lunch and we walked thru this western theme town to our car and headed off.
The consomme was aromatic and slightly rich without having that greasy "tongue feel" that I don't like. It was just slightly gamey, but not bland, and you knew there was some "chivo" swimming around here. It wasn't very salty and really needed the lime to help things out. I prefer my consomme having a bit more goatiness, but this was decent.
I preferred the Barbacoa, which was moist and more tender than the Birria, which was on the chewier side of things. The birria did well with a dip into the consomme, some salsa, and a squeeze of lime. While it was a level above 
Instead of heading straight down Avenida Juarez, the main drag, we strolled down Calle José María Morelos and of course we passed a couple of churches. This one caught our attention because it was open for visitors, so we decided to take a look.
Looking at my Google Maps, I identified this as the 
Guadalajara, at least what we saw of it seemed like a nice family friendly city. This is the 
What to say about this? The meat was on the toothsome side, but the goat was oh so gamy; flavor of the pasture indeed. There was a nice goaty-smokiness to the broth which had a lightly rich tongue feel without being greasy at all. For some reason, those pickled onions were just amazing with this. The freshly made tortillas were hardy and up to the task. By far the best birria de chivo we've ever had.
Love the tortillas here, full of maize goodness, heated on the comal with drippings, it is always up to the task. The tripas have a nice mild crunch with beefy goodness. I bet you'd never figure out what it was if you were served one of these.
My goodness; this was even better than we thought! Fried to a light crispness, the interior was light, creamy, and almost fluffy. There have been times when we've had a iodine like aftertaste when having mollejas, but this was mild with a slight offal-nutty-buttery-sweetness. We actually didn't need salsa, lime, or heck, even the wonderful tortillas.
