Our flight and transfer from Mexico City went quite smoothly. Our good friend "Alle" had mentioned that Benito Juárez Airport was a hot mess these days; but we didn't encounter any problems. Our transfer was waiting when we arrived and we made it to our hotel; the Hotel Casona Oaxaca with no problems right past check-in time. The hotel's location was great for a first time visit to Oaxaca as it was centrally located, just a block from the Zocalo, basically the heart of the city. The courtyard was quite beautiful and though the room was a bit dated and there was a bit of noise, we had a small balcony of sorts with good natural light.
After freshening up, we headed out to take a quick look at the city. The city was quite vibrant and full of energy. I had read that 60% of the population of Oaxaca is under the age of 30. We decided to just take a stroll and familiarize ourselves with the area a bit.
Like I mentioned above, the Zocalo, officially named Plaza de la Constitución is pretty much the heart of the city. It's a nice public space, with shaded areas, restaurants and shops in the potico lined buildings, and vendor stalls….and of course, there's always something going on.
To the North of the Zocalo is the Cathedral.
It was a pretty warm day, so we decided to duck in for a quick look.
Construction of the Cathedral commenced in 1535 and was reconstructed several times because of earthquakes.
There's some nice stained glass windows in the cathedral and it was a good place to cool off a bit.
After a short break we headed up Calle Macedonio Alcalá, which eventually turns into a pedestrian only street.
We decided to take a caffeine break at Cafe Brujula, which I believe has six locations in the city.
There was nice courtyard seating…many tables were taken up with folks working on laptops and such. But the Missus enjoyed Her Iced Matcha and I thought the cold brew was decent.
Café Brújula Alcalá
C. Macedonio Alcalá 104
68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico
Once Calle Macedonio Alcalá becomes a pedestrian only street, things really pick up.
And this is where we first really started noticing all the amazing street art.
Yes, there are quite a few tourists; but it's very lively and there seemed to be many locals as well.
We got up to the Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán. We had a food tour the following day and we just wanted to make sure we could find the meeting place which was right in front of the church.
From here we headed back to the hotel and relaxed sort of like this fella'.
After a short break we headed out to dinner. We again walked thru the Zocalo and stopped when we saw this.
The police were actually teaching kids how to ride bicycles!
And were also doing a puppet show on bicycle safety.
And a couple of the officers were singing and playing music. It was quite a scene and for some reason I found it so sweet and heartwarming.
I had made dinner reservations at a highly regarded restaurant right on Macedonio Alcalá named Los Danzantes which is named for the famous Bas Reliefs of "Dancers" at Monte Alban which we would see later during the trip.
The main dining area was in a lovely courtyard area.
The menu used a QR code something that we found everywhere in Mexico. The food seemed a bit of a modern, lighter affair. The service was a bit of hit and miss. As you can see, the customer base seemed to be more tourists/ex-pats though nothing wrong with that if the food is outstanding.
The cocktails seemed to be a bit short in terms of alcohol.
I enjoyed the different versions of Oaxacan style tortillas, but the Missus didn't care for the crisp, cracker like texture.
The Missus loves Hoja Santa, so we started with the Hoja Santa with Local Queso, and Tomatillo ($155/MX – $7.75/US).
When having Hoja Santa, I expect anise-minty-pungent-grassy tones, but this was on the milder side. The cheese was like mozzarella and not quite milky enough for our taste. The tomatillo salsa ruled the dish; tangy with a pleasant sourness.
We also ordered the Pulpo Dobladas ($275/MX – $13.75/US).
The octopus was on the tough side, again the Missus doesn't care for Oaxacan style tortillas; though the blue corn version is mighty tasty to me. Loved the avocado, but this was served with a "matcha sauce" that was really mild in the flavor.
It was pretty warm during our visit in Oaxaca and the Watermelon Salad ($125/MX – $6.25/US) sounded quite good.
For some reason I thought this would be compressed watermelon, which intensifies the flavor and gives it textural "heft", but it just cubed watermelon, seeds and all. Since it was just cubed watermelon, the ponzu style sauce and orange "gel" overpowered the dish. Spherification was used to create ikura looking strawberry spheres. The best part of the dish were the tomatoes which were sweet and acidic.
The last item we ordered was the Ancho Chile Relleno with Huitlacoche and Tamala Pumpkin Puree ($ 245/MX – $12.25/US)
The roasted ancho chile was delicious, smoky with just a tad of heat, but there wasn't enough earthy-mushroomy huitlacoche in the filling. The pumpkin puree was too sweet for our taste.
Not the best meal to start off our stay in Oaxaca for us. Just a bit too much going on, which did not bring out the best in the ingredients.
Los Danzantes
C. Macedonio Alcalá 403
68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico
Oh well…….
We headed back to our room. We walked thru the Zocalo and by now they were taking down the puppet stage and cleaning up. But there were several officers still singing to entertain….hmmm….maybe themselves?
Things seemed so festive on this Thursday night.
And we were looking forward to our food tour the following day!
This really looks like something out of a movie, doesn't it? Touring the estate, the Duke of Argyll and family still occupy part of the structure, was very impressive. The foundation stone of the castle was laid in 1746 and the castle has gone under renovations after two fires. After the fire in 1877, the third floor and the four conical roofs were added. In 
Of course every castle has at least one ghost, right? Inveraray is noted to have several. The most well known one occupies the MacArthur Room. It is said that a young harpist was murdered by the Duke of Montrose's men in 1644. The the ghost of the harpist is attached to this bed, must be one heck of a bed! And 
I like the fact that they have QR code menus; otherwise you'd have to ask at the window since there's no menu posted. I'd gotten so used to doing QR codes when visiting Mexico that I got kinda thrown off when we returned home!
I must say that the bowl looked quite good. The seasoning for the sisig was on the milder side in terms of sour tones and I didn't get much spice until I had a bite with three hidden slices of what looked like Thai Bird Chilies. Whoa…. I came across "groups" of chilies in the bowl. I guess they don't like being alone?
Most problematic for me was the rice, after all this place is named "White Rice", right? It was terribly hard, dry, and there was hardly any garlic flavor at all. I mean, in addition to being called "White Rice", this was a silog, right? The "si" in the "silog" stands for 
This was a lovely looking bowl! And that fried sunny side egg was even better this time around with wonderful crisp edges! I loved the atchara and the almost VN style pickles as well.
The place was empty except for two "regulars" who were joking around (quite loudly) with Boo, the gentleman who has taken over running the place from his mom and dad.
When my Bun Bo Hue arrived he said "time to eat" and left me to enjoy my scalding, spicy bowl of Bun Bo Hue. It used to be that I'd have to add chili oil to my soup, but these days it's more than spicy enough. I think my tolerance has waned over the years. The veggies are added, I give things a good mix…….I love to track the change in texture to the veggies as the hot soup slowly works its magic. I do still add a bit on mam tom for that savory "kick". 
So, first the good; man were things fried here good! The batter on the shrimp was crisp and light; the shrimp plump, moist, and tasty. The poblano chile likewise. Sadly, the MarlinTun was dry, fishy, and not very smoky in terms of flavor. The tortillas were decent and up to the task at hand.
Sadly, I'd have to say I've had better tacos de marlyn here in San Diego!
Tacos Hola specializes in Tacos Guisados, braised and stewed ingredients for tacos. So, even though it says bistec; it's actually braised beef; really tasty braised beef, with a very bright pasilla chile-tomato based sauce. The Missus really loved the beans here…She still mentions those beans, as in "why can't you make beans like those." The chard was quite tender, but quite mild in flavor….man, I could imagine this with collards! The tortillas were excellent.
Andres met us and after introductions and an overview of what was going to be covered in the tour today, he went over 
And yep, if you're thinking that's Tlaloc above, you'd be right. Check out the eyes and the fangs! 
As I stared at our food, take a look at the photo to my right, I was suddenly reminded of something. Back at the end of August, we went to CDMX and Oaxaca. The Missus had really enjoyed 
Add to that the wonderful, gracious service of Jesus and his gang…..well, I'm sure we'll be back again soon.
Now, the batter on the wings from GC back in the day was on the lighter side and was also quite thin and the wings got soggy quickly. In this case it was the opposite; the batter was almost hard; not crunchy…hard. Also, I'm not sure if I'm rubbing off on Calvin (good lord, I hope not), but after our first bite we both said "where's the salt and pepper"? Barely any garlic, pepper was MIA, a few slices of scallions. I mean, this was bland, and while the wings were moist, there was just too much batter. The wings were large…but heck, I could have used some "salt" on my Salt-and-Pepper Wings……..
The noodles were nicely cooked and coated. But we both noticed something right away when biting into the shrimp. You can tell by the color. It seems the shrimp were blanched and just dumped into the dish. It had absolutely no flavor. 
