El Graduado
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I enjoyed reading MSTEVEN’s Magnum Opus Restaurant Guide and it got me to reminiscing about the Cozumel restaurant scene of old. So, I decided to write down my favorite restaurants and my favorite meals in them, from back in the day. (My wife hates that phrase, but the older I get, the more I use it.) I’m sure there are some old-timers out there who can add to my list.
Morgan’s (Now the building is a 7-11 on the corner of Juarez)
Crepas de Cajeta con Helado de Vanilla (made at your table)
Crepes Suzette (made at your table)
Potaje
Ribeye with green peppercorns
Choza Hamburgers (the dirt-floored palapa prior to La Choza that Doug Wilshire, Jimmy Kitchen’s dad ran. Doug was like the Soup-Nazi of hamburgers, but they were very good.)
Carlos & Charlies & Jimmy Kitchen (with Jimmy, Roberto, Hutch, and Faustino)
Tacos Acerrin (tacos made with fried potato skins and fried chicken skin)
BBQ ribs (fall-off-the-bone)
La Langosta at Punta Langosta (the palapa on the water’s edge, back when Dr. Luis Erives was the Punta Langosta Lighthouse keeper)
Lobster with garlic butter
Trini’s Kitchen (Trinidad was Julio Blanco’s ex-wife. Julio had a dive shop on the malecon close to the corner of Juarez, when Juarez was open to cars all the way to the malecon. I used to mule in waterproof false eyelashes Julio’s dive master, Dorotea.) Anything Trini made was good and she always kept filling up your plate to make sure you had enough
Las Palmeras (Pilar, Troy Becerra's mom, always had a smile for you, as did Mimi Becerra, Pepe's wife)
Salpicón de Jabalí
Estofado de Venado
Avocado Relleno con Anguillas
Guisado de Tortuga
Pay de Queso (the savoy kind, not the sweet kind)
Chichen Itzá (on the square, next to Rubens’ Rentals)
Frijol con Puerco (Mondays only)
El Foco (the old location, after midnight to soak up alcohol)
Queso Fundido con Chorizo
O Sole Mio (with the corny Cesar mural)
Lasagna
Tortas Moros (on the corner of Av. 10 and Juarez. Pure bliss!)
Pork Tortas (from the greasy plancha with the buns French-dipped in pork broth)
Las Tortugas (the old location on Av. 10. Thirty-seven years later, the same chef still works for them at the new location on Av. 30)
Caldo Xochitl
Grip’s Disco and Restaurant
Sabayon (After Kurt went to jail for murder, it was Hector who made it at your table)
Seafood Spaghetti with Béchamel (with lots of lobster chunks)
San Francisco Beach (back when Fito Gracia owned it. Fito also ran the Robinson Crusoe boat tours.)
Steamed Giant Crab
Ceviche Mixto (Pulpo, Camaron, Pescado y Caracol)
El Tapatío
Frijoles Charros (nothing like it on the island today)
Mini Lenny’s
Chop Suey (on Tuesdays)
Celarain Light House
Primo’s fried fish, ceviche, and beer (on Sundays)
Las Gaviotas at Cabañas Del Caribe
Potaje (on the restaurant porch while watching the sabalo come feed at night under the lights)
Black Bean Soup (Frijol Negro Colado)
Capi Naviganti
Huachinango ala Veracruzana
Casa Denis
Mamey Ice Cream made with mamey from the big tree in the patio
Soberani’s
Gambas a la gabardine
Sol Caribe (today’s Park Royal)
Black Forest Cake (Klaus Westphalen’s grandmothers’s recipe)
Pepe’s Grill (back when Pepe ran it as his flag-ship)
Prime Rib and Salad Bar
Big Rocky’s (the upstairs bar at the same location but prior to the old Carlos & Charlies)
Black Russians (on the balcony, while listening to Rubber Soul on the stereo or any one of
Big Rocky’s four other LP albums)
El Portal/Café del Puerto (I once paddled the canoe that was in front of the restaurant over the reef at Tulum)
Seafood Soup (with siwa, conch, fish, shrimp, and lobster. I still dream about this soup.)
Grilled Venison
Johnny & Billy’s
Flaming Shish Kabob (one time the pork caught fire and the waiter had to put it out with a towel)
La Cueva del Pirata (on the shore by Chankanaab)
Fried Fish
Pizza Rolandi’s (now Guido’s)
Shandies
Such is Life (in any of its various locations over the years)
Salad Niçoise
Pepe’s Plaza/Pepe’s Place (on Av. 5, by the plaza, now a gift store)
Huevos Rancheros
La Mission (When Beto's only location was on Juarez between Av. 10 and Av. 15)
Tacos de Chuleta
Acuario
Grilled Swordfish (which Moncho Villanueva always caught. It was his restaurant.)
Texan Bar (where I taught my wife to dance to the newest rage on Cozumel at the time, the Cotton-Eyed Joe)
Bartender’s Special Snack Mix
Discoteca Hipopótamo (“the” place before Grip’s, Scaramouche, or Neptuno opened, back when Scaramouche’s location was still the gas station on the malecon)
Other restaurants that didn’t make my cut. Some were OK, but just not outstanding. Some were bad. Some were fun for their location, but not especially for the food:
Mezcalitos
Naked Turtle
Punta Morena
Karen’s Pizza
Sports Page
Studebakers
Mr. Papas
Green Submarine
Bagdad Grill
El Sarape
Tio Ricardo
Angelo’s
Gambrino’s
Eden
Royal
Amadeus (or any other of the many, many restaurants that tried unsuccessfully to make a go of it in the building on the beach front of Villa Blanca Hotel)
Gato Pardo
Plaza Leza
Yucatequita
Kukulkan
One more thought. Back in the day (there it is again!) tables in Cozumel restaurants always had some things on them that the restaurants today no longer put out. No restaurant table back then would be complete without:
A serving dish of Xnepec
A jar of Nescafe
A bottle of an artificial green-colored Garay brand ersatz olive oil
Plastic-wrapped packages of soda crackers to eat ceviche, Campechana, or shrimp cocktail with
Morgan’s (Now the building is a 7-11 on the corner of Juarez)
Crepas de Cajeta con Helado de Vanilla (made at your table)
Crepes Suzette (made at your table)
Potaje
Ribeye with green peppercorns
Choza Hamburgers (the dirt-floored palapa prior to La Choza that Doug Wilshire, Jimmy Kitchen’s dad ran. Doug was like the Soup-Nazi of hamburgers, but they were very good.)
Carlos & Charlies & Jimmy Kitchen (with Jimmy, Roberto, Hutch, and Faustino)
Tacos Acerrin (tacos made with fried potato skins and fried chicken skin)
BBQ ribs (fall-off-the-bone)
La Langosta at Punta Langosta (the palapa on the water’s edge, back when Dr. Luis Erives was the Punta Langosta Lighthouse keeper)
Lobster with garlic butter
Trini’s Kitchen (Trinidad was Julio Blanco’s ex-wife. Julio had a dive shop on the malecon close to the corner of Juarez, when Juarez was open to cars all the way to the malecon. I used to mule in waterproof false eyelashes Julio’s dive master, Dorotea.) Anything Trini made was good and she always kept filling up your plate to make sure you had enough
Las Palmeras (Pilar, Troy Becerra's mom, always had a smile for you, as did Mimi Becerra, Pepe's wife)
Salpicón de Jabalí
Estofado de Venado
Avocado Relleno con Anguillas
Guisado de Tortuga
Pay de Queso (the savoy kind, not the sweet kind)
Chichen Itzá (on the square, next to Rubens’ Rentals)
Frijol con Puerco (Mondays only)
El Foco (the old location, after midnight to soak up alcohol)
Queso Fundido con Chorizo
O Sole Mio (with the corny Cesar mural)
Lasagna
Tortas Moros (on the corner of Av. 10 and Juarez. Pure bliss!)
Pork Tortas (from the greasy plancha with the buns French-dipped in pork broth)
Las Tortugas (the old location on Av. 10. Thirty-seven years later, the same chef still works for them at the new location on Av. 30)
Caldo Xochitl
Grip’s Disco and Restaurant
Sabayon (After Kurt went to jail for murder, it was Hector who made it at your table)
Seafood Spaghetti with Béchamel (with lots of lobster chunks)
San Francisco Beach (back when Fito Gracia owned it. Fito also ran the Robinson Crusoe boat tours.)
Steamed Giant Crab
Ceviche Mixto (Pulpo, Camaron, Pescado y Caracol)
El Tapatío
Frijoles Charros (nothing like it on the island today)
Mini Lenny’s
Chop Suey (on Tuesdays)
Celarain Light House
Primo’s fried fish, ceviche, and beer (on Sundays)
Las Gaviotas at Cabañas Del Caribe
Potaje (on the restaurant porch while watching the sabalo come feed at night under the lights)
Black Bean Soup (Frijol Negro Colado)
Capi Naviganti
Huachinango ala Veracruzana
Casa Denis
Mamey Ice Cream made with mamey from the big tree in the patio
Soberani’s
Gambas a la gabardine
Sol Caribe (today’s Park Royal)
Black Forest Cake (Klaus Westphalen’s grandmothers’s recipe)
Pepe’s Grill (back when Pepe ran it as his flag-ship)
Prime Rib and Salad Bar
Big Rocky’s (the upstairs bar at the same location but prior to the old Carlos & Charlies)
Black Russians (on the balcony, while listening to Rubber Soul on the stereo or any one of
Big Rocky’s four other LP albums)
El Portal/Café del Puerto (I once paddled the canoe that was in front of the restaurant over the reef at Tulum)
Seafood Soup (with siwa, conch, fish, shrimp, and lobster. I still dream about this soup.)
Grilled Venison
Johnny & Billy’s
Flaming Shish Kabob (one time the pork caught fire and the waiter had to put it out with a towel)
La Cueva del Pirata (on the shore by Chankanaab)
Fried Fish
Pizza Rolandi’s (now Guido’s)
Shandies
Such is Life (in any of its various locations over the years)
Salad Niçoise
Pepe’s Plaza/Pepe’s Place (on Av. 5, by the plaza, now a gift store)
Huevos Rancheros
La Mission (When Beto's only location was on Juarez between Av. 10 and Av. 15)
Tacos de Chuleta
Acuario
Grilled Swordfish (which Moncho Villanueva always caught. It was his restaurant.)
Texan Bar (where I taught my wife to dance to the newest rage on Cozumel at the time, the Cotton-Eyed Joe)
Bartender’s Special Snack Mix
Discoteca Hipopótamo (“the” place before Grip’s, Scaramouche, or Neptuno opened, back when Scaramouche’s location was still the gas station on the malecon)
Other restaurants that didn’t make my cut. Some were OK, but just not outstanding. Some were bad. Some were fun for their location, but not especially for the food:
Mezcalitos
Naked Turtle
Punta Morena
Karen’s Pizza
Sports Page
Studebakers
Mr. Papas
Green Submarine
Bagdad Grill
El Sarape
Tio Ricardo
Angelo’s
Gambrino’s
Eden
Royal
Amadeus (or any other of the many, many restaurants that tried unsuccessfully to make a go of it in the building on the beach front of Villa Blanca Hotel)
Gato Pardo
Plaza Leza
Yucatequita
Kukulkan
One more thought. Back in the day (there it is again!) tables in Cozumel restaurants always had some things on them that the restaurants today no longer put out. No restaurant table back then would be complete without:
A serving dish of Xnepec
A jar of Nescafe
A bottle of an artificial green-colored Garay brand ersatz olive oil
Plastic-wrapped packages of soda crackers to eat ceviche, Campechana, or shrimp cocktail with
