Mossman Eats Cozumel Day One

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Mossman

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Location
SoCal
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Having suffered through a strict diet for much of this year, a primary purpose of my recent trip to Cozumel was to try out some of the restaurants I'd missed out on over my past trips staying at all-inclusive resorts. I didn't bother to lug my underwater camera rig on this trip but I did have a smartphone with a camera. This is what I ate.

Arrived Saturday morning after a sleepless red-eye from San Francisco, connecting in Houston. Breakfast consisted of a bagel and a couple donut holes in the United Club. I thought I'd be served a real breakfast in first-class, anticipating some egg dish after they passed out chocolate scones. But it turned out the scones were my breakfast. So I arrived on the island tired and hungry.

First stop was Rock 'N Java for fast wifi, strong coffee, and food. By the time I had checked in at Suites Bahia, made a trip to Mega for bottled water and to unsuccessfully get pesos out of the ATM, a trip back to the hotel to read the e-mail from Bank of America warning that my ATM card may have been compromised, assuring B of A that indeed it was me who had unsuccessfully used my ATM card, and a trip back to Mega where the machine finally spit out some cash, I crossed the street to eat.

As it was already lunchtime, I tried the linguine with walnut pesto topped with a fish fillet of the day which turned out to be snapper. The pasta was a bit overcooked for my taste, the pesto more oily than necessary, and the fish slighly underdone, but overall it was a very satisfying meal for my level of hunger and best of all I managed not to splatter any oil on my shirt. The garlic bread was bland, but the steamed veggies were a nice healthy touch to offset the carbs and fat.

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Walking around a bit that night, I noticed the rooftop dining at New Especias, just up the street from Bahia. The two diners I spied up there seemed content, so I went in to give it a try. Turns out the "diners" were actually the chef and waiter who vacated the table as soon as I appeared, but since I was dining alone anyway, the solitude at least gave me a break from eavesdropping on others' conversations.

Dinner started with a complimentary piece of bruschetta, just a simple slice of toasted bread topped with chopped tomatoes. It was presented with a swallow's worth of what they called "peach champagne" which I guessed to be a bellini. As I wasn't drinking this trip, I regretfully declined that swallow, but it did look good.

The upstairs setting was very pleasant. I was able to catch a nice breeze off the ocean and watch the people milling about below. It started to drizzle at first, but the waiter and I focused our energies on clearing the clouds and the rain never materialized. In fact, it remained dry my entire trip.

Sticking to my plan of eating only seafood on the trip, I started off with an appetizer of diced calamari served atop sliced polenta in a balsamic reduction. The calamari was tender, if slightly fishy, and I would have appreciated it more had the polenta been grilled a bit, but it was a tasty beginning. Apologies for the blurry photo, it looked fine on my tiny phone screen.

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For my main course, I had the tuna tagliata. Three healthy strips of tuna in a nutty crust of toasted white and black sesame seeds that perfectly complemented the tanginess of the tuna and the sweet balsamic glaze. My only regret was that they cooked the tuna a bit too long, it was a pink medium rare instead of rare or raw, but still delicious. The fish was served with a "pasta" of zucchini ribbons, again slightly overcooked but very flavorful and much healthier than real pasta, along with a tomato concasse that went well with the rest of the plate. As I was still working on expanding my diet-shrunken stomach, I passed on dessert.

It was a bit sad to see a restaurant completely empty at 8 pm on Saturday night, especially one with a very capable chef and waitstaff, but I supposed that's one downside to Cozumel's ever expanding dining options: too much competition. I sincerely hope they fare better on other nights.


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Ooh- great review! We are staying in town for our next visit, so this is very timely in helping us plan!
Will you be reviewing the hotel too (seems a step down from your normal digs!)

Is there anyway you can also add the cost of these meals? Price is a big factor in how much I expect from my food.
 
Ooh- great review! We are staying in town for our next visit, so this is very timely in helping us plan!
Will you be reviewing the hotel too (seems a step down from your normal digs!)

Is there anyway you can also add the cost of these meals? Price is a big factor in how much I expect from my food.
Hmm. That won't be so easy where I didn't keep the receipt. On the other hand, many restaurants there do have websites with menus that list the prices.

For instance, http://www.rocknjavacozumel.com/barngrillenglish/menu/index.php?mpage=1266016893

The fish & pasta I had isn't listed but it was the same price as the "Chicken Pesto Tossed with Pasta Penne" IIRC, or $130. That's about $10 to you and me.

New Especias doesn't have a website as far as I can tell, only a Facebook page, but I believe the appetizer was around $130 and the entree maybe $210?

Overall, the prices where I ate tended to be much lower than comparable food in L.A. where the calamari appetizer would probably run $12 or so and the tuna entree maybe $25. I also stayed away from pricier items like shrimp and much more expensive lobster and, having given up beef since 1/1/14, I also stayed away from expensive imported U.S. products that I could find cheaper at home. Local fish is a good deal there IMO even at the nicest places.

As for Suites Bahia, it's a decent place for the price. Rooms are large, many with views and balconies. The A/C worked great. There was a kitchen with full-size fridge. Coffee is served in the lobby and the room price includes breakfast at Casa Mexicana a block down the road. No bugs, hard mattress. There's an elevator big enough for one person and luggage but I usually took the stairs. Free wifi in the lobby and the signal extended to my third-floor room. No pool, no swim-up bar, no bar. There was a flat-screen TV but I didn't turn it on. Shower worked great after letting the hot water warm up for a while. Toilet flushed and there were no restrictions on TP (as there were at Blue Angel). There's a vending machine in the lobby that had some good cookies. Not much else I can say about the place. Hardly luxury, but very comfortable, a great location (across from the Aldora pier and easy walking distance from restaurants galore), and the price is right.

One night there was live music at a nearby sidewalk bar that went almost until 11 pm but I was so tired I didn't even bother with earplugs and if I hadn't been so tired, I might have crawled out of bed and gone downstairs to enjoy it in person.
 
Thanks for the review. I'm always just a bit aroused by food porn from Cozumel, but you left me hanging with no dessert - come on, a few crepes with a fruit compote won't kill you (at least I think not). BTW, I agree with you on Tuna - if it's not bright red and cool in the center, it has been overcooked. Of course, I feel pretty much the same way about beef, which I will NEVER give up. Keep the food porn coming!
 
New Especias was good food. I still remember the free bruschetta instead of just plain old bread. It was the best I've ever had. I could have eaten a few platefuls and would have been content, the tenderloin was mighty fine too though.


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