Need authentic local food in cozumel

[mstevens]

Any local Mexican dessert

Avocado pie at La Choza.

Mamey pie at La Candela.

Crepes with various things, such nutella or edam cheese and blackberry jam, at several places.

Flan everywhere.

Queso Napolitano (large flan cut into slices) many places.

Not Mexican, but I love the empanadas de membrillo (quince) at Del Sur.

Definitely Mexican, I love the empanadas de fresa con filadelfia (strawberry and cream cheese) at El Paste, which has large baked puff pastry empanadas called pastes.

Churros from Javier Panero the churro guy who rides around on his bike with a bucket of fresh churros. He'll also sell you personal defense weaponry, which is less dessert-y.

There are entire restaurants devoted to desserts!

or juices i shouldn't miss?

Soooooo many!

Fresh orange juice from the mercado municipal, La Sirenita, or many other places.

Fresh coconut water from La Sirenita or many other places.

Agua de tamarindo (tamarind). I favor Restaurant Tamarindos version. Duh.

Agua de sandia (watermelon) many places. I like La Choza's.

Horchata de coco (coconut) at ice cream places (La Michoacana, La Flor de Michoacan, etc.).

Tepache (slightly fermented pineapple) at El Súper Hit.

Posole maya (hominy and coconut, sometimes with cocoa nibs), hard to find but worth tracking down.

Piña con chaya (pineapple with spinach-like chaya). My favorite is from Los Nopales (either location).

I could go on.

Assuming they prep juices using filtered water / ice

You will not encounter anything that uses unfiltered water or ice made from unfiltered water.

 

[mstevens]

As long as it is pure juice, i doubt street sellers will use bottled water. Thx

The reference is to tequila. You wouldn't want agave "juice".

EVERY vendor EVERYWHERE will use bottled water. Nobody uses anything else, in businesses or in their homes.

 

[mstevens]

horchata, which is sort of a liquid version of rice pudding.

Horchata de arroz is the most common, but there are versions made from almonds, coconut, or other yummy things.

agua fresca, which is a generic word for drinks with fruit. They’re not entirely juice, but they are made with juice.

Think of aguas frescas (refreshing waters) as "-ades". Limonada (limeade) would be one. Lemonade would be, too, but irrespective of what menus or waiters may tell you, you won't encounter that anywhere. Other examples would include mango-ade, watermelon-ade, canteloupe-ade, etc.: agua de mango, sandia, melon. I do think most aguas frescas would be fruit-flavored, but some might be more vegetables or seeds such as chia, though things are usually "con chia" and not just chia by itself. (Chaya is a completely different thing from chia.) Agua de jamaica made from hibiscus flowers isn't fruit but is fruity.

Aguas de sabor (flavorful waters) would be a roughly synonymous thing. I have a sense that agua de cebada (oats, usually with cinnamon) and the like would be aguas de sabor but possibly not aguas frescas. I think aguas frescas would be a subset of aguas de sabor. If anyone can help us distinguish the meaning from aguas frescas, it's probably El Graduado.

Agua de coco is an exception to the rule that "agua de something" is an "-ade" since it's just straight coconut water.

Jugos (juices) are usually squeezed (as with citrus) or blenderized juices but some such as pineapple or mango will involve water for processing. Few places uses juicers that express juice as opposed to throwing things into blenders. Mexican cuisine can't exist without blenders, so everyone has them. As anywhere else, there's a bewildering variety of things that people will throw into a juice and many places you can specify your own mix.

There's a whole category of drinks made with milk, such as avena (oats) con leche, melon (cantaloupe) con leche, platano (banana) con leche, etc. I keep trying to get the sandia (watermelon) con leche on La Choza's menu and they keep not giving me any.

Sorry. One of these days I'll try to muster up some enthusiasm for Mexican cuisine.

 

[ggunn]

For dessert, get flan. We judge restaurants largely on the quality of the flan. Casa Denis has really good flan, but sometimes they run out. Sometimes we have dinner somewhere else and got to Casa Denis just to get the flan. Los Otates has good flan. Ask when you sit down so they save you one.

I ordered flan one evening at Kondesa, and when it came it had kernels of corn in it. Apart from the fact that I cannot stand corn, it's just WRONG.

 

[ggunn]

The reference is to tequila. You wouldn't want agave "juice".

Maybe this is what they were referring to: Agave syrup - Wikipedia

 

[miserkris]

Thx guys...
Good they all use bottled clean drinking water.

Curious:
Does this mean cozumel has no fresh water source other than mainland?

Also how do they generate electricity for the island?

 

[ggunn]

Thx guys...
Good they all use bottled clean drinking water.

Curious:
Does this mean cozumel has no fresh water source other than mainland?

Also how do they generate electricity for the island?

I believe that power for the island comes from the mainland via undersea cables that come ashore at the lighthouse south of town. There is (or at least used to be) also a gas turbine generator somewhere near Mega that runs (or used to run) occasionally.

 

[El Graduado]

Does this mean cozumel has no fresh water source other than mainland?

Cozumel has over 220 freshwater wells in the center of the island operated by CAPA that provide water for the municipal water system. This water is chlorinated at a plant near the wells, on the Transversal. From there, the water is fed to the city in buried asbestos/cement pipes; fragile pipes that are full of cracks and leaks. Unfortunately, these cracked pipes were buried in trenches with the sewer pipes, so since the fresh water pipes are low pressure (and sometimes no pressure) the sewer water can infiltrate the freshwater pipes. So, nobody drinks the water from the city water system, but use bottled water instead. No water comes to Cozumel from the mainland, except retail bottles of national and international brands in small bottles.

There are several companies on Cozumel that produce drinking water for resale using reverse osmosis and other methods. Most large hotels have their own reverse osmosis systems.

Read more about the water system, the island's hydrology, and CAPA's wells in my new book, NATURAL HISTORY OF COZUMEL, available on Amazon.com

 

[miserkris]

Authentic and local?

Grab some tuchitos at El Chino Marentes on 20 Avenida. This is not the same as El Chino Marinero II on the same street past the Mercado Municipal. You're not likely to get more authentic or local than that.

Go on Facebook and order some tamales colados or horneados for delivery.

Get some roasted chicken from any of a number of places. I like El Pechugón because of the potatoes they cook under the roasting chickens.

Corazón Contento is a great place for breakfast judging by the number of authentic locals waiting for tables most of the time.

La Cozumeleña is a good place to get a club sandwich for breakfast (which is a very popular local delicacy) or perhaps some enchiladas. I like the Jarochas, personally.

On Sunday mornings, track down Barbacoa Los Magüeyes for barbacoa de borrego, which is all the have and the only time they're open.

Hi
I just did my first two Dives today and they were great... tried Taquería Díaz yesterday and el Pechugón... today. Amazing...!
Bang for the buck too.

Tacos with thin sliced beef in Diaz and chicken and rice, potatoes in latter.

Gonna try others in the list... thx

Update:
Went almost 8 PM and El Chino Marentes
was closed ... they don't have phone either.

Walked past this place it was buzzing with locals
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-d1811981?m=19905

But i ate dinner at Taquería Chilangos... which was good but Diaz was way better.

 

[miserkris]

How to make this a sticky for authentic local Food suggestions for future visitors?