Its Cinco de Mayo on a Taco Tuesday people, and we’re stuck inside. That’s mighty cruel. So in an effort to boost my own sprits, I wrote this post about a tasty little cafe in Condesa, Mexico City that Dan and I visited in 2018! I had meant to write about it before and never got around to it, but now seems like a better time than ever!
Dan & I just outside of Mexico City at Teotihuacan in 2018.
If you forgot, Dan and I went to Mexico City for a lovely long May weekend in 2018 (I also wrote about it here, here, here, and here if you need a Cinco de Mayo pick-me-up)! It was a fabulous weekend and I wish that I could go back and do it all over again this year! Le sigh, eventually!!
Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral. One of my favorites.
In any case, in Mexico City, or CDMX for the cool kids, we stayed in the lovely neighborhood of Condesa, which I would highly recommend in terms of safety, cuteness, and things to do. Clearly, I did a bit of research on the local area in planning our trip and came across Barra Alipus. The food pictures online looked fabulous and a “Mezcal Bar” seemed like something we should experience in CDMX. I slotted it into our itinerary, and we walked to Alipus from our second night in town. The walk felt safe and fast, but the streets could have used some repair – lots of cracked uneven pavement and a few down street lights. In any case, we reached Alipus without issue, which sits on a little triangle of a corner and is decorated by a local artist in a street art style. Very cool – I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture.
En route to Alipus for reference.
I had tried to make an advance reservation at Alipus without luck (the contact info did not seem to work), but we were able to snag an outdoor seat on the earlier side of a Friday night. Alipus quickly filled up as the night progressed. And we then encountered our first issue, no one spoke English and there was no English menu… Now I realize that we were in Mexico City, but I was totally surprised that no one really spoke English at all at Alipus- this was a young, quite hip spot. Luckily, we know enough Mexican food words to order… And the staff was super understanding and nice about our lack of Spanish. I’ve really got to learn Spanish!
Mezcal list.
Since Alipus is a Mezcal bar in addition to a restaurant, our meals obviously began with huge Mezcal based drinks – Gin Mezcaleros. I cannot recall exactly what was in it, but it tasted like a smoky G&T topped with black pepper. It was good and we definitely enjoyed trying the Mezcal cocktails, which were all the rage in Mexico City. After 1 Gin Mezcalero, I switched to a surprisingly good Mexican red wine. Dan stuck with the Mezcal. He was quite the fan.
Gin Mezcalero.
Dan with his Gin Mezcalero.
After drinks, we started our meal with Guacamole, simply because when in Mexico? This dish was served in a fancy circular stack, topped with a pork rind and plated with miniature tomatoes and loads of black pepper! Rather than the standard chips that we are used to, our Guacamole was served with a hard bread and the most delicious salsas – a mild green, a spicy green, and hearty red. Per usual, the greens were my favorite. And I swear, there is nothing I love more about Mexican food than salsa. These were some good ones.
The beautiful Guacamole!
The breads and salsa. Cool basket!
Post-guacamole, more green salsa was on my way! For my main meal, I ordered something similar to what I often get at home, yet way better! It was an enchilada type dish, made with rolled corn tortillas stuffed with chicken and topped with a really good green salsa, that tasty Mexican white cheese, and sour cream (or something along those lines). I was thrilled with this dish; it was just what I was hoping to find in Mexico City!
This was so good!
Dan also ordered a green dish, his more of a beef or pork flauta with bone marrow on the sides. Yep, two huge bones filled with marrow. Luckily he shared with me, as the bone marrow really stole the show (its one of our favorites). That being said, the flautas were also very yummy. We left stuffed and totally thrilled with our food!
Flautas with bone marrow.
If you are in the Condesa area, which once again is lovely and a fantastic place to stay in Mexico City, I highly recommend a visit to Barra Alipus! Its cool, local, and very tasty! And also inexpensive; our entire meal cost $36 USD! In any case, happy Cinque de Mayo – and also my parents’ anniversary (so I will now know if they read this)! Cheers to us all being able to celebrate wherever in the wold we want next year! A return to Mexico is high on my list!
STEAL OUR DINNER
Alipus: Guadalupe Victoria 15, Centro, Tlalpan, 14000 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico. Open daily 12:30 – 23:00, later on the weekends. Hip, young cafe and Mezcal bar in trendy Condesa. Reservations recommended on weekends. No English menu when we visited in 2018; their website indicates this has changed. The staff was incredibly accommodating despite our inability to freely communicate… I’ve gotta learn Spanish!