We all need to eat, but in México City you can really eat well.  In four days in the city I had three really memorable meals.  The first was with my son and his family on Wednesday – a fantastic Indian meal at Dawat in Polanco.  We’d eaten there before and it was just as good this time.  We don’t have Indian food in Mazatlán, so it is one of my (countless) food cravings!

Friday after a a day at the Expat Forum, a group of women and I headed to Cafe de Tacuba.  This very old restaurant is all-things-old-and-lovely, México style. We ate early for dinner (or maybe late for lunch) as we were heading to the Bellas Artes to hear the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional (National Symphony Orchestra.)  The meal was delicious and we enjoyed our motherly waitress and getting to know each other better.  That’s a panorama of our group (well, except for me) above.

The Palacio de Bellas Artes is an incredible art deco building with fantastic marble floors and walls.  There are a number of beautiful murals – the one pictured below is one I particularly liked by Rufino Tamayo.  At the top of this post is a picture of the stained glass ceiling medallion in the concert hall.

The concert itself was one I’ll remember a long time.  For $180 pesos ($13.33 US) we had seats five rows back in the center.  They performed Shostakovich (Suite Hamlet Op.32, Concierto para violín No. 2, & Sinfonía No. 2 Op. 14, en si mayor) The biggest treat of the night was being introduced to violinist Vadim Gluzman.  Watching him play was almost as good as hearing him – he expresses the passion of the music on his face as he plays.  The whole audience was enthralled.  He plays a Stradivarius violin, loaned to him through the generosity of the Stradivarius Society of Chicago.

When I came home I looked him up on line and enjoyed watching a short video of him, which is below.  He talks a bit about playing with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and if you’d like to listen to Orpheus’ Carnegie Hall performance with violinist Vadim Gluzman, recorded live on January 29, 2011 follow the link at left.

As if all that wasn’t enough, the next day I met a DF amiga at the Museo Nacional San Carlos for a recital by the Ensamble J. F. Vásquez.  The three performers (piano, flute, cello) are teachers at the Escuela Libre de Musica J. F. Vásquez. It was a delightful concert and since my friend plays with them sometimes that made it extra fun.  The Museo Nacional San Carlos is a very beautiful building and houses a nice art collection, too.

Afterwards we headed to the neighborhood La Condesa, where she lives and where my son lived before they moved to Colonia Roma, so it is familiar territory for me.  We didn’t have a reservation, but we walked into Azul Condesa and were seated with no problem.  I’m glad we got there when we did, though, as within a half hour the place was full. 

We had a delicious, relaxing meal.  I had hibiscus flower enchiladas, a lovely salad, lots of wine.  The restaurant has a unique theme that changes every so often and when we were there it was the foods of the state of Veracruz. I absolutely loved this restaurant and will go back any chance I get.