Azul

Azul, serving a slightly gourmet version of traditional Mexican cuisine, has multiple locations in Mexico City. The location in Centro Histórico is one of the most popular tourist dining venues in the city.

I visited the location in La Condesa, wanting to avoid the host of Nikon cameras hanging around the necks of Japanese and Canadian tourists.

The restaurant seats about fifty diners. About half of the seating is indoors and the other half on a bright and cheery covered patio. The walls of the patio are draped with living plants. Indoors, the walls, even at lunch, are adorned with a collection of burning candles. This candlelit dining area contrasted by the outdoor ambiance of the patio makes for an extremely pleasant atmosphere.

The waiters are festively clad white shirts with attractive tied bows made of wide, colorful cloth ribbons. The service was, for the most part, excellent. There were a few occasions when the waiters were serving chiles en nogada (plated tableside by the waiter) that their other tables went temporarily unattended. Other waiters would attempt to take up the slack, but there were still brief moments when it was difficult to get the attention of the waiter.

But at all other times, the waiter was attentive, polite and accommodating.

The menu is, by Mexico City standards, short. That’s a good thing. Just a few well-conceived dishes properly executed beats a wide array of dishes you can find on most any menu in Mexico.

The tables are beautifully set with the most beautiful custom pottery you’ll find in any Mexico City restaurant. A colorful basket of handmade corn tortillas, and the customary accompanying sauces soon arrived. Not just your normal run of the mill tortillas. These were adorned with designs in the dough that created an impressive design on the finished product. Others were two-toned, part yellow and part blue corn dough.

The patrons are almost as beautiful as the pottery. They are mostly locals, primarily women meeting for group lunches, and a handful of tourists. There is valet parking, by the way.

But enough about the beautiful plates and diners. What about the food on the plates?

I ordered the Tamal de frijol negro (the black bean tamales). This was a corn meal masa filled with a filling of finely chopped beans which has the texture of ground beef and small bits of chopped black beans. The two small tamales were lightly bathed in a fresh, light salsa roja. An excellent combination. One of the best and most unique tamales I’ve tasted in Mexico.

For the main course, I opted for the Carne enchipoclada. I didn’t quite realize what I was ordering. This dish is basically a grilled steak sitting on a creamy chipotle sauce accompanied by earthy new potatoes sitting below the steak in the sauce. I’ve been to most of the major steakhouses in Mexico City, and amazingly, this was one of the best cuts of meat I’ve seen. And, unlike the steak I received at the city’s most expensive steakhouse, Harry’s, this steak was cooked almost perfectly. Well, maybe it was just slightly undercooked, approaching rare. But on this nice cut of meat, being served rare was no issue. It was a delicious steak. I would likely opt for a different sauce, but that is solely a matter of personal preference. The new potatoes were earthy, and flavorful.

I was impressed enough with the appetizer and main course to order a dessert. I ordered the most classic of Mexican desserts, the pastel de tres leches. The cake was ultra-moist and covered in a sweet, dense merengue that was both decorative and functional. The cake was so moist it literally needed to be completely covered in something to keep the moisture contained. This was supplemented with a few fresh berries. It was a delicious rendition of the classic dessert.

Azul in Condesa is unique. It seems to be occupying an interesting niche. There are many modern Mexican cuisine restaurants in Mexico City that put a trendy contemporary edge on the décor, service and food. La Capital in Condesa, just three or four blocks away is a prime example of such a restaurant. There are traditional Mexican cuisine restaurants that give an elegant “country-club” feel to the dining experience. La Hacienda de los Morales, in Polanco, is a great example of such a restaurant.

Azul falls somewhere in between. It’s clearly casual. It’s clearly traditional. But there is no denying that it has elevated Mexican cuisine and the Mexican dining experience to a slightly gourmet level.

The décor is pleasant. The service by the waiters, although not flawless, was very good. And the food was a cut above. Prices were in line with restaurants offering similar décor, service and execution in this part of town.

Be advised not to trust posted hours of operation. We recommend arriving at least an hour after posted opening times and an hour before posted closing times to be assured of being seated.

Azul, assuming they are open and seating customers, offers a unique and pleasant twist on traditional Mexican cuisine.