I know this is an old refrain tho those who have gone beyond the border towns or gotten out of the all-inclusive resorts along the coasts---you know what I mean: the poor schlubs who go to Cancun, stay drunk for three days on sweet, watered-down drinks and mediocre to terrible food, never get outside the hotel or the Hard Rock Cafe, and come back thinking "I've been to Mexico!"
Sorry. No. You haven't.
We went to dinner at a lovely sprawling palapa-ish place called Santo Coyote, and had a wonderful time. Part of the wonderful time may have been the several Tequila Herradura Blancos followed by Sangrita chasers (the absolute best way to drink good tequila there is). Sangrita, not sangria; it's a chaser for straight tequila composed of orange juice, lime juice, tomato juice and a touch of heat from jalapenos. There are as many recipes as there are bars, it seems. Most use a splash of Worcestershire; some just use a hot sauce like Tapatio or Cholula. Part of the fun is checking out the different house styles of Sangrita.
Oh, and a shot of Anejo for dessert.
We started with some succulent Cabrito, slow spit roasted, tender inside and crispy outside. The other guys laced this with fiery hot freshly-made-at-the-table salsa, which I had to be careful with because it was scorching. Instead I used the creamy/spicy guacamole.
One of our party had Molcajete, where (in this case) bits of beef tenderloin and prawns were mixed in a stew-like concoction and put in super-heated lava rock bowls and served up, literally, boiling hot. Great presentation, and what I tasted was exceptionally good.
Although they had several intriguing cuts of beef with interesting preparations, I couldn't resist the Pork Shanks, slooooooooow cooked to perfection. And another guy's sea bass and shrimp in a garlic-parsley sauce was great as well.
Scrambled eggs with machaca (Mexican style dried shredded beef) and fritatta with olives and gruyere for breakfast (with a small tortilla shell alongside filled with refritos negro being the only time I saw the standard beans and corn combo the whole trip) were standard fair for breakfast. We also had cactus leaves.
And for the first time I tasted lima---neither lemon nor lime (which to the Mexicans are both limon, either limon amarillo or limon verde), it's a sorta-lime-looking small fruit with a prominent navel. Much, much milder and sweeter than lime, it tastes like a low-acid lime crossed with a fresh melon. Good breakfast juice.
Our Jaliscan hosts happily discussed the many different cuisines of Mexico and agreed that whenever they visit the U.S. and are taken (inevitably) to whatever the local Mexican restaurant is, they often (usually) get the dreaded Tex-Mex.
One guy says he travels all over the world and people want to feed him Mexican food that isn't Mexican.
And, for the record, Guadalajara is well supplied with Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese/sushi, French, and tons of Italian restaurants.