La Buena Tierra, Parte Dos

Ana and her Buena Tierra Roll.

When I'm travelling around the world, I'm not one who usually eats a place twice. Too many places to try to eat at any one twice. But after a long day at the Compentencia Mexicana de Baristas, Ana, Tia Cristy and myself just wanted something to eat - and we didn't want to go to McDonald's and Tia Cristy didn't feel like riding all the way across town to try another place, so we chose a different location of La Buena Tierra - the same place we had breakfast earlier.

Located on Insurgentes just a few blocks away from the World Trade Center, this La Buena Tierra isn't as nice as the one in Condesa. It's on the second floor and just a big, open space which makes me wonder if we had eaten here first if I would have been as charmed by the food and the menu.

Again, it's the same wide and varied menu featuring a large assortment of blended fruit drinks and traditional Mexican cuisine with a conscious touch. This time, I've decided to forgo the Guayabera and attack the Lemoncito, another blended fruit drink filled with Limón, hierbabuena y menta. It's darn good and I'm tempted to guzzle this one and order another. But the odd thing is that it's green. Maybe I really do need the English menus Ana keeps asking for, but I thought that lemon would be yellow. Whatever the case may be, it's good.

For our evening cena which, I think, means "dinner" Tia Cristy is taking a bit of a turn away from the traditional Mexican cuisine she has been favoring to something a little Italian-inspired: Raviolis Poblanos. It looks to be on the soupy side for a ravioli dish with what I gather to be a light mole (but I could be wrong) and a good bit of cheese.

Is the Raviolis Poblanos too much for Tia Cristy?

Which reminds me of something else I like about Mexico. These people like cheese. They're not afraid of it. They put it on or in just about everything. It's like: "Well, this enchilada de mole is good, but it could use a good dose of fresh cheese." How can anyone find fault with that??? Cheese, lard, fat, it doesn't matter. These people eat it and God Bless Them for it.

Ana is sort of staying with her theme for the day by choosing the Buena Tierra Roll. That's a pan arabe, or pita, that's stuffed with Jamon de Pavao, chicken, frijolitos, guacamole and manchego cheese. It looks pretty good though I didn't have a taste.

For my dinner, I chose the Arracheta de Pollo. That's grilled chicken topped with grilled cebollitas, a side salad and a sort of bean concoction with what tasted like meat (but could have been tofu, for all I know). It was pretty darn good. The chicken was grilled beautifully - just the right amount of carmelization on the meat but still tender and juicy on the inside. The salad was a colorful mixture but a bit bland to the palate and the bean side dish was interestingly compelling - even if I didn't know what it was.

It was a nice way to end a long day. The past few days have been long ones. Some of them tough days - especially last night. But the adventure continues.

A glimpse of my tasty chicken - the Arrechera de Pollo.

La Buena Tierra - Insurgentes
Insurgentes Sur 1026
5575-1549
www.labuenatierra.com