Chilpancingo - comments please?

NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2002 04:26:41 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: tin/1.4.2-20000205 ("Possession") (UNIX) (SunOS/5.7 (sun4u)) Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu chi.eats:18567

I visited Chilpancingo for the first time a few weeks ago with a couple of friends.  It's a nice, cozy setting - lots of wood and murals around, lots of earth-tones; it was a nice change from the wet rain we walked in from. The tables are reasonably spaced, so you don't feel like you're on top of other diners around you and you can have a conversation without having to shout.  The waitstaff seemed to be fairly well-informed, as well, and were very attentive.

The influence that Topolobampo had on Geno Bahena shows in some aspects of Chilpancingo.  The table settings were almost straight out of Topo, as is the style and layout of the menu (so much so that I did a double-take when I first glanced at the menu, as I would have sworn it was Topo's!).  That similarity ends, though, once one glances at the selections.  The restaurant's specialty with mole shows, as a number of dishes involved a variation of it.

My friends and I, feeling indecisive that evening, decided to go with the five course tasting menu.  The courses, as described to us by the server, were an appetizer, a soup/salad, a seafood, a meat, and a dessert. Unlike other restaurants I've visited, Chilpancingo does not have a pre-determined tasting menu; our meal was subject to the whim of the chef. Thankfully, we were in good hands.  Instead of offering each of us the same dish for each course, we were each presented with a different one. That essentially gave us the opportunity to try *15* different dishes (most off of the standard menu, with a few specials of the day).  Not too shabby for $50 each.  I won't elaborate on each of the dishes as that would take a while; suffice to say that they ranged from very good to wonderful.  (My personal favorite was a grilled halibut topped with a medley of sauteed peppers, onions, and roasted garlic.  That was fantastic!)  We were absolutely stuffed by the end of the meal.

The only thing that detracted from the experience (and I'm nitpicking a bit) was that the three desserts we were presented with weren't very exciting - a warm fig tart w/caramel ice cream, an upside-down pineapple spice cake w/vanilla ice cream, and a warm flourless chocolate cake with molten fudge center, also served w/vanilla ice cream.  They were also a bit on the heavy side, so we didn't finish any of them.

(Side note: when did these chocolate death cakes become so popular?  Now I love chocolate, but I can't see how anyone can eat something so heavy at the end of a meal...)

We also went on a Thursday night; there were maybe three other groups in the restaurant besides us.  It's been my experience that most of the more upscale places around downtown aren't terribly busy on nights that aren't Fri/Sat/Sun, so it didn't surprise me that it was a little slow at Chilpancingo then.  Our server told us that they change the menu around every couple of weeks, so that ought to keep things interesting.  So long as the food is as consistently good, I'm willing to bet it'll be around for a while.  I know I plan on going again.

Someone wrote:
> I've been there, they specialize in mole which is very good. I had rack of
> lamb with a dark mole (medium heat) and found it to be very good. They make
> fresh tortillas and give free guacamole (albeit in small quantities.) The
> waiter we had was very helpful and informative. Unless you find authentic
> "hole-in-the-wall" mexican joints this is up there. On a side note the place
> was EMPTY on a Thursday night so I don't know how long it will be there...