Description: We found a parking spot on a narrow cobblestone street and realized we were in the art gallery district. How fortuitous! Most were still open, but few had any customers or visitors. On Leona Vicario Street 249, I ventured into Galeria Omar Alonso, as my eye caught some fabulous metal sculptures that needed a closer look. Interesting black-and-white photography was displayed on the walls, and in the back were two more rusty metal sculptures, both with head down, one looked as if it were diving into the water, and the other may have been doing the same thing but had one hand on its head. Both knees were completely bent, which makes the diving theory suspicious, but then again, it’s art.
When in the area, you’ll see the famous Cafe des Artistes staring down at you. It is elegant inside and out; we walked up the steps to check it out: I fell in love with the magical glass beads that seemed to drop from the ceiling.
We walked a little farther in search of the perfect romantic dinner and were stopped at the corner of Calle J. O. de Dominguez and Guadelupe Sanchez. Newly opened, this was Si Senor Restaurant, the same folks who own the Blue Shrimp Restaurant on Calle Morelos. If you want romantic nouvelle cuisine, mariachi music, aesthetics combining natural elements, and modern décor, Si Señor has my vote.
It’s a multilevel restaurant with outdoor dining, but with this heat, nary a soul will venture outside. The walls are made with stones, and that lends a lovely rustic ambiance to the place. There are plants everywhere and a huge wall with recesses that house various religious icons. They have placed loud speakers outside so that you can enjoy the music, whether live or piped in.
The manager took charge of us immediately and started to give us a rundown of the specialties of Si Senor. I agreed to try grasshoppers, but they were thankfully hidden in a luscious cheese concoction, so the only hint of them was the crunch I heard after the first bite. If you look at the picture below, it’s the one that is inside the terracotta dish with what looks like bacon bits on top.
As a lot of the foods he proposed to us was interesting, we had a sample plate that we had no problem inhaling. We also enjoyed the live band that played exclusively for us and were kind enough to let me have egg-shaped instruments that contained noisemakers so that I could accompany them in song--wow!
While not forsaking any of the Mexican traditions (the chairs were green, red, and white), the look was quite modern and the menu fabulously different. Moles are their specialty, but there was just no room to get those in.
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