One of the things I heard from the questionnaire back in January was that people like to know more about the places around town and that pictures are good! So I thought I’d do a post about some places to eat around Centro. Click on the thumbnails to see the pictures full size.

There’s a little “restaurant row” developing on Niños Heroes and Constitution.

Oldest of the restaurants here is La Mona Pizza. This is a wonderful restaurant, with excellent wood fired pizza, pasta, a full bar, and scaffolding on the wall where a reclining nude is “in the process” of being painted. Don’t miss checking out the bathrooms, very special. This place is usually a mix of gringos and families early in the evening and later on it is a night spot for upwardly mobile Mexican youth. In the summer you can count on them to have the air conditioning on so incredibly cold that it’s like the arctic in there.

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La Panga is another bar – restaurant, across the street from La Mona. They’ve been around a while, and lots of people love their food. We ate there once and weren’t crazy about it but will go back again sometime soon to try some of the more highly recommended dishes. We’ve been told we just picked the wrong things. Asian-fusion kind of food, centered on seafood.

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Next door to La Panga is Wing’s Army. This is a chain restaurant, and really is the first chain that’s been allowed in Centro. As the name says, chicken wings are the main event. That and beer, and an army motif. We’ve never eaten there, neither of us dig chicken wings. The vibe is very young and it overflows onto the street on the weekend evenings.

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Next door to Wing’s Army is La Espiga Dorada Bakery. Everyone around town calls this place the “No Name Bakery” or “The Cookie Lady” because it has no sign and you wouldn’t even know it was there unless you happened to look in as someone came out. Betty dePompa makes excellent cookies, and will take you in the back if there is something fresh just coming out of the ovens. This place is on the walking tour route, and is only open in the morning. Try the macaroons, by the way.

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Across the street is a brand new bar and restaurant, Lorna resto-bar. Click here to see what it looked like before the renovation. This restaurant serves fusion food, and has a full bar.  There’s a stage in the corner and Cuban music videos playing. The interior is gorgeous, with old vigas holding up an upstairs that I believe is a smoking room.  The drinks are good, the seats are comfortable, and Paul and I are happy that there is now a place we will be happy to go and have a drink or two in such a nice environment.  We haven’t eaten there yet, but there were several salads that looked great to me.

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And just because there’s another important building on this corner, I thought I’d mention the Melville.  This hotel is a restored historic building, and as you can see it is beautiful.  It was originally restored to be assisted living, so it is accessible to people with disabilities, and rents both short and long term.  And yes, it’s named for Herman Melville, who was here in 1844.

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This picture is through the front gate to the courtyard of the Melville.

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A block up from all this is Belisario Dominguez.  One of the favorite late night bars in town is La Tertuglia, or the Bullfighter Bar.  There’s a bull head on the wall, lots of posters, and is always packed to the gills, both upstairs and down.  If you click on the picture at left you’ll see one of the most inhospitable wheelchair ramps I’ve ever known, by the way.  A couple doors away there is a restaurant that’s been around a while, 28 Centro.  (No picture, sorry.)

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A new bar and restaurant just opened next door to La Tertuglia a couple of months ago is Beli Pub.  This is a pub, complete with fish and chips!  The interior is excellent, the food is good, and even though when we were there they didn’t have Guinness, it is a place we’ll go back to.  This is across the street from the Panama Bakery at Sixto Osuna, and is  a block from the Plazuela Machado.

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I couldn’t resist including this newly painted and renovated parking lot.  I suspect that the window grills were made out of salvage curved wrought iron that is usually above doors or windows.

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There have been changes happening on the Malecon, too.

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De Cuba Somos is a late night Cuban place on the Malecon.  They don’t even open until 9 pm so we’ll have to wait and hear from others what it’s like.  The Time Machine is another brand new place that we haven’t visited yet.  They call themselves a “Cinema Pub” and I guess they show movies from the  70’s and 80’s.

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Zorba’s El Griego is a greek restaurant that moved from Playa Sur a few months ago.  We love their food, Paul the gyros and me the Greek salad.  The other side of Atika (no comment) is La Cueve de la Leon.  Our neighbor Manolo took this restaurant over recently, and it is really excellent.  He serves Mexican food with a Jalisco flair, and has a full bar and nice wines available.

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In other Malecon news, El Palenque, (the renovated El Marismeño) has been closed for several weeks, not sure if it is a vacation or for good.  Puerto Viejo is putting some sort of palapa structure on their roof, and updated their look with some new tile counters and paint recently.  There’s also a coffee bar – The Looney Bean – that has opened up in the real estate office.

I’m probably forgetting something, but that just means it can be in a blog post another day.