Serious Foodies - Cetli!

We consider ourselves to be serious foodies, especially since we have been in the restaurant business for many years (servers in mainly upscale restaurants) and have a passion for not only eating, but cooking great food. There are a number of restaurants I have been looking forward to trying here in Tulum that I have read about on different forums. I am also very interested in finding delicious, cheap, local eats and have already been successful just by keeping my ears open.

Last night Josh and I were able to try one of the more expensive restaurants in Tulum Pueblo thanks to Tulumtalk.com. We were treated to a delicious dinner since we were one of the first to post on here. How generous! Especially considering our limited budget while being here for 10 weeks. We went to Cetli! And I have pictures!

When we walked in the font door Claudia, the owner, greeted us in a friendly if slightly harried way. She asked if we had reservations which we did not and so the only table she had available was inside. That was fine with us since we didn't have the foresight to make reservations and b/c we were seated by a screened window overlooking the garden so it was almost like being outside.

Claudia made her way back over to us and told us about her drink selections. She has a liquor license now so it is no longer BYOB. This is very exciting news for her since I think she said it took 2 years to get the license. We did not know this and had found a 2005 Riscal Tempranillo from Spain for $14US at the liquor store that we were excited to try. She graciously opened the bottle for us and we promised we would never do it again!

She then disappeared and it did take quite a while before someone opened our wine and she came back over to take our order. She was very busy and she was the only server with just some help from back servers. We found this to be very different from the States. Usually owners are not the servers, they just wander around and make sure everything is running smoothly and greet guests. But we were patient and eventually gave her our orders and it was well worth the wait!

First she brought us a tapas tray that comes on the house. The pictures are all without flash b/c we did not want to disturb the other diners. But you can see that there is a variety of items. Homemade bread slightly toasted served with 3 different spreads (the garlic butter was wrapped like a little package in corn husks), mini tamales, and mini bean sopes. Delicious! Then came our salads. I ordered the Campesina which was spinach, proscuitto, fresh Mexican cheese, nuts, with a little balsamic vinegar. My only complaint of the whole dinner was just that my salad was a touch dry. Josh got the Mixta which he loved. It was spinach with balsamic vinegar served with shredded jicama, carrot, and beet. It was very tasty! You can view her entire menu online at http://cetli.com.mx/ although the prices are a little outdated.







For entrees Josh initially chose the Ahuiac which was chicken with a peanut mole sauce. But they did not have it that night so he already had a second choice picked out. The Yeyetzi Acupalco which was grouper in tamarind sauce. Also delicious! We loved this dish and Josh could not stop commenting on how perfectly the fish was cooked. But I will say that this is a sweeter dish. We never mind a mix of sweet and savory but I know some people are particular about the sweetness of their entrees. Tamarind is a fruit tho so we knew it it would be sweet. I ordered what I knew I would all along. The Chile en Nogada. It's a Poblano chili which has had the seeds and ribs removed stuffed with beef and fruit and covered in an almond cream sauce sprinkled with pomegranate seeds. Sound weird? Oh my gosh, it was awesome. I made this dish once with a friend and it did not come out nearly this good.

We sat and chatted with Claudia for a little while and finished our wine. We decided to skip dessert and go for a walk to settle our full bellies. Our bill came to $62 including tip. But don't forget from now on we would have to buy wine from Cetli's. So total for our dinner bill including the wine we brought with us it was $76. Not bad by US standards for a special meal! Her website can tell you were she is located just slightly off Tulum Avenue.