Living in Los Cabos: Restaurant Referrals

When you live in Cabo one of the most frequent questions you’re asked is about restaurants; tourists always want to know which restaurants are my favorites. And they’re sometimes surprised or disappointed that I don’t blurt out the names of the places they’ve heard or read about. But here’s the thing: the ones I like may not be at all where a tourist wants to be. First, locals don’t eat out at a touristy restaurant every night. Even if your wallet could survive it your waistline can’t. And then there’s the way we choose our dining venue.

When locals are deciding where to have dinner the decision making process goes something like this:

1. Is there parking?
2. Is it air conditioned (in summer)?
3. Has anyone died lately as a result of eating there?

Notice the food is not our first concern.

That said, sometimes we do have a little-known secret place we’d be willing to let you in on. But, you’re going to have to be a little flexible, it might not exactly be the kind of place you thought you’d like. Plastic tables and chairs provided by the beer distributor, menus in Spanish, cash only, and you might be the only non-Mexican in the joint. But if you’re after the best authentic food in town you’ll give up ambience for taste. Generally these places specialize in tacos; my friend Cindy says you know you’re local when you have not just one favorite taco place but you group them in categories. This one for fish tacos, another for beef (asada), one for pork and another for pastor and so on.

And speaking of tacos, some of our guests are truly puzzled at the large number of Italian restaurants in Los Cabos. Well, that is the most popular ethnic food here with Sushi running a close second. In fact, it’s hard to find a restaurant featuring Mexican cuisine. After all, why dine out on the food you eat at home? Beyond tacos it’s hard to find good Mexican food. There are a number of ‘tamale ladies’ who sell their homemade yummies at various locations. The Farmer’s Market in Pedregal is a source on Wednesday and Saturday morning. Go early, they sell out quickly. A little later in the day you’ll find a tamale lady in front of the Artizano’s home décor store on the corridor. Others can be found walking around town selling to store clerks out of their coolers. Don’t worry, eating their tamales is perfectly safe. Enchiladas are considered a breakfast dish here, so you don’t find them on too many dinner menus. Out in the non-tourist areas you’ll find little family-owned places offering Comida Corrida, a heavy full meal in the early afternoon, generally only a few choices that vary daily. Actually there is one restaurant that serves excellent Mexican dinners in an elegant atmosphere: Maria Corona in downtown Cabo. And yes, it has parking and is air conditioned so you will find locals patronizing it. The restaurant at the Hacienda project also features Mexican choices, and I believe most hotels as well as the tourists expect that.

Sure, there are ‘special occasion’ places, and most of us will be glad to share our opinions on them but if you really want to know where we eat most often you’ve got to be ready for a little adventure.

Carol Billups is Broker/Owner of REALTY EXECUTIVES Los Cabos. A Certified Home Marketing Specialist, she has enjoyed working with both buyers and sellers for over nine years and still thinks hers is the best job on earth. She is also the real estate columnist for Los Cabos Magazine and the real estate co-ordinator for the Los Cabos Now program on CaboMil FM (www.cabomil.com.mx). You can read more of her articles on www.reloscabos.com. You can reach her from the U.S. or Canada at 1-760-481-7694, or in Cabo at 044-624-147-7541.

© 2010 Carol S. Billups