Gold Dig #3

Chichen Itza is a Yucatecan restaurant. Well, actually it’s more of a stall, in the Mercado La Paloma. I was glad I went to check out Chichen Itza if for no other reason than discovering the Mercado La Paloma. It’s a cooperative marketplace filled with craft and food stalls that is great to wander around in. Chichen Itza is on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list, and he says that after the first time he ate there he actually booked a trip to the Yucatan!

The Dish

Cochinita Pibil is the most well-known dish from the Yucatan. That’s what I was there to try.

Cochinita Pibil

The menu describes the Cochinita Pibil as succulent pork marinated with achiote, sour orange juice, and spices, cooked in banana leaves, topped with pickled red onions served with sauteed black beans, rice and steamy tortillas. “Succulent” is right! The pork is slow cooked until it is falling-apart tender. It’s swimming in its own juice, which I happily scooped the rice right into. The pickled onions provide crunch and a punch of contrasting flavor.

Pollo Pibil

My lunch-mate got the Pollo Pibil. It’s basically the bone-in chicken leg version of the pork dish I got. At first I was disappointed that’s what she chose, as I am a big sharer of food (I want to be able to fork food off your plate, but am happy to have you do the same to mine) and was hoping to get a taste of something different from all the tempting options on the menu. I also tend to prefer pork over chicken. I was surprised to find that I actually liked her chicken better. It was so tender and seemed to absorb the flavor of the juices better. Her plantains were good as well – she got another order of those to go.