#31 Nicos

I first visited Nicos for breakfast before my flight to Puerto Escondido. I read somewhere that desayunos was the way to go. When I arrived, many of the dishes I wanted to try were unavailable. So I just ordered whatever the server recommended.

To start, I had the sopes combinados. The plate had both chicken and pork sopes. The sopes weren't anything special and the meat was a little dry. It was honestly just too heavy for someone like me who doesn't normally have breakfast and likes to keep things light in the morning.

Next I had the signature chicken enchiladas in green sauce. The meat in the enchiladas was, again, dry. Also the green sauce was more on the sour side. This might be the traditional taste of enchiladas in green sauce and my palette may just be accustomed to the Americanized flavors. I did not enjoy the enchiladas either.

The seasonal fruit with yogurt and granola were decent, but nothing to write home about. With that, I left breakfast largely unimpressed. Still I felt like I needed to come back for lunch and try the signature dishes. A few weeks later, after spending time in Oaxaca and trying all the other top restaurants in CDMX, I returned to Nicos for round two.

To start, they served me the house croquette made of plantains with a light cream and fresh cheese. It was a little sweet and dense, but not too heavy.

Of course, I had to get the table side guacamole. Made fresh with avocados, tomatoes, onions, chilies, oil and salt; this guacamole was so good. Rich and fatty with fresh vegetables to set it off. Bomb.

For a starter snack, I had the pork belly taco. Served on a thin, crisped flour tortilla the pork belly had a slightly sweet glaze and refreshing greens that were not bitter at all. Great taco.

The first main that is truly unique to Nicos is the sopa de seca nata. It was like layers of thin crepe drenched in sauce of a red pablano pepper, tomatoes and chicken. The savory spongey crepe layers reminded me of the sour flat bread you eat with Ethiopian food. The chicken was moist and all the flavors marry together for a lightly tomatoey, peppery bite. There also appears to be some sauteed spinach or some other green. A little salt helped really bring out the flavors. The green sauce that was drizzled over the plate was like a creamy, herby pesto.

The second signature dish that was recommended to me was the pulpo a la antigua. Octopus was cooked really well and had the tenderness of steamed mussels, almost like a livery pate. The sauce was made of ink, olives and nuts. The dish definitely needed a starch as a vessel. The spanish rice and the bread they served softened the sharp, complex flavors of the ink sauce.

It was a relatively quick meal, 55 minutes from start to finish. The entire time there were were jazzy, downtempo renditions of songs like Sweet Dreams - Annie Lennox.