Having been in Houston, it seemed to make sense to go
to Mexico for a few days afterward, so I found myself
taking Mesa Airlines in business class on a regional
airplane, something I'd never done before. The seats are
about as comfortable as on the bigger planes, and the
service is at least as good as that of mainline - it
would seem that the crew are trained to mainline
standards and take them moer seriously than the big boys.

The red wine was actually okay, but the meal was shall
we say spotty. A salad of tomato, black beans, and corn
over mixed greens (I presume this had been catered in the
US) was unexceptionable except for the crumbled cotija on
top and the wooden chicken breast on the side. This as
claimed to be in adobo but was dry as possible, also up
or down to mainline standards.

-

Lilli had splurged and reserved us this corner suite, about 1200 sf
so 3-4 x the normal room and 3x what we needed but only 2x the
price. It is on the second to top floor of the NH hotel, with a
great view, one of the best, of the Guadalajara cathedral from our
wraparound 60 ft (I paced it out) balcony.

After a day in the plane, we decided to stay at the hotel
and eat at the imaginatively named Piso 7 restaurant on the
7th floor, directly above our room.

Lilli continues to eat like a bird, so we split a main course,
the chuleton en mole de haranja, pork chop in a sauce of
chocolate, onions, peanuts, bitter orange, tomillo, bay,
cinnamon, a touch of clove. and no doubt other things that
contributed to the complexity but were not detectible on
their own. Oh, yes, the ancho, chilpotle, pasilla, and
cascabel chiles and maybe others. It was quite a fine dish.
Came with very neutral but well cooked rice and a few spears
of roast asparagus.

Lilli had a glass of the house red, a Chilean I think Cabernet,
and I a Minerva beer, from the local Guadalajara brewery, a
little more citrusy and spicy and hoppy than your run of the
mill Mexican beer. Sort of between an amber and a white, alber
if you will.

--

The rate doesn't come with breakfast. I got Lilli an apple
empanada (nasty) and a bottle of water, total 20 pesos or I
think a buck, from the stalls nearby.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
* Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)