Yet Another Post Where I Eat a Delicious Supper at a Very Nice Mid-Range Restaurant

Lime Beef. It's what's for dinner.

What do I like to do when I travel? Go to strange places that most people have never heard of. And eat. That's it. That's my basic travel itinerary. I like my sights weird and my food normal. Is that too much to ask? Tasty, delicious food. But within the range of what we would call "normal." I don't like my food to be "challenging." But I want it to have normal flavor, but the tastiness kicked up to 11.

Tonight's chosen meal was at El Pilón de Los Arrieros, which translates, roughly, to "The Pylon of The Arrieros." Not sure what an "Arriero" is, but I always was a big fan of the band Pylon, who I saw playing the clubs in Atlanta many times during my Georgia Tech years. And while I suspect there is no connection between the band and the Guadalajara restaurant, I'm taking no chances. Off to the Pylon!

While coming back from Guachimontones, my driver passed through this restaurant and nightlife district just south of my hotel. So I picked a restaurant in this neighborhood. Walking to it, I walked through the plaza with Los Dos Templos. Both were open! I peered into Templo y Convento Franciscano de San Francisco de Asis (Temple of St. Francis of Assisi), the larger of the two churches. It was nice. Then I looked into Templo de Nuestra Señora de Aranzazú:

Wow.

The smaller of "Los Dos Templos" is the star attraction.

Each side of the altar was a masterpiece.

And looking out into the main entrance at the statue of St. John Paul II:

And looking out the door of the side entrance at the exteriorly more interesting Temple of St. Francis of Assisi across the way:

Working up that appetite with all that church majesty.

Just a short three blocks south on Calle Colon is Plaza de las 9 Esquinas.

Translation: Plaza of the 9 Corners. And here is the restaurant I selected for this evening's dining: El Pilón de Los Arrieros

I opted for it instead of the adjacent Birriería las 9 Esquinas, which also got excellent google reviews.

I'm glad I did. I later found out "birrieria" means goat restaurant. They serve goat. They also advertise their barbacoa. In Mexican restaurants in the USA, barbacoa is barbecued beef. In Jalisco, Mexico? Sheep. Mutton.

Like I said, I am not that adventurous of an eater. I want normal food that tastes awesome.

But before we go into the restaurant, let's say hello to the statue of a man holding a book here at Plaza de Las 9 Esquinas.

At The Pylon, I got a table near the window.

I'm eating supper early, I guess. The restaurant is not crowded.

Chips and salsa Jalisco style.

The pickled onions on the far left were particularly delicious.

I ordered an appetizer because I had no lunch and I was "tengo hambre," as they say in these parts.

Tortilla soup, which I guess is a thing here, too, and not a "made for Mexican restaurants in the USA" thing, like hard-shell tacos or frozen margaritas in wacky flavors. The tortilla soup had avocado (!) and cheese.

Then came the main course:

 

Lime beef. It does not look like much, but who cares? It was awesome. The lime flavor was intense without being overwhelming. I was debating between this and the mole. I figured most decent Mexican restaurants in Las Vegas have some form of chicken mole dishes. And mole is not indigenous to Jalisco and Guadalajara (it's from Oaxaca, I believe), so I went with lime beef. And I did not regret it for a second.

Dessert? Mouth was on fire so the doctor ordered a cool tall cerveza.

 

Mexican beer is too light for my tastes, generally, so I asked for the darkest Mexican beer they had. It was this: Victoria. From the Modelo people. Quite a nice way to end the meal.

Another interior shot of The Pylon:

It was getting dark and it was time to stumble back to the hotel, high on the pure intense "sabroso" of the lime beef.

Got back to the hotel and remembered I had not yet visited the rooftop terrace.

Nice view of Los Dos Templos at night.

Guadalajara WILL Do, Part 1

Wooden foot on the perimeter of the Rotonda de los Jaliscienses Ilustres.
Why? Does there ever need to be a reason for a giant wooden foot cut off mid-shin?

I am on a three-day, four-night mini-vacation to Guadalajara. Why? Because Guadalajara was there for visiting. And this has been an exhausting stretch given everything happening. I couldn't wait to the maxi-vacation in a little more than a month, so mini-vacation south of the border down Mexico way.

I am staying in the Centro Historico of Guadalajara. This is Avenida Ramón Corona in front of my hotel. In most places I've visited in Latin America, the central historical core can be a no-go zone, especially at night. Not so Guadalajara. The Centro Historico is packed with tourist sites, restaurants and nightlife.  This is where to stay.

Today was the day to take a long walking loop to see all the major sights in the Centro Historico. First stop: Los Dos Templos. Even my rudimentary Spanish can translate that without Google translator.

The Two Temples.

This is catty-corner -- yes it is CATTY corner -- not kitty corner -- what type of whatever would use a phrase "kitty corner" -- catty-corner from my hotel (southwest if you are keeping track of your catties and your corners).

This is the first of two:

And this is the second of two:

The second of two might be smaller, but look who's hanging right outside El Segundo:

Juan Pablo Segundo! Or, as we know him, St. John Paul II. I'm finding him everywhere I vacation, it seems. And deservedly so.

Time to continue walking north on Avenida Ramón Corona, where there is the first of many ... many ... hansom cab sightings today.

Historical cores and hansom cabs seem to go together like ... what's the old song say -- like a horse and a carriage.

This is the view of Guadalajara Cathedral from Guadalajara Plaza.

Lots happening in Guadalajara Plaza:

Por ejemplo: a giant rattan head wearing a rattan sombero.

There was something athletic going on on the other side of the rattan man in the rattan sombrero. I did not check it out because how could it be more interesting than a rattan man in a rattan sombrero?

Guadalajara's main cathedral was very nice. Let's have a look-see inside:

That's all the look-seeing we are going to do because a mass was just starting up and it's rude to be shutterbugging when the mass is happening.

But, as promised, more hansom cabs. The Centro Historico is lousy with horse-drawn carriages. 

Here they are parked outside the Cathedral. Technically, this is on the north side of Plaza de la Liberación, which is in between the Cathedral and Teatro Degollado.

But first, a detour north of the cathedral to Rotonda de los Jaliscienses Ilustres, the Rotunda of Illustrious Jaliscans.

This is Ignacio Vallarta. He is so illustrious that Puerto Vallarta was named for him.

Many Illustrious Jaliscans hang here. Jalisciense is the Spanish-language demonym for someone from the State of Jalisco, where Guadalajara serves as the capital. I'm not sure of the proper English-language demonym, so I just made up Jaliscan.

There were two dozen or more Illustrious Jaliscans here. Let's meet just a few:

And the Rotonda de los Jaliscenses Ilustres makes a great place for a school field trip:

Back to the Plaza de la Liberación for more of this walking tour of the Centro Historico:

I believe this is a statue of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla right here on the Plaza:

He is an important figure in the Liberation of Mexico. Or so I am presuming. Why else would his statue be in a prominent place on Plaza de la Liberación. But this is just a semi-educated guess.

More statuary!

This is on the back side of Teatro Degollado, I believe.

This next photo is foreshadowing the next destination on this walking tour of Centro Historico. But because the walk was long and the number of photos enormous, I am splitting this into three parts.

And we will conclude Part 1 of 3 with the Fuente De Los Niños Traviesos, the Fountain of Naughty Children.

I'm not sure why all the children got labelled as "naughty" when only one is engaging in the act of peeing. And everybody all over the world loves fountains featuring peeing children.