Del Angel Inn Restaurante - Taxco

Taxco, the silver capital of Mexico, in Guerrero State, is 106 miles from Mexico City and a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive. We took a day trip there with our guide, Arnold Pedroza, which included a stop in Cuernavaca. 

Taxco is one of the most beautiful little towns we've ever visited. It is situated on several hills and is full of white houses with reddish/orange roofs and winding cobblestone streets. We were told that the main road is named after John F. Kennedy, who honeymooned there with Jackie Kennedy. I also read that he met Marilyn Monroe there for secret trysts on several occasions. 

Arnold took us to a beautiful restaurant there, Del Angel Inn, in the heart of town next to the Church of Santa Prisca. The entry to the restaurant is through an alley at the side of the church and the initial impression is not one of pleasure. However, you go up several sets of stairs and emerge in the restaurant perched on the side of the hill with magnificent views of the surrounding town. We ate outside on the roof, under an umbrella, just below the top of Santa Prisca, which is being restored due to damage from the recent earthquakes. 

The spires of Santa Prisca.

Workers near the dome of Santa Prisca hang on ropes. 

Judy photographs a Dia de Muertos version of Frida Kahlo. 

A funky angel that has been eating too many crepas de cajeta.

Our nephew, John Pedroza, is Arnold's son, who arranged our tours with Arnold and suggested our itinerary. John, like me, loves to eat, and suggested foods to try at each stop. For Taxco one of the foods he suggested was jumiles, stink bugs native to Taxco, which I blogged on previously. I won't go into it here, but we enjoyed a salsa made from the jumiles which the staff made at the request of Arnold. 

Jumiles salsa, made with stink bugs, tomatillos, onion and garlic. 

I enjoyed veggie fajitas smothered in Manchego cheese. I also ordered chiles toreados, serrano chiles blistered in oil, along with onions. 

Chiles toreados. Too much for me. I ate one pepper and some of the onions and it about sizzled my brain. Too, too hot. 

Arnold ordered Swiss enchiladas, which we tried on several other occasions.

Judy ordered a chicken leg (thigh and drumstick) in a mole rosa, or red mole.  I tried a traditional mole in Mexico City and did not like it. The bitter chocolate overwhelmed and ruined the dish. I was hoping to try different versions of mole and would have ordered this dish if Judy hadn't. Her red mole was wonderful. Red mole is a traditional dish in Taxco, and includes white chocolate, beet to give the pinkish to purplish red color, chipotle chile, star anise, cinnamon, and Mezcal (although I did not taste any hint of alcohol). 

This is one of the more distinctive looking dishes of the trip.

For desert we enjoyed crepas de cajeta. Cajeta is a slow-cooked Mexican caramel sauce that starts with goat milk and includes eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, butter and sugar. We tried it on several different occasions, but this is the only time they cooked it by our table. It was finished up with the addition of ice cream and pecans. This was not my favorite version, although it was the most elaborate. My favorite crepas de cajeta was at a restaurant in Amecameca, located in Mexico State, which I hope to blog on. 

The initial setup.

I'm not sure what is in the pan, perhaps brown sugar?

The final product, covered with pecans. 

Taxco was one of our favorite destinations and Del Angel Inn was part of the reason.