A little advice on where to eat

Food seems to be important to a few more people than me but it didn't always feel that way in Merida.  I cook a lot and I don't like the restaurant experience so much at night or for lunch but duty calls and when friends are in town or it's too hot to cook I do eat out.  For lunch I really think the best food, not to mention the best value, comes from a few little mom and pop (well mostly mom) cocina economicas and small restaurants (dives) that are thankfully mostly found in the centro historico. I'm a pescatarian on the verge of vegetarian who could never be a vegan because....cheese.  Most of my friends are carnivores and so I rely on them to tell me what's good on that side of the menu.  I have a phobia of vegan veggie homeo bio health food store like places so you won't risk running into me at one of those places or at a steakhouse. Naturally the visitor to Merida will want to try the 'Maya' cuisine or the famous 'Yucatecan' cuisine but you'll never find me in one of those places either.  You'll have to rely on trip advisor or take a market tour with Los Dos if you are in search of the perfect Panucho.

I am a food snob

who worked in restaurants through my college years and never saw a fresh vegetable until I left Texas at the age of 27.  I earned my proud title after a decade in Paris sandwiched between a decade in New York.  I cut my teeth on Mexican Food and I can say for a fact that there is none at all in Merida worth wasting your salsa picante on.  Forget that quest right now.  Neither do you want to come here for the excellent Italian food in the numerous excellent Italian restaurants so I've made two guides for you.  One is more critical than the other.  One tells you what's available in each neighborhood and the other just sort of rambles on about what my experiences have been over the past 14 years of eating out in the Yucatan.  

photo of Alessandro Porcelli at Apoala when he was staying

with us at Urbano Rentals for the Cook it Raw events in Yucatan

which you can read about at Yucatan Living or watch at Vice.