The New York Times recently touted Santa Maria La Ribera as Mexico City’s next big bohemian neighborhood, surpassing the apparently played-out Condesa and Roma. Turns out I actually have a friend, Jesus, who lives there. We knew each other in Dallas.
He invited me out for a neighborhood tour on Tuesday. We stopped for doughy empanadas and sweet Russian punch at Kolobok, a Russian restaurant on the square, and we wandered through the park (home to the historic Moorish Kiosk above) and the market.
Unlike Polanco, where high-end clothing stores and trendy cafes abound, Sta. Maria seems like it hasn’t changed much since 1950. Some of the restaurants had masa machines set up near the doorway, where long, soft cylinders of masa rotated on a mechanical spit, waiting for hands to rip off a piece and pat it into a tortilla.
In another store, two young boys cranked out tortillas on an old-fashioned press. The streets were quiet, except for the occasional car horn. (“Klaxon” in Spanish.)
After we stopped for a celery-pineapple juice and a freshly made quesadilla, I was officially in love with this neighborhood. Too bad it’s too far away from Crayton’s job and not near a subway stop.
More pictures after the jump.
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