Even if you’re not staying at Hotel Básico, you’ll want some excuse to visit and experience the hotel’s unique design, and the second-floor patio restaurant provides the perfect opportunity. Run by a staff brought in from a small town outside of Veracruz, the restaurant serves authentic Mexican Gulf Coast seafood in a style they call maiz y mariscos, which means “corn and seafood” (though it sounds better in Spanish).
The patio has a timeless quality, with 1950s-style concrete floors, lights twinkling in the trees, candles and lanterns around the tables, a market kiosk housing the food prep area, and seating along a balcony overlooking the street. Menu favorites include shrimp empanadas, seafood cocktails, ceviche, stuffed blue crab (jaibas rellenas), fried whole fish, grilled octopus, and lobster. It’s also a good spot to sample some traditional Mexican desserts, such as cocada con helado, flan, or budin de elote (corn pudding).
To make things more authentic, order your beer as a michelada and savor the salt and lime. Depending on the night, there are dance classes, tortilla-making demonstrations, or a marimba band. Highly recommended. Located on 5th Avenue at 10th Street.
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