Don Day: Hoppin’ on down to Venencia. For chapulines

It was my last night in San Miguel before heading up to Toronto for a few weeks. Don Day’s Wife was suffering some post-Covid blues so I asked a couple of my favorite guys to join me in my five o’clock ritual.

“Venencia?”, said Jack, “never heard of it”.

“It’s on Zacateros”, I replied.

“On Zacateros?”, said Lou, “never seen it”.

“Right across from the flatiron”, you’ll see it”, I replied.

Venencia looks good from the outside. Classy but charming. More old world than new. More like it belongs on a side street in Madrid or Rome than on Calle Zacateros in the middle of Mexico.

Venencia looks good on the inside as well, still classy, still charming and, you can also add cozy and cool.

Jack and I arrived there first. When we walked in, I was happy…no make that very happy…to see who was behind the bar. It was Mario Iribe-Benítez, the guy who owned Salon Oaxaca down on Insurgentes.

“Your place?”, I asked.

“My place”, he replied. Well my partner and I’s place.”

I always liked Mario. Liked his food. Liked his love of food. But didn’t like Salon Oaxaca too much. It was a little too disjointed. A bar here, a patio there, a terrace here, an upstairs there. I didn’t know where I wanted to be when I got there, so I rarely, if ever, got there.

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