Here in Mexico City, there are many restaurantes yucatecos that serve the cooking of the Mayan states, including two of our favorites, Máare and Coox Hanal. And a few months ago, an eatery with a fresh take on Yucatecan food opened its doors in Colonia San Rafael. As its name indicates, Cochinita Power specializes in the region’s best-known dish, cochinita pibil. The traditional version consists of pork marinated in an acidic sauce made from achiote (annatto seeds) and Seville oranges, wrapped in banana leaves and roasted in an underground pit. At Cochinita Power, the meat is not roasted underground, but chef Alexis Estrada cooks the mouthwatering cochinita on the stovetop until the meat is incredibly tender and deeply imbued with all the spices and flavorings he adds to it.
What sets the restaurant apart is the way it uses cochinita pibil across its menu. It’s the main player in tacos, tortas and panuchos (a kind of tostada with black refried beans) – typical dishes, but they’re just the beginning. Then there’s the gringa, a dish made with two flour tortillas filled with a melted cheese, usually Oaxaca, and, in this case, cochinita. Chilaquiles, one of Mexico’s most popular dishes, is made with tortilla chips and a red or green sauce and topped with sour cream and cheese. Here, of course, they’re topped with cochinita pibil and pickled red onions. Finally, the item that we were the most intrigued by was the cochinita hamburger, which puts the slow-cooked pork in a hamburger bun with lettuce, tomato and cheese. It resembles a sloppy Joe and is totally delicious.
Besides all these variations on pork, the restaurant also offers a delicious sopa de lima, a tangy soup flavored with the juice of the lima, a hybrid variety of sweet lime that grows in abundance in the Yucatan. The bumpy-skinned fruit has a tartness somewhat similar to Key lime, but with an incomparable flowery aroma and flavor.
On every tabletop there are two different salsas – but be aware that both are made with habaneros, which make them very spicy – and a bowl of pickled red onion.
Like its menu, Cochinita Power is simple and unassuming. It would be easy to miss if it weren’t for the alluring glow of its neon sign. And with its speedy, amicable service and superb cochinita pibil, it’s not a place you’ll want to miss.
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Published on September 01, 2015
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