I was out with my Dad and my daugh­ter today and need­ed to find lunch for three gen­er­a­tions of Jud­ds in the Cuba St area. I thought we’d wan­der down the Left Bank to get some empanadas from Buenos Aires. Despite the win­dow say­ing that they are open 12–2 on Fri­days, Buenos Aires was decid­ed­ly shut. So we went next door to Viva Mex­i­co instead.

It was a sur­prise when we walked in to see that the place was com­plete­ly redec­o­rat­ed. It’s now a rev­olu­cion-themed taque­ria. I talked to the new own­er and he’s a sol­id Zap­atista — that stuff’s not just hip brand­ing.

We were quick­ly seat­ed and giv­en menus. The choic­es are pret­ty basic: enchi­ladas, tacos, or eggs with a vari­ety of fill­ings and sauces. I watched oth­er tables’ food go out and it looked good. Like oth­er cuisines that prize homoge­nous tex­tures and com­plex mix­tures, Mex­i­can food can be dan­ger of look­ing like cafe­te­ria slop, so it was good to have nice plat­ing.

I had not even begun to won­der where our order was when the pro­pri­etor apol­o­gised for the wait and gave us a lit­tle dish of fried cheese-stuffed jalapeños to keep us going. They were good enough that I would have been hap­py to be kept wait­ing longer as long as the apol­o­gy food kept com­ing. Our orders came out short­ly after­wards and they were damned tasty. Of note was my huevos macha­ca, eggs scram­bled with shred­ded beef and a good dose of hot pep­pers.

The food, the pol­i­tics and the price are all more than good enough for a hum­ble taque­ria and we left well sat­is­fied. I know many peo­ple liked the old regime at Viva Mex­i­co — I am hap­py to report that the new regime is more than up to the job ¡Viva Viva Mex­i­co!

Fol­low-up ques­tion: where do read­ers rate for Mex­i­can food in this town?