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| - I went to Caifan last night after reading Risa's review, and I had a wonderful time!
Owner Leonardo explained that "Caifan" is a Spanglish term that originated from the phrase "me cae bien" turning into "me cae fine", and eventually becoming "me caifan", this meaning "I like him" (or similar). It now has a variety of meanings.
Here's a tweet showing the progression, ""Caifanes" proviene del spanglish "cae fine" (él me cae bien=me cae fine=me caifán) #MeCaeQue no sabía! #FelizMartes" (https://twitter.com/alfredoestrella/status/600644157044985857).
Caifan doesn't have a large variety of vegetarian offerings, but luckily I was able to find a few menu items that really hit the spot. I started my meal in reverse, to a degree, opening with a main - Mexican Mushroom Tacos, with a cup of mild hot sauce. I love mushrooms, so I enjoyed this dish. The tacos were tasty, and accurate, for lack of a better descriptor.
I also tried the "eau du jour", a hibiscus flower and mint drink in a very tall glass (:D), which I found to be very tasty, and a nice blend of flavours.
I was still hungry after the tacos, so I looked over the menu with Leonardo, and decided to try the Sope entrée - oh my god, it was delicious!!!!! I recently had a sope plate at another establishment, which unfortunately was very disappointing, so I was apprehensive about trying this here, but boy am I glad I did!
The sope is a thick tortilla covered in black bean purée, queso blanco, sour cream, lettuce, coriander, a fried egg sunny side up, and chltepe pepper sauce. Wow! The first thing I noticed was that the dish was beautiful, I tried a few different photo angles to best capture it. Traditionally eaten by hand, I opted instead to use cutlery (because I'm just a mess otherwise). I was delighted to find that as well as visually pleasing, the dish was just amazingly delicious! The black bean purée was rich and creamy and tasty, the sour cream was just the right amount of sour, the chltepe pepper sauce gave a slight spicy tinge that enhanced the taste without masking it, the egg fried to perfection with a delicious runny yoke, and CHEESE!? It's like they entered my brain and came up with all kinds of things I love, then put together the disparate pieces in a way I had never thought of before!
I know I'm gushing a bit here, but you really need to try this! It was so good I ordered a second one, and was tempted to get a third!
I was invited to try the Mexican drink Mezcal, which I had never had before. Mezcal is Tequila's older brother, also made from agave, but NOT the blue agave which is exclusively for tequila. According to Wikipedia, "The word mezcal comes from Nahuatl "mexcalli", "metl", and "ixcalli", which means "oven-cooked agave"". Mezcal is made by oven cooking the heart of the agave plant, called the piña, which gives it a smoky flavour. Mezcal bottles often have a Mezcal worm inside, and the drink is traditionally sipped ("kissed"), after which one takes a bite of an orange slice dusted "with a mixture of ground fried larvae, ground chili peppers, and salt called "sal de gusano", which literally translates as "worm salt"." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezcal#Drinking)
You know dessert is the most important part of my meal, so here it is: I started with the cheesecake, which was very fine in itself, but the standout aspect was the sauce. Made of blackberries and Chile de árbol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile_de_%C3%A1rbol), it was sweet and not tart like I would expect a blackberry to be, and had hints of nutmeg and cloves - excellent!
One is never enough, so I asked if there were any other dessert options. Leonardo offered up the Mexican flan, which he described as more subtle than regular flan, and with a vanlla taste. Flan is not usually my favourite thing, but this one really hit the spot. It reminded me of pudding, but still had a characteristic flan feel, with a smooth vanilla taste and hints of cinnamon and caramel. Not overstated at all, and just a really well made offering.
Bonus points for a great selection of music, I got to hear a lot of Cypress Hill's "Los grandes éxitos en español", and for the kitchen staying open until midnight (and sometime past) on weeknights!!!!
If you can't tell already, I really enjoyed my evening at Caifan, and I can't wait to go back, it's that good, and you should definitely try it!
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