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Cadillac Bar, Nuevo Laredo, MexicoBy Darryl Beeson
"In the early years of the Cadillac Bar, many people from Louisiana came across Texas to visit Nuevo Laredo," explains manager Francisco Jimenez, "so the menu is influenced by New Orleans." Under Ensaladas (salads) on the menu, we find the "Dago, Combinacion de lechuga, tomate and camaron" $66.5 pesos. When was the last time that you saw a reference to Dago salad on a menu? Maintain your agitation, ignore your sensibilities, and just dine. Why, you ask? Because the food is tasty enough, but the drinks are sacrosanct. If there is a rather big guy behind the bar, shall we say Gleason-esk, that is Poncho Dias, a Cadillac veteran for 35 years. What is that constant chipping noise? The barback is hacking away at a large block of ice with an ice pick. These are drinks made in the fashion that your Grand Daddy enjoyed. Crafted with love and shaken within a millimeter of pure frenzy. Remembering the Louisiana connection, first order a Ramos Gin Fizz at the long bar. The sleek intemperance is frothy, ice cold, with a chalkiness within, served with the stainless steel shaker and a strainer, a bit extra ready to pour. Behave yourself, considering that a bartender, in a bar that shakes most drinks for a minute or more, might easily heft you by the collar and then again through the front door, closer upon your way back to the Texas border. You will behave yourself because you want another one of those fine drinks. Try a Margarita if you wish. They are delicate, lacking the acid bite of sufficient lime juice. Pace your alcohol intake with a little soup, at first. Sopa de Tortga (turtle) en Farsa, La receta original de New Orleans $45.50 pesos or Gombo (seafood gumbo) de Mariscos, Lo clasico en Louisiana con almeja y camaron $64.50 pesos. Maybe move to a table and craft a dinner selection. Maybe not. Poncho Dias is looking better every minute. In back of the long dining room is a glassed-in lounge with twelve television monitors tracking all manner of sport and race, with current odds on this visit for baseball, basketball, and World Cup written upon dry erase boards on the wall. You discover that the gin in the multiple Ramos Gin Fizzes does two things. It improves your unknown ability to speak Spanish. It provides insightful privity into certain knowledge of future sports outcomes. Do not enter this rear room, but instead turn right and visit the restroom where the outcome is much more predictable. To get to the Cadillac Bar, go to Des Moines, Iowa and turn South on Interstate 35, traveling approximately 1,160 miles. Just before the border to Mexico, in Laredo, Texas, you may park your car (the parking above the Greyhound station is convenient and very secure) and walk maybe ten blocks to the border bridge. Upon crossing, it will be another ten blocks, or so, meandering to your right to reach the quadrant of Victoria at Matamoras. Should you choose to take a car over into Mexico, you must secure special auto insurance before crossing, at approximately $30-$40 US per day, paid in advance (numerous vendors with large signage are in Laredo, Texas). As this is a town of many narrow one-way streets and difficult street parking, there luckily is a large, secure, multi-level parking garage adjacent to the Cadillac Bar (3020 Victoria, Nuevo Laredo, TAM, Mexico 867-713-30-20, www.laredorestaurants.com , 11am to 11pm Sunday through Thursday, 11am -1am Friday and Saturday with live music). Darryl Beeson travels the world looking for great wine values. In the past, he has been wine steward or cellar master for The Mansion on Turtle Creek, Voltaire, and The Adolphus Hotel. Not one for stuffiness or secret handshakes relative to wine, this Texan might now be described as a "ki-yi-yippee sommelier, sommelier." Beeson reports on wine, spirits, food and travel for numerous publications. Editors Note: We received this comment from a reader and wanted to pass it on. Dear Travel Lady, One comment on the Cadillac Bar in
Nuevo Laredo. You forgot to mention the goat. They have the absolute
best spring goat in the world! Presentation is golden like a turkey,
with crispy skin and delicious tender meat. And it doesn't' t have
that wild goaty taste. sorta like roasted Lamb or dark meat Turkey.
Lovely, simply lovely. I hope that this suggestion is considered for
an upgrade of the web site. Unless, that is, your target market wont
eat goat. |
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TM
The Cadillac Bar has held dining and adult beverage
court in the South of the border town of Nuevo Laredo since the 1920's.
Moving to a new location (Victoria at Matamoras) about three years ago, what
once could have been politely referred to as a nice dive is now a slick,
appealing restaurant. Though Tex-Mex selections appear on the menu, Cadillac
Bar is a destination for non-Cajun, Louisiana fare (as in fairly mild),
maybe a steak or sandwich on French bread, but not cutting edge Mexican
cuisine (i.e. on the menu are Enchiladas "Con queso Wisconsin", $94.5). The
pricing, in pesos, converts at approximately 9 pesos to the dollar.
Otherwise, just imagine that the pricing is that of a trendy Manhattan
restaurant.