"Atendido su amigo "El Chato" is what it says over the door to the Salon d'la Fama, The Hall of Fame, a cantina on Calle Porfirio Diaz, where we stopped by for a late morning visit.
We were greeted by El Chato and as we sipped our mezcal and beer, ate some wonderful botanas, we were treated to great conversations with the other patrons. One was an author, who had written about mezcal. Another was a renown architect who had been involved in many of the major restorations of some of Oaxaca's finest sites, including the church at Ocatlan. The ambiance was perfect, a wonderful way to sit back and drink in and engage with people. Of course, the real treasure is El Chato. Here is the photo from over the bar of him in his earlier days at La Fama.
I love the look of this place and some of the old photos.
Those of you have known me for years will recall I had a photo of this cantina on one of my earlier CD's, "World in My Pocket." The outside was a gorgeous blue at that point. Now it is this light nondescript tan, but the inside is unchanged. As I say, perfect.If you want to read a great piece on cantina culture in Mexico, read David Lida's chapter in"First Stop in the New World." It is not what you think it is. So don't fear for my innocence. Damn, where did I put that halo?
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