Sabores y Colores, Zihuatanejo

Our first full day in Zihuatanejo was topped off with dinner at Sabores y Colores (“Flavors and Colors”), a charming and airy restaurant off a quiet street in the main part of town.

There’s quite a variety of dishes on the menu, ranging from familiar (tortilla soup and lasagne) to things that I haven’t seen in the US (shaved abalone with lime, tuna with cactus and mushroom).

I started with something I’d never heard of before, huazontles empanizados, figuring I should go outside my comfort zone when trying Mexican food in Mexico!

A little googling told me that huazontles are related to goosefoot and similar to broccoli rabe, but I was still surprised by what arrived – two breaded and fried bundles filled with densely packed chopped greens.  Their slight bitterness was offset by the flavorful mole sauce, really delicious and also rather virtuously healthy feeling (just ignore the fried exterior, of course!).

For my main course, I was tempted by spaghetti with blue cheese and shrimp, but decided on a lighter shrimp dish served in pipian sauce (a tasty green mole made with pumpkin seeds).

We also had an unusual wine from Oveja Negra in Chile, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Carmenere.  I wasn’t sure I was reading the list right, since Carmenere is a red wine grape, but yes, these two grapes combine to make an enjoyable white wine.

Spoiler alert – every other restaurant we visited in Zihua was just as fabulous.  Definitely a great food town!