Origen (dos)

Last week, I gave a colloquium talk at the university here. I think it went well, but it was a little hard to tell how many of the blank stares in the audience came because of my math or because I needed to speak in English.

Afterwards, K and I went on a celebratory date lunch to Origen, a fancy-shmancy restaurant near the zocalo. It is definitely an example of modern alta cusine, with a meal that included both traditional ingredients and foams and a pricetag that could have bought roughly 75 tamales in the park near our house. (In fact, look for the restaurant on the upcoming season of Rick Bayless' tv show!)

But it was a great meal. We had a delicious carrot soup, Kay had a strange but tasty risotto (with grapes!), and I had a vey nice whitefish cooked in a chorizo broth with a black bean cake. There was also a ceviche amuse bouche, and Kay had a fancy cocktail. But I think the highlight of the meal was dessert. We split a plate of these heavenly chocolate-pasilla bunuelos served with a side of lemon verbena ice cream. And chopped tomatoes. Which was weird, but actually contributed to a phenomenal dessert. In fact, we dove right in and ate a bunch before we even thought to take a picture.