Cantinas in Mexico City / Cantina La Texana, 19 years of good service
Traditional cantina in the tough Guerrero neighborhood: they give you free snacks when you buy three drinks.
By Alejandro Pohlenz
Chatting with Don Fernando Aguirre, a lifelong employee of Cantina La Texana (by the way, very close to Cantina Nueva York, which we already referred to in Food Police), and sipping my tequila shot, he told me, very cordially, that before they were located on Camelia Street, two blocks from their current location on Degollado Street. They moved 4 years ago, in the middle of the pandemic. It is behind the Martínez de la Torre Market in the Guerrero neighborhood.
Camelia la Texana
That's why they named it Cantina La Texana, not because of Camelia (la Texana), the strange character that nobody knows if she was real or an invention of the Tigres del Norte, who created a corrido with that name. In that song, Camelia killed her lover, Emilio Varela, a drug trafficker, with 7 shots for being a traitor. However, there are other versions of this character: one of them is that she arrived at the funeral home with the head of a young man who had committed suicide on the train tracks. Today there was chicken consommé, rice and pork in adobo. It is enough to order 3 drinks or 3 beers to be worthy of this snack. Don Fernando tells me, who does not stop supplying me with tequila (luckily I came in an Uber), that every day they serve sopes, one of my favorite foods.
Impeccable service
Despite the fact that, according to comments from some of the clients, Cantina La Texana is "a place for old people" (others mention the words "older adults"), I did not perceive it that way. Furthermore, the clients are not only residents of the Guerrero neighborhood but, says Mr. Aguirre, "from all over the city." It must be said that I was treated with courtesy and efficiency. The place is nice and can hold up to 100 people.
- What we love and you should try: sopes.
- Address: Degollado 101, Guerrero, Cuauhtémoc, 06300 Mexico City, CDMX.
- Hours and days of operation: Every day from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
- Ideal for: drinking and snacking
- Payment: cash and cards.
- Accessibility: yes.
- Parking: no.
- Reservations: no.
- Phone: 55 2276 4620
- Nearby public transport: Guerrero Metro.
- Pet Friendly: no.
- Suitable to go with children: no.
- Vegan options: no.
