Trish W.
Yelp
Established in 1874, this place embodies Old School (although México being ANCIENT, 1874 is like being a teenager). El Gallo de Oro, or golden rooster, is all dark wood, atmospheric cantina and restaurant in the heart of Mexico City's Centro Historico. A very sweet Coyoacan barista (thanks, Ana Victoria!) recommended I try the weekend buffet here that starts at 2:30 on Saturdays and Sundays (ignore the Yelp info that says it's closed on Sunday because that's the day I ate there!)
The spread was truly awesome, think home cooking that your Mexican Grandma might make on Sundays, except you'd need several grandmas because that's how many main dishes there were.
For 149 pesos ( about US$8 ) you get all you can eat Mexican rice, veg and ham soup, black beans, bread or tortillas, and a variety of guisados, or stews.
Today the list included (deep breath): chicken and mushroom stew, pork in green mole, albondigas (meatballs) in chipotle sauce, pork chile verde, pork in red chile sauce, chicken tinga, rajas (pasilla chile strips) in cream sauce, beef flautas, pata (cow foot) in vinaigrette, chicharron in salsa verde, potatoes and sausage. Phew! If reading this list was rough imagine trying every item like I did today.
Pacing yourself and taking small helpings got me through the marathon session of over an hour of slowly working my way through each dish. I can't say that I had a favorite but nearly all of them struck me as tasty, carefully and lovingly prepared by the team of six cooks (only two are men) who, according to my server Felipe, have all worked for years at Gallo de Oro. At 79 years old, Felipe says that he has no plans to retire despite having put in 34 years already there!
As I was finishing my meal a bus load of about 20 tourists from Puebla sat down at a table next to me, so I felt lucky that I'd beat the rush.
I am looking forward to going back to Gallo de Oro not just for the mind boggling array of good, down-home Mexican cooking but also to see if anyone turned in my favorite prescription sunglasses I lost while eating there. Well...win some, lose some I guess.