La Mexicana — Restaurant in San Miguel de Cozumel

I love this place! I go to Cozumel often, and this is the first time I've gone there because you have to be looking for it to find it out on the east side of town. For reference, it's a half block west of the intersection of C. de las Flores and Jacaranda on the north side of Jacaranda. We went there on a Sunday morning for barbacoa tacos - beef not lamb - which are hard to find in Cozumel. I'm told the beef version is more of a Mexico City thing.

The service was excellent along with the food. The ambience had colorful murals painted on the walls of the small, 5-6 table dining area. And to put the cherry on top they were playing Natalia Lafourcade music, a favorite of mine (along with millions of Mexicans). We got a half kilo of barbacoa meat and ate too much of it in the regular and blue corn tortillas, using the provided assortment of 3 salsas, chopped onions and lime wedges. We split a small pitcher of horchata which my local friend told me was made Tabasco style with cinnamon. I took the rest of the barbacoa with me along with more tortillas and condiments. Total price was around 500 pesos with tip and well worth it, since I got another 2-3 meals for later. You can buy individual tacos too, if you like,...

Really great barbacoa. A spot for locals that rarely gets tourists. Maybe my favorite meal in a week long trip with great food. Everything has barbacoa and their barbacoa is amazing. We got the blue corn tacos, the quesadilla, and the tlacoyos, which all come with great consume. Very good spicy salsas and aquas frescas too. Friendly staff and a great atmosphere but lots of locals get takeout as well. Only open on...

DELICIOUS! We had the birriamen soup, consommé, quesabirrias and a refreshing pitcher of homemade horchata. Everything was tasty and fresh. Wonderful and warm service :) Would definitely recommend. (We also really loved the secret recipe habanero hot sauce. Perfectly piquanté!) See...