Review: The road to Sacromonte

The food at El Sacramonte, a charming, classy hacienda on Pedro Moreno near Chapultepec, is well-prepared and well-presented, cooked right and accompanied by delicious sauces. The cuisine is alta cocina, traditional Mexican with a contemporary gourmet flair. 
The Delgadillo family opened El Sacromonte seventeen years ago, after running a catering business for 16 years. Co-owner Gerardo Delgadillo explains that the recipes, created by his brother Juan, are all based on their grandmother's traditional dishes. The contemporary treatments attract an international clientele. (Tapatíos, says Gerardo, are sometimes more likely to try Italian or Chinese restaurants than a contemporary take on their old favorites.) 
The décor is old school but upscale, the walls covered with black-and-white images of old cantinas, movie stars, and, most prominently, bullfights. The waitstaff is professional and the menus entertaining. The latter more so if you get the English version, as the dish descriptions, while lyrical in Spanish, become even more poetic after translation. Consider:
"Ambrosia of a short extended instant." (Santa Anita's Tartar, an appetizer with avocado, huitlacoche -Corn smut, a rare and delicious fungus from corn- rice, and shrimp with guajillo cream).
"And the fist of salt that fills our life with appetites." (Cream El Viejo Progresso, Roquefort cheese cooked with chipotle chile).
"Unfolding exuberant palm-tree, a fan at the border of the courtyard." (Pork chops "The Swamp," wrapped with banana-tree leaves pibil style, accompanied by purple onion).
"Appetite sharing till delirium and from between the lips there slips a smile." (Chicken Delirium, filled with huitlacoche and cactus bathed in its pineapple sauce and green onions).
There's plenty more where that came from, and this isn't a matter of mocking the translation. On the contrary, I think the occasionally curious translation helps to increase the lyrical essence the owners hoped to capture, the combination of grandiose tradition and artistic gourmet savvy. Or at least I'm likely to buy into that after a thoroughly satisfying meal and a few good drinks (Sacramonte also features a full bar). 
I recommend the above-mentioned pork (Chamorrito El Manglar, 150 pesos), the meat tender and falling off the bone, along with the kicky Santa Anita's Tartar (140 pesos) and the dessert of your choice, each beautifully prepared atop swirling designs of natural fruit sauces. "The food comes in first through your eyes," says Gerardo, and it takes a delightful journey from there.

Pedro Moreno 1398, Colonia Americana, 44160
Phone: 3825-5447
Hours: Mon-Sat 1:30 p.m. to midnight. Sun 1:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.