Emblazoned with an oversize blue and white flag and a welcome sign in Greek letters, the new restaurant Delfos, although tiny (four tables), is not hard to spot. It peeks out from a plain facade on Pino Suarez midway between Guadalajara’s downtown cathedral and Mercado Alcalde to the north.

Anyone who knows a lifelong Guadalajara resident well enough to understand the obscure word describing them (Tapatío or Tapatía) also knows how, shall we say, passionate they can be in embracing the city’s typical cuisine, very little of which, incidentally, is found in eateries of haute cuisine.

In Guadalajara, a city fairly well endowed with authentic French restaurants, what can the new Frenchman on the block offer patrons — both the legions who flock to myriad establishments at midday to gobble down traditional comida corrida (a complete, fast dinner) for around 50 pesos and the few who patronize the city’s handful of French, haute cuisine establishments?

A Moroccan restaurant has popped up in the “Zona Minerva” on Lopez Cotilla just west of Avenida Union in Guadalajara. 

When someone mentions French food, we tend to think of a fancy place with a sophisticated atmosphere that requires gentlemen to wear a jacket and, of course, has high-prices. None of these clichés are true when it comes to Cochon, a nice joint with a specialty that comes full of possibilities: the Planchette (more on this later.)

As in other Christian countries around the world, the celebration of Christmas in Mexico is an amalgamation of religious, family and social customs, enjoyed with greater gusto when accompanied by traditional foods.