El Rincon del Sol - Tonala

In all of our years of shopping Tonala, we have found relaxing and comfortable restaurants to be at a premium. Going back to the late 90's, we stumbled upon El Rincon del Sol and while their menu was somewhat limited, we had decent lunches there. At the time, the manager was a guy named Oscar and when he left we followed to his new restaurant. Now that Oscar is no longer in business, we went back to El Rincon del Sol after about six years. The menu is greatly expanded: http://www.elrincondelsol.com/new/ini/menu.php

They are located at: 16 de Septiembre No.61 Zona Centro. The service was very adequate and the food quite good. We had lunch there two consecutive days and enjoyed ourselves.

Street View: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tonal%C3%A1+Centro,+Tonal%C3%A1,+Ja,+Mexico&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=20.621558,-103.243332&spn=0.00727,0.012875&sll=20.63636,-103.304558&sspn=0.007269,0.012875&oq=Tonal%C3%A1,+Centro,+Ja,+Mexico&vpsrc=6&hnear=Tonal%C3%A1+Centro,+Tonal%C3%A1,+Jalisco,+Mexico&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=20.621582,-103.24344&panoid=FnploFLtuP03gR2FEla5iQ&cbp=12,225,,0,0

El Rincon del Sol Website: http://www.elrincondelsol.com/new/ini/index-i.php

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Looks good,I think I'll take Lupe there to try the chiles en nogada,were only 10 minutes away.Thanks.
Chris

If you walk over from the main drag on 16 de Septiembre, how far is it? Esposa has a bum knee. Looks like a great place to eat next Tonala trip.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tonal%C3%A1+Centro,+Tonal%C3%A1,+Ja,+Mexico&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=20.622683,-103.24537&spn=0.003675,0.006437&sll=20.63636,-103.304558&sspn=0.007269,0.012875&oq=Tonal%C3%A1,+Centro,+Ja,+Mexico&vpsrc=6&hnear=Tonal%C3%A1+Centro,+Tonal%C3%A1,+Jalisco,+Mexico&t=m&z=17

If you look at the above map, it is one short block and two long blocks up from Tonaltecas (main drag). It would be on your right side just before you reach Francisco I Madero. What we typically do is take a right at the main light after coming over the overpass when coming from the highway. That puts you on Ave. Tonala and you follow that around the curve where it turns into Francisco I Madero. Between 16th de Septiembre and Zaragoza, there is a great pay parking lot on your left. If you were to park in there, it is a level walk about a half block back to the corner of 16th de Septiembre and Francisco I Madero.

Since today was scheduled for an intense day of shopping in Tonala, lunch and cold libations were an essential component. As is our habit, we returned to El Rincon del Sol which came with an interesting twist. While we had seen a number of police trucks outside, we didn't think much of it until we went inside. At a very long table, there was one officer dressed in a white shirt with all sorts of badges and ribbons (comandante ?), 15 regular police in dark blue uniforms, 5 who appeared to be city officials and 4 women. At a strategic table observing the front entrance were three "bodyguard type" policemen with AK type weapons with large clips. After realizing the big picture and ordering the first cold cerveza, I told Kathy: "we were either in the safest spot in Tonala or the most dangerous"! I wasn't about to jump up and start taking photos of the interior, so we went about our business of ordering.

Since we both had decided to try something different on their menu, Kathy ordered their Pollo Fajitas and I ordered the Chamorro:
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Kathy allowed that her Fajitas were right tasty and while I said the same about my Chamorro, it wasn't a true judgement since I had never tried this dish before.

Right about the time I started taking the above photos, the police event started breaking up but only after the firepower left the restaurant and set up on both sides of the street. One policemen seemed to get a bit nervous behind me when he saw me start taking photos but according to Kathy he realized I wasn't interested in them, he relaxed a bit while still standing directly behind my chair.

Good meal but a very different experience!