little higher. The best hotels and restaurants, generally named in the order of their merit, are given in Part Second. In Mexico City a good table d’hôte dinner can be had in the restaurants for $1. Elsewhere the usual price for dinner is four reales, or fifty cents; and in the villages the cost is as low as two reales for a meal. It is the custom to give waiters and servants a fee. A half real (medio) is sufficient. A cup of coffee or chocolate, with bread, is commonly served for one real. A glass of spirits, wine, or beer, costs the same sum.
The Mexicans use the word "fonda” as synonymous with restaurant, and "fondita” is similar to a cafe, the latter term being frequently employed. In the “provincial" fondas, it is customary to salute persons at the table, when entering or leaving the room, whether acquainted or not.
In the rural districts and in the mining towns, goat's milk is often used at the taverns.
Fresh vegetables, excepting potatoes, are rarely served at the restaurants. Oranges and bananas are generally the only kinds of fruit to be met with, although the country affords many varieties. Tea is not usually taken; and pies, tarts, cakes, and puddings, are almost unknown at the hotels and cafes. Dessert consists, as a rule, of dulce, which means something sweet, such as jams, preserved fruit, etc.
The natives usually eat tortillas, or corn-cakes, and frijoles, or brown beans. The former are found only in the country and small towns, but the latter are served at all hotels and restaurants.
A great deal of pepper and grease is used in Mexican cookery. Even boiled rice is saturated with melted lard. Beef and mutton, as well as poultry, are generally to be had at breakfast and dinner in the fondas throughout the Republic. The sugar used comes in loaves directly from the mills, and is broken up by hand into small pieces. A small quantity of refined granulated sugar is imported.
