La Pigva.

Who ever though traditional food from a distant, insignificant state could be so mouthwatering? Certainly not me. But this high-class restaurant featuring delicious seafood from the small, Gulf Coast state of Campeche was a complete surprise.

The spacious dining room was divided into four sections. A window at the front looked onto the street behind the beautiful hotel district in Polanco and let in lots of light that reflected off the tasteful light-yellow walls. The fact that all male patrons in La Pigua were suit-clad was a testament to the restaurant's appeal as a business hangout, but it is certainly appropriate for social occasions too. A beautiful spiral staircase led up to another level, but we'll leave it to our readers to explore what's up there.

Because of the cuisine's regional nature, there were quite a few Maya food names on the menu, so don't be afraid to ask what something is. For starters, we ordered the chile xcatil relleno de cazon, crema neptuna and concha de jaiba. The chile xcatil were absolutely delicious long peppers stuffed with fish and served in the middle of a spicy red sauce that made for a tasty place to dip bread. The crema neptuna was an excellent cream of seafood soup, that had a shrimp cream base and melted cheese and seafood chunks mixed in. Don't think twice about ordering this exquisite and very unique concoction. The concha de jaiba were great pieces of crab served in a spicy tomato sauce with herbs and slices of vegetable.

In addition to the appetizers, totopes, a type of Mexican cracker, are served as a complement. They were a little salty but delicious with red or green sauce on top.

The stars of our main platters included the filete de huachinango, camarones en salsa de ajillo and pampano en salsa de mariscos.

Patrons can choose which sauce they want their huachinango fish fillet smothered in from a list of about six choices and also how they want it cooked. This time around, the choice was olive oil mixed with herbs and we wanted it grilled. The fish was very well cooked but the slightly disappointing olive oil sauce lacked taste.

The camarones were small pieces of shrimp served in an exquisite ajillo chili sauce, that was particularly pleasant because instead of cut into strips (as is usually done), the ajillo pepper was blended in. Unfortunately, the sauce could not hide the fact that the shrimp were a bit overcooked.

Finally, the pampano was a very good fried whole fish doused with a seafood sauce that had primarily octopus, shrimp and crab thrown in the mix. The vegetable cubes on the side were an appropriate complement. Furthermore, the pampano can be ordered in three sizes: small, medium and large. For a comfortably filling meal, we recommend the medium fish.

In addition to a couple of well-prepared cappuccinos, our dessert consisted of a soft slice of cheesecake covered in a sweet blackberry sauce that wonderfully rounded off a surprisingly delicious meal.

On your next trip to the southeast, you might consider making a side trip to Campeche. I'm not sure how much there is to see, but judging by this dining experience, there certainly is more than enough to eat.