Culinary delights await at the Hacienda Xcanatun

MERIDA, Mexico -- Hacienda Xcanatun takes its historical legacy seriously, integrating the states indigenous Mayan, imported Spanish and fused mestizo traditions into its high-end hospitality and dining.

The inn is a luxurious, family-run boutique property housed in the restored, 18th-century manor house of one of the Yucatans former henequen plantations. (Henequen is fiber from the agave plant used to make rope or twine).

Owned by Jorge Ruz, son of a Merida archaeologist, the $7 million property employs the daughter of a local Indian shaman as its spa therapist, to ensure holistic Mayan treatments are as authentic as possible.

Similarly, a local healer presides over the popular outdoor Maya marriage ceremony, with a service dictated by native traditions.

Now, Hacienda Xcanatun -- renowned among epicures for its on-site restaurant, Casa de Piedra, is adding Yucatecan cooking lessons to its hospitality menu.

The 18-suite property teamed with Los Dos Cooking School of Merida to offer a two-day culinary program exploring the cuisine of the Yucatan.

Yucatecan cuisine is distinguished primarily by heavy use of Old and New World spices and spice pastes, or recados, favored by the states Mayan and Spanish founders, and also French and Caribbean influences.

Program participants partake in a one-day cooking lesson at Los Dos, housed in a colonial mansion in Merida, under the guidance of U.S.-born chef David Sterling.

After an introductory discussion of local cuisine, students head to an open-air market to select ingredients for a four-course meal, which is then prepared and eaten.

Students return to Xcanatun with a book of local recipes to try at home, which is included in Los Dos $275 group-rate tuition, which covers up to three participants.

On the second night of their stay, guests are treated to a tequila tasting and discuss  Yucatecan fusion cooking with Xcanatun co-owner Cristina Baker.

Thats followed by a sampling of Casa de Piedras signature dishes, such as cochinita pibil, pulled pork with sour oranges and annatto adobo, prepared in the traditional open-pit style of Maya villages. Lessons in preparing cochinita pibil and other local dishes also can be arranged.

Pricing of the Xcanatun portion of the program depends on options selected as well as accommodations type and length of stay; gourmets themselves, Baker and Ruz recommend at least two to three nights.

While bustling Merida has a burgeoning dining scene, guests at Hacienda Xcanatun might find it hard to tear themselves away from Casa de Piedra for meals.

In the five years since its opening, the restaurant has become popular among locals and visitors, thanks to its high-end ambience and its fusion French-Caribbean cuisine, with Yucatecan touches, developed by Baker and chefs Alejandro Martinez de la Torre -- now cooking in Mexico City -- and Alex Alcantara.

An example of the restaurants innovation is beef tenderloin stuffed with pulled pork over grilled red onion in orange-annatto sauce, which combines a good steak with authentic cochinita pibil.

Another intriguing merger was a mousse of chaya (tree spinach, a local green thats poisonous until cooked) with a pear sauce. Caramelized chaya leaves are another delicious treat available on request.

Yucatecan culinary must-haves interpreted masterfully at Casa de Piedra include the sopa de lima, or chicken soup with lime, tortilla, tomato and peppers; poc-chuc, fried pork with pickled red onion and tomato salsa; and salbutes, fried tortillas with chicken.

Guests will have to head into town or to other area haciendas, such as the nearby Hacienda Toya, to sample most other Yucatecan dishes -- such as papadzules, egg burritos in pumpkinseed sauce -- as Casa de Piedra focuses on its Franco-Caribbean fare with just light forays into local fare.

But a nice demonstration of the chefs flair for Yucatecan/Franco-Caribbean culinary detente is the tamarind chicken with a watercress, mango and jicama salad and fried Camembert cheese.

Guests desirous of privacy can order from an extensive room service menu of Casa de Piedra dishes and dine in their commodious quarters or private verandas.

Xcanatuns 18 units -- five master suites, eight deluxe suites and five deluxe rooms -- surround a tropical garden that was the first part of the hacienda to be rehabilitated.

In the spacious master suites, theres almost an excess of space, with separate living/dining, sleeping and bathing rooms sporting 18-foot-high cathedral ceilings.

Although several renovated haciendas in the Yucatan operate as high-end accommodations -- including Starwood Luxury Collections Temozon, Santa Rosa and San Jose haciendas -- Hacienda Xcanatun is the only such area property to earn AAAs Four Diamond rating.

Its also the Yucatans only privately owned and operated luxury hacienda -- a crucial distinguishing point, according to proprietors Baker and Ruz, who live five minutes away with daughter Maya and are often on hand to personally supervise guest stays.

Were unique in that we manage Xcanatun ourselves, said Baker.  No matter how high-end [competing haciendas] are, theyre still managed by a [corporation], whereas Jorge and I get as involved with our guests as possible. It makes a difference.

She added that being on-site daily also helps with maintaining a 300-year-old property.

An older property like Xcanatun requires a lot of TLC, Baker said.

Hacienda Xcanatun enjoyed 65% to 75% occupancy during the 2005 low season, with 30% of guest bookings made via the Internet at www.xcanatun.com.

To contact Destinations editor Kenneth Kiesnoski, send e-mail to [email protected].