Filomeno Mata and Gante - Mexico City - TravBuddy

Three blocks west of the Zocalo there is a small promenade called Finomeno Mata for two blocks and then Gante. We discovered this street because it has a veterinarian restaurant we wanted to try. Soon though it became our favorite haunt. On the Gante section of the street (the southern most of the three blocks) there are several bars with outdoor patios where you could watch bands play on a stage often set up at the end of the block. Occasionally there would be dancing and other kind of performances. At a bar on the west side of the street, Lobo, there is a small pool room and excellent food with several vegetarian options.
Beware there is also a Starbucks on this block if you are trying to avoid that kind of Americana, though it's hard to side step the ubiquitous 7-11s. In a small mall connecting Gante to Calle Simon Bolivar there is also an English bookstore. The vegetarian restaurant that we went there to find is alright. If you don't eat meat struggling to find cheese empanadas and eggs every day can get a little tiresome (I couldn't even imagine being a vegan there!) so it was nice to find a place like that. It didn't have the best atmosphere, though, a little too high school cafeteria for me. There are a few super cheap breakfast places just north of Gante on Filomeno Mata. Just 2 or 3 American dollars for a big breakfast. On that same block is the bar that came to be our favorite but I'll write a separate review of it. It can be recognized by it's Leonardo Di Vinci prints and hip, good-looking staff.
Lastly, on the northern most block of Filomeno Mata, surrounded by huge imposing buildings there is a small international news stand. Here you can buy newspapers from around the world, though they only get one New York Times in a day (as I imagine it is with most of there international papers) so you have to hurry in the afternoon (they usually get the NYT in around 1 PM) or request them to hold it the day before.
This was where we went to hangout in the morning once we had gotten our bearing a little. It is touristy on the weekends but in the day during the week it is a pleasant place to have breakfast and read the paper, grad a beer or coffee and read a book in the afternoon or hang out outside on a hot night.