Category: Food and Drink

Over the course of nearly 30 years, Mexico Cooks! has visited Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, one of the most beautiful small colonial cities of Mexico, more times than we can count.  Every visit is memorable for 16th and 17th Century architecture, fantastic decorative arts, and food.  Food!  The regional Michoacán kitchen is incomparably rich and delicious.

Super Pollo Emilio has been famous for 36 years for enchiladas placeras: plaza-style enchiladas, the only item on the menu.  The cooks prepare approximately 400 orders of enchiladas every night.

Great quantities of enormous pechugas (chicken breast halves, each large enough to satisfy two people) and piernas (leg/thigh quarters) are simmered early in the day until they're  just done.  A bit later, preparation continues with vats of tender potatoes and fresh carrots.

The cook fans four tortillas at a time between his fingers and dips them into this enormous pot of house- made salsa para enchiladas (enchilada sauce).  The recipe?  Mexico Cooks! has wheedled and whined, but Super Pollo Emilio won't give it up.

The cook spreads the salsa-doused tortillas evenly into the sizzling grease in the industrial-strength comal (griddle), flipping them rapidly from one side to the other.  The tortillas need to be hot and soft, but not crisp.

He gives each tortilla a dollop of freshly mashed potato.  The tortillas are then folded in half: voilá, enchiladas ready for your platter.  Each order contains eight enchiladas as well as–well, we'll see in a minute.

While we waited for our supper, we were treated to a serenata (serenade) sung by strolling local musicians.  We were quite taken with the multi-colored strings of this big bass fiddle.

Our order.  The platter, which looks fairly small in the photo, measures approximately 16 inches from side to side.  The two forks are ordinary-size table forks.  Each platter contains:

• eight potato-filled enchiladas
• freshly sautéed potatoes and carrots, enough for two or more people
• the amount and kind of chicken you prefer–we normally order a breast portion, which was more than enough for the two of us
• a sprinkle of thinly sliced onion
• large shreds of queso Oaxaca (Oaxaca cheese)
• shredded fresh cabbage
• crumbled queso fresco (fresh farmer-style cheese)
• fresh salsa roja (red sauce, different from the enchilada sauce)
• a base of fresh romaine lettuce
• chile perón en escabeche (locally grown and pickled yellow chile: HOT), as much as you want

Mexico Cooks! has never seen one person finish an entire platter of enchiladas placeras as prepared by Super Pollo Emilio.  We were hard pressed, but in the interest of pure research we managed to eat most of this order.  We accompanied the order with a glass of agua fresca de jamaica and a bottle of LIFT, an apple soda.  Our total bill was 95 pesos.

Super Pollo Emilio sets up every evening just around dusk on Pátzcuaro's Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra (the plaza chica).  It's the booth closest to the portal (covered walkway) on the market side of the square.  The booth is open till the food runs out.

If you're still hungry after your platter of enchiladas is gone, there are buñuelos for dessert.  You can order a buñuelo broken and softened in a bowl of syrup or still-crispy and dusted with sugar.

Our waiter Jesús and his sweet daughter Paola, who was helping take soft drink orders.  Jesús has been a fixture at Super Pollo Emilio since long before his daughter was born.  

When you're visiting Pátzcuaro, don't miss the enchiladas placeras at Super Pollo Emilio.  If nothing else about this marvelous city brings you back again and again, you'll be pulled in by these addictive enchiladas, eaten on a chilly night under the stars, just by the market-side portales.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico?  Click here:
http://mexicocooks.typepad.com/mexico_cooks/2008/05/rinconcitos-esc.html

Banderitas mexicanas (Mexican flags) that are really sugar cookies!

Lucecitas navideñas (Christmas lights) in the form of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.

Nobility.

At the Mercado de Abastos (regional wholesale produce market) in Guadalajara.

Capirotada (bread pudding for Lent).

Finery for a parade in Uruapan, Michoacán.

Naturaleza muerta a la mexicana (Mexican still life).

The red-geranium-filled patio at the charming Red Star Café.

From start (Espresso Rosa Luxemburg, one shot) to finish (Flan Casero Comunero), the menu at the Red Star Café lets you know that the collective owners aren't run of the mill.  But how in the world did the Colectivo Las Rosas find its way to way-way-way off the beaten path Erongarícuaro, Michoacán, and why in the world did it open a restaurant?

Carlos Dews, the self-described red diaper baby, green revolutionary communist, anti-capitalist barista (gourmet coffee concocter), and spokesperson for the Red Star Café.

In Carlos' own words:

"I came up with the idea of the Red Star Café. I thought it was a catchy
name and the decorating of the place became easy seeing as how I
already had a cool Trotsky poster bought at the Trotsky Museum in
Mexico City, a dog-eared copy of the Communist Manifesto in Spanish,
seven unpainted tables and twenty-something humpbacked chairs that just
cried out for a coat or two of mandarin red.  Add a CD of music from the
Mexican Revolution, a gaggle of red clay pots in which to plant
red-bloomed geraniums, and I knew where I could get some print-outs of
ancient photos of Marx and Mao and Prince Kropotkin and a square
kilometer of bright red tablecloths. It seemed a good fit.

Salsa roja (red sauce) at the Red Star Café.

"I am not a romantic or a utopian. I know that what I am doing here at
the Red Star Café is not communism or anything like it. As Trotsky
said, "Communism cannot exist in isolation." He figured out that one
country raising the red flag and proclaiming itself communist did not
make it so, and, as a matter of fact, would probably lead to the dreary
and deadly bureaucratism that invaded the Soviet Union under Old Joe
Stalin. I hope that, at least, I can avoid that trap.

Red lilies against a sun-baked añil (cobalt blue) wall at the restaurant.

"But
Trotsky was right. A worldwide revolution lead by the working class is
the solution to our problems today. An old gringo living in a dream
world, however cushy and cool, is not going to change anything much." 

You can read the rest of the story at http://erongaredstarcafe.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html.

A while back,Mexico Cooks! drove over to the Red Star Café for almuerzo (late breakfast).  A day or so later, Carlos emailed to ask if everything had truly truly truly been up to snuff.   We hemmed and hawed, but eventually said a couple of things could have been a bit better.  We accepted the restaurant's invitation to come back at the end of June and give the staff a few tips about food preparation and service, and what a good time we all had!  Mexico Cooks! spent four hours with Carlos, Juan, Susy, and Elizabeth, working out some trouble spots and cooking up some new additions to the restaurant menu.

Juan, head chef at the Red Star Café.

In Carlos' words:

"About half of the time was spent in just talking and asking and
answering questions. Chef Cristina gave us some great new ideas about
how, for example, to set up the tables for our guests, as well as how
to best attend to their needs and make them absolutely comfortable
while they are in "our home".

"She also helped us design a better
way to arrange the kitchen, which had been getting to be more and more
a source of irritation since our business is expanding every day and we
were quite actually bumping behinds and stumbling all over each other
in our tiny space. So we set up two mise en place, which are, in more
common parlance, work stations. We now have two set up in the kitchen,
one for Juan and one for Susy.

St. Pascual Baylón, the patron saint of the kitchen, watches over the Red Star Café.

"Chef Cristina taught us how to make a French-style omelet using a
number of different ingredients–your choice. I made one for myself
yesterday that had melted cheddar cheese and artichoke hearts in it. I
cooked the eggs in my own special, very spicy chile oil, and they came
out golden and delicious.

"La Chef also taught us her personal
version of pan francés (French toast).  It's a strict secret, but involves a
little vanilla and a touch of cinnamon. She prepared pan francés for us during
the cooking hours of the class and had to make up a second batch to fill
the needs of the comuneros. Deeelicious!

Susy (left) and Elizabeth giggle over sandwiches of telera (a flattish bread) and frijolitos estilo Celia (refried beans the way Mexico Cooks! prepares them).

"Chef Cristina is a
believer in using manteca (lard) in refried beans. We have resisted this for
health reasons, but after tasting her version of frijoles peruanos with
a hint of chile serrano sautéed in that magical fatty substance, we are
going to have to offer both versions to our clientele. If you are
against eating lard, you can just tell us, and we will make your
frijoles the new-fashioned way, in olive oil. I can just hear Chef
Cristina snickering."

Read the rest of the story at: http://erongaredstarcafe.blogspot.com/2008/07/chefa-cristina-potters-to-our-rescue.html

As we say in Mexico, 'Cada quien a su gusto'…to each his own taste.  Mexico Cooks! wouldn't choose olive oil for preparing refried beans, but we can almost understand that some people might choose health over flavor.

Here's the recipe:

Frijolitos Refritos Estilo Celia (Refried Beans Celia's Way)

Ingredients
Dried peruano beans, cooked in plain water until very soft (about 2 1/2 hours)
1 or 2 chiles serrano, depending on your tolerance for picante (heat)
2 Tbsp lard
Bean-cooking liquid
Sea salt to taste
Queso cotija (aged Mexican sharp white cheese), crumbled

Method
Over high flame, melt lard in a medium-size heavy skillet.  While the lard melts, split the chiles in half from the tip almost to the stem end.  Add the chiles to the melted lard and fry until the chile skins are dark brown, nearly black.  Allow the lard to cool slightly.

Add the amount of cooked beans that you'll need.  For three servings, Mexico Cooks! uses about two cups of beans.  Add enough bean-cooking liquid to allow you to mash the beans easily.  When the beans are heated through, begin to mash them with a heavy potato masher or a wooden bean masher.  Mash the beans, the lard, AND the chiles into a fairly smooth and slightly liquid paste.  Add more bean-cooking liquid as necessary.  We usually leave a few semi-mashed beans for a little texture.  Add sea salt to taste.

Plate the frijolitos refritos and sprinkle heavily with queso cotija.  Serves three as a side dish for breakfast.

Another delicious (and don't knock it till you've tried it) snack to prepare with frijolitos refritos is a sandwich similar to the ones Susy and Elizabeth are eating in the photo.  Buy half a dozen bolillos (Mexican bread for tortas) and slice in half lengthwise.  Take out some of the crumb so that a hollow is left in each half of the bolillo.  Fill the hollows with plenty of frijolitos refritos, add queso cotija, garnish with sliced pickled jalapeños (this is optional), make the halves of the bolillos into sandwiches, and eat.  These are marvelous for picnics, as they require no refrigeration and absolutely thrill your mouth.

Juan's son Fernando David is the real boss at the Red Star Café.

Buen provecho!  (Good appetite!)

Red Star Café
Portal Hidalgo #3
Erongarícuaro, Michoacán
Hours: Breakfast Only

October 24, 2008: Mexico Cooks! regrets to inform you that the Red Star Café closed in September 2008.

South of the Guadalajara airport, near the exit for El Salto, you’ll see the green tile domes of Birriería Chololo on the west side of the highway.  Be sure to stop!

Over 80 years ago, Birriería Chololo started life as a street stand.  Its founder, Don Isidro Torres, made a huge success of the family business.  Today, there are three Birrierías Chololo run by Don Isidro’s eight children, and the Chololo campestre (countryside), managed by Fidel Torres Ruiz, is the busiest of the batch.  The restaurant, which seats 1000 people and turns the tables four times every Sunday, is closed only on Lenten Fridays and Christmas Day.  Every other day of the year, it’s a goat feast.

Birria and frijolitos refritos con queso, for two people.  A bowl of consomé is in the background.

The offerings at Birriería Chololo (a nickname for Isidro) are pure simplicity.  Birria de chivo (goat), consomé (the rich goat broth), frijolitos con queso (refried beans with melted cheese), salsa de molcajete (house-made salsa served in heavy volcanic stone mortars), a quesadilla here and there, and a couple of desserts are the entire bill of fare.  The birria, cooked 12 to 14 hours in a clay oven, is prepared to your order, according to the number in your party.  You can ask for maciza (just chunks of meat) or surtido (an assortment of meats, including the goat’s tongue, lips, and tripitas (intestines).

Each order of birria is prepared at the time it’s requested.  The goat meat is chopped, weighed, mopped with sauce and glazed under the salamander, then brought piping hot to the table.

Birriería Chololo raises its own animals from birth to slaughter.  That way, says Don Fidel, quality control is absolute.  The restaurant butchers approximately 700 100-pound animals per week to feed the hungry multitudes.

Salsa de molcajete estilo Chololo: addictive as sin and hotter than Hades.

The full bar at El Chololo serves its liquor in a way you might not have seen at your local watering hole.  A bottle of your favorite tipple is set down on your table.  A black mark on the open bottle’s label indicates where your consumption starts, and at the end of your meal, you’re charged for alcohol by the measure.

Consomé, birria, salsa de molcajete, and frijoles refritos con queso.

Some birrierías serve meat and consomé in one plate, but not El Chololo.   Consomé, the heady pot likker rendered from the goats’ overnight baking, is served in its own bowl.  Before you dip your spoon into the soup, add some fresh minced onions, a pinch of sea salt, a squeeze of limón, and a squirt of the other house-made salsa on the table, the one in the squeeze bottle.  Ask for refills of consomé–they’re on the house.  Just don’t ask for the recipe.  It’s a closely guarded family secret.

One of the two huge clay ovens for baking birria at El Chololo.

On Sundays and other festive days, roving mariachis brighten up the restaurant’s ambiance.  Birthday parties, First Communion parties, wedding anniversaries, and other family fiestas are all celebrated at El Chololo, and nothing makes a party better than a song or two.   You’ll hear Las Mañanitas (the traditional congratulatory song for every occasion) ten times on any given Sunday! 

From the front door to the back garden, everything about Birriería Chololo is puro folklor mexicano and wonderfully picturesque.

Taco Fish La Paz is just a couple of carts on the street in Guadalajara, with the kitchen across the way.  Mexico Cooks! and El Mural arrived early and beat the crowds.  Lines can be up to 30 people long!  This famous street stand offers parking and parking assistance, necessary because of the hordes of  tapatíos (Guadalajarans) who show up hungry.

This delighted tourist had just flown in from Acapulco.  Taco Fish La Paz was her first stop in Guadalajara.  Her drink is agua fresca de jamaica, a cold hibiscus tea.

A plate of freshly made tacos de pescado (fish tacos).  These are garnished with house-made cabbage and carrot slaw and cucumber slices.  Taco Fish La Paz also prepares tacos de camarón (shrimp), de marlín ahumado (smoked marlin), and de jaiba (crab).

Choose your condiments and sides from the cart.  You'll find chiles toreados con cebollas, pickled onions, sliced cucumbers, a different slaw, and house-made salsas.

Our photographer from El Mural was starving! 

Next, the bottled salsa bar, including every table salsa you can imagine, plus freshly-squeezed jugo de limón (Mexican lime juice), mayonesa (mayonnaise), salsa inglesa (Worcestershire sauce), salt, and crema (like creme fraiche), with or without chile.

Freshly fried fish and shrimp at Taco Fish La Paz.  Each taco de pescado (fish taco) includes a huge piece of fish.  Each taco de camarón (shrimp taco–Mexico Cooks!' favorite) includes three very large fried shrimp.  The taco in the tongs is a taco dorado de jaiba–fried crab taco!

It takes hours to peel and de-vein the vast quantities of shrimp eaten at Taco Fish La Paz.

The fish and shrimp are dipped in batter and fried, then carried across the street in tubs to the taco stand.

Last time we were there, the youngest customer at Taco Fish La Paz was only a month old.  What a cutie pie!

Denisse Hernández, reporter from Guadalajara's newspaper El Mural, interviews Rosario Reyes Estrada about the coctel de camarón (shrimp cocktail) that Mexico Cooks! proclaims to be the best in Mexico.  Behind the two women is another tianguis (street market) booth that sells balls and toys.

Last February, while Mexico Cooks! was deep in the heart of Chiapas, an email requesting a tour arrived saying that El Mural, the prominent Guadalajara newspaper, wanted Mexico Cooks! to guide a writer and photographer on an eating tour of…Guadalajara!  The initial email from the editor said Mexico Cooks! was the best blog in the blogosphere, they were dying to meet us, and that the article would be featured in an upcoming Buena Mesa, El Mural's Friday food section.  Flattery will get you everywhere, so of course we said a delighted YES.

Sra. Reyes, her family, and a small staff operate El Ostión Feliz.

Mexico Cooks! met reporter Denisse Hernández and a staff photographer in Guadalajara and off we went on our eating outing.  Our first stop was Guadalajara's enormous Tianguis del Sol, an outdoor market specializing in everything from replacement parts for your blender to incredible food and produce purveyors. 

When I was first living in Guadalajara, a dear friend introduced me to Rosario Reyes Estrada at her booth El Ostión Feliz (the Happy Oyster).  Sra. Reyes is at the Tianguis del Sol every day it's open, serving concoctions of fresh fish and seafood.  Her tiny booth, where about ten hungry diners at a time sit on plastic stools at a long, oilcloth-covered table, is definitely where the desayuno (breakfast) and almuerzo (brunch) action is.  We've been eating her coctel de camarón (shrimp cocktail) for years, and as far as Mexico Cooks! is concerned, it's the best in Mexico.  We don't know what magic ingredient she incorporates into the coctel (she swears her only secret is the use of the absolutely freshest ingredients), but from the first bite years ago, we were instantly addicted.

Look at the size of the shrimp in that soup spoon!  Each of Doña Rosario's cocteles de camarón includes a dozen shrimp like that.

A Mexican coctel de camarón resembles a shrimp cocktail from the United States or Canada only in that both are made with shrimp.  When asked for her recipe, Sra. Reyes, originally from the state of Veracruz, just smiles.  This approximation of her coctel will have to satisfy you till you get to Guadalajara.

Coctel de Camarón Estilo Mexicano for Four

Ingredients for Poaching the Shrimp                               
48 fresh large (U25) shrimp, shell on.                                
1 clove garlic                                                                 
1 stick celery, with leaves if possible                                
1 carrot, washed but not peeled                                      
1 medium white onion, peeled                                         
1 Roma tomato                                                               
1 chile serrano, split from tip almost to stem                      
A few stems of cilantro

Ingredients for composing the coctel
Caldo (broth) reserved from cooking shrimp
Sea salt to taste
1 1/2 cups tomato catsup (not a typo)
1 Tbsp minced white onion per serving
1 Tbsp minced Roma tomato per serving
1 Tbsp minced cucumber per serving
1/2 tsp minced chile serrano
Roughly chopped cilantro to taste
Ripe avocado
Mexican limes, halved and seeded
Salsa de mesa (table salsa) such as
     Cholula, Valentina, Búfalo, etc.
     DO NOT USE TABASCO!

What You Might Not Have On Hand
Ice cream soda glasses–optional, but authentic for serving 

Procedure
In simmering water, poach the shrimp, along with the garlic, celery, carrot, onion, tomato, chile serrano, and cilantro until the shrimp are just done, firm and pink but still tender.  Discard the vegetables from the poaching.  Reserve and chill the caldo de camarón (poaching liquid) for later use.  Be careful: a friend of mine poached his shrimp and drained it, inadvertently pouring all the liquid down the drain!  Be sure to use a container under your strainer.

Shell the shrimp and chill.

At serving time, mix the catsup, the reserved, chilled caldo de camarón (shrimp broth), and sea salt to taste.   Add a squeeze of fresh Mexican lime juice. 

In each ice cream soda glass or other large glass, put the indicated quantities of minced onion, tomato, cucumber, chile serrano, and chopped cilantro.  Add 12 shrimp to each glass.  Pour the catsup/caldo de camarón mixture to cover all ingredients. 

Serve with diced avocado.  At the table, offer Mexican lime halves for those who prefer a limier flavor, a small dish of sea salt, a dish of minced chile serrano and another of chopped cilantro for those who prefer more, and a salsa de mesa or two for those who like more picante (HEAT!).

A coctel de camarón is traditionally served with saltine crackers and tostadas, those crunchy fried or dehydrated salty tortillas.  Tostadas are usually rubbed with the cut side of a squeezed lime for added flavor.  Buen provecho!

The lovely Sra. Josefina Naranjo of Guadalajara has eaten at El Ostión Feliz for years, coming every Friday to enjoy Doña Rosario's fish and seafood.

The assortment of Doña Rosario's salsas includes Valentina (in the bottle), a house-made salsa of cucumber, onion, and chile habanero (in the bowl), a green avocado/cilantro salsa, and my favorite, the little jar of salsa de ajonjolí (sesame seed) and chile de árbol.  This one is so popular that Doña Rosario sells it to take home.  Mexico Cooks! wouldn't be without a jar of this salsa muy picante in the refrigerator.

Next week with Mexico Cooks! and "El Mural": Taco Fish La Paz.