Category: Restaurants

El Ostión Feliz in Guadalajara :: Touring With the Newspaper El Mural

This week, Mexico Cooks! has cranked up the way-back machine for a trip down Memory Lane. This article, and the articles for the next two weeks, are from 2008. The Guadalajara newspaper El Mural asked me to give their reporter a food tour of Guadalajara "as if it were for tourists", and we had a fantastic time going places the reporter and the photographer had never been–in their own city. A short while after the tour, Mexico Cooks! was the big news on the first and subsequent pages of Buena Mesa, El Mural's food section. Here's Part 1 of where we went and what we ate.

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 you can see another tianguis (street market) booth that sells balls and toys.

In February 2008, while Mexico Cooks! was deep in the heart of Chiapas, I received an email saying that El Mural, the prominent Guadalajara newspaper, wanted Mexico Cooks! to guide a reporter and a 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 downtown Guadalajara and off we went on our eating outing. Our first stop was westernmost Guadalajara's enormous Tianguis del Sol, an outdoor market specializing in sales of everything from bales of gently used clothing shipped in from the United States, to replacement parts for your blender, to incredible prepared food and every possible raw ingredient to cook at home. What a delirious experience!

When I was first living in Guadalajara, a dear friend introduced me to Rosario Reyes Estrada at her mariscos stand, 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 eight 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 several 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, doña Rosario, originally from the state of Veracruz, just smiled. 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, heads removed and 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 cup tomato catsup (yes, catsup, really)
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 caldo. Reserve and cool the caldo de camarón (poaching liquid) for later use. Be careful: a friend of mine poached his shrimp and drained it into the kitchen sink–without a bowl under the strainer–inadvertently pouring all the cooking liquid down the drain! Be sure to put a container under your strainer.

Shell the shrimp, cover, chill, and reserve.

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 sliced or 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, crisp 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, going 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 hotter-than-the-hinges-of-hell 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.

Tianguis del Sol
Avenida Copérnico at the corner of Avenida Tepeyac
Colonia Chapalita
Guadalajara
Open: Every Wednesday, Friday, Sunday 7:00AM – 3:00PM
Wear comfortable shoes and clothing
Paid parking on the premises–be sure not to lose your ticket!

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

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

21 de September de 2019
Another Year Has Passed :: Time for Chiles en Nogada (Stuffed Poblano Chiles in Walnut Sauce)
It's that time of year again: time for chiles en nogada! The photo above is of beautifully home-prepared chiles en nogada, as presented several years ago at a traditional food exhibition in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.

This year's freshly harvested and peeled nuez de castilla (walnuts), an essential for seasonal chiles en nogada. The nut meats must be perfectly white, with no pieces of the papery brown peel left at all. This step is the fiddley-est part of the recipe. You can do it, it just takes patience. If you have school-age children, get them to help you.

Mexico celebrates its independence the entire month of September with parades, parties, and traditional food and drink, served in restaurants and at home. The traditional festive dish during the weeks just before and after the Independence Day holiday is chiles en nogada, a magnificent tribute to the seasonal availability of a certain kind of peach, a particular kind of pear (the pera lechera), the locally grown panochera apple, newly in-season granadas (pomegranates) and nuez de castilla (freshly harvested walnuts). From mid-July until early October, seasonal local fruits, fresh pomegranates, and newly harvested walnuts make chiles en nogada possible. Mildly spicy chiles poblano, stuffed with a special kind of picadillo and topped with richly creamy walnut sauce and pomegranate seeds, flaunt the brilliant green, white and red of the Mexican flag.

The panochera apple, grown in the Mexican state of Puebla, and pera lechera (milky pear), also grown in the area, are two must-have ingredients for making chiles en nogada in Mexico. If you live outside central Mexico, a small crisp apple and a very crisp pear (Bosc or d'Anjou) would substitute.

This festive dish is traditionally served on September 15 or 16 in honor of Mexico's Independence Day, though it is popular anytime in the late summer and fall. During August and September in the highlands of Mexico, particularly in Mexico City and Puebla, vendors wander through tianguis (street markets) and other markets, selling the clean, white meats of nuez de castilla. It is important to use the freshest walnuts possible, as they produce such a creamy, rich sauce that it is worth the effort to buy them peeled or peel them oneself. Yes, the recipe is time-consuming (not difficult, just takes time)…but you and your guests will jump up and shout "VIVA!" when they've licked the platters clean.

Ingredients

For the meat:
- 2 pounds beef brisket or other stew meat or 1 pound beef and 1 pound pork butt*
- 1 small white onion, quartered
- 2 large cloves garlic
- about 1 Tbsp sea salt
  *You can, if you are in a pinch for time, use equal quantities of coarsely ground beef and pork. Brown them before adding other ingredients.
For the picadillo (filling):
- 4 Tbsp safflower or canola oil
- the shredded meat (or the ground meat)
- 1/3 cup chopped white onion
- 3 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- pinch pimienta gorda (allspice)
- 1/2 plátano macho (plantain), chopped fine
- 1 or 2 chiles serrano, finely minced
- 4 Tbsp chopped fresh walnuts
- 4 Tbsp slivered blanched almonds
- 2 Tbsp finely diced biznaga (candied cactus, optional)
- 1 fresh pear, peeled and chopped
- 1 apple, peeled and chopped
- 4 ripe peaches, peeled and diced
- 3 Tbsp Mexican pink pine nuts. Don't substitute white if you aren't able to find pink. White pine nuts have a bitter aftertaste.
- 3 large, ripe tomatoes, roasted, peeled and chopped
- sea salt to taste
Fully mature chiles poblano, picked fresh and sold on the street in Tehuacán, Puebla, very close to where the chiles are grown.

Deep green chiles poblano are normally used for chiles en nogada. These measure as much as seven inches long. If you click on the photo to make it larger, you can see that these chiles have deep, long grooves running down their sides. When I'm buying them, I choose chiles poblano that are as smooth and flat as possible on their broad flat sides. The flat smoothness makes them easier to roast easily.

For the chiles:

–6 fresh chiles poblanos, roasted, peeled, slit open, and seeded, leaving the stem intact

For the nogada (walnut sauce):
- 1 cup freshly harvested nuez de castilla (walnuts), peeled of all brown membrane**
- 6 ounces queso de cabra (goat cheese), queso doble crema or standard cream cheese (not fat free) at room temperature
- 1-1/2 cups crema mexicana or 1-1/4 cups sour cream thinned with milk
- about 1/2 tsp sea salt or to taste
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup dry sherry (optional)
**Please note that this recipe is correctly made with walnuts, not pecans. Using pecans will give your sauce a non-traditional flavor and a beige color, rather than pure white.

Remove the arils (seeds) from a pomegranate.

We who live in Mexico are fortunate to find pomegranate seeds ready to use, sold in plastic cups. See them at the top of the photo, with the pink plastic spoons stuck into the cups?

For the garnish

–1 Tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
–1/2 cup fresh pomegranate seeds

Preparation:

Cut the meat into large chunks, removing any excess fat. Place the meat into a large Dutch oven with the onion, garlic, and salt. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Skim off any foam that collects on the surface. Lower the heat and allow the water to simmer about 45 minutes, until the meat is just tender. Take the pot off the stove and let the meat cool in the broth. Remove the pieces of meat and finely shred them.

Candied biznaga (aka acitrón) cactus. Do try to find this ingredient in your local market. There isn't an adequate substitute, so if you don't find it, leave it out.

Mexican pink pine nuts. Their taste is sweeter than the standard white ones, and they leave no bitter aftertaste in your dish. If you can't find these pink pine nuts, you can substitute the white ones.

Warm the oil in a large, heavy skillet and sauté the onion and garlic over medium heat until they turn a pale gold. Stir in the shredded or ground meats and cook for five minutes. Add the cinnamon, pepper, and cloves, then, stir in the two tablespoons of chopped walnuts. Add the chopped pear, apple, and finely diced biznaga cactus, and mix well. Add the tomatoes and salt to taste, and continue cooking over medium-high heat until most of the moisture has evaporated. Stir often so that the mixture doesn't stick. Let cool, cover, and set aside. The picadillo may be made and refrigerated a day or two in advance of final preparations.

Roasted chiles poblano, ready to peel, seed, and stuff. Photo courtesy Delicious Mexican Recipes.

Roast and eel the chiles and make a slit down the side of each chile, just long enough to remove the seeds and veins. Keep the stem end intact. Drain the chiles, cut side down, on paper towels until completely dry. Cover and set aside. The chiles may be prepared a day in advance.

At least three hours in advance, put the walnuts in a small pan of water, boiling over high heat. Remove from the heat and let them sit for five minutes. Drain the nuts and, when cool, rub off as much of the dark skin as possible. Chop the nuts into small pieces. Place the nuts, cream cheese, crema, and salt in a blender and purée thoroughly. Stir in the sugar, cinnamon, and sherry until thoroughly combined. Chill for several hours.

Preheat the oven to 250ºF. When ready to serve, reheat the meat filling and stuff the chiles until they are plump and just barely closed. Put the filled chiles, covered, to warm slightly in the oven. After they are thoroughly heated, place the chiles (cut side down) on a serving platter or on individual plates, cover with the chilled walnut sauce, and sprinkle with the chopped parsley and pomegranate seeds.

Chile en nogada as served at Restaurante Azul Histórico, Mexico City.

Chile en nogada as served at Restaurante Las Quince Letras, Centro Histórico, Oaxaca.

This dish may be served at room temperature, or it may be served slightly chilled. It is rarely if ever served hot.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.
17 de August de 2019
Full-Course Main Meals in Mexico, Comfort Food Family Style
Although Mexico Cooks! photographed this sign several years ago in Los Angeles, California, it absolutely represents what you will be served for comida (Mexico's main midday meal) at a fonda, a cocina económica, a cocina regional, or a comedor in Mexico: authentic home made food.

Although I thoroughly enjoy a tremendous variety of great food in some of the upscale restaurants in both Mexico City and Morelia, Michoacán, my heart continues to belong to the fondas, cocinas económicas, cocinas regionales, and comedores that blossom all over this country.

Menú del día (today's menu) at the now-defunct and much missed Fonda 127, Mercado San Nicolás, Morelia, Michoacán. Click on the photo to enlarge it for a better view. You'll see that the daughters of the family who made the sign used the letter 'Z' where you might expect to find the letter 'S', and the 'N's are all backwards. It's just a 'toque personal'–personal touch. And the word guisados, at the top of the list, simple means 'dishes', in this case those that are being served today.

In Mexico, almost any fonda is by nature a small and inexpensive eating establishment presided over by the proprietors. Generally those proprietors are women (sisters, sisters-in-law, cousins, or comadres), but sometimes you'll be attended by a husband and wife plus their older children. Although you can order a meal a la carta (from the regular printed menu), it's most common to order the menú del día, also known as comida corrida. Under either name, the menú changes every day and consists of your choice of items in three courses: caldo or crema (soup), a sopa seca (normally either rice or spaghetti), one of several guisados del día (main course of the day), plus a small courtesy postre (dessert).

Home-style tortita de calabacita en caldillo de jitomate (little zucchini croquette in tomato broth) as served at the late, lamented, long-time Morelia fixture, Los Comensales (the name means 'the diners'). Los Comensales closed its doors in 2010; the presiding owner, Sra. Catalina Aguirre Camacho, was unable to continue in business due to her advanced age.

I was fortunate to live just around a Mexico City corner from a wonderful fonda, El Portalito. But this is not unique: I suspect that the majority of people who live in Mexico City could say the same thing about a fonda in the colonia (neighborhood) where they live. For example, our good friend David Lida, who lives on the other side of our colonia, has his special favorite–we loved it when we recently ate there with him, but it's around the corner from his house, not ours, and it's just a bit too far away for us to walk there regularly for a meal.

The interior of El Portalito, in Colonia Condesa on Calle Chilpancingo between Aguascalientes and Tlaxcala.

Cazuelas (wide clay cooking pots) on the El Portalito stove. You can see that I was there a little later than the normal hora de comer (eating time)–the cazuelas are nearly empty. Left, carne de cerdo en adobo. Right, salsa ranchera for the beef dish of the day.

One of the many stands for Mexico City's wonderful Ecobicis is just a couple of steps from El Portalito–I took the photo from our sidewalk table. Enroll in the Ecobici program, grab a bicycle at a stand near your house, ride it over to the restaurant, park it here, have your lunch, and take another bike to go back home!

The other day I spent several happy hours shopping with friends at the fabulous Mercado de Jamaica and oops–we got off at the Metro stop close to home just a few minutes before fainting from hunger. No time to cook! Where to eat? El Portalito, of course! We wanted to leave our purchases at home before returning to have our comida (main meal of the day), so we checked out the menú del día as we passed by. Of course we told our favorite waitress that we would be right back.

The standard daily offerings at El Portalito.

The menú del día is always written on a menu board and hung on the wall and, in addition, is hand-written on a little piece of tablet paper, stuck under a piece of plastic inside the regular a la carta menu.

That day we stopped in at El Portalito, the menú sencillo offered a choice of one each of the following:
- sopa de pasta (brothy soup with a large amount of small pasta cooked in it) or caldo tlalpeño (another brothy soup with vegetables, including the traditional garbanzos)
- Arroz a la mexicana (rice cooked in a thin tomato broth with diced fresh vegetables) or spaghetti (either buttered or slathered in a creamy sauce)
- Cerdo en adobo (pork meat in a chile-based sauce), bisteck en salsa ranchera (thin pieces of steak in a tomato-based sauce, or enchiladas verdes con pollo deshebrado (green enchiladas with shredded chicken breast)
- Postre (dessert–at this fonda, always gelatin), on the house
The total cost for the menú del día sencillo was 65 pesos. The cost of the menú also includes a refillable basket of fresh telera (bread), tortillas, if you like, house-made salsa (either red or the delicious, tangy green, depending on the day you're there) and the agua fresca del día (fresh fruit water of the day), all you care to drink.

I ordered the caldo tlalpeño. I like to add a squeeze of limón, a spoonful of salsa, a bigger spoonful of rice, and a sprinkle of salt. It's not fancy, but it's definitely delicious.

Our favorite waitress, Gloria Callejas, with main courses in hand. She told us that El Portalito has been serving breakfast and midday meals to hungry customers for 26 years. We ate out on the sidewalk, where there are three or four tables and lots of lovely fresh air.

Here's an order of spiced-just-right cerdo en adobo (pork in a spicy sauce). This main course comes with frijolitos refritos and I had saved some arroz a la mexicana to enjoy with it. At El Portalito, rice is always served with the soup course, in case you want to add some rice to your soup.

My very nice order of three enchiladas verdes con pollo deshebrado, which also are served with frijolitos refritos. I opened up one of the enchiladas to show you the large quantity of shredded chicken breast inside. The enchiladas arrive topped with crema and queso rallado (Mexican table cream and grated cheese).

The menú drink of the day was agua fresca de melón (fresh house-made cantaloupe water). It was absolutely wonderful, made of sweet, ripe cantaloupe served frothy and chilled. It matched the tablecloth, too–a definite plus. My other favorite agua at El Portalito is sandía (watermelon). Or maybe guayaba (guava). Or…oh, all of the aguas frescas that they prepare are delicious. I can't possibly choose just one favorite!

The dessert gesture was lime gelatin. Usually it's served in little plastic cups. We were impressed by these little 'crystal' cups the last time we were at El Portalito.

In Mexico City's Centro Histórico, you'll find many popular old-time fondas. Here are a few you might want to try:

La Casa Humboldt
República de Uruguay #86

Cocina América
Callejón 5 de mayo Letra K

Cocina Elizabeth
Palma #9, Letra F

Fonda Mi Lupita
Mesones #113

Each of these serves home-style Mexican food at very affordable prices. Expect to pay between 40 and 60 pesos for a full menú del día.

Whatever your neighborhood, wherever you live in Mexico, you're sure to find an old-fashioned place for a full comida corrida. It won't be high-end modern food with fancy designer presentations, but you'll love what you taste and will leave with this old Mexican dicho (saying) in your mind: "Panza llena, corazón contento." (Full stomach, happy heart.) When you've found your favorite, let me know so I can try it too!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.
20 de July de 2019
Restaurante Los Comensales in Morelia, Michoacán :: How We Dined in Morelia in the Past

The covered dining terraza at Los Comensales bordered the restaurant's central garden, beautifully in bloom in rain or sunshine. Indoor dining was also available, but I loved to sit on the covered terraza to hear the sweet song of birds or to listen to the rain dripping on the greenery.

In years gone by, when Mexico Cooks! was looking for a traditional old-style Morelia comida corrida (soup-to-nuts main meal of the day, usually inexpensive), I often headed to Restaurante Los Comensales, on Calle Zaragoza in the Centro Histórico. A Morelia tradition since 1980, Los Comensales (the name means 'the diners') satisfied its clients' hunger very well, and in a genteel, old-fashioned way.

A small plate of verduras en escabeche (pickled vegetables) was the first dish to arrive at our table. This little plate holds carrots, cauliflower, green beans, chayote, and onions–along with a bay leaf or two and a sprig of oregano.

The lovely terraza and dining rooms at Los Comensales were filled with memories of days gone by. Photographs of the founders–Señora Aguirre has survived her husband by many years–are scattered on the walls. He was a bullfight aficionado; she was a great home cook, specializing in the broad gamut of Michoacán comida casera (home cooking). In 19th and 20th Century Mexico, French and Spanish cuisine were the sought-after flavors when Mexicans dined out in style. Mexican cooking was considered second-class restaurant cooking at best. Nevertheless, Sra. Aguirre and her husband decided to feature typical Michoacán cuisine when they opened Los Comensales in their own home in early 1980.

One always had a choice between at least two soups of the day. The last time Mexico Cooks! enjoyed comida at Los Comensales, the choices were between caldo tlalpeño that traditionally featured tender garbanzos and a touch of chile chipotle (pictured above) and crema de zanahoria (cream of carrot). We've also loved the delicious leek, mushroom, and potato soup and the simple consomé de pollo (chicken consommé).

Los Comensales was the first private home in Morelia to be converted into a restaurant. It immediately became a great success. In 1989, the pair opened a second downtown Morelia restaurant. Las Viandas de San José (The Foods of Saint Joseph), located directly in front of Morelia's Templo San José, was in the same style as Los Comensales: the rich and varied cuisine of the couple's beloved home state, Michoacán.

This tortita de calabacita was a tremendous hit, fresh and delicious in its pool of caldillo (thin tomato sauce). We chose it from the sopas section of the comida corrida menu. Other choices were spaghetti in cream sauce or standard Mexican red rice with diced vegetables.

Mexican sopas are divided into two classes: sopa aguada (wet soup) and sopa seca (dry soup).

Sopa aguada is divided into three further categories: caldos, consomés, and cremas. Caldos are clear broths, usually with other ingredients like vegetables and meat. Consomés are similar to caldos, but may not have vegetables or meat in their ingredients. Cremas are cream soups; the different possibilities are endless.

Sopa seca includes dishes such as pastas, rice, and vegetable tortitas–like the tortitas de calabacita shown above. These are easy to prepare and absolutely delicious.

Peeling one of the Roma tomatoes to make caldillo. Don't worry, you won't burn your fingers!

Tortitas de Calabacita (Little Zucchini Fritters)
Ingredients
6 small calabacitas (or zucchini), no more than 3" long
6 1/4" thick slices mild white cheese (queso fresco or queso panela, if possible)
2 eggs, separated
Salt
Flour
Vegetable oil for frying

Slice the calabacitas in half, lengthwise. Place one slice of cheese between the slices of each calabacita. Hold the slices of calabacita and cheese together with toothpicks. Dredge each calabacita with salted flour.

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Beat the egg yolks until thick and pale lemon in color. Gently fold the yolks into the whites.

Heat oil in a frying pan until hot but not smoking.

Coat the floured calabacitas in the egg batter and fry until golden brown. Serve bathed with caldillo.

Caldillo (thin tomato sauce)
4 or 5 red-ripe Roma tomatoes
1/2 small white onion
Chicken broth, preferably home-made
Oregano, preferably Mexican
Sea salt to taste
Vegetable oil for frying the sauce.

Bring a small pot of water to a full rolling boil. Add the tomatoes (I usually cut a 1/2" cross in the stem end) and boil till the skins split–just a single minute or a few seconds more. Remove tomato peels; they'll slip off like gloves from your fingers.

Place the peeled tomatoes and the onion in a blender. Add a very small amount of chicken broth and blend until smooth.

In a frying pan, fry the sauce in a bit of vegetable oil for about five minutes. Add chicken broth until you have a very thin sauce. Add a sprig of fresh oregano and salt to taste. Cook for another five minutes and remove the oregano. Strain the sauce through a wire strainer.

Plate each serving of calabacita on a small plate and pour enough sauce over each little squash–about 1/4 cup will do.

Serves 6 as a side dish.

Carne de res en salsa chipotle (beef in a smoky chile sauce) was Mexico Cooks!' main dish. Others sharing my table ordered milanesa de pollo (thinly sliced, lightly breaded chicken breast).

Los Comensales also offered an a la carta menu, but it never really tempted me. The daily comida corrida offered such a wide variety of dishes that I always chose my meal from that menu.

Our dessert, Flan napolitano (Naples-style custard with caramel), is firmer than its ordinary cousin. Flan napolitano is made with cream cheese, in addition to the usual milk and eggs.

The last time Mexico Cooks! dined at Los Comensales, my comida corrida was exactly what's pictured here. The total cost for me and my two companions was $300 pesos; each comida corrida was $60 pesos, plus the addition to our order of a large jarra (pitcher) of naranjada (orangeade, made with freshly squeezed orange juice and sparkling water). A tip was included in the cost of the meal.

Señora Catalina Aguirre Camacho, the owner of Los Comensales since 1980. Because of her advanced age, she closed the restaurant in 2010, and passed away shortly thereafter. She has gone to heaven to cook for God's angelitos.

Los Comensales was open for desayuno (breakfast) and comida every day except Wednesday. I think of the restaurant so often, and miss it very much now that I am once again at home in Morelia. Restaurants of this sort have all but disappeared in Mexico.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

29 de June de 2019
Mexico’s Main Meal of the Day: Comida–In Various Forms

Freshly made chicharrón (you might know it as pork rinds). Chicharrón is frequently broken into small-ish pieces and served (instead of totopos [corn chips] with guacamole as an appetizer before comida, Mexico's main meal of the day. Try it sometime, it's delicious.

Mexico's main meal of the day is comida, which is eaten sometime between two and five o'clock in the afternoon. Prime time for comida is three o'clock; in many places all over the República, businesses still respect the old-time rule that closes business doors during mid-afternoon meal time. In fact, unless the business mentions that it observes horario corrido (continuous work day) you can assume that from two until at least four in the afternoon, its doors are closed to business. Our normal workday is from 10:00AM to 2:00PM and from 4:00PM to 8:00PM.

Crema de cilantro (cream of cilantro soup). The soup course, which can be a caldo (clear broth), a consomé (another kind of clear broth, usually chicken), or a crema (cream soup), comes after the entrada.

At the late, lamented Restaurante El Portalito in Mexico City, Mexico Cooks! usually ordered either the "menú sencillo" or the "menu ejecutivo". Click on the photo to enlarge it–what deals these meals were! Each of them included a freshly made agua fresca of the day, as well. My particular favorite was melón (cantaloupe).

El Portalito agua fresca de melón.

In cities and towns all over Mexico, you'll find fondas, comida económica, and comida corrida restaurants. All of these small, usually family-run restaurants specialize in full meals that stoke your furnace for the rest of your workday and beyond. In addition, in many cities there are high-end restaurants that specialize in comidas for professional and business lunches, others that are designed for the ladies-who-lunch trade, and still other, family-style restaurants that invite everyone from the oldest great-grandpa to the newest newborn to enjoy time together.

A variety of prepared salads for sale in a market. Sold by the kilo or portion of a kilo, these salads are meant to be taken home and eaten along with your comida.

Mexico's signature mole con pollo (mole with chicken) is always popular for the platillo fuerte (main dish) at a comida, whether served at home or in a restaurant. Many regions of the country have special mole recipes; some, like the mole poblano found in Puebla or the mole negro that comes from Oaxaca, are very well known. Others, especially some from the state of Michoacán, are less well known but equally delicious.

These Jalisco-style albóndigas (meatballs) are traditional and typically served as a platillo fuerte for comida, along with their delicious sauce, a big helping of steamed white rice, a garnish of avocado, and a tall stack of tortillas.

Many soon-to-be-visitors to Mexico write to me saying something like this: "I want to plan for breakfast in the hotel and a meal in such-and-such a restaurant at lunchtime. Then we want to go for dinner at such-and-such restaurant." Unless you are a professional eater–and I know that some of you are!–it's difficult to fit all of that food into one day, given the times of day that meals are usually eaten here. If you're having breakfast at your hotel, many of the available dishes will look like those featured here last week. They're very, very filling. Just a few hours later, it's time for comida, an even more filling meal when eaten in a restaurant.

Carne de cerdo en salsa verde (pork in green sauce) is a typical home-style dish (in this instance, just being put into the Mexico Cooks! oven) often served for comida. Of course it is preceded by an appetizer, a soup, and perhaps a salad; it's accompanied by red or white rice, refried beans, and a stack of tortillas–and followed by dessert!

Lonche de pechuga de pollo (cold chicken breast sandwich, garnished with lettuce, tomato, and pickled chiles jalapeños). This kind of sandwich is neither lunch nor comida. Photo courtesy Big Sky Southern Sky.

Photo courtesy Lonchería San Ignacio. The awning offers lonches de guisado (one of many stew-like preparations), de pierna (pork leg), de jamón (ham), de panela (a soft, white cheese), and de queso de puerco (head cheese).

"Lunch" as it is eaten in the United States or elsewhere does not exist in Mexico. You might see a restaurant sign reading "LONCHES" or "LONCHERÍA", but the words refer to a kind of cold sandwich known as a 'lonche', not to a place where you can have lunch–although a lonche late in the morning would be great! A lonche can be eaten at any old time–between meals, instead of meals, before or after a movie, and so on.

One taco–I swear to you, ONE taco–of Michoacán carnitas: huge chunks of pork, boiled in freshly rendered lard until the pork is fork-tender with crisp, chewy outsides. Coarsely chopped and served by the platter, ready to stuff into hot-off-the-fire tortillas and top with minced onions, chopped cilantro, super-spicy salsa, a sprinkle of sea salt and a squeeze of lime, carnitas can be a rustic and delicious comida all on their own.

Gelatina is a common light dessert, particularly with a comida corrida (think of the old-time blue plate special: everything from soup to dessert for one price.

On the other hand, you will almost always have room for a slice of old-fashioned creamy flan.

Next week, we finish our day of Mexico's meals with cena–supper!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

8 de June de 2019
In Memoriam :: Memories of Chef Patricia Quintana

Mexico's long-time chef Patricia Quintana. Her career spanned countries, decades, friendships, classrooms, books published, and regional foods. She left us on November 26, 2018, far too soon. Everyone who knew her, misses her.

A decorative charanda barrel at the entrance to Distilería El Tarasco in Uruapan. Charanda, distilled from sugar cane and bottled as both blanco (newly distilled) or reposado (aged), is a regional alcohol specialty of Michoacán.

Eighty hardy souls, chefs, journalists, travel specialists and food writers all, recently toured Mexico's Central Highlands on a two-week fact-finding and eating binge that brought us together from Europe, South and Central America, the United States, and other points around the globe. Aromas y Sabores de México, Ruta del Bicentenario 2010, organized by Mexico's national tourism department and led by the marvelous chef Patricia Quintana, kicked off in Mexico City on May 29 and ended its culinary wanderings in Michoacán on June 10. Naturally Mexico Cooks! thinks they saved the best for last!

Eleven o'clock on a hot spring morning and my friend Betty Fussell was sucking down a charanda piña colada AND a torito at the distillery! It was Betty's first full-blown taste of Michoacán and we had a marvelous time together.

The two-bus, multi-van caravan wound its way from Mexico City to the State of Mexico, then to Querétaro, to Guanajuato and, for the last four days, to Michoacán. Tour participants, accompanied by Chef Patricia Quintana of Mexico City's hot-ticket Restaurante Izote, slept when they could, partied when sleep eluded them, visited countless historic sites gussied up for Mexico's 2010 bicentennial celebrations, and ate till they could eat no more.

John Rivera Sedlar, of Rivera Restaurant in Los Angeles, California, enjoys a super-refreshing torito (made with charanda, of course) and a visit with Mexico Cooks! Photo courtesy Cynthia Martínez, Restaurante La Conspiración de 1809, Morelia.

The kind of drink dispenser that Mexico Cooks! uses for toritos for a party.

If you'd like to make toritos for a party, they're really easy to prepare and are always a huge success. If you can't find charanda in your hometown liquor store, substitute an inexpensive white rum.

TORITOS (Little Bulls)
Makes approximately 25 5-ounce servings

1 liter charanda or white rum
2 liters pineapple juice
2 liters grapefruit soft drink
Salt to taste
Ice

Crushed chile de árbol or other spicy chile
Crushed salted peanuts

Mix all of the liquids together and add salt to taste. Pour into a large pitcher and chill thoroughly. If your drink dispenser has a center cylinder for ice, you can fill it and keep the toritos cold without diluting them.

At the time of serving, place a pinch of crushed chile and a teaspoonful of salted peanuts in each person's glass. Fill each glass with the charanda mixture (or with the rum mixture), and serve.

This recipe is easily cut in half, if you're expecting fewer guests, or doubled (or tripled) if you're expecting a crowd. Try it soon, in the heat of summer. Toritos are enormously refreshing.

Salud! (To your health!

On a hot spring day in Uruapan, Michoacán, Magda Choque Vilca, field coordinator of Argentina's Proyecto Cultivos Andinos, delights in a cooling paleta de aguacate (avocado ice pop).

Two of Michoacán's best known products are the avocado (the state is the world's largest avocado grower) and the macadamia nut. This chilly and refreshing mousse, served in Uruapan at Restaurante Tony's–(Morelos #183, Col. Morelos, Uruapan)–combines both delicacies. The creamy white macadamia bottom layer supports the pale green avocado top layer. It was absolutely delicious.

A metate y metlapil (three-legged flat grinding stone, made of volcanic rock, and its 'rolling pin') on display at the regional museum at Uruapan's La Huatápera. Nearly five hundred years ago, Bishop don Vasco de Quiroga created the building as a hospitality center for the Purépecha people. Many Mexican kitchens still depend on the metate for grinding corn, beans, chocolate, herbs, and a hundred other ingredients.

For the Ruta de Aromas y Sabores tour, La Huatápera once again became a hospitality center. Tables along the portales (covered terraces) around the building held tastes of regional treats: ceviche de trucha, guacamole, paletas, and much more. Brought by Restaurante Tony's, the avocados in the photo above were halved horizontally, the meat partially removed and then mashed with cream cheese, spices, and stuffed back into the avocado shell and decorated with these charming faces. The parsley eyebrows especially tickled me.

Restaurante Los Mirasoles in Morelia hosted the welcome dinner for the Michoacán portion of the Ruta de Aromas y Sabores tour. The restaurant's executive chef, Rubí Silva Figueroa, pulled out all the stops to make the meal a high-end version of Michoacán's regional foods. Seated at a table with food professionals and journalists from Europe, South America, and the United States, Mexico Cooks! explained the food. It was, as one friend said, a comida didáctica–a teaching meal! Photo courtesy of Los Mirasoles.

Paracho, Michoacán, is known as Mexico's epicenter of guitar making, but it is also famous for weaving, embroidery, and other artisan work. Michoacán's Secretaría de Turismo (state tourism department) had arranged for a small tianguis artesanal (artisans' street market) for our tour. Among the items on display and for sale were rebozos (long rectangular shawls) woven by the famous reboceros de Aranza (rebozo-makers of Aranza, Michoacán). Finely loomed and beautifully patterned and colored, each of these dressy cotton rebozos take anywhere from two weeks to a month to complete.

We had a marvelous time on the tour! Left to right: Lic. Elizabeth Vargas Martín del Campo, director of the Politécnico de Guanajuato; Chef Patricia Quintana, innovative executive chef, caterer, and restaurant owner, Mexico City; Sacha Ormaechea, Restaurante Sacha, Madrid, Spain; Olivia González de Alegría, Director General, Instituto Gastronómico de Estudios Superiores, Querétaro; Cynthia Martínez, owner, Restaurante La Conspiración de 1809, Morelia; and Mexico Cooks!. Photo courtesy of Cynthia Martínez.

Originally published in 2010, this article about Patricia Quintana's amazing tour of Michoacán bears repeating in her memory. Chef Patricia Quintana passed away on November 26, 2018. May she rest in peace.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

18 de May de 2019
Mexico Cooks! Orders a Fried Whole Frog–Among Other Delicacies

There are times when one simply has to try something unusual. Here, it's a whole frog that had been skewered on a stick, battered, deep fried and served with chiles toreados (chiles serrano, rolled in oil and grilled or sautéed until soft), cebolla blanca (white onion, in this case caramelized), and limón to squeeze all over it. Whole deep fried frogs are a specialty of Queréndaro, Michoacán. It's quite a graphic presentation, but you only eat the legs–unless you care to nibble on other parts. I had been determined to order it, but once it was in front of me–not so much interested in eating it.

Truly wonderful aporreadillo from Apatzingán, Michoacán's Tierra Caliente (hot lowlands), as prepared by doña Victoria González at La Tradición de Victoria, the family restaurant in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. Aporreadillo is a preparation of dried beef, cooked in highly spiced tomato-y broth with scrambled egg. In this case, doña Vicky prepared a plate of aporreadillo for me with a base of morisqueta (steamed white rice) and frijoles de la olla (freshly cooked whole beans and their liquor). The small dish in the background is a bowl of doña Vicky's delicious salsa, made in a molcajete (volcanic stone mortar). Just looking at the picture makes my mouth water!

A Sunday afternoon on the trajineras (boats) in Xochimilco requires a refueling stop at a 'restaurant' on another trajinera. These boats with small kitchens pull up along side the trajinera that you're riding in to offer whatever's cooking. In this case, our midday meal was juicy carne asada (thin slices of grilled beef) and quesadillas cooked to order, guacamole and tortilla chips, rice, beans, and hot-off-the griddle tortillas. Delicious!

In the evenings in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, two women set up stands to sell atole de grano (a delicious soup made of fresh, tender corn kernels, a wild herb called anisillo, and water). Add your own salsa, a squeeze of jugo de limón (Key lime juice), and salt–it's marvelous, filling yet light for a mid-evening supper.

Home cooking: Mexico Cooks! prepared the hot, fennel-y Italian sausage and then created sausage, peppers, and onion sandwiches for a recent meal at home.

Another home-cooked meal: eggplant parmagiana. An Italian-American friend in New Jersey keeps me inspired to try his recipes. They're almost inevitably delicious.

Once every couple of months, Azul/Condesa or Azul/Histórico in Mexico City tempt me to have a meal there. It's difficult for me to resist the wonderful crema de flor de calabaza–squash flower soup, each bowl made with 18 squash blossoms plus strips of chile poblano, kernels of tender elotes (early corn), and tiny cubes of queso fresco (fresh white cheese).

Home-made sopa de albóndigas (Mexican meatball soup). I prepared this in February 2017 for dear friends in San Diego, California.

Perfectly grilled steak, prepared in February by chef Claudia Sandoval, for an amazing meal at the San Diego home of friend Kalisa Wells. It was an honor and a pleasure to share dinner with chef Claudia, who is the 2016 winner of MasterChef/Gordon Ramsey. Kalisa is always the hostess with the mostess, and the evening was made complete by friends Holli and Jim DeLauro.

To end on a sweet note: these buñuelos–foot-in-diameter deep-fried flour pastry, finished with a dash of granulated sugar and cinnamon, broken onto a plate or into a bowl and bathed with syrup made of piloncillo (Mexican raw brown sugar)–were on the menu at a fonda (small family food booth or restaurant) the last time I was in Morelia, Michoacán. Could you resist? I couldn't.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

11 de May de 2019
Touring with Mexico Cooks :: An Unforgettable Experience, Stories That Live in Your Mind and Heart

This little boy's mother and I thought he would be terrified by the pig heads hung up in one of the pork stands at a Mexico City market. On the contrary, he was fascinated! Two seconds after I took the picture, he leaned over and kissed the snout. We all laughed, even the vendors.

One of the great pleasures of my life is the number of tours Mexico Cooks! gives to lots of excited tourists. Small, specialized tours are a joy to organize: the participants generally have common interests, a thirst for knowledge, and a hunger for–well, for Mexico Cooks!' tour specialty: food and its preparation. Touring a food destination (a street market in Michoacán, an enclosed market in Guadalajara, a crawl through some Mexico City street stands, or meals in a series of upscale restaurants) is about far more than a brief look at a fruit, a vegetable, or a basket of freshly made tortillas.

A Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, street vendor holds out a partially unwrapped tamal de trigo (wheat tamal). It's sweetened with piloncillo (Mexican raw sugar) and a few plump raisins, wrapped in corn husks, and steamed. Taste? It's all but identical to a bran muffin, and every tour participant enjoyed a pinch of it.

A tour planned to your specifications can lead you to places you didn't know you wanted to go, but that you would not have missed for the world. Here, a tour participant talks with the man who makes these enormous adobe bricks. He let her try to pick up the laden wheelbarrow. She could barely get its legs off the ground! He laughed, raised the handles, and whizzed away with his load.

Several times in recent years, small groups wanted to tour traditional bakeries in Mexico City. The photo shows one tiny corner of the enormous Pastelería La Ideal in the Centro Histórico. Just looking at the photo brings the sweet fragrances back to mind. And never mind the taste of the delicious pastries!

Ramon and Annabelle Canova wanted an introduction to how ordinary people live and shop in Guadalajara. We spent a highly entertaining morning at the Tianguis del Sol, a three-times-a-week outdoor market in Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara. Our first stop was for breakfast, then we shopped for unusual produce, fresh spices, and other goodies that the Canovas don't often see in their home town. Annabelle said she felt right at home because so much of the style and flavor of this market was similar to what she experienced in the markets near her home town in the Philippines.

We went for comida (main meal of the day) to the original location of Guadalajara's Karne Garibaldi. The restaurant does one thing–carne en su jugo (meat in its juice)–and does it exceptionally well. The food is plentiful, delicious, and affordable. The place is always packed, and usually has a line to get in!

Ramon wanted to try tejuino, a regional specialty in the Guadalajara area. Mixed when you order it, the refreshing, lightly fermented drink is thickened with masa de maíz (corn dough) and served with a pinch of salt and a small scoop of lemon ice.

Pillars of nopal cactus paddles, taller than a man, at Mercado de la Merced, Mexico City. La Merced is the largest retail market in Mexico, if not in all of Latin America. It's the ultimate market experience and just a partial tour takes the best part of a morning. Comfortable walking shoes are a necessity–let's go!

A more intimate, up-close-and-personal Mexico City market tour takes us through the Mercado San Juan. The San Juan is renowned for its gourmet selection of meats, fish and shellfish, cheeses, and wild mushrooms–among a million other things you might not expect to find.

Pepitorias are a sweet specialty of Mexico's capital city. Crunchy and colorful obleas (wafers) enclose sticky syrup and squash seeds. Mexico Cooks!' tour groups usually try these at the Bazar Sábado in San Ángel.

Lovely and fascinating people and events are around almost any Mexican corner. The annual Festival Internacional de Música de Morelia opens every year with several blocks of carpets made of flowers. Residents of Patamban, Michoacán work all night to create the carpets for the festival. This piano is made entirely of plant material. Enlarge any picture for a closer view.

Entire flowers, fuzzy pods, and flower petals are used to create the carpets' ephemeral beauty and design; these carpets last two days at most.

In November 2012, one of Mexico Cooks!' tours was dazzled by a special Morelia concert given by Tania Libertad. With Tania is Rosalba Morales Bartolo, a fabulous traditional cook from San Jerónimo Purenchécuaro, Michoacán, who, in the name of the state, presented the artist with various handcrafted items–including the lovely coral necklace and rebozo (shawl) that Tania is wearing.

No matter where we start our tour and no matter what we plan together for your itinerary, a Mexico Cooks! tour always includes a terrific surprise or two, special memories to take home, and the thirst for more of Mexico. Marvey Chapman had a wonderful time! By all means come and enjoy a tour!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

16 de March de 2019
Back to Restaurante Pasillo de Humo :: Two Years Old and Stronger Than Ever

Restaurante Pasillo de Humo, Mexico City: casa llena (full house) recently at midday. The name of the restaurant means "hall of smoke"; it's borrowed from the name of an iconic section of the 20 de noviembre market in the city of Oaxaca. In that section–the pasillo de humo–one chooses fresh meat from any of a number of butchers, who grill it for you on the spot, along with tail-and-all bulb onions. The "hall of smoke" is always smoky, and always delicious; vendors sell wonderful side dishes, the seating is in booths that line the hall's sides, and the diners' spirits are always alegre (joyful). The Mexico City restaurant, just over two years old, isn't filled with smoke, of course, but it's almost always filled with joyful eaters at every meal: desayuno (breakfast), comida (Mexico's midday main meal of the day), and cena (supper).

One butcher's grill in Oaxaca's Mercado 20 de noviembre, pasillo de humo.

Mexico Cooks! was at Restaurante Pasillo de Humo for comida with the above group on November 2018–easily the 50 or 60th meal I've eaten there during the year since the restaurant opened. Clockwise from bottom left: Mexico Cooks!, (standing) Rafael Mier, founder of the 330,000+ member strong Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana, chef Alam Méndez Florián, Lourdes Rosas, and (seated) Alondra Maldonado, Nayarit-based author of the cookbook Sabores de Nayarit (Flavors of Nayarit) who also teaches Mexican cooking classes. The restaurant serves day in and day out what I consider to be the best food in Mexico City. Given that there are plus or minus 15,000 restaurants in this enormous city, that's really saying something.

Our group of four ordered four appetizers to share. The first to come to table were these Oaxacan molotes, small spheres of very ripe, sweet plantains, mashed and formed into spheres. The spheres are then stuffed with queso fresco (light, fresh cheese); the indentation for the cheese is covered with a smear of plantain pulp, and the spheres are fried until light golden brown, just as you see them in the photo. These are plated in a thin pool of delicious mole, scattered with queso fresco, and topped with thin watermelon radish slices and sprouts.

The second of our four appetizers: this is a fresh chile de agua ('water' chile, brought fresh from Oaxaca to Pasillo de Humo), slightly pickled, split open, and stuffed with marvelously seasoned shredded beef, then topped with pickled white onions.

Fresh chiles de agua for sale in a Oaxaca market. Their color range is from pale green to bright red, as you see in the photo.

Alam David Méndez Florián, the young chef at Pasillo de Humo, has been immersed since birth in a world of traditional Oaxacan cooks, their superb old-time recipes that continue to thrill our palates, and their determination to maintain the food legacy passed to them from their elders. His parents, Fidel Méndez Sosa and traditional cook Celia Florián, opened their family's restaurant Las 15 Letras in the city of Oaxaca more than 25 years ago, when little Alam was only two years old. He started helping in the restaurant when he was scarcely as tall as the broom he used to sweep and all but stood on a box to reach the sink where he washed dishes. He says, "When I was about 11 years old, I started doing more: I could make the agua fresca del día (the day's fresh fruit water) or a salsa. I realized then that I really, really liked the kitchen."

Mexico Cooks! with Celia Florián, chef Alam's mother and the inspiration for Restaurante Pasillo de Humo. Señora Florián is one of the most kind and loving people I know. Everyone who knows her considers her their dear friend, and I'm privileged to be in that group. She has two enormous gifts that anyone who knows her would tell you: that of truly being present to the person to whom she is speaking–and truly loving her native Oaxaca and its food and traditions.

Among other ingredients that grow or are made best in Oaxaca, chef Alam brings these jitomates riñon (kidney-shaped tomatoes), several kinds of special chiles, dried corn to be nixtamal-ized and made into tortillas in the restaurant, meats such as thinly sliced tasajo (seasoned beef) and cecina (seasoned pork) for tlayudas (large, thin Oaxaca corn tortillas stuffed with quesillo (Oaxaca cheese), made in Oaxaca, special herbs, asiento (a kind of deeply flavored pork lard that is smeared onto the tlayuda), and many other items that are impossible to find in Mexico City's markets–even those that carry the most exotic items. It's hard to write this paragraph–my mouth keeps watering!

We ordered four platillos fuertes (main dishes) to share. Delicious, tender, perfectly cooked roast chicken breast in a pool of el rey de los moles (the king of moles): Oaxaca mole negro (black mole), made with chile chilhuacle negro (dried black chile chilhuacle), brought to the restaurant from Oaxaca.

Premium first class chile chilhuacle in a Oaxaca market. The name on the sign is a spelling variation for this chile.

One of my very favorite dishes at Pasillo de Humo: the chef calls it an albóndiga, but meatball it's not. The crust is crushed corn and amaranth. Inside, it contains huahuazontle (a prehispanic vegetable similar to amaranth), quesillo (aka Oaxaca cheese), and slightly spicy chile. The almost tennis-ball size albóndiga is deep fried until golden and served in a dish of Oaxacan mole verde with fresh, still-crisp green beans, fresh snow peas, slices of chayote, and little edible sprouts. Be still my heart.

Third came pulpo en huaxmole (tender octopus in a chile costeño mole thickened with ground guaje seeds and served with tiny halved potatoes. Garnished with very thin watermelon radish slices and sprouts, this dish is perfectly prepared every time.

The long green pods are guajes (pronounced WAH-hehs), endemic to Oaxaca–and from which Oaxaca got its name. The seeds are removed for for thickening huaxmole. In the other dish? Tiny roasted chapulines (grasshoppers).

Chef Alam told me that in addition to his lifelong experience cooking with his mother, grandmother, and other family members, he studied professionally at the Instituto Culinario de México in Puebla, collaborating with chef Ángel Vázquez in the restaurant "Intro" for three years. Later, he competed as part of the National Junior Culinary Olympic Team, in Germany. When he finished his courses at the Instituto, he worked at the fabled two-Michelin-star restaurant Can Fabes in Barcelona, Spain and then at Arzak, in San Sebastian, which at the time had three Michelin stars.

In May 2014 chef Alam won "Most Promising Young Chef" in the competition Gastronómica Rivera del Duero, which took place in Mexico City. Later he worked as sous chef in the Hotel Santa Cruz Plaza in Chile. Sometime later he developed the kitchen and the menu for restaurant Don Porfirio in Guatemala and continued as its executive chef during its first year of operations. Following that, he was
production chef with Rosío Sánchez in her taco shop Hija de Sánchez in Copenhagen, just prior to starting Pasillo de Humo.

Just recently, he was nominated for "Most Promising Chef" in the 2017 Gourmet awards, as "up and coming chef" in Food & Travel México's 2017 Reader Awards, and as semifinalist in the San Pellegrino Young Chef 2018.

In addition to his work at Pasillo de Humo, chef Alam and a team of investors and assistants have just opened the new restaurant Urbano 116 in Alexandria, Virginia. But be assured that the deliciousness continues at Pasillo de Humo! Chef Alam and his mother, cocinera tradicional Celia Florián, are still "in the house" here in Mexico City: Alam one week, then a week of off-site supervision, then Sra. Florián for a week. I've been several times since mid-December and am here to tell you it's just as fantastic as always.

Chef Alam has become enormously accomplished in his relatively short career. It's a joy to see that he continues to credit his parents and his beginnings at home for so much of his success.

Some people say, "If it's dessert, it has to be chocolate." This tamal de chocolate definitely filled that bill. Plump and rich with Oaxacan chocolate, these tender, fluffy tamales are steamed in corn husks and served still hot. This was to have been our only shared dessert, paired with three flavors of house-made ice cream (a small scoop each of vanilla with chile, burned milk, and poleo (a Oaxacan herb), but suddenly the kitchen brought two extra desserts–oh, poor us!

Our second dessert: a traditional flan, about to be included in the menu at Pasillo de Humo. Creamy, made with cream cheese and not quite as light as the standard custard-style flan, this one knocked all our socks off.

This new dessert, coming soon to the menu at Pasillo de Humo, is an exquisite blend of crunchy, chewy, juicy, sweet, tart, and is fabulous. Chef Alam created it and named it xoconostle en tacha. He nixtamalizes the xoconostle, a tart and sour relative of Mexico's seasonal tuna (sweet cactus fruit), to firm up its texture; then he slowly cooks it in a piloncillo (Mexican raw sugar cones) and canela (cinnamon) flavored thick syrup until the sour fruit is permeated with the intensely sweet syrup. On the plate, he combines the now-sweet, slightly chewy xoconostle with juicy slices of pink and yellow grapefruit, crunchy "tierra" (the crumbly, buttery base), a bit of queso fresco, some crisp butter cookies, and a scoop of helado de guayaba (guava ice cream). Don't ask, okay? I could have licked the plate, and you'll want to as well.

Recently harvested xoconostles. You can easily see where the needle-sharp thorns have been removed from the fruit's skin.

In addition to wonderful food, Oaxaca (and Pasillo de Humo) are also renowned for mezcal, an alcoholic beverage distilled from earthen-oven baked maguey cactus. Before or after your meal, ask for the mezcal cart–a repurposed diablito (hand truck). Your server will pour you little sips of any mezcal you'd like to taste. When you choose the one you prefer, your serving will be bigger!

Provecho! You're going to fall in love with Restaurante Pasillo de Humo. Look around for me, it would be a pleasure to meet you.

Restaurante Pasillo de Humo
Upstairs at Parián Condesa
Av. Nuevo León 107, near the corner of Calle Michoacán
Colonia Hipódromo Condesa
Mexico City, Mexico
Telephone (from outside Mexico) 011-52-55-5211-7263
Reservations necessary and can only be made by phone.
Hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 9:00AM to 10:00PM
Thursday, Friday, Saturday 9:00AM to 11:00PM
Sunday: 9:00AM to 7:00PM

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

16 de February de 2019
Wandering Mexico with Mexico Cooks! :: Dando la Vuelta por México con Mexico Cooks!

Making chicharrónes–freshly fried pig skins, just out of the vat. If you haven't eaten this when it's fresh and still hot, you haven't really eaten chicharrones! This man's stand is a favorite on one of my market tours. Mexico City, January 2018.

It occurred to me the other day that I have taken literally hundreds of photographs this year and have shared comparatively few with you. Remember when Mexico Cooks! regularly published a "flaneur" report, of wanderings and wonderful or weird things all over the country? Today we're taking a photographic nostalgia trip through 2018.

Tulips are always a sure sign that Mexico has turned the corner from winter to spring. These, at our wholesale flower market, have jumped the gun just a bit–but so nice to see them now! Mexico City, January 2018.

Color is everywhere in Mexico. Boxes of fresh chile serrano, fresh chile habanero, and fresh pale-green tomate verde (you probably know them in English as tomatillos) are for sale in one of my favorite Mexico City markets. At the very bottom left of the photo are a few limones–in English, key limes. Mexico City, January 2018.

Pinole (toasted and finely ground dried corn flour, sweetened with piloncillo (raw cane sugar, and cinnamon) is an old-fashioned treat still much loved today. It's for eating as a powder, as is, or it can be combined with milk and other spices into a hot atole. It's a very, very dry powder, to the point that Mexico has a saying about it: "El que tiene más saliva, traga más pinole" (he who has the most spit can eat the most pinole). Or two: "No se puede chiflar y comer pinole" (you can't whistle and eat pinole). Morelia, Michoacán, March 2018.

This may well be my number-one favorite restaurant dish of 2018. What you see is a tennis-ball size "albóndiga" (literally, meatball)–but in this case, it's not really a meatball. The golden brown crust is made of crushed corn and amaranth; the interior is filled with quesillo (Oaxaca cheese), huauzontle (a pre-Hispanic green vegetable), and Oaxaca-style chorizo (spicy round sausage links). The albóndiga is fried until golden, plated in a pool of Oaxacan green mole–with fresh snow peas and fresh green beans, topped with beet sprouts. Thank you, Pasillo de Humo–this is an unfailingly stupendous meal. Mexico City, April 2018.

A round fogón (space that encloses a cooking fire) with its clay comal (griddle), ready for making tortillas, roasting tomatoes, onions, and garlic, or for whatever the needs of the day are. El Coyul, Oaxaca, May 2018.

My dear friend Carina Santiago, in her cocina tradicional (traditional kitchen) in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. If you're planning at trip to this town, known for its hand-woven woolen rugs as well as its traditional cooks, don't miss breakfast or comida (Mexico's main meal of the day) at Tierra Antigua, the restaurant/gallery run by Carina and her family. The gallery's rugs are woven from hand-dyed wool by Pedro Montaño (Carina's husband) and their sons; Carina and her kitchen team prepare the food, and everything is glorious. Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, May 2018.

Nuestra Señora de la Soledad con el Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, Teotitlán del Valle, May 2018.
Our Lady of Solitude with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Church of the Precious Blood of Christ.

Oxcart heading home, late afternoon in San Blas Atempa, Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca. May 2018.

Cocktail picks and their woven case, from the early days of Restaurante Los Danzantes in Coyoacán. A flea market find one beautiful Sunday! Mexico City, early June 2018.

So much travel and so many pictures–and we're only halfway through the year. We'll be back after Christmas with more!

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1 de December de 2018