Here are the random musings from/about my trip that I promised in the last post:
As bad as the traffic is in the DF, the drivers manage to terrify me when they get moving. Traffic lights are taken more as a suggested course of action rather than a command and street signs were apparently placed around the city as decorations because nobody pays them any mind. On many one-way streets there are dedicated bus lanes in which the buses travel against traffic which makes crossing these streets nearly as stressful as driving on them. And people love to honk & curse but rarely seem to take offense like folks in LA made famous for their road-rage.
The spiciness of the food in Mexico is a bit misleading/overstated. Most things to eat actually aren't spicy in & of themselves, but there is an array of condiments & accompaniments which provide a range of heat from slightly tingly to stick-your-face-in-a-tub-of-yogurt. If you have trouble tolerating spice heat there are very few foods you'd need to avoid as long as you left off the condiments. My experience is that real Mexican food is much less spicy than Thai or Indian/Pakistani cuisines unless you choose to turn up the heat right before taking a bite. In fact, outside of condiments & soups with red broths I can't think of many things I ate that were spicy.
Just about everything that can be eaten or drank here comes with fresh limes for squeezing. Maybe it's the quality of the citrus or traditional flavor combinations, but the bright freshness and light acidity the fresh hit of lime juice adds really seems to improve all of it (and it was great to begin with). It doesn't work as well for the Polish foods indigenous to my neighborhood in NYC. Regardless, whenever you're in México feel free to squeeze away without fear that you'll mask other flavors.
The DF houses some of the wealthiest people in the world, but it has an enormous poor population. People beg for donations or try to sell trinkets everywhere you go (often through their children), & they don't just target tourists. Almost every restaurant, store & market allows people to wander in to press the customers to part with their money. I never got used to saying "no, gracias" & "no, lo siento" so many times a day.
Just about every woman I met, hung out with or was served by took my meals personally. Quite a few of the men did, too. Even though international chains are making inroads, there aren't many cultures in the world who value their food traditions as much as Mexicans. While France & Italy tend to be the undisputed kings of cuisine in Western traditions, I would put México up there with them.
I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or just due to the huge amount of people living there, but personal space doesn't really exist in the DF. I was pushed, bumped into, rubbed against & close-talked far more often than the available space would necessitate. I once heard of a phenomenon called the "Latin/Anglo Tango" which happens when someone with Mediterranean blood meets someone with Northern European genes & the Latin is always advancing to interact while the Anglo is constantly backing away. Guess which one I was.
Overall, most people were very patient with my fumbling linguistic skills. Quite a few were even eager to help, especially if I was trying to order or eat classic Mexican foods. That said, I did notice that the posher the setting, the more likely someone was to lose their patience.
So that wraps up my Mexican month, and therefore the purpose for this blog. I may go back to add photos if I get my hands on some new shots, but odds are I won't continue to post until/unless I go back. Thanks to everyone who took the time to share this experience with me & let me know if I can ever help advise you on a trip down to this extraordinary city. ¡Besos!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Gone in a Flash
Somehow I woke up today in my apartment in Greenpoint. Somehow I also missed posting since Wednesday evening & now I'm back in New York. So let's catch up on what I did/saw/ate/thought:
Thursday morning brought with it a reminder that I'm not completely healthy. After my amazing stroll through Mexican history Wednesday, my bad foot felt worse. It gave me the excuse I needed to spend one last day exploring my adopted neighborhood rather than running all over the city trying to squeeze in everything imaginable. I got to remind myself of some amazing sights & places I already enjoyed, plus I stumbled across some new things. For example I wandered by a little taquería with a long line of hungry customers on the fringes of Condesa. There was a plaque outside claiming that the taco stand was featured in the terrific Mexican film "Amores Perros". I only vaguely recognized it & as the line was at least 30 deep, I passed by without a taste for myself. I know it's totally out of character, but I'm sure I'll get in there sooner or later.
I had lunch at a tiny lonchería where I once previously tried their 3-course / 45 peso lunch deal. Caldo Tlalpeño, rice, enchiladas in green sauce, unlimited Agua Jamaica & a piece of Swiss-inspired chocolate- all excellent & homemade outside of the chocolate. A couple walking by stopped to look & asked my what I thought since I was sitting at a table on the sidewalk. I told them I loved it, but my accent may have convinced them to pass.
Thursday evening I hopped in a cab to meet my friend at the German Centre. It's a massive office complex in the Santa Fe neighborhood where her boss runs a cafe in the lobby. The entire complex is owned by a German bank & nearly all of the tenants are German businesses with interests in the DF. She & her boss put up a traditional altar for Dia de los Muertos & I wanted to check it out (plus I was curious to see the prints I helped her find in action). After she wrapped up work there, we headed back to Condesa to drink mezcal at La Botica.
La Botica is the place that made me fall for mezcal & it's still one of my favorite bars in the world. They have a ton of flavors & styles plus great bar snacks that compliment the mezcal perfectly. I've only been to the original location but they have several around the DF & even a recent addition in Madrid. We sipped a few rounds & I got to sample some old favorites & a couple of new flavors before calling it a night. They have a great slogan: "Para todo mal, mezcal. Para todo bien también" which means "For everything bad, mezcal. For everything good, too."
Friday I got an early start & headed out to Mercado Sonora- it's a big market laid out in the style & on the original location of an ancient Aztec market a little ways south of Zócalo. As it was the day before Halloween, a lot of the isles were packed with costumes & decorations (plus people shopping for them) of a very un-Aztec nature, but much of the original flair still exists. There are aisles filled with various live animals, some obviously intended for pets but quite a few intended for consumption. A virtual Noah's Ark from exotic goldfish to puppies to roosters to goats are on display.
My favorite section was the one crammed with ancient remedies & "magic" from the Santería / Voodoo family. Gigantic sacks of herb, barks, seeds & various traditional elixirs bulge out of tiny stalls while the proprietors hawk their wares & offer to cure any common ailment. Some are for brewing into teas, some for putting under pillows at night, some for burning like incense and most seem to have believers from all age groups & classes. My friend bought some dried bark that's supposed to settle upset stomachs plus a bundle of herbs who's purpose I don't recall. The sights & smells were wondrous but I resisted the urge to buy arthritis cures due to the very limited luggage space for my impending trip home. My friend whispered to me that the stall on the end near an entry to the market was legendary for the oracular talents of the owners & there was a line of people waiting to have their fortunes told or their futures revealed by Angel & Israel. Sadly, I didn't have an appointment so my own future remains clouded.
My friend wanted to shop at a restaurant supply store on Lopez & since I had raved about the food there she asked me to accompany her for lunch & some more shopping. While the store was a little disappointing for her she agreed that the tacos were excellent, & she especially enjoyed Taquería Gonzalez.
After lunch I needed to get home to pack. After getting everything together, I made a quick stop at the Blue Demon Store to pick up a lucha libre mask with the intention of wearing it at several Halloween parties I was invited to on the night of my return. Then we jumped back into my friend's car for the drive down to Coyoacán with fingers crossed that we got there before the infamous traffic built up.
Coyoacán still looks & feels like the small village it once was before it was swallowed up by the DF. It's most famous today for the residences-turned-museums of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera & Leon Trotsky. In the DF, it's also well known for it's beautiful sights & fantastic food. Despite the building rain storm, as soon as we parked my friend ordered a "hot cake" with strawberries & I grabbed a champurrado (a traditional hot drink made from corn, chocolate, spices & piloncillo). I couldn't resist adding one of the treats Coyoacán is famous for: a "churro relleno" or a classic thin Spanish cruller hollowed out & filled with a rich syrup, in my case flavored with leche quermada.
We strolled up to the twin squares that form the hub of Coyoacán social life & tourist attractions to check out the gargantuan Dia de los Muertos altar which was still under construction by local artisans. The traditional 5-tiered structure was built alongside a defunct fountain which was being decorated with breathtaking traditional art. The "pool" of the fountain was being decorated with powders made from crushed flower petals in a fashion that reminded me of Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas. I'll try to get some photos from my friend but there's no way they could be as impressive as the effect of being there in person & watching the artists painstakingly lay patterns on top of base layers of vibrant colors.
After a quick peek into the glorious cathedral (the Spanish left nearly as many spectacular monuments to Catholicism behind them as they did pregnant native women) we noticed a little cerveceria, or beer bar, alongside one of the squares. It was built like a saloon out of an old Western film, complete with swinging wooden doors covering only a small part of the entrance. The only drink choices were clear beer, dark beer or a blend of both & we settled into a corner table to sip & soak up the ambiance. The waiter "Panchito" must have walked straight out of central casting into his job interview & I definitely recommend a mug of beer there to anyone who visits although I can't quite remember the name of the bar.
Having whetted our appetites with malted barley, we headed for a small food-court-esque chamber a half of a block off the square. Among the several stalls there is the place where I had my first tastes of pambazo & café de olla, and they made up my dinner on this night after a small cup of esquites. The first are still the best I've tasted. I fought the urge to indulge in a bowl of pozole studded with meat carved fresh-to-order off a large roasted pig head displayed gloriously on the counter next to our pambazo stand & we went to walk off our feast. When the rain got too be too much for us, we warmed ourselves in a cafe with tea & one last churro relleno.
I was up early the next morning with the twin afflictions of a stomach ache & pre-flight nerves. I finished straightening out my soon-to-be-abandoned apartment & ran down the street to pick up my final taste of Dia de los Muertos- "pan de muerto" which is a slightly sweet bread sprinkled with powdered sugar & in this case cut open like a roll & spread with rich "nata de crema". Despite me dreams of one final spicy & decadent Mexican meal before my flight, my body made it clear that bread & cream was all I should consume before boarding the plane for my flight home.
The plane was sold out & despite getting to the airport slightly more than 2 hours before my departure time all of the emergency-exit-aisle seats were already taken so I was concerned that I'd have to jam myself into a standard coach seat (which are just slightly smaller than I am). Thankfully one of the flight attendants noticed my plight & offered me one of the attendant rest seats which are very spacious & thus saved both me & the woman nearly doomed to sit next to me from feeling like sardines for 5 hours. And suddenly I was back in my apartment in Greenpoint where I hatched the crazy plan to spend October in Mexico City with nothing to show for it except 3 bottles of booze, one box of Oaxacan chocolate earmarked for my friend Antonio & a Blue Demon mask.
Of course I'm kidding as I also have the lessons, memories & experiences of one of the most entertaining months of my life. Before I wrap up my month of blogging, I'd like to share some random thoughts I've had about the DF but never made into a post. I'll do it as a separate post so you can give your eyes a break from this tome. ¡Besos!
Thursday morning brought with it a reminder that I'm not completely healthy. After my amazing stroll through Mexican history Wednesday, my bad foot felt worse. It gave me the excuse I needed to spend one last day exploring my adopted neighborhood rather than running all over the city trying to squeeze in everything imaginable. I got to remind myself of some amazing sights & places I already enjoyed, plus I stumbled across some new things. For example I wandered by a little taquería with a long line of hungry customers on the fringes of Condesa. There was a plaque outside claiming that the taco stand was featured in the terrific Mexican film "Amores Perros". I only vaguely recognized it & as the line was at least 30 deep, I passed by without a taste for myself. I know it's totally out of character, but I'm sure I'll get in there sooner or later.
I had lunch at a tiny lonchería where I once previously tried their 3-course / 45 peso lunch deal. Caldo Tlalpeño, rice, enchiladas in green sauce, unlimited Agua Jamaica & a piece of Swiss-inspired chocolate- all excellent & homemade outside of the chocolate. A couple walking by stopped to look & asked my what I thought since I was sitting at a table on the sidewalk. I told them I loved it, but my accent may have convinced them to pass.
Thursday evening I hopped in a cab to meet my friend at the German Centre. It's a massive office complex in the Santa Fe neighborhood where her boss runs a cafe in the lobby. The entire complex is owned by a German bank & nearly all of the tenants are German businesses with interests in the DF. She & her boss put up a traditional altar for Dia de los Muertos & I wanted to check it out (plus I was curious to see the prints I helped her find in action). After she wrapped up work there, we headed back to Condesa to drink mezcal at La Botica.
La Botica is the place that made me fall for mezcal & it's still one of my favorite bars in the world. They have a ton of flavors & styles plus great bar snacks that compliment the mezcal perfectly. I've only been to the original location but they have several around the DF & even a recent addition in Madrid. We sipped a few rounds & I got to sample some old favorites & a couple of new flavors before calling it a night. They have a great slogan: "Para todo mal, mezcal. Para todo bien también" which means "For everything bad, mezcal. For everything good, too."
Friday I got an early start & headed out to Mercado Sonora- it's a big market laid out in the style & on the original location of an ancient Aztec market a little ways south of Zócalo. As it was the day before Halloween, a lot of the isles were packed with costumes & decorations (plus people shopping for them) of a very un-Aztec nature, but much of the original flair still exists. There are aisles filled with various live animals, some obviously intended for pets but quite a few intended for consumption. A virtual Noah's Ark from exotic goldfish to puppies to roosters to goats are on display.
My favorite section was the one crammed with ancient remedies & "magic" from the Santería / Voodoo family. Gigantic sacks of herb, barks, seeds & various traditional elixirs bulge out of tiny stalls while the proprietors hawk their wares & offer to cure any common ailment. Some are for brewing into teas, some for putting under pillows at night, some for burning like incense and most seem to have believers from all age groups & classes. My friend bought some dried bark that's supposed to settle upset stomachs plus a bundle of herbs who's purpose I don't recall. The sights & smells were wondrous but I resisted the urge to buy arthritis cures due to the very limited luggage space for my impending trip home. My friend whispered to me that the stall on the end near an entry to the market was legendary for the oracular talents of the owners & there was a line of people waiting to have their fortunes told or their futures revealed by Angel & Israel. Sadly, I didn't have an appointment so my own future remains clouded.
My friend wanted to shop at a restaurant supply store on Lopez & since I had raved about the food there she asked me to accompany her for lunch & some more shopping. While the store was a little disappointing for her she agreed that the tacos were excellent, & she especially enjoyed Taquería Gonzalez.
After lunch I needed to get home to pack. After getting everything together, I made a quick stop at the Blue Demon Store to pick up a lucha libre mask with the intention of wearing it at several Halloween parties I was invited to on the night of my return. Then we jumped back into my friend's car for the drive down to Coyoacán with fingers crossed that we got there before the infamous traffic built up.
Coyoacán still looks & feels like the small village it once was before it was swallowed up by the DF. It's most famous today for the residences-turned-museums of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera & Leon Trotsky. In the DF, it's also well known for it's beautiful sights & fantastic food. Despite the building rain storm, as soon as we parked my friend ordered a "hot cake" with strawberries & I grabbed a champurrado (a traditional hot drink made from corn, chocolate, spices & piloncillo). I couldn't resist adding one of the treats Coyoacán is famous for: a "churro relleno" or a classic thin Spanish cruller hollowed out & filled with a rich syrup, in my case flavored with leche quermada.
We strolled up to the twin squares that form the hub of Coyoacán social life & tourist attractions to check out the gargantuan Dia de los Muertos altar which was still under construction by local artisans. The traditional 5-tiered structure was built alongside a defunct fountain which was being decorated with breathtaking traditional art. The "pool" of the fountain was being decorated with powders made from crushed flower petals in a fashion that reminded me of Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas. I'll try to get some photos from my friend but there's no way they could be as impressive as the effect of being there in person & watching the artists painstakingly lay patterns on top of base layers of vibrant colors.
After a quick peek into the glorious cathedral (the Spanish left nearly as many spectacular monuments to Catholicism behind them as they did pregnant native women) we noticed a little cerveceria, or beer bar, alongside one of the squares. It was built like a saloon out of an old Western film, complete with swinging wooden doors covering only a small part of the entrance. The only drink choices were clear beer, dark beer or a blend of both & we settled into a corner table to sip & soak up the ambiance. The waiter "Panchito" must have walked straight out of central casting into his job interview & I definitely recommend a mug of beer there to anyone who visits although I can't quite remember the name of the bar.
Having whetted our appetites with malted barley, we headed for a small food-court-esque chamber a half of a block off the square. Among the several stalls there is the place where I had my first tastes of pambazo & café de olla, and they made up my dinner on this night after a small cup of esquites. The first are still the best I've tasted. I fought the urge to indulge in a bowl of pozole studded with meat carved fresh-to-order off a large roasted pig head displayed gloriously on the counter next to our pambazo stand & we went to walk off our feast. When the rain got too be too much for us, we warmed ourselves in a cafe with tea & one last churro relleno.
I was up early the next morning with the twin afflictions of a stomach ache & pre-flight nerves. I finished straightening out my soon-to-be-abandoned apartment & ran down the street to pick up my final taste of Dia de los Muertos- "pan de muerto" which is a slightly sweet bread sprinkled with powdered sugar & in this case cut open like a roll & spread with rich "nata de crema". Despite me dreams of one final spicy & decadent Mexican meal before my flight, my body made it clear that bread & cream was all I should consume before boarding the plane for my flight home.
The plane was sold out & despite getting to the airport slightly more than 2 hours before my departure time all of the emergency-exit-aisle seats were already taken so I was concerned that I'd have to jam myself into a standard coach seat (which are just slightly smaller than I am). Thankfully one of the flight attendants noticed my plight & offered me one of the attendant rest seats which are very spacious & thus saved both me & the woman nearly doomed to sit next to me from feeling like sardines for 5 hours. And suddenly I was back in my apartment in Greenpoint where I hatched the crazy plan to spend October in Mexico City with nothing to show for it except 3 bottles of booze, one box of Oaxacan chocolate earmarked for my friend Antonio & a Blue Demon mask.
Of course I'm kidding as I also have the lessons, memories & experiences of one of the most entertaining months of my life. Before I wrap up my month of blogging, I'd like to share some random thoughts I've had about the DF but never made into a post. I'll do it as a separate post so you can give your eyes a break from this tome. ¡Besos!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Zócalo & Black Jesus
I woke up early today with the sun drenching my apartment. The rain finally let up & I had the kind of day I was waiting for to walk to & around Zócalo. Zócalo is the name for the historic center of México City but it literally translates to "base of a statue". Apparently there was a plan to build a statue commemorating the independence from Spain but they only got as far as the base, & even that was destroyed long ago while the name lives on. Strangely a couple of other cities in México call their town square "zócalo" in emulation of the DF despite having nothing to do with statue bases.
When the Spaniards conquered what is now México City, they built their town on top of the ruins of the Aztec city that was the center of their culture & trade. What started as a small but important colonial seat grew & spread into this city with it's current proportions. However the area that is in & around Zócalo is still almost entirely made up of the original old Spanish colonial buildings with cobblestone streets that gives it the appearance of the heart of any old European city.
And when I say the Spanish built on top of the Aztec city, I mean that literally. In the 1970s the city discovered the ruins of Aztec pyramids & out-buildings while excavating for construction in Zócalo. This site is now called "Templo Mayor" and it is still being excavated as I type, with the already-uncovered portion turned into a museum. Templo Mayor sits less than 100 yards from the 2 ancient Catholic cathedrals that form the north side of the center of Zócalo.
The main square that is technically Zócalo is bordered by some of the most important & impressive Spanish architecture in the western hemisphere. As I mentioned in the last paragraph, the northern edge is formed by 2 of the most awe-inspiring cathedrals I've ever seen. The eastern edge is the gigantic Palacio Nacional which houses the offices of the president of México, the Federal Treasury and office of the National Archives. The south & west sides also have impressive classic buildings but they seem to be less important to the city as they house typical businesses rather than federal offices or religious centers. I've been told that the entire old city encompassing the Zócalo & it's surroundings were left to rot for ages up to as recently as the mid-1990s, but the mayor in the late '90's pushed through a massive initiative to restore the area to it's past glory & revitalize the economy there. It's a job VERY well done & I can't imagine how it must have looked after seeing it in it's current impressive condition.
My trip started with the long walk from my apartment to the Centro Historico area. To get to Zócalo I had to walk past the Palacio de Bellas Artes & my beloved Lopez with all it's tasty treats. I had planned to walk by without retracing my steps but then I remembered my aborted attempt to order tacos with chorizo verde from Saturday. I had to stop in to see if the terrific little taco stand had them available & I was in luck. The cook even recognized me & called to me that he had the chorizo verde as I walked up. Even though Toluca is known for this specialty, I think I liked this version on Lopez better.
From there it was only a few blocks to the fringes of the beautiful neighborhood that houses Zócalo. I took a ton of photos on my wanderings today so in the interest of saving space in the post, I put the non-food shots on Flikr & you can see them here: Dave en México al Zócalo. Even before hitting the center of this old city, I noticed a gorgeous old building & had to stop to look. It's now a branch of the public library & I'd love to know what it was originally.
A couple of minutes later I was standing in the center of Zócalo under one of the largest flags I've ever seen. It is truly an awesome sight for anyone who has an affinity for old European architecture. The Palacio Nacional is the most famous building there, but I have a thing for old churches & cathedrals so I made a beeline to the north side of the square to get a closer look.
I'm not Catholic & I don't practice or believe in the religion I was raised with, but it's easy to see how one could be awestruck by divine might when faced with these adjacent masterpieces. The 2 cathedrals almost look like one building, but the one on the east side of the block is much smaller & is faced in red bricks while the western cathedral is huge & looks as if it's made of sandstone. I peeked into the smaller one briefly but I had to spend the better part of an hour in the larger.
The larger cathedral is topped by an ornate dome & it houses several small altars lining the sides, plus a gigantic 3-part golden main altar facing in from the back of the building. The photos I took can't begin to do it justice. Everything is so big & so intricate & so beautiful that it's impossible for me to put it in words. One of the most interesting parts of this cathedral is a smaller altar near the front door with a crucifix depicting a black Jesus.
The story goes that in a long-forgotten era, two thieves were casing the cathedral in the hopes of stealing the collection box. One old priest was always praying at an altar right near the front door, & therefore right near the collection box, so the thieves couldn't get their hands on the money without getting caught. One of the thieves noticed that the priest always kissed the feet of the crucifix on the altar so they decided to put poison on the feet & wait for the priest to kiss them & die. But when the priest kissed Jesus's feet he lived & the thieves died instead. When this happened, the Jesus on the crucifix changed from the classic European hue to African black & has remained that color ever since. I don't know if there's a shred of truth to this tale, but it's quite entertaining.
There is an amazing tour you can take that goes up one bell tower, then across the roofs of the cathedrals to the other bell tower before going back down. Since I took this tour on my last visit & my bad foot hates stairs, I decided to pass this time but I highly recommend it for anyone who visits.
After a long stroll up & down the old streets, I stopped into the Museo Nacional de Arte (better known as MUNAL) to check out some of the classic art housed there. It's in another beautiful old colonial Spanish palace & is actually shaped like a doughnut with an open-air courtyard in the center. The main exhibit right now is an astoundingly complete retrospective of the career of Miguel Prieto. While it was interesting, I much preferred the galleries upstairs showing hundreds of years of paintings, sketches & sculptures from Mexican artists. My favorites were the paintings by José María Velasco but I was impressed in just about every room I wandered through.
On my last trip here my chef friend took me to Pasteleria Ideal, a legendary dessert bakery only a few blocks from the center of Zócalo. I had to stop in to pick up a little something sweet for later & to marvel at their Dia de los Muertos altar in the back of the shop. It was terribly tough to choose what to buy, but I think I'll be happy with my little chocolate cake-type whatever it is.
By this time I wad worked up quite an appetite so it was time for (more) tacos. I recalled a busy taco stand just outside of the old city from my past trip & decided to hunt it down. My memory didn't let me down & I easily found the place with it's huge crowd of hungry locals demanding tacos al pastor carved from the largest spit I've ever seen. I wouldn't say these are the best, but they've very good & extremely popular. Ordering them is complete chaos, as is finding a place to stand & eat them, but anything worth having is worth working for.
I only ate 2 to save room for something I noticed for the first time on my walk this morning despite having traversed Lopez a few times previously: a tiny shop specializing in my obsessed-about cochinita pibil. Cochinita Xew is on Lopez right near the other taco places I've come to love so I don't know how I missed it at first, but I'm very happy to have noticed it today. They do a terrific version of this Yucatan staple & it was full of older woman who laughed at me for only eating 2 small tacos while they had a stack of used plates on the counter indicating the end of a grand feast.
Having totally exhausted myself with hours of non-stop walking & stuffed myself with various pork-filled tacos, it was time to slowly stroll home. While I generally try to avoid being a stereotypical tourist, on days like this I enjoy it thoroughly. Sometimes you just have to soak in the sights & be amazed along with the other gawkers. ¡Besos!
When the Spaniards conquered what is now México City, they built their town on top of the ruins of the Aztec city that was the center of their culture & trade. What started as a small but important colonial seat grew & spread into this city with it's current proportions. However the area that is in & around Zócalo is still almost entirely made up of the original old Spanish colonial buildings with cobblestone streets that gives it the appearance of the heart of any old European city.
And when I say the Spanish built on top of the Aztec city, I mean that literally. In the 1970s the city discovered the ruins of Aztec pyramids & out-buildings while excavating for construction in Zócalo. This site is now called "Templo Mayor" and it is still being excavated as I type, with the already-uncovered portion turned into a museum. Templo Mayor sits less than 100 yards from the 2 ancient Catholic cathedrals that form the north side of the center of Zócalo.
The main square that is technically Zócalo is bordered by some of the most important & impressive Spanish architecture in the western hemisphere. As I mentioned in the last paragraph, the northern edge is formed by 2 of the most awe-inspiring cathedrals I've ever seen. The eastern edge is the gigantic Palacio Nacional which houses the offices of the president of México, the Federal Treasury and office of the National Archives. The south & west sides also have impressive classic buildings but they seem to be less important to the city as they house typical businesses rather than federal offices or religious centers. I've been told that the entire old city encompassing the Zócalo & it's surroundings were left to rot for ages up to as recently as the mid-1990s, but the mayor in the late '90's pushed through a massive initiative to restore the area to it's past glory & revitalize the economy there. It's a job VERY well done & I can't imagine how it must have looked after seeing it in it's current impressive condition.
My trip started with the long walk from my apartment to the Centro Historico area. To get to Zócalo I had to walk past the Palacio de Bellas Artes & my beloved Lopez with all it's tasty treats. I had planned to walk by without retracing my steps but then I remembered my aborted attempt to order tacos with chorizo verde from Saturday. I had to stop in to see if the terrific little taco stand had them available & I was in luck. The cook even recognized me & called to me that he had the chorizo verde as I walked up. Even though Toluca is known for this specialty, I think I liked this version on Lopez better.
From there it was only a few blocks to the fringes of the beautiful neighborhood that houses Zócalo. I took a ton of photos on my wanderings today so in the interest of saving space in the post, I put the non-food shots on Flikr & you can see them here: Dave en México al Zócalo. Even before hitting the center of this old city, I noticed a gorgeous old building & had to stop to look. It's now a branch of the public library & I'd love to know what it was originally.
A couple of minutes later I was standing in the center of Zócalo under one of the largest flags I've ever seen. It is truly an awesome sight for anyone who has an affinity for old European architecture. The Palacio Nacional is the most famous building there, but I have a thing for old churches & cathedrals so I made a beeline to the north side of the square to get a closer look.
I'm not Catholic & I don't practice or believe in the religion I was raised with, but it's easy to see how one could be awestruck by divine might when faced with these adjacent masterpieces. The 2 cathedrals almost look like one building, but the one on the east side of the block is much smaller & is faced in red bricks while the western cathedral is huge & looks as if it's made of sandstone. I peeked into the smaller one briefly but I had to spend the better part of an hour in the larger.
The larger cathedral is topped by an ornate dome & it houses several small altars lining the sides, plus a gigantic 3-part golden main altar facing in from the back of the building. The photos I took can't begin to do it justice. Everything is so big & so intricate & so beautiful that it's impossible for me to put it in words. One of the most interesting parts of this cathedral is a smaller altar near the front door with a crucifix depicting a black Jesus.
The story goes that in a long-forgotten era, two thieves were casing the cathedral in the hopes of stealing the collection box. One old priest was always praying at an altar right near the front door, & therefore right near the collection box, so the thieves couldn't get their hands on the money without getting caught. One of the thieves noticed that the priest always kissed the feet of the crucifix on the altar so they decided to put poison on the feet & wait for the priest to kiss them & die. But when the priest kissed Jesus's feet he lived & the thieves died instead. When this happened, the Jesus on the crucifix changed from the classic European hue to African black & has remained that color ever since. I don't know if there's a shred of truth to this tale, but it's quite entertaining.
There is an amazing tour you can take that goes up one bell tower, then across the roofs of the cathedrals to the other bell tower before going back down. Since I took this tour on my last visit & my bad foot hates stairs, I decided to pass this time but I highly recommend it for anyone who visits.
After a long stroll up & down the old streets, I stopped into the Museo Nacional de Arte (better known as MUNAL) to check out some of the classic art housed there. It's in another beautiful old colonial Spanish palace & is actually shaped like a doughnut with an open-air courtyard in the center. The main exhibit right now is an astoundingly complete retrospective of the career of Miguel Prieto. While it was interesting, I much preferred the galleries upstairs showing hundreds of years of paintings, sketches & sculptures from Mexican artists. My favorites were the paintings by José María Velasco but I was impressed in just about every room I wandered through.
On my last trip here my chef friend took me to Pasteleria Ideal, a legendary dessert bakery only a few blocks from the center of Zócalo. I had to stop in to pick up a little something sweet for later & to marvel at their Dia de los Muertos altar in the back of the shop. It was terribly tough to choose what to buy, but I think I'll be happy with my little chocolate cake-type whatever it is.
By this time I wad worked up quite an appetite so it was time for (more) tacos. I recalled a busy taco stand just outside of the old city from my past trip & decided to hunt it down. My memory didn't let me down & I easily found the place with it's huge crowd of hungry locals demanding tacos al pastor carved from the largest spit I've ever seen. I wouldn't say these are the best, but they've very good & extremely popular. Ordering them is complete chaos, as is finding a place to stand & eat them, but anything worth having is worth working for.
I only ate 2 to save room for something I noticed for the first time on my walk this morning despite having traversed Lopez a few times previously: a tiny shop specializing in my obsessed-about cochinita pibil. Cochinita Xew is on Lopez right near the other taco places I've come to love so I don't know how I missed it at first, but I'm very happy to have noticed it today. They do a terrific version of this Yucatan staple & it was full of older woman who laughed at me for only eating 2 small tacos while they had a stack of used plates on the counter indicating the end of a grand feast.
Having totally exhausted myself with hours of non-stop walking & stuffed myself with various pork-filled tacos, it was time to slowly stroll home. While I generally try to avoid being a stereotypical tourist, on days like this I enjoy it thoroughly. Sometimes you just have to soak in the sights & be amazed along with the other gawkers. ¡Besos!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Rain Delay
Everyone I asked told me that the only month when it rains a lot here is September so I'm fairly surprised that it's been raining nearly non-stop since Saturday night. It's forced me to alter some of my plans but it's more of an inconvenience than a problem. Plan #1 was Sunday when I planned to have breakfast with my friend & her family, then do some exploring.
We wanted to get an early start Sunday so I had to be ready to go by 9am. This past Sunday was the day to set clocks back here for Daylight Savings, but I didn't know it as the US does it the first Sunday in November. So I was up & ready to go an hour early, which means an hour before anyone else. It wasn't a problem because after a strong storm Saturday night the sun was shining & I went for a quick coffee while I waited. Once the rest of the city caught up with me, we jumped in a car & headed to Nueva Santa Maria. Basically a working-class suburb of the DF, Nueva Santa Maria is also near where my friend's father grew up & lived for many years. There's a great little food market in the middle with the prepared food stalls in a separate but adjacent room. My friend's father has been patronizing the same stall there for many years, even through a change of ownership, and the entire family heads there for breakfast on a regular basis.
The menu was typical of small food stalls in markets here: tacos, quesadillas, sopes & tostadas with a variety of fillings/toppings, plus pambazos, soups & some breakfast options. The difference in this stall was the amazing quality. All the tortillas they use are made fresh to order including the taco shells which is rare. These thick, rustic tortillas have terrific flavor & because they are thicker than the standard versions you only need one rather than the double-wrap you usually get. Among the many items to grace our table were tacos filled with picadillo (spiced ground beef with potatoes that made me think of Mexican corned beef hash), sopes slathered in molé Poblano, quesadillas with tinga (spicy stewed chicken with onions), tacos with chicharrones & guacamole, tacos filled with eggs scrambled with what looked like ham & peppers, and a steaming bowl of pancita (spicy & rich tripe soup). While we waited for the feast, the father ran outside to buy tamales for later plus churros to snack on while the food was cooking. I washed all this down with café de olla as my compatriots drank fruit shakes. After a quick walk through the rest of the market, we dropped the father off at home for the next leg of our journey.
We headed to "La Lagunilla" which is a big open-air flea market that springs up every Sunday on the fringes of a slightly unsavory neighborhood. There are gorgeous antiques of all kinds, tons of salvaged brass fixtures, knock offs of clothes, music & DVDs, more food (of course) and just about everything imaginable. While we walked, my friend's mother bought us drinks made from fresh lime juice, salt & sparkling mineral water- the perfect refreshment for strolling through the crowded tents. None of us went to buy anything specific, but it's an entertaining scene & well worth a spin through if you happen to be down here on a Sunday.
We further splintered again losing the sister when my friend, her mother & I headed back to my beloved Lopez in Centro Historico. My friend is a chef & wanted to check out one of the 4 large restaurant supply stores nestled among the shops & restaurants between the Palacio de Bellas Artes & the market on the corner of Arcos de Belen. Sadly, all the restaurant supply stores were closed & the rain started again on the ride over so we didn't stay long.
The "Dia de los Muertos" holiday is coming up at the beginning of November & the whole city has been preparing the traditional foods & decorations the entire time I've been here. My friend is putting together a traditional altar for her boss's cafeteria & she mentioned she wanted to get her hands on some old photos of famous dead Mexican icons for the display. I happened to stumble across a vendor with tons of prints of exactly the photos she wanted & as it was close to Lopez, we decided to swing by to see if he was open. We got lucky- most of the shops around him were closed but he was happy to help her find the prints she wanted for the altar (plus one of a bloodied & dying Emiliano Zapata for herself).
Sometime on our journey through La Lagunilla my friend remembered that she left her knives at a house in San Ángel while working a party there the night before so she called ahead & we were off. By the time we got down there it was pouring rain & my friend's mother was in a rush to get home so we took a quick spin through the neighborhood (which was a town outside the city not too long ago) but we didn't get out of the car to poke around. It's one of the places I've meant to see but haven't had the time so I'll move San Ángel to the top of the list for my next trip including a dinner at the restaurant in the Antiguo San Ángel Inn, a classic hacienda (old plantation estate) which is now a pricey hotel & famous restaurant.
After a quick stop to purchase Oaxacan chocolate from a man parked roadside, we dropped the car off at my friend's house & strolled through Lomas de Chapultepec, the neighborhood where my friend lives. In this same part of town you find "Los Pinos" which is the Mexican equivalent of the White House, plus several embassies from major nations housed in glorious mansions. We strolled by Korea, Japan, Brazil & France on our walk & I saw that it must be very good to be an ambassador.
As the rain continued all day yesterday & I have a problematic foot which was acting up, yesterday was spent resting & convalescing. When the rain didn't let up today, I decided to scrap my plan to spend the day wandering around Coyoacan & I headed out to the Museo Nacional de Antropología which is a spectacular place to see artifacts from México's "pre-Columbian" era. Warmed up by a bowl of molé de olla- a rich stew of beef, yuca, zucchini & corn- I was so entranced by the archeological finds that I didn't remember to take a single photo, so my apologies to all of you as you definitely deserve better. But now you have another good excuse to come down here & see for yourself. ¡Besos!
We wanted to get an early start Sunday so I had to be ready to go by 9am. This past Sunday was the day to set clocks back here for Daylight Savings, but I didn't know it as the US does it the first Sunday in November. So I was up & ready to go an hour early, which means an hour before anyone else. It wasn't a problem because after a strong storm Saturday night the sun was shining & I went for a quick coffee while I waited. Once the rest of the city caught up with me, we jumped in a car & headed to Nueva Santa Maria. Basically a working-class suburb of the DF, Nueva Santa Maria is also near where my friend's father grew up & lived for many years. There's a great little food market in the middle with the prepared food stalls in a separate but adjacent room. My friend's father has been patronizing the same stall there for many years, even through a change of ownership, and the entire family heads there for breakfast on a regular basis.
The menu was typical of small food stalls in markets here: tacos, quesadillas, sopes & tostadas with a variety of fillings/toppings, plus pambazos, soups & some breakfast options. The difference in this stall was the amazing quality. All the tortillas they use are made fresh to order including the taco shells which is rare. These thick, rustic tortillas have terrific flavor & because they are thicker than the standard versions you only need one rather than the double-wrap you usually get. Among the many items to grace our table were tacos filled with picadillo (spiced ground beef with potatoes that made me think of Mexican corned beef hash), sopes slathered in molé Poblano, quesadillas with tinga (spicy stewed chicken with onions), tacos with chicharrones & guacamole, tacos filled with eggs scrambled with what looked like ham & peppers, and a steaming bowl of pancita (spicy & rich tripe soup). While we waited for the feast, the father ran outside to buy tamales for later plus churros to snack on while the food was cooking. I washed all this down with café de olla as my compatriots drank fruit shakes. After a quick walk through the rest of the market, we dropped the father off at home for the next leg of our journey.
We headed to "La Lagunilla" which is a big open-air flea market that springs up every Sunday on the fringes of a slightly unsavory neighborhood. There are gorgeous antiques of all kinds, tons of salvaged brass fixtures, knock offs of clothes, music & DVDs, more food (of course) and just about everything imaginable. While we walked, my friend's mother bought us drinks made from fresh lime juice, salt & sparkling mineral water- the perfect refreshment for strolling through the crowded tents. None of us went to buy anything specific, but it's an entertaining scene & well worth a spin through if you happen to be down here on a Sunday.
We further splintered again losing the sister when my friend, her mother & I headed back to my beloved Lopez in Centro Historico. My friend is a chef & wanted to check out one of the 4 large restaurant supply stores nestled among the shops & restaurants between the Palacio de Bellas Artes & the market on the corner of Arcos de Belen. Sadly, all the restaurant supply stores were closed & the rain started again on the ride over so we didn't stay long.
The "Dia de los Muertos" holiday is coming up at the beginning of November & the whole city has been preparing the traditional foods & decorations the entire time I've been here. My friend is putting together a traditional altar for her boss's cafeteria & she mentioned she wanted to get her hands on some old photos of famous dead Mexican icons for the display. I happened to stumble across a vendor with tons of prints of exactly the photos she wanted & as it was close to Lopez, we decided to swing by to see if he was open. We got lucky- most of the shops around him were closed but he was happy to help her find the prints she wanted for the altar (plus one of a bloodied & dying Emiliano Zapata for herself).
Sometime on our journey through La Lagunilla my friend remembered that she left her knives at a house in San Ángel while working a party there the night before so she called ahead & we were off. By the time we got down there it was pouring rain & my friend's mother was in a rush to get home so we took a quick spin through the neighborhood (which was a town outside the city not too long ago) but we didn't get out of the car to poke around. It's one of the places I've meant to see but haven't had the time so I'll move San Ángel to the top of the list for my next trip including a dinner at the restaurant in the Antiguo San Ángel Inn, a classic hacienda (old plantation estate) which is now a pricey hotel & famous restaurant.
After a quick stop to purchase Oaxacan chocolate from a man parked roadside, we dropped the car off at my friend's house & strolled through Lomas de Chapultepec, the neighborhood where my friend lives. In this same part of town you find "Los Pinos" which is the Mexican equivalent of the White House, plus several embassies from major nations housed in glorious mansions. We strolled by Korea, Japan, Brazil & France on our walk & I saw that it must be very good to be an ambassador.
As the rain continued all day yesterday & I have a problematic foot which was acting up, yesterday was spent resting & convalescing. When the rain didn't let up today, I decided to scrap my plan to spend the day wandering around Coyoacan & I headed out to the Museo Nacional de Antropología which is a spectacular place to see artifacts from México's "pre-Columbian" era. Warmed up by a bowl of molé de olla- a rich stew of beef, yuca, zucchini & corn- I was so entranced by the archeological finds that I didn't remember to take a single photo, so my apologies to all of you as you definitely deserve better. But now you have another good excuse to come down here & see for yourself. ¡Besos!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Palacio de Bellas Artes
Since I missed yesterday, I'll start with my mini celebration for finishing my 3 weeks of classes from last night then write about today's adventure. So strap yourself in for another lengthy weekend post, you lucky dogs!
For weeks my good friend here has been promising (threatening?) to take me to the Barracuda Diner right near my apartment. Last night seemed like the perfect night to make good as we were both exhausted & it's not only close but very laid back. She claims Barracuda is the only diner in the D.F., and I haven't seen anything to prove otherwise. It's a very surreal Mexican take on a modern remake of a classic 1950s diner / ice cream parlor. The folks behind the bar dress like old-time soda jerks while the waiters dress in bowling shirts. The music was mostly Mexican remakes of classic 1950s US hits, but sadly drifted into 1980s pop by the time we left.
And the menu was really odd. The appetizers were split between classic Mexican dishes & Mexicanized diner standards. The bulk of the main courses were hamburgers & hot dogs, most of which were also Mexicanized. For example, I started with "fideo seco" which is a classic home-style Mexican dish made up of small, spiky vermicelli-esque noodles cooked in a chipotle sauce until the liquid is totally absorbed & it can live up to it's name ("seco" means dry). Then the noodles get topped with the ubiquitous crema, cotija crumbles & sliced avocado. Very tasty but I'm willing to bet everything I have that no diner in the 1950s in the US ever served it.
The burger choices all had toppings that were either distinctly Mexican or what a Mexican who hadn't eaten many burgers in the US would think was authentically American. Take the "Cholita" topped with Oaxacan cheese, guacamole, chipotle sauce & "cebollas crunchy" or fried onion crisps. The burger itself reminded me of the ones I tried as a child in London before the realization set in that the English have no clue how to make a hamburger, but combined with the toppings the overall result was pleasant if almost completely unlike a US hamburger.
They strangely only offered Heineken or Paulaner Hefe-Weiss for beer options so I tried a Chaparrito which is an uncarbonated pineapple flavored soda that was popular here in the 1950s but is quite rare now. I much preferred the tequila & fresh-made lemonade I had to banish the taste of the Chaparrito, but I'm always happy to have the chance taste something new. Despite their "legendary" shakes & malteds, I had eaten my fill & departed sans-dessert to crawl into bed.
Today my plan was to walk back to the Centro Historico district to check out the Palacio de Bellas Artes. It didn't hurt that the Palacio is right on Lopez, the street where I ate so well only 2 weekends ago. A day of sightseeing & feasting was in the works so I woke up very excited.
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is one of the most famous buildings here & is also the nation's premiere performance arts theater, hosting an impressive array of opera, classical music & dance. On top of the murals by legendary Mexican artists on the walls in the main chamber, it houses 2 museums & one of them currently has a terrific show of El Greco paintings on display. The chance to combine seeing an architectural masterpiece and an exhibit of one of my favorite artists at the same time is too good to pass up.
The building itself lived up to the hype, gorgeous both inside & out (as the photos here poorly display). The exhibit had spectacular examples of El Greco's finest borrowed from several museums in Spain & the personal collection of Carlos Slim, the cellular tycoon who is México's richest man & one of the 3 richest in the world. My only complaint is that the paintings were lit terribly & everyone there was complaining about the glare that made it tough to see an entire painting. We had to look at parts of most paintings while moving around to shift the glare to places we've already seen. My favorite room had portraits on 3 walls of Jesus & the 12 apostles arranged in the same order as in "The Last Supper" & they were the only ones lit perfectly.
Right outside the Palacio is a beautiful park where I dallied for a while & watched a parade of demonic floats go by on one of the main streets in the area while munching on a small "leche quermada" ice (which sounds much better in Spanish than the "burnt goat's milk" translation). At roughly the half-way mark in my walk home, I passed another park in which an excellent mambo band was performing & I stayed for several songs to listen & watch the massive flock of dancing people crowding the central gallery of the park.
I saved the bulk of the food talk for the end because I decided to make today a day of tacos. I vowed to stop & sample one at every stand I saw with a good crowd as I wandered to the Palacio & back. My first stop (& the only stop pre-Palacio) was Taquería Gonzalez where I loved the ones I had last time around. I had a suadero taco (brisket-like beef) with diced potatoes as the chorizo & nopales were arriving at the same time I was & wouldn't be ready for a while. It was every bit as excellent as I remembered.
After the parade passed, I wandered back to Lopez where I spotted a large group huddled around a taquería similar to Gonzalez so I got on line. I was intrigued when I saw the sign touting chorizo verde for the first time since I left Toluca but I was too late & the woman ahead of me got the last green sausage taco. I settled for carne de res en enchilada. "En enchilada" means coated in spices- not rolled into enchiladas- & is a popular treatment for both thin cuts of meat & for dried fruits. This little taquería gives Gonzalez a run for it's money both figuratively & literally.
A little further up I saw 5 women eating tacos al pastor at a tiny counter & was drawn in. I devoured my 1 small taco in 3 bites & enjoyed it very much, although it wasn't quite as good as El Huequito a few blocks away. At 5 pesos it cost me roughly 40¢ at the current 13 - 1 rate & blows away anything I could get at home for that price.
On my walks to & from Centro Historico I had noticed a few stands selling tacos de birria which is a specialty from Jalisco so I knew I had to stop for my first taste of this treat on my way home. I couldn't tell you what the spices are, but huge pieces of pork are simmered until tender in a rich broth then hacked into small pieces & made in to tacos as small as tacos al pastor. You can also opt to have your diced birria tossed into a bowl filled with the cooking liquid instead of taco-ized but that looked like it would be too filling for my needs today. The sweet older woman running the stand was so concerned that a man my size only intended to eat one taco that she offered me one for free. I didn't have the heart to turn her down, but I insisted of paying for both as the entire tab was only 8 pesos.
Then I was off to the park where I witnessed the mambo invasion. Ringing the park are stands selling all kinds of trinkets, oddities &, of course, foods. A man coating the delicious local pink pine nuts in sugar using a large copper pan offered me a still-warm sample & I had to buy a small bag although I don't know when I'll get around to eating them. Then I saw I sight I had never seen before & had to make my final taco stop.
There was a packed stand selling many of the typical tacos I love, but at one end they had a stack of what appeared to be green tempura patties. When I finally got through the throng, I was told they are "tortas de brocoli". Basically they are patties made of well-seasoned broccoli with a little bit of cheese & egg as a binder, then fried in a fluffy batter & quickly thrown on a griddle to reheat them when one is ordered. The tortilla was woefully overwhelmed by the torta which was roughly the same diameter, but as I managed to grab a stool I decided to just rip apart the torta & eat it without bothering with the taco shell. I did have to use the tortilla to eat the "torta de califlor" I noticed at the last minute & ordered to keep me company while walking away, although it was more like a wax paper wrapper for my purposes than part of the dish. Excellent stuff & unlike anything I've had here yet.
A few blocks later after fighting off the urge to bite a chunk out of the roasted baby goat in the photo above, I couldn't resist a pastry stand in the doorway of a small market with it's sign advertising "Pastel Imposible". Even though "Impossible Cake" sounds like something a comic book superhero would eat, it's really a traditional Mexican dessert consisting of a layer of flan balancing on a layer of rich chocolate cake. The impossible part is having the 2 layers keep separate while cooking at the same time, but still have the ability to keep their shape when cut into slices. I grabbed a slice to entertain me while writing this post & I have to give myself credit for an excellent decision. ¡Besos!
For weeks my good friend here has been promising (threatening?) to take me to the Barracuda Diner right near my apartment. Last night seemed like the perfect night to make good as we were both exhausted & it's not only close but very laid back. She claims Barracuda is the only diner in the D.F., and I haven't seen anything to prove otherwise. It's a very surreal Mexican take on a modern remake of a classic 1950s diner / ice cream parlor. The folks behind the bar dress like old-time soda jerks while the waiters dress in bowling shirts. The music was mostly Mexican remakes of classic 1950s US hits, but sadly drifted into 1980s pop by the time we left.
And the menu was really odd. The appetizers were split between classic Mexican dishes & Mexicanized diner standards. The bulk of the main courses were hamburgers & hot dogs, most of which were also Mexicanized. For example, I started with "fideo seco" which is a classic home-style Mexican dish made up of small, spiky vermicelli-esque noodles cooked in a chipotle sauce until the liquid is totally absorbed & it can live up to it's name ("seco" means dry). Then the noodles get topped with the ubiquitous crema, cotija crumbles & sliced avocado. Very tasty but I'm willing to bet everything I have that no diner in the 1950s in the US ever served it.
The burger choices all had toppings that were either distinctly Mexican or what a Mexican who hadn't eaten many burgers in the US would think was authentically American. Take the "Cholita" topped with Oaxacan cheese, guacamole, chipotle sauce & "cebollas crunchy" or fried onion crisps. The burger itself reminded me of the ones I tried as a child in London before the realization set in that the English have no clue how to make a hamburger, but combined with the toppings the overall result was pleasant if almost completely unlike a US hamburger.
They strangely only offered Heineken or Paulaner Hefe-Weiss for beer options so I tried a Chaparrito which is an uncarbonated pineapple flavored soda that was popular here in the 1950s but is quite rare now. I much preferred the tequila & fresh-made lemonade I had to banish the taste of the Chaparrito, but I'm always happy to have the chance taste something new. Despite their "legendary" shakes & malteds, I had eaten my fill & departed sans-dessert to crawl into bed.
Today my plan was to walk back to the Centro Historico district to check out the Palacio de Bellas Artes. It didn't hurt that the Palacio is right on Lopez, the street where I ate so well only 2 weekends ago. A day of sightseeing & feasting was in the works so I woke up very excited.
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is one of the most famous buildings here & is also the nation's premiere performance arts theater, hosting an impressive array of opera, classical music & dance. On top of the murals by legendary Mexican artists on the walls in the main chamber, it houses 2 museums & one of them currently has a terrific show of El Greco paintings on display. The chance to combine seeing an architectural masterpiece and an exhibit of one of my favorite artists at the same time is too good to pass up.
The building itself lived up to the hype, gorgeous both inside & out (as the photos here poorly display). The exhibit had spectacular examples of El Greco's finest borrowed from several museums in Spain & the personal collection of Carlos Slim, the cellular tycoon who is México's richest man & one of the 3 richest in the world. My only complaint is that the paintings were lit terribly & everyone there was complaining about the glare that made it tough to see an entire painting. We had to look at parts of most paintings while moving around to shift the glare to places we've already seen. My favorite room had portraits on 3 walls of Jesus & the 12 apostles arranged in the same order as in "The Last Supper" & they were the only ones lit perfectly.
Right outside the Palacio is a beautiful park where I dallied for a while & watched a parade of demonic floats go by on one of the main streets in the area while munching on a small "leche quermada" ice (which sounds much better in Spanish than the "burnt goat's milk" translation). At roughly the half-way mark in my walk home, I passed another park in which an excellent mambo band was performing & I stayed for several songs to listen & watch the massive flock of dancing people crowding the central gallery of the park.
I saved the bulk of the food talk for the end because I decided to make today a day of tacos. I vowed to stop & sample one at every stand I saw with a good crowd as I wandered to the Palacio & back. My first stop (& the only stop pre-Palacio) was Taquería Gonzalez where I loved the ones I had last time around. I had a suadero taco (brisket-like beef) with diced potatoes as the chorizo & nopales were arriving at the same time I was & wouldn't be ready for a while. It was every bit as excellent as I remembered.
After the parade passed, I wandered back to Lopez where I spotted a large group huddled around a taquería similar to Gonzalez so I got on line. I was intrigued when I saw the sign touting chorizo verde for the first time since I left Toluca but I was too late & the woman ahead of me got the last green sausage taco. I settled for carne de res en enchilada. "En enchilada" means coated in spices- not rolled into enchiladas- & is a popular treatment for both thin cuts of meat & for dried fruits. This little taquería gives Gonzalez a run for it's money both figuratively & literally.
A little further up I saw 5 women eating tacos al pastor at a tiny counter & was drawn in. I devoured my 1 small taco in 3 bites & enjoyed it very much, although it wasn't quite as good as El Huequito a few blocks away. At 5 pesos it cost me roughly 40¢ at the current 13 - 1 rate & blows away anything I could get at home for that price.
On my walks to & from Centro Historico I had noticed a few stands selling tacos de birria which is a specialty from Jalisco so I knew I had to stop for my first taste of this treat on my way home. I couldn't tell you what the spices are, but huge pieces of pork are simmered until tender in a rich broth then hacked into small pieces & made in to tacos as small as tacos al pastor. You can also opt to have your diced birria tossed into a bowl filled with the cooking liquid instead of taco-ized but that looked like it would be too filling for my needs today. The sweet older woman running the stand was so concerned that a man my size only intended to eat one taco that she offered me one for free. I didn't have the heart to turn her down, but I insisted of paying for both as the entire tab was only 8 pesos.
Then I was off to the park where I witnessed the mambo invasion. Ringing the park are stands selling all kinds of trinkets, oddities &, of course, foods. A man coating the delicious local pink pine nuts in sugar using a large copper pan offered me a still-warm sample & I had to buy a small bag although I don't know when I'll get around to eating them. Then I saw I sight I had never seen before & had to make my final taco stop.
There was a packed stand selling many of the typical tacos I love, but at one end they had a stack of what appeared to be green tempura patties. When I finally got through the throng, I was told they are "tortas de brocoli". Basically they are patties made of well-seasoned broccoli with a little bit of cheese & egg as a binder, then fried in a fluffy batter & quickly thrown on a griddle to reheat them when one is ordered. The tortilla was woefully overwhelmed by the torta which was roughly the same diameter, but as I managed to grab a stool I decided to just rip apart the torta & eat it without bothering with the taco shell. I did have to use the tortilla to eat the "torta de califlor" I noticed at the last minute & ordered to keep me company while walking away, although it was more like a wax paper wrapper for my purposes than part of the dish. Excellent stuff & unlike anything I've had here yet.
A few blocks later after fighting off the urge to bite a chunk out of the roasted baby goat in the photo above, I couldn't resist a pastry stand in the doorway of a small market with it's sign advertising "Pastel Imposible". Even though "Impossible Cake" sounds like something a comic book superhero would eat, it's really a traditional Mexican dessert consisting of a layer of flan balancing on a layer of rich chocolate cake. The impossible part is having the 2 layers keep separate while cooking at the same time, but still have the ability to keep their shape when cut into slices. I grabbed a slice to entertain me while writing this post & I have to give myself credit for an excellent decision. ¡Besos!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Healthy Diet?
Today was a fairly uninteresting day from a story-telling standpoint so I figured I would address a common question I've gotten from a lot of people about the safety of the things I eat & drink here. Tales of "Montezuma's Revenge" have been circling long before my first trip south of the border & it seems like many people have heard stories of someone who went to México & got terribly ill. So I'm going to go over the 3 prevailing rumors to address the fears & my actual experiences.
1. You can't drink the water.
This is the one that I think has the most credibility although it's been greatly exaggerated. While I rarely drink tap water here, I always brush my teeth with it (including rinsing) & I have drank tap water at a couple of hotels that claim to have specific water filtration systems for their sinks. I have drinks with ice in them on a regular basis, plus I've had more than my share of café de olla from street vendors which must be brewed with tap water. Just today, I had several small glasses of a drink called "agua jamaica" which is essentially a cold-brewed hibiscus tea in a restaurant that had to have used tap water as the drinks were free as part of a 3-course lunch for 45 pesos, or roughly $4. I can not recall a single time I got sick from any of these "risks" so I would say that with some common sense the water is not to be feared.
2. You shouldn't eat fresh produce.
Total crap based on the fallacy that Mexicans don't wash their produce. Most places scrub their produce thoroughly so you have little or no risk at all. I've eaten a phenomenal variety of fruits & vegetables in a similar variety of settings & I've never had a problem. Not only have I been safe, but the flavors in the produce here can boggle the mind of a New Yorker. For example, when in Oaxaca with my friends Tim & Susan, Susan purchased sliced cucumber with lime juice & hot sauce from a street vendor. She told us we had to taste it & after inhaling hers we were so impressed we needed to buy a second round. The cucumbers were SO cucumber-y that we couldn't stop with one serving. This is a common reaction I have to the produce here.
3. You should avoid food from street carts.
You know my answer to this one. Besides, if you've ever eaten a hot dog from a cart in NYC you've taken a far greater risk in my opinion. I eat from street carts often & I've done it everywhere in this country I've visited, & I have to recommend that any food lover do the same. Especially if the cart has a lot of business which ensures not only rapid turnover of ingredients but also flavors delicious enough to inspire fans when there is a ton of competition. I've long said the standardized laws for food cleanliness in the US are overly broad & often nonsensical so I have no fear eating meat that has been stored at ambient temperature for hours, or anything cooked using methods that are open to the elements. If pork cooked to medium on a spit on the street is wrong, I ain't never gonna be right.
All this said, I did eat green sausage from a roadside shack so maybe I've built up a tolerance to these kinds of things. In which case you'd be wise to eat only at hotel restaurants & to drink only bottled water from Europe. ¡Besos!
1. You can't drink the water.
This is the one that I think has the most credibility although it's been greatly exaggerated. While I rarely drink tap water here, I always brush my teeth with it (including rinsing) & I have drank tap water at a couple of hotels that claim to have specific water filtration systems for their sinks. I have drinks with ice in them on a regular basis, plus I've had more than my share of café de olla from street vendors which must be brewed with tap water. Just today, I had several small glasses of a drink called "agua jamaica" which is essentially a cold-brewed hibiscus tea in a restaurant that had to have used tap water as the drinks were free as part of a 3-course lunch for 45 pesos, or roughly $4. I can not recall a single time I got sick from any of these "risks" so I would say that with some common sense the water is not to be feared.
2. You shouldn't eat fresh produce.
Total crap based on the fallacy that Mexicans don't wash their produce. Most places scrub their produce thoroughly so you have little or no risk at all. I've eaten a phenomenal variety of fruits & vegetables in a similar variety of settings & I've never had a problem. Not only have I been safe, but the flavors in the produce here can boggle the mind of a New Yorker. For example, when in Oaxaca with my friends Tim & Susan, Susan purchased sliced cucumber with lime juice & hot sauce from a street vendor. She told us we had to taste it & after inhaling hers we were so impressed we needed to buy a second round. The cucumbers were SO cucumber-y that we couldn't stop with one serving. This is a common reaction I have to the produce here.
3. You should avoid food from street carts.
You know my answer to this one. Besides, if you've ever eaten a hot dog from a cart in NYC you've taken a far greater risk in my opinion. I eat from street carts often & I've done it everywhere in this country I've visited, & I have to recommend that any food lover do the same. Especially if the cart has a lot of business which ensures not only rapid turnover of ingredients but also flavors delicious enough to inspire fans when there is a ton of competition. I've long said the standardized laws for food cleanliness in the US are overly broad & often nonsensical so I have no fear eating meat that has been stored at ambient temperature for hours, or anything cooked using methods that are open to the elements. If pork cooked to medium on a spit on the street is wrong, I ain't never gonna be right.
All this said, I did eat green sausage from a roadside shack so maybe I've built up a tolerance to these kinds of things. In which case you'd be wise to eat only at hotel restaurants & to drink only bottled water from Europe. ¡Besos!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Better Late Than Never
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I missed school yesterday but didn't care much as it hasn't been going well. I got a strange email later in the day saying that they decided that I was right & that the classes they stuck me in weren't appropriate for me & they arranged for private instruction which was supposed to start that morning. It would have been nice if they decided this with more than 4 days out of 15 to go, or if they made any effort to discuss this with me so I could be sure to show up. But I'm glad for the opportunity to salvage something out of the time & money I've dedicated to this endeavor.
The class today was exactly what I had hoped for since signing up. The teacher actually wanted to hear what I already knew & where I learned it, plus what my goals for the lessons are. Based on less than 5 minutes of discussion, we jumped into conversation-driven lessons which made much more sense to me. I'm actually excited for school tomorrow for the first time since my disappointment on day one. Keep your fingers crossed that I'll manage to pack in a ton of knowledge in the 2 short days of lessons I have left.
After class I found myself wandering down a beautifully landscaped median in between the 2 lanes of Álvaro Obregón, one of the bigger streets near my apartment. Each block has benches, gardens & a small tiled fountain in the middle. I don't really know where I was going, but I worked up an appetite & began to wander towards a side street in search of lunch. When a woman stopped to ask me directions in English without even attempting to speak to me in Spanish (I apparently radiate gringo), I decided on my goal.
I would walk down streets I haven't yet traversed generally towards the tented outdoor stalls where I scored my pambazo last week. If I stumbled across something that looked good, I would stop. If not I knew a good meal would be waiting for me at the end regardless. A lot of places weren't yet open despite being after 1pm & I peered into some places that were even a bit too seedy for me so I made it all the way back to the tents. But instead of getting the same thing I loved last time, I made a bold move & ordered something I've never had: a "tlacoyo".
I've never had one for 2 reasons- first is that I had no idea what it is. Second is that it's not easy to pronounce a "T" & "L" together especially when the rest of the sentence is in a foreign language. I can't believe I waited so long, although I did have to repeat my order 3 times before I expressed myself clearly enough.
A tlacoyo begins with the same handful of blue corn masa that starts a quesadilla. Instead of pressing it flat, it's first worked into a football-shaped mass then an opening is poked into the middle & it gets stuffed with a choice of filling (I went with refried beans). It's carefully shaped into a flatter oval in such a way that the filling stays safely locked inside & grilled until the outside is crusty & the inside is slightly molten. To finish it off, it's topped with crumbled cotija cheese, lettuce, cilantro, julienned poblano pepper & spicy salsa. It reminded me of a Salvadoran treat called a "pupusa" which I learned to love years ago but haven't had in ages. It may have taken me more than 35 years to have my first tlacoyo, but I imagine my second will come much sooner. ¡Besos!
The class today was exactly what I had hoped for since signing up. The teacher actually wanted to hear what I already knew & where I learned it, plus what my goals for the lessons are. Based on less than 5 minutes of discussion, we jumped into conversation-driven lessons which made much more sense to me. I'm actually excited for school tomorrow for the first time since my disappointment on day one. Keep your fingers crossed that I'll manage to pack in a ton of knowledge in the 2 short days of lessons I have left.
After class I found myself wandering down a beautifully landscaped median in between the 2 lanes of Álvaro Obregón, one of the bigger streets near my apartment. Each block has benches, gardens & a small tiled fountain in the middle. I don't really know where I was going, but I worked up an appetite & began to wander towards a side street in search of lunch. When a woman stopped to ask me directions in English without even attempting to speak to me in Spanish (I apparently radiate gringo), I decided on my goal.
I would walk down streets I haven't yet traversed generally towards the tented outdoor stalls where I scored my pambazo last week. If I stumbled across something that looked good, I would stop. If not I knew a good meal would be waiting for me at the end regardless. A lot of places weren't yet open despite being after 1pm & I peered into some places that were even a bit too seedy for me so I made it all the way back to the tents. But instead of getting the same thing I loved last time, I made a bold move & ordered something I've never had: a "tlacoyo".
I've never had one for 2 reasons- first is that I had no idea what it is. Second is that it's not easy to pronounce a "T" & "L" together especially when the rest of the sentence is in a foreign language. I can't believe I waited so long, although I did have to repeat my order 3 times before I expressed myself clearly enough.
A tlacoyo begins with the same handful of blue corn masa that starts a quesadilla. Instead of pressing it flat, it's first worked into a football-shaped mass then an opening is poked into the middle & it gets stuffed with a choice of filling (I went with refried beans). It's carefully shaped into a flatter oval in such a way that the filling stays safely locked inside & grilled until the outside is crusty & the inside is slightly molten. To finish it off, it's topped with crumbled cotija cheese, lettuce, cilantro, julienned poblano pepper & spicy salsa. It reminded me of a Salvadoran treat called a "pupusa" which I learned to love years ago but haven't had in ages. It may have taken me more than 35 years to have my first tlacoyo, but I imagine my second will come much sooner. ¡Besos!
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