Posted on

And the winner is: Queretaro barbacoa named “Best Taco in the World” at London gala


Oprime aqui ara leer Este artículo en español 
“The envelope please…”
On a crisp, cool evening in London recently ‘The World’s Seven Tastiest Fast Feasts Awards’ were revealed at a gala event. Chowzter, a web site and app dedicated to promoting ‘traditional fast food’ was the proud sponsor. The occasion was held as a provocative flipside to the glitzy World’s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony being held the next night, to highlight ‘low-end’ culinary treasures. Leading global food bloggers, top chefs and food connoisseurs gathered for the first-ever awards ceremony at a trendy London club, the Village Underground. British comedian Alexander Armstrong buoyantly hosted the casual awards gala celebrating the tastiest dishes in seven categories: sandwich, sausage, pizza, curry, burger, fried chicken and taco. Chowzter’s rankings were based on the nominations of a team of more than fifty street food experts from around the world.
English pizza wins over Italian!
A local English pizza, the margherita from Story Deli, won first prize as ‘world’s tastiest fast feast’, provoking many Italians in attendance.
“Nobody can beat the Italians for making amazing pizzas that build on, and respect, centuries of tradition,” Chowzter founder Jeffrey Merrihue said in an interview. “But Story has taken that tradition and turned it on its head, creating a pizza that combines great flavors with an unusual texture.”
Fezes off…
While the evening focused on highlighting delicious dishes from across the globe, the gala also recognized one individual passionate about her work and eager to contribute to the food-blogging industry.  Istanbul’s food storyteller and photographer Tuba Satan was honored with the Chief Chowzter Outstanding Contribution Award.  She told us: “Food is not always eaten in the best places, but this is real food, for real people; it’s accessible and local and it’s important to get the word out.”

Chef Martín Morales, Nicholas Gilman and comedian Alexander Armstrong
A taco takes it
And out of five nominations for best taco in the world (three of them non-Mexican!) the prize went to Barbacoa Santiago in Querétaro. The tacos at Santiago are beyond legendary with folks who make the pilgrimage just for the experience. Wrapped in maguey leaves and pit-cooked overnight over wood, the fragrant meat is served on freshly made corn tortillas augmented with hand-ground roast chile salsa that would bring a tear to the eye of the most hardened charro.

Keep cool and collect
The award was presented by Martín Morales of London’s Ceviche Restaurant and accepted by Good Food in Mexico City’s own Nicholas Gilman, who flew in for the occasion to represent his adopted country. And when the trophy arrives a ceremony will be held and the deserving winners will be lauded. ¡Que Viva México! 
Barbacoa Santiago, Carretera Mexico-Querétaro 152.1, Palmillas, San Juan del Río, Querétaro

Posted on

Close to home: Maximo Bistrot Local



Note: The fine folks at Maximo have been recently caught in the vortex of a socioeconomic media fest, shedding light on ugly aspects of Mexican society: corruption and classism. See: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/world/americas/restaurant-http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/world/americas/restaurant-patrons-behavior-is-panned.html?ref=restaurantspatrons-behavior-is-panned.html?ref=restaurants
Here, I pay homage to this fine venue by republishing my review of last year.-
I love to criticize. I was raised in New York after all, where criticism is an art form. But Máximo Bistrot Local, a fine new venue for creative cuisine in the constantly up-and-coming Colonia Roma, defies even me to find fault.

Cool and chic Máximo replaces a dowdy medical supply store; where wheelchairs and artificial limbs were once sold you can find the best brandade de morue this side of the Seine. The space, airy and sunny during the day, warm and cozy at night, has been smartly and discreetly given new life. Windows and rooms, once blocked up, were opened, those lovely old tile floors, until not so long ago routinely torn out by tasteless renovators, have been replaced. Simple but comfortable wooden bistro chairs and tables are given room to breathe, both inside and out on the street. Adornment is minimal. Ambient music is mercifully turned low. It’s a space you’re happy to spend some time in. The kitchen is open to view—and the food coming out of that kitchen is worthy of hyperbole.



Chef Eduardo García, formerly of the esteemed Pujol, also worked at Manhattan’s star-strewn Le Bernardín, that high-falutin´temple of good fish. He has brought all of his gastronomic skills to his own place, along with his wife, the affable Gabriela. The only thing they left behind is pretension. The restaurant’s publicity claims that ‘materia prima’ is local and organic, if possible. The chef visits our spectacular markets daily, choosing what looks best,
then adroitly improvising a new menu each day.


The dishes are French and Italian in theory, Spanish in their simple elaboration, all with soulful respect for Mexican tradition. Food looks like food, not art.
The menu wisely sticks to five or six appetizers and the same number of ‘platos fuertes’.

A recent starter was so simply labeled it almost escaped my notice. ‘Sopa de raiz de apio y chicharro’ makes use of that divine root so common in France and so elusive here: celerie rave (celeriac in English). A simple, light cream of fresh pea, green as a Provençal field in spring, is perfumed with a refined essence of celery. The color and fragrance would have pleased Mme. Chanel. Esparragos y holandesa are not toyed with, just done correctly. They looked like the end result of an episode of The French Chef.

Another example: perfectly grilled octopus, tender as a baby’s thigh (must be) is complimented by a drizzle of ‘guajillo emulsion’. A couple of days later this combination had morphed into a brick-red creamy reduced chili sauce and a generous puddle of sautéed huitlacoche – essentially Mexican.
The tuna arrived seared on the top and sushi-pink in the middle, cloaked in a robe of red Mediterranean peperonata. Likewise, ‘filete de cerdo’ is left blushing and juicy in the center, as pork should be unless you’re doing carnitas. Smart.

Desserts are safely relegated to such Parisian bistro classics as a crackly crème bruleé or a rich pot de crème de chocolate. Richer still was a cheesecake of goat cheese, the likes of which I’ve seen neither in Paris, New York nor el DF.

The wine list is carefully chosen, featuring some unusual Mexican vintages—and there’s a good range of prices. Dinner with a glass of wine hovers around $300 pesos per person. A prix fixe comida is offered on weekdays for $150 pesos (ask if you don't see it on the menu).
After an excellent repast on a recent sun-drenched Sunday, my astute dining companion, The French Lady, recalled her favorite bistro in Paris, L’Ebauchoir. Wrinkling her nose in typical Parisian fashion, she agreed to be quoted. “This place reminds me of it.” she said. “It is very, very good!”

She needn’t say more. Nor will I.

Maximo Bistrot Local
Tonalá 133, corner of Zacatecas, (3 blocks south of
Av. Alvaro Obregón) Colonia Roma
Tel. 5264 4291
Open Tuesday – Saturday : 1 -11:00 pm,
Sunday, 11:00 am-7:00 pm
closed Monday


Ver mapa más grande
Posted on

On the Town: Tapeando



Berezi Gastrobar
Plaza Samara: Antonio Dovali Jaime 70, Santa Fe. 
Tel.  5292 4753
$$$

A scallop never looked so good
This smart new ‘bar de tapas’ is located on the mezzanine level of a new but characterless mall in Santa Fe, overlooking a pretty landscaped garden.  It offers Spanish classics well done: croquetas those perfect little béchamel balls, are crunchy out/creamy in and served with pleasantly mild ali-oli. We’ve never seen, in Mexico, the little skewered gildas, named after Rita Hayworth’s character in the eponymous film.
Costillas, little morsels of pork  rib are falling-apart tender and lightly sweetened with balsamic.
And callo con romesco y velo de azafrán is a minimally cooked scallop that sits proudly on a dollop of smoky/tangy hazelnut-thickened sauce from Catalonia and is worth the trip to this un-loved part of town.


Capote
Álvaro Obregón 179, Colonia Roma Tel. 5511-0429
Tapeando at Capote
Open: Tuesday- Sunday: 2 p.m.-2 a.m.
$$

Pedro Martín, the Canarian chef once of Tezka and other high-falutin’ D.F. venues has opened an unpretentiously cool bar at the end of Alvaro Obregón with a few tables in and out (which are these days quite difficult to procure). The menu is all tapas, simple-to-complex little dishes, reasonably priced meant to be shared and accompanied by wine from the wallet-friendly list. Service, however, tends to range from perfunctory to downright rude, a rarity in this town of smiling hospitality.





Kaah Siis
Mazaryk 123, corner Schiller,  Col. Polanco
Tel. 5250-0274
Open Monday- Saturday 1:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.
www.kaahsiis.com
$$$

A new venue for interesting ‘Alta Cocina Mexicana’ offers two tasting menus based on local artisanal and seasonal products. Dishes can be shared or one can take advantage of the tasting menu. The eight course mega is a bit too much even for this glutton – go for the six.

Posted on

You’re the Top: Q&A With Máximo’s Chef Eduardo García


Gabi & Lalo photo © by Peter Norman
Máximo Bistrot Local opened its doors at the beginning of 2012, and quickly became the hottest place in Mexico City. It’s an unpretentious European-style bistro in the once opulent Colonia Roma neighborhood, which is in the midst of a redevelopment boom. Cool and chic Máximo replaces a dowdy medical supply store; once a trash-strewn corner with little foot traffic is now a well-known gastronomic destination. You can find the best brandade de morue this side of the Seine here. Or a classic ceviche. While Mexico-born chef and owner Eduardo García likes rustic French cooking, his feet are firmly planted on native ground, and he often includes typical Mexican ingredients such as chilies, hot and mild; cuitlacoche, the rich corn fungus known as “Mexican truffle”; or country herbs like epazote in his dishes.

The chef formerly worked under Enrique Olvera of Pujol, the esteemed local palace of experimental gastronomy, and also toiled in Manhattan’s star-strewn Le Bernardín where seafood reigns.
García represents the new generation of Mexican cooks who, while well aware of what’s going on in Spain, California and New York, have come back home, incorporating these ideas into their native cuisine.

Eduardo García puts ‘local’ in Máximo Bistrot Local
The chef has brought expert gastronomic skills to his own place, opened on a shoestring and run with his wife, the affable Gabriela, who acts as host. Máximo Bistrot Local’s publicity claims thatmateria prima is local and organic, if possible. The chef visits the city’s spectacular markets daily, choosing what looks best, then adroitly improvising a new menu each day. The food coming out of his kitchen is worthy of hyperbole.

How is what you cook related to classic Mexican cuisine?
Our menu is based not only on Mexican cuisine, but also on local ingredients — hence the name “bistro local.” But I like to include a few “authentic” dishes. The relationship between my cuisine and Mexican cooking is all about ingredients, methods and philosophy. I think my growing up in Mexico and having trained here infuses everything I do. For example, I often take advantage of the huge variety of chilies used in our cooking, and the specifically Mexican ways of preparing them, such as toasting and grinding.

And to classic European cooking?
I wouldn’t say “classic European” but French and rustic Italian. Again, the methods are a big part of the relationship. I take what I consider to be the best techniques from the aforementioned European traditions.

What are the advantages of running a restaurant in Mexico City?
In the city, purveyors are more focused than in other parts of Mexico. We’re in the middle of the country and everything is available here; I can get seafood from either coast hours after it is caught.
the provinces — Mexicans tend to be conventional when it comes to food.

What’s coming up on your menu? 
I’m planning a trip to visit small restaurants in Europe to get more inspiration for my menu. I’m more interested in experiencing local, time-honored cooking than the avant-garde stuff.

What is you latest ingredient obsession? 
Fresh seafood from Ensenada. There are extraordinary ingredients there. Percebes, for example, are barnacles not well-known outside of Spain, where they cost a fortune. Here they are accessible and I’ve been experimenting with them: I included them in a ceviche recently.

What is your favorite restaurant/chef in town?
I don’t hang out much with the “top” chefs or at fancy restaurants. My favorite place is Fonda Las Margaritas in Colonia Del Valle [a quiet residential neighborhood south of the center]. It’s where I like to eat on my day off. It’s a simple old-fashioned neighborhood fonda that does really authentic no-frills Mexican food.

And out of town?
Casa Oaxaca, in Oaxaca City. My friend, Chef Alejandro Ruíz, is doing incredible things with local market foods there. I always look forward to seeing what he’s up to.

Where do you see the restaurant scene headed here in Mexico City?
The culinary scene here is expanding, as are people’s palates. I think that Mexico City is becoming one of the top destinations for food. New restaurants as well as old established ones are using more fresh and local products. And that’s a real good thing.

And what are your life plans?
I’ve been offered jobs here and abroad, book deals, even a TV show! I’ve turned them all down. Because I just don’t have time to do anything but cook, and make sure everything in my place is the best it can be. I’ve seen some of my contemporaries fall prey to the “star chef” phenomena — and their restaurants suffer for this. You can’t be a star and maintain a great kitchen unless it is established and you are able to train younger chefs to be as good as you. I know I’m not there yet. We’re doing amazingly well, are always full and now have sidewalk rights so a few more tables. But it’s very hard work, six days a week, exhausting. I hope I can keep it up.
 
Gabi & Lalo II photo © by Peter Norman

Note: This article is reprinted, by popular demand, from Zesterdaily.com, for which I am a columnist.



Posted on

The Best Thing I Ate This Week: White on White


"It's not Italian" I muttered,  as I nodded in assent against my better judgement, not wishing to go against the grain. We were ordering for my birthday dinner at what's just about my favorite restaurant in the world.

Ajo blanco, or white gazpacho is a traditional alternative to the better known red gazpacho. It's ubiquitous in the south of Spain, Andalucia to be more precise, during the warm months. A soup cool in every way, it's as good as the sum of its ingredients, and the balancing skills of its maker. Olive oil, pulverized almonds, vinegar, garlic, perhaps a little bread are whipped into a smooth cream and served over green grapes.

The warm months have arrived in Mexico City, dry dusty desert-like days will be upon us until the rains come. So, yes, a cold soup is a good idea.

It arrived after squash blossom flowers which were fried so light they seemed to levitate off the plate like little cumulous clouds.

The soup was textbook perfect. The balance between sweet, salty, tart and umami was 3 star Michelin.

But Rosetta specializes in regional Italian fare, not southern Spanish. I asked the brilliant chef Elena Reygadas why, why she did it. "My Spanish grandmother made it and when the weather turns warm I get nostalgic - and there just aren't so many cold Italian soups I like." Chef Reygadas' touch is to add a little green apple and tarragon. So the soup is her own. Any Italian would approve.

Go for the white gazpacho while you can. Then eat pasta.

Note: Listen to an in-depth interview with the author: http://colinmarshall.libsyn.com/s3e18-first-rate-second-world-eating-with-nicholas-gilman

Posted on

Something’s Fishy in the city: Tacos de Pescado




It’s Lent and time to make the big sacrifice: no meat. Many Mexicans do indeed forego the red stuff in spite of intense carnivorous cravings. Comida corrida joints offer vegetarian lunches, featuring cauliflower tortas or a fish fillet. Eating seafood, it seems, is punishment for many people here. This is a country with two abundant coasts both of which serve the capital within hours, providing us with mountains of fresh aquatic edibles. But Mexicans consume a tenth of the amount of fish as, say, the Japanese do. Too bad, because they certainly know what to do with it; some of the best dishes in the Mexican lexicon are seafood-based.

So a new trend for fish tacos, something previously rarely seen in the capital, is nothing but a good thing. Marisco stands and fondas tend to proffer the same menu of cocteles, tostadasand fried mojarras. But the seemingly obvious concept of fish prepared and heaped in a fresh, warm tortilla is harder to find than you’d think. Common along the northwest coast, in multiple variations, fish tacos are just starting to take off inland.

In the culinarily vanguardista Colonia Roma, two new hip fondas vie for attention across from each other like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford at a Hollywood gala . And a deceptively humble locale draws word-of-mouth-informed crowds in a quiet corner of the Condesa.

Tres Galeones Taquería de Puerto, the best of the bunch, is a smartly decorated retro-style quick lunch  spot, attracting the little-hat crowd and run by the affable 
Rodrigo Malvido. Trained at NY’s prestigious CIA, the chef returns to his homeland with hi-fi skills but keeps his feet firmly planted on native turf, quietly re-inventing standard puesto beach-fare. The locale is done with the nowadays requisite pretty mosaic floors, rough wood and glass outdoor tables. The eclectic ‘50’s-‘70’s music featuring everyone from Betty Carter to The Shirelles is so groovy you want to stay and just hang out and listen. The chalkboard menu offers tacos, at $20 pesos per, ordered by the piece, as well as tostadas and burritos. Pescado estilo baja is whitefish, battered, fried and served in a light tortilla with fresh pico de gallo and optional salsas to spike things up (a peanut infused sauce resembles, but is infinitely better than, Russian dressing). This, the gold standard of fish tacos, should be steaming, crunchy, fishy but not too, augmented but not overwhelmed by its accompaniments. It’s indeed a winner. So is the taco de pulpo al pastor: succulent octopus is dressed but not smothered in a heady, aromatic red sauce. Less successful is a rather acrid taco of carnitas de pescado – a mis-thought concept as fish doesn’t tend to lend itself to ‘confit’ style preparation; and the pork chicharrón scattered on top will send non-meateaters into a tizzy. Nobody’s perfect. Also worth mentioning is the caldo de camarón served as an amuese bouche – it is unusually rich, a frothy pink bisque with a pleasant chili kick. Tres Galeones is to be commended for its bold and creative yet unpretentious approach to streetfood.
 







Tres Galeones Taquería de Puerto
Jalapa 117 (just below Alvaro Obregón), Colonia Roma
Open 11:30-6, Monday - Saturday
3 tacos and a drink will cost around $75 pesos


Across the street, the concisely named Fish Tacos & Chips (Jalapa 122, open daily 11-7) is a simple décor-less outdoor fonda with only a few tables. They do this comforting Brit/Mex classic and do it well. The standard fish nuggets deep-fried capeado, i.e. in light batter, are fine if a bit dull, not unlike, in this writer’s experience, their old-world cousins. Better are fish fillets a la plancha – they’re sautéed fresh fillets served in a light wheat tortilla with roasted sweet peppers. The ‘topping bar’ includes lightly dressed cucumber chunks, almost like an Indian raita, and a sweet-ish shredded carrot salad, as well as the requisite thinly sliced cabbage and a few salsas.  A paquete includes two tacos and an agua del día--and at $50 pesos it’s easy on the budget.

Meanwhile, over in the Condesa, the bustling El Pescadito, (Atlixco 38, corner Juan Escutia, open daily 11-6, Saturday, Sunday 10-6) offers similar Baja style fried fish and shrimp as well as the tuna-like marlin, stir-fried with chili and heaped on a house made corn tortilla. The ‘fixins’ bar here includes creamy coleslaw, a comfort food for many, as well as several picante salsas. The malty agua de cebada (made from barley) goes nicely. But I’d avoid the queso concoctions on their menu – cheese and fish just don’t go.


 A few other places have been serving oceanic tacos all along:

Boca del Rio, Ribera de San Cosme 42, Colonia San Rafael, (near metro San Cosme) has been dishing seafood in this hangar-like location since the ‘50’s.

Pablo el Erizo, Montes de Oca 6, Condesa, does a delicate langosta para taquear.

Contramar, Durango 200, Roma/Condesa does a better carnitas de pescado as well as soft shell crab, and you can ‘see-and-be-seen’ while you’re eating them.

The strikingly designy Limosneros(Allende 3, centro) offers tacos de camarónthat are pretty to look at and expertly prepared.
Posted on

And the Angels Sing: Turtux


Margarita Salinas

San Angel, pretty and old-fashioned, was never a gourmand’s paradise.  Everybody raves about the margaritas at the San Angel Inn, but its food is ho-hum.  The Fonda San Angel tried hard but vied with Sanborn’s and lost for quality.

But now one can travel south (of the Viaducto) for fine dining a la Mexicana. While Colonia Roma may be on the cutting edge gastro-wise and the centro is putting ‘histórico’ back into the cazuela, it’s Avenida de la Paz that’s finally getting on the upscale traditional bandwagon. First it was Paxia, now there’s Turtux.

The affable chef and gastronome Margarita Salinas de Carrillo is recognized for her work in promoting Mexican cuisine throughout the world. She has campaigned for the UNESCO proposal to designate Mexican Cuisine as ‘Intangible Patrimony of the World’. She is a notable cooking teacher, and has written about the regional cuisines of Oaxaca, Michoacán and Chihuahua amongst others. Her restaurant Don Emiliano in Baja California won umpteen awards, and her book ‘Tamales y Atoles Mexicanos’, was just published by Larousse. And she has cooked for President Obama.
A mosaic of octopus

With chef Margarita’s newest venture here in Mexico City, we can all dine like a president. The name means 'butterfy' in Maya, but the food is multi-regional.
Her menu—almost as good to read as the food is to eat--is 'tweaked traditional', which, I’m happy to report, is all the rage these days. Artsy-fartsy pretention is left at the door. Grandma’s recipes are revived, overhauled, put together from the best local artisanal ingredients, gussied up a little bit to appeal to the 21st century diner, and served on a plain white plate with a little drizzle of something just for effect. A case in point is an entrada 0f laminillas de pulpo al cilantro: the octopus, sliced razor thin and drizzled with a simple little cilantro salsa glimmers like a stained glass window – it’s lovely to look at, delightful in the mouth but simple, without annoying pretense.  

Spain's (or is it Italy's?)  gift to Mexico: fideo seco
The fideo seco, the classic dried noodle dish borrowed from the Catalán lexicon and ‘Mexicanized’ with chili, local cheese and avocado, is perfection itself, the pasta conserving just enough bite to please while the roast chili aroma dances around the nostrils.

Terciopelo de hongos is, as its name suggests, velvety and creamy and redolent of mushroom, the faint aroma of epazote the only reminder that you’re in the land of the Aztecs and not the Gauls.

Borreguito en Pulque
From the menu of platos fuertes a standout is borreguito en pulque con ayocotes. This is a stew of what might have been euphemistically called lamb, but is, in fact the more mature and flavorful mutton. But the meat is falling-apart tender in its brick-red sauce, made fruity and deep by the addition of fresh pulque. Little ayocotes (dumplings of corn masa) add body to this down-home dish.

Totol en mole de pistache (young turkey in a pistachio mole) is one of the more unusual offerings. The light celadon-green mole perfectly complements the delicate meat, which is nicely cradled in a huarache de maiz criollo(masa base of local corn). It works on every level.

Fish is perfectly done, not overcooked, and the 'salsa verde', reminiscent of the classic Spanish garlic/parsley sauce but here with the addition of perfumey cilantro.

Desserts are all muy mexicano and as good as they sound: titles like tarta Eréndira de chocolate de metate y chiles secos or flan de la Abuelita Celia are both tempting and sweetly descriptive.

The wine list, compiled by Margarita’s son  the sommelier – this is a family run operation –
is small but well chosen; most selections are from Baja California and prices are accessible.

The simple space, in a small ‘centro commercial’ is pleasant if non-descript: outdoor patio tables offer a more cheerful setting. The price range is $300-500 pp, depending what you drink.
Devoid of off-putting chichi snaz, Turtux offers well-chosen, carefully prepared Mexican recipes in a comfortable, casual setting. It’s a great addition to the growing roster of Good Food in Mexico City.




Turtux
Av. de la Paz 57 (inside the mall)
Col. San Angel
Tel. 5550-3632 / 5550-2753
Open Tuesday - Saturday 1:30 -11:30PM, Sunday, Monday 1-6PM






A note to my readers: See my article on the best DF street food in The Guardian

Posted on

The Splendid Table in Mexico February 27,2010

In February 2010 Lynn Rossetto Kasper and her crew from The Splendid Table came to spend a week in Mexico City ... here is the 1 hour program divided into segments and featuring

 Ricardo Munoz Zurita   has since expanded his restaurant Azul y Oro from the UNAM campus to Azul Condesa and now Azul Centro Historico. His famous and most sought after book  Diccionario Enciclopédico de la Gastronomia Mexicana has just had its second edition published making many a Mexophile foodie incredibly joyous. He has also recently published Verde Blanco y Rojo en la Cocina Mexicana, Salsas Mexicanas, and Los Classicos de la Cocina Mexicana and promises that for the coming year he will be bringing out various regional cuisine books! 










             




Margarita Carrillo de Salinas with her new book just out Tamales y Atoles Mexicanos, has relocated from Baja California where she closed her very successful Don Emiliano restaurant and has now given us Turtux restaurant in the neighborhood of  San Angel here in Mexico City ...thank you Margarita!








 Diana Kennedy still teaching, researching and writing as well as charming the crowds at the Mesamerica Gastronomic Congress in Mexico City . Diana has been described as Mexico’s "original food pilgrim, considered the world’s recognized authority on Mexican cuisine and has made a career of preserving its heritage "  and all true. 

Her book Oaxaca al Gusto, first published in Spanish, was debuted in the United States by the University of Texas Press and went on to win the 2011 James Bread Foundation award as Cookbook of the Year alongside of Rene Redzepi the danish kitchen wunderkind and Amanda Hesser the ex - New York Times food reporter.











Rachel Lauden food historian, author of The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii's Culinary Heritage and keen observer of the world around her has relocated to Austin Texas where she is visiting scholar in the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas. 
Her blog www.rachellaudan.com A Historian's Take on Food and Food Politics causes lively discussions and  people who relish her musings. This coming year Rachel's eagerly awaited book Cuisine and Empire will be published by University of California press.








Chef Enrique Olvera  whose international reputation and popularity grows ever larger has now published two books UNO and En la Milpa winner of a Gourmand book award. His restaurant Pujol is on the Pellegrino 50 Best restaurants of the world list and is the cause of controversy in certain culinary circles  and admiration from other well known chefs .... a young maverick who has established himself as the major innovative force of Modern Mexican Cuisine.



 




and ME as I travel, explore and eat my way through Mexico. In September 2012 Saveur magazine included me and my culinary cultural tours, Mexico Soul and Essence, as one of the 5 best cooking schools in Mexico!














Posted on

Ladies Who Lunch: The Women of Mexican Cuisine

Market Women, oil on canvas, 1947, by Esther Gilman
Since pre-conquest times, women have prepared the food in Mexico; they ground the corn, patted out tortillas, and prepared the guisos, or cooked dishes. They were the ones who incorporated the new ingredients and techniques brought by the Spaniards. As few Spanish women came to the new world in the early years, indigenous women and sometimes African slaves were employed in the conquistador’s kitchens. Known as 'mayoras', they ruled the larders of the large haciendas and worked to develop a true mestizo cuisine.
Knowledge of their recipes and techniques was passed down from generation to generation until our era. Not until the last decades of the 20th century did young women have options other than to be housekeepers and cooks. Even in recent years a woman’s occupation was often written on official forms as “labores propias de su sexo” or “work appropriate to her sex.”

As women’s lives changed, the store of culinary knowledge began to be lost. Information long kept private and not shared outside of the family was no longer valued by those destined to inherit it. It seems that all the best recipes come from somebody’s grandmother, but getting someone to part with these carefully guarded secrets is another matter. Often only after years of friendship, will a cook “spill the beans” so to speak. Diana Kennedy, who traveled the countryside in search of material for her books reports that getting people to divulge their secrets was her hardest job.

Woodcut by Irving Berg, c.1949
Today few culinary institutes in Mexico teach techniques of classical Mexican cooking. Since the 1980’s, however, many women chefs, notably, Alicia Gironella de Angeli, Patricia Quintana, Monica Patiño, Martha Ortiz Chapa and Carmen 'Titita' Degollado, have opened their own restaurants to international acclaim, with the aim of promoting both traditional and innovative Mexican cuisine. Before them came women who promoted the culture of Mexican cooking, including cookbook authors Lula Bertrán, María Orsini, María Dolores Yzabal, and researchers Janet Long and Lila Lomelí. Most of their work sought to improve restaurant standards, promote Mexican food outside the country, organize food festivals, write books, and collect regional recipes. They in turn followed earlier generations of women, among them, Josefina Velázquez de León and Adela Hernández, who at the beginning of the 20th century gathered recipes and wrote cookbooks. Even artists and arbiters of culture like Frida Kahlo, Olga Costa and Lupe Mariín who celebrated all things Mexican included the culture of food in their work.

Outside Mexico, it was also principally women who spread the word: Diana Kennedy, Josefina Howard, Zarela Martinez, Gabriela Cámara, Josefina Santicruz and Thomasina Miers are some of the most notable. Recently, collected knowledge from home and abroad has begun to be taught in a few culinary institutes in Mexico, notably at the Centro Culinario Ambrosia. While we must recognize the accomplishments of male chefs and scholars, such as Rick Bayless, Ricardo Muñoz, Salvador Novo and Jose Iturriaga, in no other world cuisine have women been so recognized and celebrated for their important contributions.

(This article, adapted from my book, is re-published due to popolar demand)

Where women rule the roost:
Taberna del León
Altamirano 46, Plaza Loreto, Colonia Tizapan de San Ángel
Tel: 5616-3951
Open Monday-Saturday 2pm-10pm, Sunday 2pm-6pm
Located in an old paper factory remade as a shopping mall, this lovely old house with a sunroom serves Franco-mexican food under the watchful eye of chef Monica Patiño

El Tajín
Miguel Angel de Quevedo 687, (inside the Centro Cultural Veracruzano), Coyoacán.
Tel: 5659-4447 or 5659-5759
Open daily 1pm-6pm
Owner Alicia Gironella d’Angeli is one of Mexico’s foremost chefs and authors (she wrote the new Larousse de la Cocina Mexicana among other books) is an original and tireless promoter of Mexican cuisine. Her mole xico is to die for.

El Bajío
Avenida Cuitláhuac 2709, Colonia Obrera Popular Tel. 5234-3763.
Open Monday-Friday 10 am-6:30 pm, Saturday, Sunday 9am-6:30pm
Three Branches:
-Parque Delta Mall, Av. Cuauhtémoc 462, Colonia Narvarte
-Alejandro Dumas 7, Colonia Polanco, Tel. 5281-8245
-Plaza Parque Reforma 222 Tel. 5511-9124, 5511-9117
Chef Carmen 'Titita' Degollado  author of several cookbooks, is another big name in the Mexico City culinary scene. Carnitas is the specialty, although there are many other tempting dishes on the menu. Her original restaurant is the most charming, although the Polanco and Reforma locations are open at night.

Izote de Patricia Quintana
Presidente Mazaryk 515, Polanco
This temple of gastronomy is one of the first chef/diva ruled houses. 

Dulce Patria
Anatole France 100 (around the corner from the entrance of Hotel Las Alcobas which is located at Presidente Masaryk 390) Polanco
Tel. 3300-3999
Open Monday-Saturday 1:30-11:30, Sunday until 5:30
Chef Martha Ortiz Chapa's (formerly of Aguila y Sol) delights the palate and the eyes.

A note to my readers: See my article on Street food in The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2013/feb/08/best-places-eat-street-food-mexico-city
Posted on

Hot Tamales! The Feria de Tamales in Coyoacán


Tamales are traditionally eaten around Candelaria (February 2) to celebrate the beginning of the planting season and the coming of spring. Coyoacán's Museo de Artes Populares presents, as it has done for the last 21 years, an extraordinary 'feria de tamales' with vendors from all over Mexico and beyond offering their regional variations of corn husk or banana leaf stuffed morsels. Be sure to visit the cornfest and arrive with an empty stomach. The festival goes until Sunday, February 3rd.
See link:
http://www.conaculta.gob.mx/detalle-nota/?id=25300