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 Entertainment | Restaurants & Dining | July 2007 
Chaotic Capital Offers Crash Course in Mexican Cuisine
 Lisa J. Adams - Associated Press
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| | Alfredo Bruno eats a taco at a Taco restaurant in Mexico City. Whether you crave quesadillas, tamales and tortillas, cheese-filled chilies and black beans or dried beef and broiled goat, a tasting tour through Mexico City's rich variety of traditional and often-surprisingly contemporary flavors will leave you sated. (AP/Marco Ugarte) |
Mexico City - A soft flour tortilla stuffed with melted Chihuahua cheese and fresh squash blossoms. Chili- and chocolate-laden mole draped over succulent chicken breasts. Spit-roasted-pork tacos topped with pineapple, onion and cilantro. A tasting tour through Mexico City's rich variety of traditional and often surprisingly contemporary flavors will leave you sated.
Though Mexican food differs widely by region, samples of nearly all of the country's cuisines can be found in this chaotic capital of 8 million people, where two-hour weekday lunches and hours-long weekend family dinners remain the norm.
You won't find hard-shell tacos, stuffed-to-bursting burritos or anything remotely resembling a chimichanga here. What you will find are soft corn-tortilla tacos; steamed pork in banana leaves; fresh fish soaked in smoky achiote sauce; chicken stuffed with corn truffle; enchiladas with cream, cheese and a mild green or red salsa; corn- and bean-based soups and - for those with a desire to tap into what thrilled the taste buds of the prehispanic Indians - seared maguey worms and fried grasshoppers.
Mexico's drool-inducing two-bite tacos are made of a warm, soft corn tortilla covered with American-friendly chicken, beef and pork, as well as more exotic Mexican favorites: eye, snout, feet, head, bone marrow, cheek and tongue. Another favorite is tacos de barbacoa, sheep that has been steamed for several hours in underground stone ovens.
aco stands can be found on virtually every corner of this buzzing metropolis. Among the best known chains is Tizoncito, which claims to be the inventor of the taco al pastor - a Middle Eastern-influenced dish of pork marinated in a number of ''secret'' spices that leave the meat orange-red, pungent and tender.
he meat is sliced off one taco at a time as it slowly roasts on a vertical spit similar to those used to make Greek gyros, then combined with onion, cilantro and chunks of fresh pineapple.
Part of the fun of eating tacos in Mexico City is watching a server, decked out in white apron and burger-flipping cap, as he slices the meat and pineapple from the spit, hurls them in the air with a long, ominous-looking knife and then catches them in the tortilla with his other hand.
Mexico is believed to be the birthplace of corn, and its inhabitants remain dedicated to the thousands-year-old grain. Stroll along the streets surrounding Mexico City's historic central district and you will see various vendors serving up steaming cups of loose kernels cooked on a griddle, and corn on the cob stuck on a stick for easier eating and drenched with hot, red chili piquin powder.
Corn fans also should check out pozole, a stew teeming with corn kernels, pork, onion, diced lettuce, radishes, red sauce and lime.
If you want to return home claiming to have eaten one of Mexico's most traditional dishes, then you have to try mole, a rich, creamy, complex sauce made from a variety of spices and ground nuts, several types of chilies and in some cases cinnamon-laced Mexican chocolate. Depending on its origin and additional ingredients, mole can be black, red, yellow or green, and usually is served over pork, chicken or turkey.
If you've always wanted to appear on ''Fear Factor'' or are a history buff, you may want to sample ant eggs, known in Spanish as escamoles, maguey worms, or fried grasshoppers, known as chapulines.
Escamoles have their own unique taste, and vary according to how they are prepared, but some have likened their flavor to corn, barley and even shrimp. They look much like white corn kernels when served. Chapulines are crunchy, with a consistency similar to fried onions, though the taste is mostly of the chili in which they usually are soaked. Though these foods are hundreds of years old, they remain delicacies for the modern Mexican palate.
Buen provecho! |
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