Forbes Magazine says Mexico City is the hottest place for food. They are not talking temperature. Mexico City has it all — from gourmet cheeses and meats found in pricey restaurants to humble street food like tacos and tlacoyos. Today, I focus on eating on the street where people consume complete meals or snacks, sitting on stools or standing at the curb. This is Mexico’s version of fast food and is something I have shied away from. But my secret yearning to sample was finally realized because I want to eat like a Mexican, too! Thanks goes to Lesley Tellez who started an off-the-beaten-path, non-touristy culinary walking tour called Eat Mexico (see below for contact information).
This is real food, homemade by women and men who work at portable cook stoves at street corners or at little stationery stands who continue home-style family traditions. We discover, however, that humble is a misnomer and what we taste rivals any high-end restaurant for quality if not for presentation. Lesley has done her research well. All the food is delicious, and the preparation is safe and clean.
Our guide Natalia and guide-in-training Arturo, meet us at the designated spot, then lead us down a side street to a corner seafood taco stand that has been in business for over forty years. We belly up to the outdoor bar, gaze at the selection of fresh crab, shrimp, lobster, fish, and octopus through the protective clean glass that separated us from the cooks. We choose either the blue crab tostada or a deep fried mixed seafood quesadilla. Luckily, Debbie and I can share so we choose one of each, drizzled with lots fresh lime and Valentina sauce. YUMMY and AMAZING after first bites.
After a block or two, we turn the corner near the San Juan artisans market and come upon a stall that is operated by a third generation cook. Right on this corner, whole turkeys are cut up on the seat of a plastic chair, then deep-fried in a giant cauldron filled with oil until done. The meat is then sliced, layered on a toasted roll (torta), slathered with homemade chipotle chili salsa (another OOOH, AAAAH here), and topped with avocado. We are invited to add a papalo leaf to the ingredients before closing up the sandwich to eat. This is a minty herb with a sharp, flavorful taste unlike anything I’ve ever eaten before. We each get a half-sandwich to sample. What I notice while I inhale this treat is how the plastic plates are wiped with a cloth only used for this purpose. The plate is covered with a clean piece of paper before the sandwich finds its resting place. I have no concerns about sanitation here.
It’s the middle of July and the rainy season in Mexico. As we enter San Juan market, boxes are filled with just-delivered mushrooms, varieties of which I have not seen before. This market offers a gourmet food experience and many top chefs shop here for exotic meats (like ostrich, lion, and kangaroo), fruit and vegetables. We sample fresh rambutan, chico zapote, mango, jackfruit, figs, nectarines. The mamey tastes like a creamy sweet potato and I love it. Eat it solo for dessert or try it as an ice cream.
Coffee, anyone? The barista grinds beans from Veracruz and brews me a cup of Americano from the espresso machine. MMMMM, good.
Next, is a tasting of fruit jams and jellies, tapenades, and honey. I walk away with a jar of jalapeno jelly and rose petal jam. Next door is the cheese purveyor who puts out a sampling plate of world-class varieties like smoked gouda, pistachio infused manchego cheese, brie, and a mozzarella, all made in Mexico. He offers us cups of red wine to sip along with the tasting. Baguettes of fresh, crusty French bread hang from the overhead rack above his stall, ready to take home.
By now, I am full, but we press on. Our guide Natalia explains the history of the market dating from pre-Hispanic Aztec times. Mexico, she says, gave the world three gifts: chocolate, chiles, and vanilla. At the next intersection is the chile vendor where some of us buy mole rojo and vanilla beans at 20 pesos each (that’s about $1.50). Natalia recommends we put a vanilla bean in the sugar jar for a great taste.
At the Oaxaca specialty food stand, we pop chapulines (grasshoppers) into our mouths. No one is reticent. The big ones are the females. The little ones are males. They are roasted with salt and chiles, crunchy and tasty. I say no to another taste of Oaxaca quesillo. No more space in my stomach. Debbie buys a bag of peanuts roasted with chile, salt and lime juice. I watch her pop a few!
We move out onto the street in the direction of the common people’s market Arcos de Belen. On the way, we stop at a molina to see how the corn is ground. Next door is the tortilleria where the masa dough is formed and cooked by machine. (In Teotitlan del Valle, we can still get handmade tortillas!) Natalia gives us a history of corn as part of the cultural identity of Mexico, where it was first hybridized eight thousand years ago in the Oaxaca valley close to where I live.
After we tour the market food courts, we all pass on a taste at the fresh juice bar (estoy lleno–I am full) and move on to the corner where a woman sits making blue corn tlacoyos.
The finish is at the pulque bar, where the double swinging doors look like a saloon entrance. The décor is decidedly neo-Aztec with bright figures painted on walls and ceilings. We cozy up to a side bar where the owner brings us a sampler tray of flavored pulques – pineapple, celery, coconut, oatmeal, guayaba plus au natural (a viscous, sour taste). The sweetness helps mask the milkiness. Natalia tells us the Aztec history of the drink and explains that it is fermented, not distilled, from the agave plant and must be served fresh. It is cheap, gives a nice buzz, and is favored by university students who represent most of the clientele this day. I take a liking to the celery and pineapple.
University students at the pulqueria
We say our goodbyes at the next street corner. What a great adventure, very fun, educational, and gastronomically delightful. I have a map but I’m not going to share it with you!
I recommend you sign up for Eat Mexico Culinary Tours and discover this great food experience for yourself!
P.S. The cost of $85 per person includes guide services, map, a bottle of water, and all food and drink along the way. We sign up in advance and pay online. Very easy. Eat Mexico sends lots of email communication to tell us where to meet, what to wear that would be comfortable, and a little bit about our guide so we recognize her. Be sure to check out Lesley Tellez’ The Mija Chronicles blog, too.
Chicago’s New Maxwell Street Market: Little Mexico
When you are in Chicago and if you want a bit of Mexico — with her street food and open air tianguis market culture — make your way to Chicago’s near west side for the New Maxwell Street Market every Saturday. The backdrop is the city’s stunning Loop and Magnificent Mile.
Beyond the Loop on the near west side is a historic immigrant neighborhood where Polish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Eastern European Jews, African-Americans, and now Latinos from Mexico and Central America settled.
The original Maxwell Street has been developed for a University of Illinois at Chicago expansion. The new market, a neighborhood gathering place, is now located on Des Plaines Avenue between Roosevelt Road and Polk Streets, just west of the Chicago River. You get there from Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road by CTA Bus #12 or by foot.
Serving horchata and aguas de tamarindo, sandia, jamaica
In my days of living in the midwest, I confess I never made it to the Maxwell Street Market, known for its blues musicians, flea market bargains and once-in-a-lifetime antique treasures. So, when I arrived in Chicago from Mexico City to visit friends on my way back to North Carolina and the opportunity came to explore, I said “yes.”
The line for Rubi’s snaked down the block
Be sure you come hungry! What I found were several blocks filled with street vendors not much different from Oaxaca’s Tlacolula Sunday market except on a much smaller scale. The standout was the food vendors. People from all ethnic backgrounds, including plenty of visitors toting cameras, formed lines snaking down the street for tastes of savory tacos al pastor, steaming tamales, traditional aguas — fruit waters — made from tamarind, watermelon, lime and coconut. There were at least four stands selling nieves, the famed ice creams that more resemble the intense flavors of an Italian gelato.
There is also organized live music, and if you are lucky as I was, you might come across an old African American blues musician belting out a tune on a guitar or saxophone, reminding me of the Mississippi Great Migration and The Warmth of Other Suns.
There’s not much remaining of the original Maxwell Street’s flea market atmosphere. What I saw were sellers of new tires, perfumes, electronics, out-of-date packaged foods and snacks, nail polish and make-up, hardware and garden tools, office and school supplies, used and new clothes, shoes, records, and a few chachkahs. There were few antiques per se.
Dried hibiscus flowers
Dried star fruit, papaya, kiwi, pineapple, mango
What attracted my attention were the dried tropical fruits, roasted nuts, tamarind pods, spices and chili peppers that we see throughout Mexico and especially Oaxaca. I heard mostly Spanish spoken by buyers and sellers.
At the food trucks and under the cooking tents, women prepared and cooked fresh tortillas and grilled corn on the comal, men tended the spit-roasted pork and grilled pineapple, a family displayed their made that morning sweet and chicken-stuffed tamales, and young girls ladled out fruit drinks into clear plastic cups.
The children strolled hand-in-hand with parents licking on a cone of traditional Mexican ices. Neighborhood shoppers bought fresh berries from the few produce vendors interspersed between the aluminum kitchen utensil and car cleaning supplies stalls.
Pods of tamarindo fruit ready to pluck the juicy centers
If I lived there, I would have filled my shopping bag, tempted by what is familiar to me and the tastes I love. As it was, I settled for a glimpse into what it means to keep the culture through a reverence for its food.
Of course, saying a prayer at the home altar to the Virgin Mary, a patron saint, and the Baby Jesus will help ensure that the culture is preserved. Locals shop for religious icons at the market, too.
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Food & Recipes
Tagged Chicago, cooking, culture, eating, food, Maxwell Street, Mexico, neighborhoods, street market