eats and drinks

Oaxaca Hot Chocolate and Decision Making at Lidia’s Eatery

by Ekua on December 14, 2011 · 3 comments in eats and drinks,Mexico,why i travel

One morning in Oaxaca, I wake up with an onward bus ticket on my mind. I am supposed to leave the following day.

I head out of the hostel earlier than normal and make my first stop at a bank. The ATM line is long and moving at a sloth’s pace. I share sighs and smiles with the other people waiting. As more bank customers approach, they spot their friends in the line and make conversation and gestures about their disbelief of the size of the line before dutifully taking their places at the end of it.

It’s these little insights that I love so much about being in Oaxaca and Mexico in general. The little moments where locals allow you feel like you’re part of their world as you take part in everyday tasks with them. You’re a random tourist in the mix, but more importantly, you’re just another person.

Once cash has been procured, I visit the markets and shops and stock up on unique to Oaxaca gifts and mezcal and chocolate. When I have everything I was looking for, I walk over to the Mercado 20 de Noviembre. I want to find the right place to have a cup of Oaxaca style hot chocolate with ground almonds and cinnamon in it.

I settle on a comedor where a family of four is finishing up their meal and an older couple chats with the chef as they eat. The chef is Lidia and her little eatery is named after her. Comedor “Lidia”. I like the way the food stall signs have the names of the people who run them in quotation marks.

I give Lidia my order. She breaks off a chunk of chocolate from a huge bar and puts it into hot milk in a pot. She rubs a molinillo between her palms and whisks until the chocolate is frothy. She pours the hot chocolate into a small bowl and insists that I have a pan dulce roll to eat with it. She is right, the airy bread is the right companion for the chocolate. When she has made sure I have everything I need, she leans on the counter and resumes her conversation with the the older couple.

I sip the chocolate and dip the bread and people watch in the market. Leaving the next day doesn’t feel quite right. I can’t wait to get back to get back to Mexico City, but I want to spend just one more day in delving into Oaxaca’s heart.

Later that afternoon, I walk over to the bus station to change my onward ticket to a day later. It does not escape me that almost exactly a year before, I took the same walk for exactly the same reason. It’s hard for me to leave Oaxaca.

Travel can be full of spectacular sights and spectacular emotions that are fleeting and keep you moving in your quest for more. But those places where you want nothing more than the everyday are golden; they urge you to lay your backpack down a little longer and bask in pure contentment.

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3 Places to Try Mezcal in Oaxaca

by Ekua on December 6, 2011 · 4 comments in eats and drinks,Mexico

Mezcal, the unofficial liquor of Oaxaca, can be an acquired taste. Most fellow travelers I’ve encountered in Oaxaca did not like mezcal at first sip, but almost all seem to leave the city chiming in with the Oaxaca saying, “For everything bad, mezcal. For everything good, mezcal.”

The thing is, mezcal tastes of Oaxaca. It gives you sense of place. It slowly captures you the way Oaxaca has a tendency to do. And when you have to leave the city, its flavor can bring Oaxaca to you.

In the process of making mezcal, hearts of the maguey, a type of agave, are roasted in the earth for three days before the juice is extracted. This, combined with the fact that it is typically only distilled once, differentiates its rustic and smoky flavor from that of the more smooth tequila.

Intrigued? Here are  three Oaxaca watering holes where you can go from a mezcal novice to a bonafide mezcal appreciator:

» Beginner: La Casa del Mezcal

This is the most obvious mezcal starting point; it’s well known and conveniently located near the bustle of the Zocalo. Its walls are adorned with murals of absurdly muscular warrior men fending off enemies, and that sets the tone for a kind of laughable bravado-heavy atmosphere. But here you can try all the types of mezcal at a price that will fit into your budget. Mezcal is traditionally sipped as is, and at Casa del Mezcal, orange slices and chili salt are provided to help make the mezcal go down easier if you need it.

Calle Flores Magón, between Calle Las Casas and Calle Aldama
Centro Histórico
Oaxaca City, Oaxaca

» Intermediate: La Farola

La Farola is a classy but down to earth establishment that I passed by many times before I remembered to check it out. This bar was founded in 1916 and it claims to be oldest cantina in Oaxaca city. Beyond the wooden doors that are reminiscent of an old Western film, it’s a lovely spot for a slightly more swanky night and there is sometimes live music. While the selection of mezcal does not seem to be as vast the Casa del Mezcal, they have good options to choose from. And as long as you’re drinking mezcal, they’ll provide the snacks.

Calle 20 de Noviembre, between Calle Las Casas and Calle Trujano
Colonia Centro Histórico
Oaxaca City, Oaxaca
Phone: 951-516-5352

» Advanced: Cuish

Shannon Young is a Oaxaca-based radio reporter who came across my site after I started blogging about last summer’s trip to Oaxaca. She has been a great supporter since. This year, we got a chance to meet in Oaxaca and I sensed that she would know of some great spots that were hidden to the average visitor.

After eating delicious memelas at a food stand, we headed over to Cuish, a wonderful discovery for me. Cuish is the name of the bar and the mezcal they create and sell. It’s a small space, and the atmosphere there more resembles a tasting room of small scale bohemian winery than it does a bar. When I entered, I could immediately sense that a lot of love and passion went into creating it. The mezcal there is something unique; you can really taste the agave in it. It’s not often that a liquor brings about an appreciation for the cosmos, but that’s exactly what this earthy mezcal did.

Calle Diaz Ordaz 712
Centro Histórico
Oaxaca City, Oaxaca
Phone: 951-516-8791
http://www.mezcalcuish.net

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Restaurant Recommendation: La Olla in Oaxaca, Mexico

by Ekua on October 22, 2011 · 4 comments in eats and drinks,Mexico

Great meals can be found everywhere, but it’s not often that you have a meal that’s so uniquely delicious that the memory of the taste lingers long after you take the last bite. I can count these kind of experiences on two hands. One of them happened to be last year in Oaxaca at a restaurant called La Olla. I had the opportunity to go back to that restaurant again this summer, and one year later, it was just as delicious.

I went with two of my fellow hostelers who were both hanging out in Oaxaca for awhile and were always down to make the most of the city. We began with octopus tostadas. These were little crunchy tortillas that were topped with guacamole and wonderfully cooked octopus. I typically have an aversion to all things avocado, but the guacamole wasn’t overbearing and the octopus had enough flavor that I barely noticed it.

For the main course, I debated on whether have the same amazing chicken mole negro I’d had last year or try something new. The mole negro de fandango won without much thought. La Olla mixes things up by stuffing the chicken with plantain. The first time I tried it, I wasn’t sure if the plantain would fit in with the dish, but it really works. Then the chicken is topped with black mole, a sauce that encompasses Oaxaca. Spicy with a touch of sweetness, rich and hearty, bold and complex, chocolatey. The La Olla version of mole negro is one of the most beautiful things I’ve tasted and I’m so glad I got to have it again.

In addition to fantastic and moderately priced food, La Olla is charmingly decorated. There are two indoor levels to this place, and at the top, there is a roof terrace with more seating and colorful hanging lamps. If the weather had been more agreeable that night, it would’ve been the perfect spot for a post dinner drink.

Restaurant and Bar La Olla
Reforma No. 402
Colonia Centro, Oaxaca
http://www.laolla.com.mx

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Photo Essay: The Colorful Markets of Mexico City

by Ekua on August 15, 2011 · 21 comments in captured on memory card,eats and drinks,Mexico

In order to appreciate and be inspired by the misunderstood Mexico City, you have to go beyond the idea of simply seeing it. You have to live it. You have to open yourself up to the everyday Mexico City, roll around in it, absorb it. And eventually it will reveal the tremendous heart that both overtly and subtly is a part of the city’s daily life.

Mexico City’s lively markets are great places to begin. Before saying a temporary goodbye to Mexico City and boarding a night bus to Chiapas, I visited three of the city’s most notable markets. It was a tour led by Alejandro, the exceptional guide who introduced me and a few fellow hostelers to the stories behind La Virgen de Guadalupe and the Plaza de las Tres Culturas on a previous day tour.

We took a small rickety local bus to get to our first stop, the Mercado de Sonora, a center of commerce for alternative medicine and religion. While people tend to focus on the witchcraft aspect of this market or the cult of Santa Muerte paraphernalia, what caught my eye there were the stalls with burlap sacks full of centuries-old herbal remedies to help people sort out a variety of ailments.

Alejandro mentioned that a lot of the vendors in the Mercado de Sonora weren’t too keen on tourists poking around with their cameras, so I waited until we were in the more lighthearted sections of the market before taking pictures. Pictured above is a market stall full of all things Lucha Libre.

Piñatas for sale at the Mercado de Sonora.

It was a short walk across a bridge over a road to our next stop, the gigantic Mercado de la Merced. The highlight of La Merced Market was the food. Pictured above are dried chili peppers.

Spices and nuts for sale at the Mercado de la Merced.

Seeing various moles in different forms made me even more excited for my eventual return to Oaxaca. Mole is not much to look at, but once you’ve had a good one, there’s no going back.

As a U.S. resident, it’s both uncomfortable and liberating to visit places where goods are not all tightly wrapped in plastic.

Buckets of candy at the Mercado de la Merced.

Pinatas for sale at the Mercado de la Merced that were conveniently located next to some of the candy stalls.

We hopped on the metro to get to our last stop, Mercado San Juan. Alejandro prefaced our entrance into this meat market with a discussion on how people in Mexico tend to have a closer relationship with their food. It was his way of warning the potentially squeamish about what we were about to see as well as encouraging people be open to different ways of looking at food.

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Food and Drink to Try in Oaxaca and Where to Find It

by Ekua on November 16, 2010 · 10 comments in eats and drinks,Mexico

In San Francisco, if you know where to look, there is good, authentic Mexican food to be found. But something has always distracted me from it: the burrito. Burrito naysayers will discuss their inauthenticity, but when it comes to Americanized Mexican food, burritos are not as FUBAR as say, TexMex or processed cheese nachos. And most importantly, my taste buds say yes to burritos.

But eating burritos (or burritas) in Oaxaca would have been a reckless and absurd waste of time considering the high level of tastiness of typical Oaxacan food. Eating is an integral part of the Oaxaca experience and I’d suggest that any Oaxaca-bound traveler should make finding great local food a priority.

While I had some knowledge of what type of cuisine I’d find there before I left, I had a lot more to learn about what to try in Oaxaca. Luckily, I met several people along the way who steered me in the right direction towards the street food stands, the row of chocolate, and the house of mezcal.

Mole Negro

What it is: If you try only one local dish in Oaxaca, this should be it. But be forewarned—your taste buds will never again be the same. Mole negro is the dark, ingredient-rich, chocolate-infused sauce that is the most well known of Oaxaca’s seven moles. A good plate of chicken mole negro with rice and/or warm corn tortillas can create one of those wonderful meal moments that you’ll remember for years to come.

Where to try it: In a nice, sit down restaurant or at someone’s house.

Empanadas, Tlayudas & Memelas

What they are: All of these dishes are subject to the interpretation/tastes of the people preparing or ordering them. Empanadas in Oaxaca were typically not the pastries I expected. Most commonly, the empanadas I had there were large corn tortillas filled with spicy mole amarillo, shredded chicken, flor de calabaza, and cilantro and folded in half. This was my second favorite dish after the mole negro.

The common characteristics in all the tlayudas I tried were large corn tortillas, refried beans, quesillo Oaxaca and salsa. Some were open-faced like pizzas and had a lot of topping, while others were closed with less ingredients and a piece of steak on top.

Memelas are small corn tortillas or corn cakes with a variety of ingredient options available. With memelas, I usually kept it simple and ordered ones with just salsa and queso fresco.

Where to try them: These delectables can all be found at street food stands, made to order on a comal. Find a reputable stand (i.e., one that’s busy and seems to have customers that are regulars), grab a plastic stool and order away. You can always start small and order more as you go along.

Chocolate

What it is: Everyone knows chocolate, but Oaxaca does it differently (and arguably, better). In Oaxaca, you’ll most commonly find chocolate that has been mixed with cinnamon and ground almonds and formed into chunks. Other chocolate additions include honey and vanilla. The chunks can then be mixed with hot milk or water and whisked to make what is commonly referred to as “Mexican hot chocolate”. Cayenne pepper can also be added.

Where to try it: When I asked a friend I made in Mexico City for suggestions on what to do in Oaxaca, she recommended heading over to what is often referred to as “Chocolate Row”. On a street called Calle Mina, at the intersection of 20 de Noviembre, there is a high concentration of chocolate shops (Mayordomo, La Soledad and Guelaguetza are chocolatiers you’ll probably come across) where you can see parts of the chocolate-making process, sample chocolates, and buy chocolate products. Chocolate Row is just south of the 20 de Noviembre market.

Chapulines

What it is: These are fried grasshoppers flavored with chili and lime. I was actually tricked into trying these by a fellow hostel mate who was from Oaxaca state and wanted all of us foreigners to sample all things Oaxaca. I can’t say I’d regularly munch on chapulines, but they are not bad. For those who are typically squeamish about trying bugs but still want to give it a try, this can be a good starter point. Because they are fried and crunchy and covered with chili and lime, you’ll barely notice what is if you don’t look too closely…

Where to try it: Pick up a bag of chapulines at the Benito Juarez Market just outside of the Zocalo.

Mezcal

What it is: Mezcal is tequila’s earthy and smoky cousin. At first, I found the flavor of it to be a little harsh, but after sampling different types, I figured out which kinds I liked more, and found that it was one of those beverages that is well-suited for the location and just makes sense for Oaxaca. While tequila is made from the blue agave, mezcal is made from a different type of agave plant called the maguey. Mezcal is usually enjoyed on its own without a mixer and sometimes served with chili salt and orange slices.

Where to try it: Many day tours to archaeological sites and other locations include a visit to a distillery where you can see how mezcal is made and taste different types and flavors. La Casa del Mezcal, near the Zocalo, is another great place to sample various mezcals and find your favorite.

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