Mexico City for Tamales, Tortas and Tacos
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PROOF User: 155273 Time: 13:45 - 09-07-2012 Region: SundayAdvance Edition: 1 4 TR THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2012 LATIN AMERICA CHOICE TABLES Mexico City for Tamales, Tortas and Tacos By JJ GOODE OBERTO SANTIBAÑEZ drove with me to a bakery in Mex- ico City called La Espiga ex- pecting to be disappointed. R Before leaving the city many years ago, he loved the tamales that a man sold on the sidewalk in front of the bakery, and he was hoping that maybe, just maybe, he could get those same ta- males at that spot now. We parked and walked toward the bakery, shuffling between vendors sell- ing fresh juices, deep-fried quesadillas and corn slathered with mayonnaise. In front of the bakery, standing next to two large pots, was a woman selling tama- les. “There!” Mr. Santibañez said, his face brightening. “My tamales!” The vendor, Maria de los Angeles, told us that her 80-year-old father had begun selling tamales at that location in the Hipódromo neighborhood when he was 18. Mr. Santibañez began to suspect that this was the daughter of the vendor who had fed him so well all those years ago. After he tasted the tamales, he was thoroughly convinced. It was just one of the times during our visit that Mr. Santibañez, below, discov- ered that the foods he had so loved in his youth were right where he left them. I had worked with Mr. Santibañez, 48, above, the owner of Fonda restaurant, in Brooklyn and Manhattan, on two cookbooks, “Truly Mexican” and the PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID HAGERMAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES new “Tacos, Tortas, and Tamales,” but TOP, FROM LEFT At a neighborhood taqueria; blue corn quesadillas at a street stall; grilled corn in Coyoacán. ABOVE At Tacos Manolo, pork on a spit. we had never visited Mexico City to- gether. lip-tingling salsa verde. Then he closed sines,” he said, nearly giddy as he took a said as we contemplated El Charro’s When I had traveled there, I e-mailed his eyes, as if he were hearing a long- bite of a sweet version with the flavor of A chef returns to mound of pork. him photos of salsas, pumpkin seed forgotten song. fresh corn. “Even now that Mexico is a Customers choose from the array: sauces and other foods he introduced “This is the flavor of the streets, the unified country, we are still many peo- youthful haunts and perhaps belly, leg, snout or, as we se- me to in his New York City kitchen. workers, the soul of Mexico,” he said. ples with different languages, cultures, lected, surtida (a little bit of every- When he had visited Mexico City, he “Some Mexicans now think heat is only and foods.” familiar tastes. thing). Small tortillas arrived, warm texted to lament that a tiny taqueria, for the lower classes, so it’s getting Flor de Lis, Huichapan 21 A, Colonia and heaped with myriad pig bits. We once one of his favorites, had now harder to find food with real punch.” Condesa Hipódromo; (52-55) 5286-0811. spooned on a mouth-igniting pastel- turned into a chain, or called from a car- Ms. Angeles said her father still often Two tamales with beans and salsa cost green salsa made from tomatillos and clogged street to say that he remem- handles the morning shift, while she about 40 pesos. lonia Mixcoac;(52-55) 5563-9158. Each gi- avocado and nibbled on shards of chi- bered often riding a horse there as a takes the evening shift. Mr. Santibañez ant torta costs about 80 pesos. charrón, fried pork skin, a gift from the woman presiding over the griddle. teenager. asked her if she, like her father, would La Castellana’s orange-and-white col- Torta Traditions El Charro, Mercado de Coyoacán, Lo- “It was a different Mexico then,” he keep selling tamales there until she was or scheme makes it look as corporate as cation No. 289-290, Colonia Coyoacán; told me. 80. “I’ll be here every day, as long as The torta is, fundamentally, just a El Capricho does homespun. Counter- (52-55) 5554-8719. Each taco costs about In July, we finally met in Mexico City God gives me life,” she replied. Mexican sandwich, but when Mr. Santi- men clad in bright red shirts swiftly as- for an eating marathon. He was espe- bañez was doing the ordering this defi- 9 pesos. Corner of Baja California and Insur- semble tortas, slapping the bread fill- cially excited for the chance to rediscov- nition seemed to be an understatement. ing-side down on a griddle and spread- At Tacos Manolo, a busy stand across er some of his old favorites, which he He took me, for instance, to El Turix, a ing the other half with thick crema. La the street from a more recently built rarely gets to visit amid so many din- dingy storefront in the now upscale Castellana, with five locations, serves brick-and-mortar location, we had tacos ners at home with family and friends. Polanco neighborhood. The place traf- exceptional tortas — the bread light and al pastor, below, made with chile-mari- Our itinerary focused on the tacos, tor- fics exclusively — if you don’t count the crisp-crusted, the pickled jalapeños par- nated pork carved from a two-foot-tall tas and tamales that inspired his latest Batman action figures and dozen or so ticularly fiery and the fillings a roster of cylindrical mass on a vertical spit that cookbook, but instead of being limiting, other toys for sale — in cochinita pibil, well-executed classics, both familiar looks like nothing so much as the sha- zooming in on these three foods re- the pork slowly cooked with achiote that and not. warma you see at Middle Eastern res- vealed an abundance of variations that I is a specialty of the Yucatán. “These are nearly extinct,” Mr. Santi- did not even know existed. And explor- From red plastic stools, we watched bañez said, lifting the tops from our tor- ing these many varieties was easy, the counterman grab a judicious tas to reveal one bearing chunks of octo- since filling up never cost each of us amount of red-hued pork from a vat, pus and another stewed salt cod. Old more than 60 pesos, about $4.65 at 13 pe- spread it on a roll, sprinkle on pink pick- standards like these have been overtak- sos to the dollar. gentes Sur; Colonia Hipódromo. Each led onions and set the slim sandwich on en by the hot dog tortas of the world, tamal costs about 7 pesos. a griddle to crisp. “You lose these and unlike staunch traditionalists, he places,” Mr. Santibañez said wistfully, thinks it’s possible to mourn the former Decades of Tamales The next morning, we leaned against admitting that he had forgotten about El while still celebrating the latter. a wall at the edge of Coyoacán’s zócalo, Ms. Angeles, the tamale vendor next Turix until a friend recently reminded La Castellana, multiple locations; tor- or main plaza, another location where to the entrance to La Espigain Colonia him of it. Only in a city this full of food taslacastellana.com. Each torta costs Mr. Santibañez had come as a teenager. Hipódromo, dug around in her big pot could you forget something this good. about 30 pesos. We ate delicate, almost puddinglike Oa- and pulled out four glistening parcels, El Turix, Emilio Castelar 212, Colonia bagging three and handing one to Mr. xacan-style tamales made by a vendor taurants. This, Mr. Santibañez ex- named Ana Pastelin. As he finished a Polanco; (52-55) 5280-6449. Each slim A Feast of Tacos Santibañez. He peeled back the corn plained, is one of many examples of the banana leaf-wrapped tamal filled with torta costs about 22 pesos. husk packaging and took a bite of a After a whirlwind taco tour with Mr. significant Arab influence on Mexican mole verde, fragrant with the herb hoja We visited El Capricho, sandwich be- coarsegrained, fluffy tamal — essential- Santibañez, I realized that I had actu- food. You can even order tacos arabes santa, he noticed my perplexed look as I low, where he and his friend Pepe would ly, dough made from corn soaked in ally known very little about the Mexican — this fantastic pork on pita bread in- watched Ms. Pastelin fill a roll with an come for lunch after college classes; food I thought I was best acquainted stead of tortillas. slaked lime and lard — filled with tangy, Pepe drove them there in a white Ford unwrapped tamal to construct a sort of with. We downed countless tacos during Tacos Manolo, Luz Saviñón between Mustang. The mustard-yellow room full corn sandwich. our excursions, all of them excellent Anaxágoras and Cuauhtémoc, Colonia of mismatched tablecloths and wooden He said it was called a guajolota, or, and many of them outside of the grid- Del Valle. Each taco costs about 8 pesos. stools did not inspire high expectations. rough translation, lady turkey. “It’s an dled-meat-on-tortillas box. We never actively sought out tacos de Nor did Mr. Santibañez’s order. He invention for our modern, busy lives We went to Beatricita, the surviving canasta, or basket tacos. Every morn- that’s meant to make the tamal easier location of a century-old operation ing, corners fill with blue-plastic-lined and less messy to eat while on the go.” where Mr. Santibañez went as a child baskets, perched on folding tables or at- Minutes after we left, we walked past for tacos de guisado, basically tacos tached to bicycles.