How's The Food Down There?

One of the great things about living in Mexico City is definitely the food. The city is loaded with fantastic restaurants. I could get dizzy contemplating all the awesome restaurants that must be just around the corner from my apartment. Like all the great cities of the world, the DF features a variety of international cuisine: Italian, Spanish, Korean, Indian, Cuban; you name it. There are a couple of excellent French bistros I would love to share with anyone who comes down here to visit. Two places that are especially prominent in the DF are Sushi and Argentinean restaurants. There are many popular Sushi chains peppering the city. Ale and I get it delivered about once a week, usually on Sunday nights. One thing Americans will find strange is that here in Mexico, Sushi is synonymous with cream cheese. Almost all the rolls have some cream cheese in them, and many kinds are either loaded or wrapped with the stuff. You could conceivably order your rolls sin cream cheese, but changing your order from the menus here can be tricky, yielding unintended results (more on ordering in restaurants and waiters later). It’s been easier for me to simply avoid the heavy cream cheese rolls and get used to having cream cheese in much of my sushi, which I should make clear, is otherwise fantastic. The Argentinean places, of which there are many as well, feature gigantic steaks cooked on gigantic, open grills. No cream cheese here, just mouth watering, fried, meaty deliciousity.

Of course, the most prominent “international” food here is Mexican. And I suspect for many of you, what you think of as Mexican food is not, or is only slightly. Taco Bell came to Mexico just before NAFTA was passed. In a few short years they were out of business, despite the eventual, tremendous success of places like Burger King, Subway, Starbucks, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Mexicans clearly appreciate American fast food but are also fiercely proud of their cultural heritage and took no small offense to the Yankee interlopers trying to sell them sanitized versions of their own national cuisine. Don’t get me wrong, I personally like Taco Bell well enough, but it is not exactly real “Mexican” food. For starters, tacos are not made of ground beef, lettuce and tomatoes in hard fried corn tortillas in a curved shape. I have never even seen such a thing here. Tacos are small soft tortillas, corn or flour, with any number of meat, pork, chicken dishes, etc. inside. Classic tacos are found on the streets in small taco stands or places called taquerias, as are other types of “authentic” Mexican food. Perhaps the most common tacos in DF are tacos al pastor, which is pork in a special sauce that is stacked and cooked on a vertical spit of sorts, then sliced off and put into the tacos. To imagine what it looks like, think of the same set up you find at a gyro or kebab place. You might add some onions, pineapple and sauces to these tacos, but lettuce and tomato, no. And if you order it with cheese, it’s called a “gringa.”

And these taquerias and other stands can be found every half a block in this city. And it’s not just tacos they sell. You’ll find a variety of different foods that are not on the menu at Taco Bell. Perhaps the closest thing to an American taco is the sope, a thickish deep fried corn tortilla topped with refried beans, lettuce, cheese (some white stuff, not cheddar) and occasionally, tomatoes. Tacos de guisado are also a common option. These are small round corn tortillas filled with a variety of pre-cooked fillings, meats and stews and such. Very tasty. A typical morning dish are chilaquiles, a mish-mosh of tortilla chips (called totopos here) softened under a cover of eggs, chicken salsa, cream and cheese, a real messy affair. A sandwich of sorts at the street stands is called a torta, beans, mayo, chicken and other Mexican toppings (not ham and American cheese) on a thick bread roll cut in half. Or you can have tamales, pork and corn meal fillings wrapped in dried corn leaves. Not one of my favorites. Neither are nopales, chopped up cactus that kind of looks like green beans, but certainly don’t taste like them. They’re a tad bitter, if you ask me. One the other hand, barbacoa is a downright delicacy, when done correctly. This is goat meat that is slowly cooked in a pit in the ground in banana leaves overnight. The bones are used to make a broth that is served with rice and chic peas. The tender succulent meat is served in a soft corn tortilla (taco) with onions and parsley. Barbacoa is great on Sunday mornings after a Saturday night out. There’s a stand a couple blocks away from my apartment that has good barbacoa, but we usually walk a little bit further to a place that really rocks next to the pleasant Parque España. And yet another excellent option is pozole, a stewy blend of pork (or chicken) and hominy, cabbage, lettuce, lime juice, avocado and oregano, of pre-Columbian origins. Besides food, there’s also many fresh juice stands on the streets here. I can get a gigantic 20-ounce fresh squeezed orange, strawberry and banana juice for less than 2 dollars, less than 50 yards from my front door. I throw some ice and yogurt with this mixture into the blender to make killer smoothies. Really, these concoctions are unbelievably yummy.

But, without any doubt at all, my favorite Mexican food is the burrito I get every day for lunch at the little stand immediately outside the gates of my school. I barely eat any breakfast in the morning (usually a half a glass of milk or V8) so I am really ready to eat when lunch comes at 12:30. And I am especially looking forward to this burrito. It’s a 10 inch flour tortilla with shredded chicken, refried beans, rice, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion topped with red, green and white sauces. I have this masterpiece with a small bag of zingy “Toro” flavored Doritos (there are many Doritos flavors here I don’t think you have up north) and a diet coke for 28 pesos, which is about two and a half bucks. It’s a pretty amazing deal, considering the sandwich, coke and chips I got at the deli in Lawrence cost more than 8 dollars, and with this I get one of the best burritos I’ve ever tasted made fresh to order. I actually don’t “order” this meal; Rocío starts making it for me the minute I appear at the stand. Despite the many appetizing options I literally choose to eat the same exact burrito every day. My compulsion to eat the same meal each day is a mildly amusing oddity known to many of my co-workers. I’ve even heard others order the “Mike Burrito” (or “Miguelito Burrito” if you will!). Still, any raised eyebrows or comments about my singular devotion to my lunchtime comida are well worth it. I like my job, a lot, and still that burrito is often the highlight of my day.

And trust me; I’ve just scratched the surface here. There are many other delicious Mexican dishes readily available in the DF, and untold variations of the dishes I described above. For instance, I have encountered many versions of things that are all called “quesadillas,” even ones that are without cheese! (The word for cheese in Spanish is “queso,” of course.) As for whether real Mexican food is overly spicy or not, I have found that the majority of foods are not; it is only that it comes with accoutrements like chili peppers and salsas that can add hot and spicy element to your food if you so desire. And you may ask, what about “Montezuma’s revenge?” I personally have been lucky enough to have avoided any stomach problems since moving here. Most people who do have issues simply suffer a reaction to different bacteria here found in the water. This results in mild diarrhea and-or cramping upon there arrival. (I did have some stomach issues in Guatemala weeks before I moved to the DF and this may have prepared me for the change.) Mexicans often have to deal with the same bacteria issues when they travel to the U.S.A. (Whether legally or illegally!) Of course, sometimes when eating food on the streets here, it is certainly possible to eat some bad meat and get really sick. It’s an admitted risk, though a minimal by my estimation, and one I would argue is well worth the benefits of the all the tasty food available on the streets of Mexico.

Viva la diferencia! Viva Mexico! Viva el burrito!

Photo Note: Rocio preparing to hand over my burrito.

How's The Weather Down There?

By far, one of my favorite things about living in the DF, Mexico (Distrito Federal) is the weather. The city is nestled in a basin at 7,200 feet surrounded by mountains and volcanoes on the spot of what originally was the Aztec city on a lake, Tenochtitlan. Because of the latitude (fairly close to the equator) and the altitude (fairly high up) the climate here is delightful. The daily temperature ranges from 66 to 78 degrees over the course of the year, with most days being somewhere in the middle. There is also very little humidity, which someone like me from New Jersey appreciates immensely. The vast majority of the days here are sunny and in the 70’s and the majority of the nights are in the 50’s. Most buildings here, including my apartment, do not have any heating or air conditioning. (Shoosh, most buildings don’t even have insulation in them.) And as much as I enjoy the spring and fall changes in the Northeast, I can't say I have gotten sick of such pleasant weather here, day after day after day. Stepping outside to sunny and pleasant environment every day can do a lot to keep your spirits high.

There is a seasonal change here that takes place about every six months. May through October is the rainy season. (November through April is the…well, I guess it’s the non-rainy season.) “Rainy season” actually sounds worse than it is. For much of this time, the days are in fact warm and sunny, culminating in an evening shower that usually lasts about an hour, if not less. Many people can be seen waiting the rain out on the streets under awnings or in a cantina before heading on their way. And there are times during these months where it rains more than an hour, but this is mostly at night. It is true that in the fall hurricane months, you will get a couple of full days of rain in a row, but this is more the exception than the rule. These patches of rain seem a small price to pay for near perfect weather the other 10 months of the year.

One of the funny things to me is the fact that many residents here do not seem to appreciate their climatic good fortune. On days that get close to 80 degrees (without humidity, mind you) they complain, “hace mucho calor!” And on days that drop only a few degrees below 70, they say, “hace mucho frio!” Of course, even eventually warm sunny days start in the mornings with temperatures in the mid to high 60's. As I ride the subway to work in (only) my cotton button down shirt, I am surrounded by many Mexicans bundled up in coats, hats and scarves. It seems a pain in the ass to have to carry around such garb on a day that you know will hit 75 later on, but that’s how they do.

Sometimes, when I mention to a local how much I love the weather here, they tell me that the weather is really good in the nearby city of Cuernavaca, “the city of eternal spring,” and also the original home of Cortes' palace. I’ve not spent any significant time there, only driving through a couple of times on my way to Acaplulco. It lies only about an hour south, and Ale, who lived there for a while, tells me its pretty much the same as the DF, only a tad warmer. I suppose that everywhere people suffer from the “grass is always greener” affliction and don’t know a good thing when they have it. As for me, I’m lovin’ the weather here!

Photo note: The Diana Fountain on Reforma in the late afternoon. Taken by my pal Nik Ball.