Making Memories In Mexico City
When I was very young my parents went to Mexico City on vacation. They brought back a marble chess set that I was required to dust nearly every week until I went to college. I remember my mother saying she would never go back to Mexico because when they were on the subway in Mexico City a man pinched her on the bottom. Well, many years later I decided to visit Mexico City for myself, with the determination to see the beautiful architecture and eat the food for which they are so famous. I never rode the subway, and I never got pinched, but I met some incredible people who showed me their city over the course of six days, and packed in so many experiences that most people would never know existed.
I met up with my friend, Alondra, a chef whom I had met in Nayarit a few months prior. She had lived in Mexico City, and was anxious to show me the city she loved. She had several friends whom she contacted when we arrived, and during the course of the week they all decided they wanted to join us. Alondra and I stayed at the historic Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico in the heart of Mexico City on the Zocalo Square. There was a rooftop restaurant that overlooked the square with perfect views of the gorgeous cathedral and government palace. We could also see parts of the Aztec ruins that had been there long before the city had ever been thought of.
Mexico City is divided into hundreds of neighborhoods, each with their own unique characteristics. One of my favorites was Coyoacan where there were beautiful homes lining narrow streets with canopies of flowering trees. There were coffee shops and bakeries everywhere, and people sitting outside enjoying the perfect weather. In the nearby neighborhood, Mixcoac we visited Alondra’s friend, Rigel who owns a restaurant and masa factory called Cal y Maiz. Rigel collects native corn from all over Mexico and turns it into masa using the nixtamalization technique of “fermenting” dried corn with limestone, which tenderizes the corn so it can be ground into masa for tortillas, sopas, and tamales. He sells his masa to restaurants all over Mexico City. Not only is he an expert on corn, he is also an excellent chef. We tried many of his dishes for our breakfast, including pumpkin seed salsa with homemade tortillas, and enchiladas filled with cheese and topped with a fried egg. We invited Rigel to join us that afternoon at the Mexican Anthropology Museum, and he turned out to be the best guide we could have asked for. We decided he should join us for the remainder of our week in Mexico City, which he was happy to do.
We were also joined by Alondra’s friend, Paco, and his wife, Lulu. Paco is a guide in Mexico City, and he is not only knowledgeable about everything in Mexico City, including the best places to eat, he also has a great sense of humor. He and Lulu took us to some of the most incredible places, including Xochimilco, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located about 20 miles south of the city center of Mexico City.
There is a unique system of water canals with cultivated “islands” full of plush grasses and vegetable gardens. When we arrived at the marina there were dozens of colorful boats waiting for tourists and locals to hire them for a ride through the canals. They are most popular for partying teens and family get-togethers, but we were privileged to get to ride with a man named Ricardo, who manages the local farmers in the area that grow produce, transporting it by boat to restaurants and markets in Mexico City. Ricardo passionately explained that the ecosystem in the area was unique to any other place in the world, which allows for the crops to flourish and grow in 7 seasons every year. We stopped at the island where he had his own private gardens and grew the most beautiful lettuces and peas. Alondra and I picked as many peas as we could and ate them right out the of the pods.
Our next stop was to the town of San Pedro Actopan, north of Mexico City where the national mole festival is held every October. The community is known for providing the majority of mole ingredients to all of Mexico, particularly Mexico City. The streets are lined with shops selling chiles, nuts, and mole pastes. We had the privilege of visiting the home of one of Paco’s friends, Myra who lives with her grandmother, Florencia.
In the courtyard of their home was the kitchen, a small building made of stone. Against one wall was a pile of stones where a fire was heating clay pots carefully balanced on metal racks set on rocks in various sizes. Florencia sat on a small wooden chair, directing Myra and her cousin as they stirred the simmering moles and other pots of beans and rice. We sat down to eat at a small table and chairs while Florencia told us stories about the town, and the legends of the statue of Christ that had arrived in the city many years ago. A church was built at the top of a hill overlooking the city to preserve the statue, which was the pride of the townspeople.
When Florencia had finished her stories, and we were full of her delicious food, she asked me to make salsa in the molcajete from some dried chiles she had roasted over the fire. I sat next to her and did my best to grind the chiles, salt, and tomato as best I could to gain her approval. Florencia gave me a big smile and told the others that she was impressed with my skills. Then she passed out more tortillas for us to sample my salsa. It was a perfect lesson that you don’t have to use a lot of ingredients to make a great dish, as long as they are fresh and treated with lots of care.
That evening, Paco and Lulu took us to meet Alejandro Escalante, who owns and operates Casa de los Tacos, a fantastic restaurant serving some of the best tacos in Mexico City. Alejandro wrote a book called “La Tacopedia” and is researching for his next book about insects. How’s that for a guy with multiple interests?! After a few mezcal cocktails and tacos the music got louder, and Lulu started the dance party that lasted until the wee hours.
Despite our lack of sleep the previous night, we were all up early and on the road to visit a barbacoa in Purificatiôn, about 30 minutes from the city center called Barbacoa El Pica. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced. It was an outdoor compound with walkways that were covered in drapes of tree branches. There were rows of tables with different vendors selling salsas, drinks, pastries, tortillas, tostadas, and accompaniments to the barbacoa lamb.
The main event was the barbacoa where there were five underground pits that each contained a lamb that had been cooking in hot coals all night. The openings in the ground were lined with agave leaves and covered with stones and ash that were removed that morning to reveal the perfectly cooked lamb. Two men were shredding the lamb from the bones into bowls that were being distributed to anyone wishing to buy it. Some people were having it wrapped in paper to take home, and others were piling it on their plates to eat with tortillas at the many picnic tables in the area. We sat at a table under the canopy of trees and ate as much as we possibly could. We finished with the traditional drink called pulques, a milky fermented drink from the sap of the agave leaves.
As if we hadn’t had enough at the barbacoa, Paco drove us to the winery/brewery/cheese factory called Cava Bocanegra in Tequisquiapan, Querétaro. It was a newly constructed facility with multiple shipping containers elevated above the ground with steel beams. Inside the containers were bars and food counters, with patios set up between each one, and tables for enjoying the wine, beer, and cheese that were made on the property.
Many families were enjoying picnics at wooden tables, and we sat and enjoyed a flight of beer and cheeses. We returned to the city center of Mexico City to have our final dinner at El Balcón del Zócalo at the Hotel Zócalo Central, which was a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Zocalo Square, just next to our hotel. It was a bittersweet ending to our time together, and I was so moved to have made such wonderful friends in a foreign city. We all agreed to meet again in the next few months for a continuation of our Mexico City adventure, including a street food tour and a dinner prepared by Rigel and myself.
