MEXICAN EATS IN THE WINDY CITY - Sunny is stumped by Chicago's Mexican eateries and Manhattan city officials give food vendors the boot.
The 737, headed to La Guardia from Dallas, had been sky-borne for only twenty minutes when I reached into the seat pocket for American Way, American Airlines glossy bimonthly that takes readers on colorful journeys throughout the world. Skimming its sleek pages, my eye caught one particular article, "Bueno, Chicago," by Robb Walsh, "a diehard Tex-Mex fan." Walsh writes that Chicago chefs "are cooking up some of the most authentic and delicious Mexican food north of the border." Walsh also co-authored a new cookbook called Nuevo Tex-Mex [Chronicle Books].
Hearing rumors of Mexican restaurants in Chicago that dish up better grub than the Mexican restaurants found in Texas, the skeptical Walsh traveled to Chicago to sample "[probably] Mexican cuisine for Yankees" first-hand. "It seems unlikely that a northern city like Chicago could develop a Mexican cuisine to rival the century-old Hispanic-food tradition of the Southwest."
The story begins in a high priced Windy City Mexican eatery named Hacienda Tecalitlan, where Carlos Garcia, the moneyed owner, has built a reproduction of his two-story elaborate Jalisco abode, itself a copy of a 17th century courtyard-lush Mexican hacienda. At Tecalitlan, Walsh feasts on savory, authentic-tasting, hot, pork-filled corn dumplings, mole poblano, tortilla soup and empanadas. Next, Walsh visited a variety of other upscale, as well as down-home Mexican eateries, including a birrieria, a small joint noted for its jalisco-style spicy stewed goat meat.
After days of such research, Walsh concluded that Chicago might indeed boast "the best Mexican fare north of the border." Still puzzled by his findings, Walsh dropped by the Frontera Grill to visit with renowned chef Rick Bayless, America's foremost authority on Mexican food. Walsh asked Bayless how it could be that Chicago "ended up with all these cutting-edge Mexican restaurants." Walsh soon learns that over the last decade, Chicago has "amassed the second largest Mexican population in the United States." And, as a result, many restaurants serve bona fide Mexican dishes, and specialty Mexican markets are sprouting up all over Chicago.
Bayless explained that the majority of the Mexicans who immigrated to Chicago are "first-generation...and they still cook the way they did in Mexico." He contrasts the Chicago based Mexicans to those who migrated to the "deep rooted Chicano culture of the Southwest" such as LA or San Antonio where "...the Chicano community is there to teach them how things are done. But that doesn't happen in Chicago...There's nobody here to show them what Americanized Mexican food is supposed to be like."
Americanized Mexican food, coined as "Mexoid" by Washington Post columnist, Richard Estrada, includes such creations as fajitas and nachos. Walsh predicts that Chicago will inevitably acquire its own "Chi-Mex" style Mexoid food. "Assimilation is only a matter of time," he lamented.
Fortunately for Las Crucens, we needn't travel to Chicago to nosh authentic Mexican cuisine. Several ma and pa eateries, including the turquoise neon-bright Jaliscos eatery on Lohman, continue to preserve their traditional Mexican cooking style. The owners, Hector and Teresa Salazar, travel monthly through El Paso del Norte to Juarez to purchase the "secret" spices that have found their way north from Guadalajara.
Upon landing in La Guardia, I then taxied to Manhattan where my daughter works. Manhattan's car and pedestrian congested streets are also saturated with food vendors, who sell from umbrella-topped carts and booths. Food on a stick, sandwiches, oriental noodles, stuffed savories (e.g. tacos and burritos) and sweets and drinks are to be had, all inexpensive, even by Las Cruces standards. One of the first vendors I spotted was Lucy's booth (shown above), decked out in colorful, albeit, plastic ristras. Lucy's signature dishes included sausage and peppers and pork braciole. Although I didn't sample her offerings, the chile pepper aroma instantly made me homesick.
Yes, gobble-gulp-and-go fare is a highlight on my annual visit to the big city. But many sidewalk vendors may soon be forced to close shop "in an effort to ease congestion," according to a June 15 New York Times article. At present, city officials are negotiating with members of the Big Apple Food Vendors Association to limit the number of vendors to two on each busy corner. But the vendors contend "that the ban would force 300 carts to move and put many of them out of business because they would be limited to working in less busy, and thus less lucrative areas." In an effort to gain public support, the vendors marched down Broadway several weeks ago. As the two factions continue to quibble, I've been taking advantage of the food vendor carts that have of late been cropping up in the Three Crosses, some of which just happened to dish out authentic tasting, two napkin Mexican fare.
