Friday, January 28, 2011

Spot the ejote



Some snaps of the tradicional degustation menu at Casa Oaxaca, base of esteemed nuevo-mexicano chef Alejandro Ruiz Olmedo: six compact courses backed up with generous quantities of blue corn tostadas and pan de chapulín (grasshopper bread).

Taquito de chapulines y guacamole (grasshoppers in little corn tacos, their salty edge burnished with avocado)

Sopa de Guías con Chochoyotes (squash and greens soup with corn dumplings)

Verde de Lengua (veal tongue in green mole)

Amarillo de Venado (venison in yellow mole)

Mole Negro con Guajolote (free range turkey in black mole)

Nicuatole (classic Oaxacan corn pudding)

'Comida de menudeo' quipped V when I told her about the single French bean gracing the venison dish. I suppose you do have to be Japanese to get away with that sort of thing, but this really was the most delicious taster menu I'd tucked into since Kyoto.

In the clip below Chef Ruiz heads out to the abastos market in Oaxaca; you will get a sense why this city sports possibly the best regional cuisine in southern North America.





2 comments:

scott said...

Drooling with jealousy! Food porn at its best.

Anonymous said...

Mexican food is generally too hot for me. I just don't see the pleasure in that. We chapines would do well to follow Chef Ruiz' example. It seems to me that we are rapidly losing many food traditions in Guatemala. My grandmother cooked food similar to that in your pictures. I fondly remember eating a plate of venado en amarillo many years ago. It was sublime. Sadly, it was probably the last deer in Chimaltenango.