2004-08-28: Chicago Eatathon, Part 2 -- Los Hermanos Azules
Posted by extramsg on Saturday, September 18, 2004 @ 21:01:17 PDT
Contributed by extramsg
Just off the Zocolo, on the tight streets of Mexico City's Centro Historico, you can find CDs for 12 pesos each, five for 50. DVDs for 300 pesos each. Computer software for a tenth of the price you'll find it at Best Buy. Of course, it's all pirated. You'll also find blender parts, toys, lingerie, socks, and sunglasses. Sure, I hover over the CD pile a bit, but the true object of my desire is the food. Tacos, churros, quesadillas, huaraches....
I wasn't sure exactly what the Maxwell Street Market would entail. But after only a few steps, I realized: it's a little bit of Mexico City. Socks, sunglasses, CDs -- they're all there. Duct tape, a wall of pink hats, lawn Jesuses (or is it Jesai?), radios, a selection of posters with Al Pacino from Scarface, bras, toys, tools, and, my personal favorite, the table of comic books and porn. But most importantly, Mexican street food.
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There's actually more than just Mexican food. You can get yourself a Polish or pupusa, for example. But the heart (or stomach) of the market is clearly Mexican. Tacos, churros, quesadillas, huaraches....
I was well-prepared by threads on Chowhound and LTHForum, plus the Gorilla Gourmet video guide to the market. Yet, with all that I read and saw beforehand, I didn't truly realize the depth of the street food options. And apparently, I was there on a bad day. Two favorites of the market were MIA, as an LTHForum member put it, the day I was there: Ricos Huaraches and El Colonial. I was very disappointed when I heard, but I still filled up on lots of great food.
Honestly, you can probably skip the northern section of the market. Besides the pupusas and the pina coladas, everything on the north end is reproduced on the south end, but usually better. I did have a banana, slowly-fried until it's caramelly, that you can then get topped with onions, cilantro, and crema, if you like.
My first stop coming down Canal St. would be Manolo's or its sister-tent, Rubi's. They're essentially the same and right next to each other. The star here is the masa. The tortillas they make have a unique and interesting texture less crumbly or soft than the typical masa harina creations. Are they using freshly made masa? Do they put a little wheat flour in their masa? I don't know, but it's a nice change. The mole rojo was acceptable, a little sweet, with dry meat. But given another opportunity I would order a quesadilla con hongos (mushrooms).
About midway down, there's a stand with an enormous line of antojitos waiting to be fried. Gorditas, quesadillas, huaraches, flautas, sopes -- even the enchiladas are fried, Mexican street style. That's what I ordered, street style enchiladas. Tortillas are dipped in sauce, then fried and rolled, and topped with cheese. It's very rare to find them made this way in the United States. You can order typical fillings and toppings for their antojitos, but you can also get flor de calabaza and huitlacoche. And what's not better fried? The even slowly fry bananas like the stand north of Roosevelt.
El Guero provides a lighter option or interlude, birria, good for settling and warming the belly. You can order the consome by itself or with the meat that flavors it. I ordered mine without meat, so I'm uncertain whether it was the traditional birria de chivo (goat) or not. But it was tasty and heavily spiced, almost tasting of cardamon, which would be a bit odd.
A busy stand spewing smoke punctuates the south end of the market. The stall sits under a bridge and always has a line. They even make you take a number. The smoke emanates from a charcoal grill at the back where skirt steak, arrachera, undergoes the beautiful Maillard effect, becoming crusty and caramelized. From there, the massive slabs of beef are moved to a cutting board where they're chopped into tiny pieces. This is the closest thing I've found in the US to the best carne asada in Mexico. It'd be helped by some freshly made tortillas, but the roasted jalapenos are a nice touch.
If you're still hungry while walking back up through the market, there are a couple more choices worth looking at. Tamal Oaxaca makes several flavors of tamales. Only one comes banana leaf wrapped, the traditional southern Mexico style. It's a meal in itself. The texture of the masa is perfect and the green salsa and chicken works well with the banana leaf flavor.
For those with a little Tony Bourdain in them, there are two stands across from each other selling all the bits of the cow leftover from the other stands: cheek, tongue, steamed head, brains, and eye. The busy stand with the dark-colored top is as much show as sustenance. The caballero with the cowboy hat works the line like part dramatic artist, part assemblyline machine, dipping tortillas in the juices of the adovada before they go to the griddle, later topped by your choice of adventurous meats. The dipping improves the purchased tortillas. And the whole process is fun to watch.
So what did I get? Taco de ojo. If you're going to eat something disgusting, it might as well make for a good story. The taco comes with steamed or braised head meat surrounding the eyeball with connected tissue extending back an inch or two. I picked at the meat trying to build my courage. But it only weakened me and I decided that I'd just have to gobble the slimy marble and be done with it. I took it all in one bite and wished it was a little smaller so I could just swallow it down. The exterior was tender and easy to bite through, exposing the interior, the texture of slightly thickened snot. I immediately became nauseous. I swooned for a moment, but continued chewing and swallowed the eyeball, wishing I had something to drink. You have to really enjoy the flavor of cabeza and not mind that texture, like lard encased in a slimy skin, to enjoy a taco de ojo. I don't.
At the corner of Canal and 14th Place is a stand roasting elotes and charring arrachera. The skirt steak isn't as good as the previously mentioned stand, but they do have some rico options if you step up and look in the warmers. These stews, or guisados, include popular choices in Mexico, such as chicharron (pig skins) stewed in tomatillo sauce and pork stewed in a tomato-chile sauce. They also griddle their own masa here. They have churros, but skip them.
Why? Because you can buy freshly made churros from a cart where you can watch them extrude, fry, and fill yours only seconds before your eat them. Churros are my favorite Mexican pan dulce. But people who haven't eaten them freshly made, often don't understand my fervor. The best analogy for an American is a doughnut from the supermarket versus a hot-off-the-oil doughnut from Krispy Kreme. It's the difference from mediocre to sublime. These are the more traditional, somewhat bready churros. But when they're hot, they still have the delicate texture of my favorite churros. I prefer cajeta filling or none at all. But kids usually prefer strawberry.
Other sweets and snacks include: cocos frios, chilled coconuts opened so that you can drink from them; aguas frescas, such as jamaica (hibiscus iced tea), tamarindo, and horchata (rice milk flavored with almonds and cinnamon); and dulces, Mexican candies like the surprisingly yummy pollo asado, little lollipops that look and taste like chicken.
Throughout the market, you'll find interesting produce, much of which emphasizes Mexican ingredients. Prickly pears, called tuna in Spanish, are especially prominent in both green and purple. Mamey, a fruit that looks like a large brown avocado with an orange flesh inside, is often described as tasting almondy, or like an apricot, or even like cantalope. I can understand all of those descriptions, but to me, mamey's flavor is ineffable. You just have to taste it. It makes a great ice cream or paleta flavor. (Mamey is often called sapote.) Other great Mexican ingredients include fresh and dried chiles, herbs, such as cilantro and epazote, tamarind, jamaica, and cactus paddles.
The Maxwell Street market has an exciting street food scene. The variety itself recalls the best of Mexico. It's the closest you can get to Mexico City without a passport, pockefull of pesos, and a thick layer of smog.
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