Remarkable Food

 

This morning we met Coco for a guided tour of the markets.  We have had some exceptional food in Oaxaca, but felt we could learn a lot more in a tour.  We walked down to the largest market, Abastos, first.  This is the less touristy market where locals tend to shop.  You can get pretty much anything there from socks to meat and vegetables, to furniture.  We admired the flower stalls, learned about the different cuts of meat and sausages and ate at breakfast at two food stalls.  At the first we had a bowl of delicious hot chocolate made with water, a sweet bread, and Jake and I split a memela, a large tortilla with black beans and fried eggs on which you can put a spicy tomato salsa.  At the second place we split two tacos, one with grilled, shredded lamb and the other with grilled, shredded goat.  One the table are many toppings you can add including 3 types of salsas, grated cabbage, and sliced radishes.  I washed my tacos down with a juice made from hibiscus flowers.  According to our guide, the market stalls are all pretty safe to eat at as purified water is now used for everything from washing dishes to making ice.  The tables were regularly wiped down with disinfectant. 

Dried peppers at the Abastos market

Lots of mole ingredients

Many stalls had huge burlap bags full of dried peppers.  We tried a pasilla pepper paste at one stall with a very rich, salty flavor.  Fresh chiles de agua, the pepper most local to the Oaxaca central valley, were also available.  Our guide also recommended the small criollo avocados, much sought after by high end restauranteurs. 

Back towards the center of town we went to the Benito Jaurez market.  Just outside the market a vendor gave us a free sample of chapulines, roasted crickets.  We got the garlic flavored ones, and they were remarkably good.  Not at all leggy as I had feared. I asked about the gusanos, worms that are used for flavoring things, and learned that most are collected either from agaves or from a cecropia tree.   We tried two types of cookies from a sweets vendor.  Little round ones that come in a stack tasted a bit like baked donuts.  The other was a toasted coconut cookie a little like a crispy macaroon.  And finally a sample of string cheese that had a much more interesting, slightly sour, flavor, compared to the kind you feed little kids.  I had tried tejate yesterday, a beverage made from roasted corn, chocolate beans, rosita de cacao flowers, and roasted seeds of mamey (sapote), a fruit.  It is made in a big ceramic tub and a soft layer of what looks like curds floats to the top.  It has a faint chocolate flavor with roasted and floral notes.  Served cold. 

Roast chapulines

Grasshoppers

Meat stall at the Benito Juarez market

Finally a stop at one of the Mayordomo chocolate shops in town to purchase the makings for chocolate drinks.  He also recommended buying mole at Los Pacos, a restaurant, because they seal their mole in bags suitable for getting through customs and the mole is pretty good.  Most market stalls selling mole sell the paste in unsealed bags.

I also learned that the student encampment are students from the public teaching college.  Our guide felt that the teacher’s union was using them to gain concessions from the government with elections coming up in early April.  The worms on the hooks, bait, without having to make the teachers go out on strike.  So far we haven’t talked to anyone who likes the government or any particular political party, and everyone has mentioned significant corruption as being the major problem.

RESTAURANTS

Black IPA

Chocolate cake with red fruits

Pork with mole and grilled fruits

Tierra del Sol – Beautiful rooftop terrace and excellent service.  Complimentary cocktail of coconut milk, pineapple juice and mescal as well as salsa made to your liking at the table (with the option of adding in chapulines (grasshoppers), which we did.  Jake’s chile relleno duo was particularly good.

El Olivo tapas restaurant – Rooftop with very hip vibe.  Lots of choices and they make their own small batch beer and non-alcoholic ginger beer.  The black IPA and ginger beer were excellent! They also make their own sausages and mustards.  We had a lamb sausage, oyster pate, and tempura vegetables.

La Olla – Excellent mole negro over chicken.  The coloradito mole on an enchilada was also very flavorful.  The house cocktail is made with mezcal and lime juice with a mole salt flavored rim.

La Rambla and other places in a food hall - Excellent ceviche, tuna burger, also sushi, frappucinos, strawberry water drink.  

La Brujula - coffee, cookies, muffins

Oaxaca en Una Taza - coffee, hot chocolate, pastries

Los Pacos - We didn't eat there, but we did buy mole on the recommendation of 2 guides.