CDMX FOOD

Mexico City, CDMX, DF, Mexico

Probably to the relief of folks following this blog, this is the last of our Mexico City posts!

Did we say Mexico City is HUGE?  (see earlier posts).

And you can find ANY food, in just about any price range.

(Well, except Linda couldn’t find SPAM for sushi on New Year’s Day, but likely just because we didn’t know where to find it.)

Turkeys!

Got amazing fresh tuna here

We stayed near Mercado de San Juan, which is a famous “gourmet” market. It was pretty amazing. They had everything. suckling pigs stacked like cordwood, a deer hanging by its hind legs, every fish known to Mexico. Many edible insects. Amazing produce. Pinatas AND prosciutto!!! We made many trips back to the cured meat booth.

Got your goat!

Pigs, lots of em

 Morels the size of a fist!

Los Tacos! Mark's fav

Mark is a big tacos el pastor fan…marinated pork cooked “gyros style” with a pineapple atop the spit, deftly sliced with a wicked sharp knife into tacos at the speed of light. We probably tried it at 4 different places, Mark’s favorite being the cheapest actually! Five admittedly small tacos for 38 pesos (less than $2 USD).

 

We stopped in at Churreria El Moro, the famous churros place served with thick hot chocolate sauce…fast service, tasty, and nice tilework on the wall.

Christmas / Three Kings Rosca de Reyes cake! This tradition comes from Europe, and is similar to the New Orleans’ King Cake, but Mexico’s version is better! (sorry!) Filled with a creamy filling, light and airy cake.We could eat this year ‘round. Three Kings is also when kids get presents, presumably from Da Kings. In Ajijic, they have 3 king statues which lurk in the central plaza, and slowly creep up (with help) to the creche, arriving on January 6.

Naughty Panque de Nata...Yum!

Panque de Nata Cream sponge cake: we did a LOT of walking CDMX. And often we passed this amazing smelling bakery that usually had a line in front of it, a good sign. Wow, buttery, rich body but not too cloyingly sweet. If you timed it right, you could get a warm one as soon as it come from the oven. Heavenly.

Pujol's famous smoky take on street corn...great

moles -- joven y viejo

Pujol is one of the Top100 restaurants in the world! As most of you know, Linda is a bit food-obsessed and loves to go to creative restaurants. And this one at Mexico prices! (Take THAT, French Laundry!) Known for creative, and fusion approaches to traditional Mexican dishes, Pujol was a very good experience. The service was excellent, the décor high end, simple Danish 60’s modern. Favorite dish: baby corn that was presented in a cloud of smoke in a calabash shell. Very cool. But the Mole Madre that was about 2000 days old and the amazing tortillas were highlights, too.

Hilton Hotel bar drinks: Ok, we know. But across from our apartment was a Hilton with a lobby bar. With lots of gin. Mark misses his good martinis, so this was a treat! The instructions we gave the barkeep were for the martini to be “as dry as the Sonoran Desert,” which he thought was funny. Being a Hilton, they also had a huge Christmas tree in the lobby, which was nice to see since we were living from our suitcases.

Mark with tears in his eyes

Winston Churchill’s: a New Year’s Eve treat for Mark, Linda made a reservation at an English-themed restaurant known for prime rib and yorkshire pudding (superb). And an excellent wine list. Mark was giddy. Our waiter seemed somewhat tickled at how happy Mark was.

Truffle mountain!

What other food-related experiences were most memorable?

• The food included in the chile class (see earlier post).  

• Christmas Eve “linner” at a Roma’s Sartoria Italian restaurant…Great pasta, with tons of truffle shaved over; excellent wine and cocktails, free bubbly and an extra dessert! (Waddled home, though via a nearby traditional bakery.

• 

  A headlamp is a key cooking utensil!

  Attempting to cook holiday season meals in a kitchen the size of a small walkin closet, and outfitted very sparingly (we helped upgrade equipment a bit, and Linda travels with a chef’s roll of utensils).

We’ve seen a lot of press about Mexico City being a hot food destination. We would absolutely agree, (and we only really scratched the surface,) and it doesn’t cost anything near Napa Valley prices!

2018 diciembre / 2019 enero

The Muralistas of Mexico ... and New Hampshire

Mexico and Hanover, New Hampshire

Dartmouth Orozco

While we were at grad school in New England, we discovered there was a well-known, and controversial (at least back when they were made) set of 24 mural panels in Baker Library, created by a Mexican artist named Jose Clemente Orozco (1932-34). They cover a history of Mesoamerica, from the Aztecs to the then-modern industrial society of the 1930s. Even with no training or background in this art, we found them striking – they tell a story you can start to follow, without knowing all the players or facts. Even better that they upset certain folks of the Dartmouth Establishment back when they were created.

We don't have a favorite! (Guadalajara)

We had a brief introduction to Mexican muralists during a tour of Guadalajara, but Mexico City is knee deep in murals from some of, if not THE greatest muralistas ever – Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, Juan O’Gorman, Jose Orozco, and Dr. Atl. So we made it a part of our 3-week sojourn in DF to find many of these public works of art, and to try to learn more about the stories they tell, and the people who created them. 


One thing to consider is that muralistas were also moralistas of a sort. They had a story to tell, based on facts but like any history also imbued with their take on what it all meant.

Diego's version of Posada's Catrina

Mural painting in Mexico started in the 1920s, after the Mexican Revolution, generally with social and political messages. It was supported by the Mexican government as a way to unify the country in post-Revolution times. Even before the Revolution, Jose Guadalupe Posada created the now-famous image of Catrina, which graces much of Dia de Muertos art. Posada was making fun of the European influence on Mexican elites at the turn of the 20th century.

The first modern muralista was Dr. Atl, born Gerardo Murillo Cornado in 1875. Atl, the Nahuatl word for water, believed that Mexican art should reflect Mexican life and values. He convinced President Porfirio Diaz that too many Mexican artists were trained in a classical way which simply mimicked European culture. By putting art large in public spaces on walls of buildings, Mexican artists could be liberated from this approach, while teaching and inspiring the people of Mexico.

Dr. Atl, photo by Tomas Montero Torres

Orozco was from Jalisco

Dr. Atl also did a series of famous paintings (which we were lucky enough to stumble cross in a museum in Morelia) of the 1943 eruption of Paricutin, which literally grew from the earth. He was injured while observing the eruption and his leg was amputated. He was the teacher of another muralista, the aforementioned Orozco, who ironically lost his left hand at age 21 building fireworks. Atl also wrote a short story called La Perla, which inspired a story of similar title from John Steinbeck later, a book which Orozco illustrated. 

Man on Fire

Orozco’s best-known work is a set of 57 murals in the Hospicio Cabanas in Guadalajara. We had a very good tour there, and literally got sore from craning our necks to look at all the works on the ceiling.

Diego's dream of a Sunday afternoon in the Alameda central park

Diego Rivera is probably the best known of the painters. His best known work to us is Sueno de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central. It was originally in a hotel near its present location at the Museo Mural Diego Rivera in Mexico City. The 1985 earthquake destroyed the hotel but miraculously the mural was mostly unscathed, and moved to the Museo. We spent a long time at the “key” to who all the people are in the painting, and if you took the time to place them all, you would have a great start in learning the history of Mexico!

Diego in Palacio Nacional. Amazing.

Rivera was, of course, married (twice!) to Frida Kahlo, and lived for a time in a compound, designed by O’Gorman (another muralista) with Frida and O’Gorman (in 3 separate houses). He has other huge and detailed murals in many places, our favorite aside from Suerte was at the Palacio Nacional on the Zocalo. There is also a huge collection of Rivera murals at the Secretario de Educacion. They are all worth the effort to find them.

Oh boy! O'Gorman!

Juan O’Gorman’s murals in the Chapultepec Castle are vivid, detailed and striking. This is the place from which the Ninos Heroes leapt to their death during the American invasion in 1847. Perhaps his most famous work is the Central Library at Ciudad Universitaria at UNAM. His mosaics cover the 4,000 square meters of the four faces of the building and are made of stones from all corners of Mexico, which O’Gorman traveled extensively to find the colors he wanted. In case you are wondering, his father was Irish (and a painter) and his mother Mexican. It covers pre-Hispanic history all the way to the present, and to see the scale and detail in person is nothing short of jaw-dropping. 

Siqueiros' Torture of Cuauhtémoc (by Cortez of course)

David Siqueiros – He has a definite dramatic style. Interestingly, he fought in Spain against Franco in 1938, and in 1940 he attempted to assist Stalin by assassinating Leon Trotsky, who had been granted asylum in Mexico. Trotsky was a friend of Diego and Frida (and apparently a very good friend of Frida for a while).

Keggy the Keg

So back to Hanover, NH. After the Orozco murals were completed, there was a hue and cry from Dartmouth alumni (the College was all male until 1974) about the controversial nature of the Orozco’s content. It was perceived as critical of institutes of higher learning, and Western civilization.

The "better?" replacement...Hovey 

An alumnus who worked as an illustrator proposed a set of murals, more “Dartmouth in character”, based on an old Dartmouth song, written by Richard Hovey – titled Eleazar Wheelock (founder of Dartmouth in 1769). Among other things, “Eleazar went into the wilderness to teach the Indian…with 500 gallons of New England rum.” The murals, sort of Maxfield Parrish in style, were approved and painted in the faculty dining hall. They are quite interesting, and also basically portray the Indians in ways less than flattering. Dartmouth was known as the Indians until the mid-1970’s when it was replaced officially by the color green, and unofficially by Keggy the Keg. Nowadays, the Hovey Murals are kept on the wall but under wraps except for occasional viewings by the public.

Yes, that's FDR...Pointed commentary, eh? (Orozco)

Why are murals so striking?  Such oversized public pieces of “enduring" art tell a story, even to the illiterate, and make a statement, often controversial, that reflects the times and thinking at that time, while also evoking universal themes: justice, injustice, hopes and dreams. While taking our breath away at the sheer scale of the statement.

2018 diciembre y 2019 enero

You say DF, I say Mexico

Mexico City, CDMX, DF, Mexico

Mexico City…an astounding metropolis that goes by many names, and to contradict Bill Shakespeare, it warrants ALL the names to reflect its many sights, sounds and smells.

Mexico City, la ciudad de Mexico, can also be called: Distrito Federal, DF (day – effay) and, simply, MEXICO. As you drive around the country you constantly see highway signs pointing to “Mexico” which can be a little puzzling at first, until you realize that mexicanos refer to the capital city as simply “Mexico.”

The founding of the city IS the founding of Mexico. Legend has it that after the fall of the Toltec Empire around 1000 ce, the Aztecs were looking for a new home. They were told by their main god, Huitzilopochtil, that they should look for a sign…an eagle on a nopal cactus with a snake in its beak. Pretty specific. Pretty unusual. This is the symbol on the Mexican flag. 

They found that eagle (and nopal and the unfortunate snake) on an island in Lake Texcoco. This unlikely location was indeed confirmed by their god (really?). They founded Tenochtitlan, and immediately outgrew the island. It kept growing and growing…and the Aztecs kept expanding their empire from sea to shining sea. Until Cortes showed up 1519. And that, they say…was the end of that story. However, the City lives on.

Mexico City is huge. Depending on how you count and which Wiki post you trust, somewhere around 8.84 million, and 21.3 million (greater metro area) people live here. It is the 2^nd largest city in the Western Hemisphere, after Sao Paolo. It is divided into 16 boroughs (one of which, incidentally, is the title of the movie, Roma.)

We wanted to have enough time to soak in a decent start to a huge and fascinating city, so scheduled 3 weeks there from just before Christmas, through New Year’s and Dia de Tres Reyes (Three Kings, of Christmas carol and rubber cigar fame).  It was an amazing visit. An indicator is that Linda’s edited down photo count is ~1300!

Our home base was in el Centro, an apartment across the street from Parque Alameda, the oldest park in DF, dating back to the time of Cortes. This turned out to be a great central location, a short walk to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, an absolutely gorgeous Art Deco (inside) and neoclassical (outside) building started around 1904, stopped due to foundation problems, then the Revolution, and restarted, then finished in the mid-1930s.

We had heard that a lot of chilangos leave the City for the holidays (though how many out of 25 million makes a noticeable difference?), so things might be a little less crowded. We saw days where that seemed true, and others where we wondered how many people could walk abreast down a wide, crowded sidewalk.

On the upper deck. Mind the wires!

After getting settled and provisioning our apartment, we started our introduction with a narrated bus tour, yes…those silly double decker buses. They have audio in 9 languages (including Russian, in case Paul Manafort shows up), with your own headset. Mark’s earphones shocked him every time he moved in the bus seat (think your older brother rubbing his feet on the carpet but touching your ear!) It was a GREAT introduction to the city and who knew that the music was going to be so good? 

We were also not too far from the Zocalo, THE central square of DF. This is the site of the Metropolitan Cathedral, as well as the Palacio National, first built by the Spanish. The cathedral was begun in 1573, and, it turns out, that construction was more or less on top of the original Aztec site, the Templo Mayor, using most of the stones from the original Templo to build the “new” one.

It being Christmas, the Zocalo was heavily festooned with huge lights and finery, large sparkly wreaths and candlesticks and flores de noches buenas. People were everywhere most of the time, including vendors of food and about anything else you could imagine other than large appliances. There were people dressed in – Azteca costumes, with long pheasant feathers, doing purifying rites with copal, with lines of people hoping to start the new year purified.

The streets were jammed with vendors who put their merchandise on the sidewalks and streets, making just walking a challenge. The merchandise is moved around by diableros, men with hand carts stacked high, carrying mostly boxes that say Hecho en China, total loads weighing over 1000 pounds. Amazing.

Adelitas

A former colleague of Mark’s happened to be visiting DF with her family for the holidays from Switzerland, and they suggested seeing the Ballet Folklorico at the Palacio de Bellas Artes…. and are we happy she did! It was amazing, and totally worth the $55 per person for up close seats. Just seeing the inside of the theater was a treat, as the “curtain” is a metal panel weighing 24 tons, made by Tiffany, designed by the famous Dr. Atl (later post), with over 1 million (!) pieces of colored glass. Just one more example of trying to take in the magnitude and scope of Mexico City. The program started with indigenous drum songs and dances, and went through various cultural and regional music and dance, right up to mariachis. Viva Mariachis!

Teotihuacan

Temple of the moon

We hired a tour guide for our group of 4 adults and 4 kids to tour the ancient ceremonial city population 125,000. Established 100 BCE, it was according to NatGeo, probably the largest city in the Western hemisphere before 1400. Who built it is not known for sure, but apparently it happened before the peak of Toltec power. Then around 550 CE it was systematically sacked and burned – our guide said by the poorer classes, but no one really knows. 

Jobu got to the pyramids

When the Aztecs found the city in the 1400s naming it Teotihuacan (meaning “the place where the gods were created” in Nahuatl), the city had been abandoned for centuries. Its prominent features are a massive Temple of the Sun, and slightly smaller Temple of the Moon. The site is also a weapon of math instruction – the number of steps and other things all revolve around the founders’ calendar, reminiscent of but pre-dating the Maya.

Xochimilco

Remember that island in the lake that Mexico City was founded on (not to be confused with Swamp Castle)? Well, there are still floating gardens, called chinampas, a sort of early but effective eco-garden, created by the Aztec to expand useable space, including land to grow food. 

Much of Xochimilco is devoted to a touristy boat trip with 15 of your best friends and about 100 other boats. The canals were so packed with pole boats, each with a long picnic table and about 20 small chairs, that we probably only moved maybe 100 yards over the course of an hour, It was hard to tell, but it was a classic cluster, and we were in tears laughing. 


Mariachis (with badly tuned instruments), ladies cooking tortillas, guys playing marimbas (also out of tune), souvenirs, sombreros - all on smaller flat-bottomed boats that tied up to you if you wanted something, Pure, unadulterated, how-in-the-hell-do-the-Mexicans-do-this joy (for us anyway). You have to see it to believe it.

 At the end of the boat tour, we were sitting on short wall waiting for the bus to go to the next place, next to a Mexican lady selling necklaces. She held them up to us, we politely declined, then we offered her a cookie out of our ziploc lunch bag. She took one then started talking to us in Spanish. As usual, Mark got maybe 1/2 of it, Linda got 80+%, and we talked for only a few minutes in Spanish. But she was very kind and smiled and it made it all worth "taking the chance", which is after all only one of not understanding all the words. Viva Mexico. If you take nothing else from our blog…take the chance!

Museums, museums everywhere

It seems like there are more museums per square…anything than just about any city except D.C.

It's not a calendar!

not gonna say it....

The Big Kahuna of museums in DF is the Museo de Anthropologia. It is so large and so detailed that we took parts of 2 different days to see it, and even then probably only scratched the surface. There is the huge and well-known Piedra de Sol, usually referred to incorrectly as the Aztec Calendar. Modern archaeologists believe it is likely to have been used primarily as a ceremonial basin or ritual altar. During the Mexican-American War, soldiers of the United States Army who occupied the plaza used the Piedra del Sol for target shooting. Geez, Louise. [Tip: if you get there and there are lines at the ticket booth inside, look for the automated ticket kiosk over near the gift shop. No line!]

Chapultepec garden gate

jumping to escape the Americans

We visited Castillo Chapultepec, which is beautiful. In 1846-47, it was a military academy, and was the place where 6 young cadets threw themselves from the parapets, wrapped in La Bandera de Mexico, to escape the marauding Americans (who were after, among other things -- California, Texas, NM and AZ) and become immortalized as the Ninos Heroes. Virtually every pueblo in Mexico has a street named Ninos Heroes. Later the ill-fated Hapsburg emperor Maximillian lived there, then later still, the president- dictator Porfirio Diaz. A decent amount of bad karma.

Muertos bull ring, so detailed!

completely covered in Huichol beading

Regional dresses, beautiful!

Probably our favorite museum was the Museo de Arte Popular (Folk Art), near our apartment. It has four floors of displays, including woven fabrics, the awesome beadwork of the Huichol, fantastical Oaxacan alebrijes, many different art pieces made for Dia de Muertos, and Mark’s favorite, the display of “typical clothing” from many of the indigenous peoples still in Mexico. And … free if you have Mark’s Mexican Old Guy (INAPAM) card! (60 years old and up)

Frida's blue house

We also visited Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo’s home in Coyoacan, and the Diego y Frida House in San Angel, designed in Bauhaus style by Juan O’Gorman (O’Gorman also lived there). There are 3 separate residences in the compound. 

Frida, Diego and Juan's houses

Not too far away is the house where Leon Trotsky lived, and at which was later assassinated in 1940. Not knowing much about Trotsky until we got to DF, it is a fascinating place. If you plan to go, read Barbara Kingsolver’s La Lacuna first. In fact, just read it anyway.

A must-see is the library building at UNAM, (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 350,000 enrolled!), in the vicinity of Casa Azul, the library is about 8-10 stories high and covered on all 4 side by mosaics designed by Juan O’Gorman. Study up on your Mexico history before you go, and either get a knowledgeable guide to explain the murals, or do some homework – your effort will be rewarded. It is fabtastic. We think if O’Gorman had a little better PR about 90 years ago he would be thought of on a par with Diego Rivera. There will also be a separate blog post on The Muralists. You could spend a solid week just searching out murals and learning of their symbolism.

Whew. Sorry for the long post, but it reflects the size, density and complexity of CDMX!

2019 enero