BACK IN TJ (and other news)
Ok so we flew back to Tijuana to get our van but before we left our new friends Claudia and Lalo took us to a few taco spots in Tijuana just to make sure our Mexican food experience was complete. I stopped at a spot and had a pastor and asada taco. Very good. No picture though, but you know what a taco looks like right? Well, the next few tacos I had were a bit different so here they are.
Those are birria tacos. Birria is beef soaked in its own juices and prepared with certain spices. Before being served to us the tortillas were fried. Crispy birria tacos. So delicious.
The very last thing I ate in Mexico was this marlin taco. Yeah marlin, like the big swordfish looking thing that lives in the water. And it’s delicious. The fish was fresh, just like the seafood we had our first day in TJ. And of course some cream sauce, salsa, cabbage, and pico de gallo made it all come together. Great way to end a tour full of great food.
Well that’s it for Mexico. I can’t wait to go back. Now let’s talk about the future of Road Noms. No it’s not ending. As long as I’m eating and touring, like I’ve said, I’m blogging. But it is moving. SYG’s friends at Propertyofzack.com and I are gonna team up and bring RN to their site! Why? Mostly motivation, on my part. If this blog is part of another site that means I’ll have to keep it regularly updated so I don’t seem like some fucking dead beat. And in the end that means all you guys will have more to read! So stay tuned over the next few weeks, I’ll let you know when the move is done and when you can go to POZ to get your Road Noms fix!
Thanks for reading guys!
GUADALAJARA
Our last show was in Guadalajara, where we had a great time walking around the plaza and the shopping district which our tour manager Rene said is the biggest in Latin America? Makes sense, it was HUGE. And had tons of places to eat in it. And of course we stopped at one.
You’re looking at the best tortilla soup I have ever had, without a doubt. Aside from a thick, hearty broth, big blocks of queso fresco and big crispy strips of tortilla, this soup was topped with chicharrones. In ‘merican that means PORK RINDS. Hell fucking yes. The soup was already incredible but adding chicharrones? That took it to the next level.
This soup is a perfect example of why I love Mexican food: simple, hearty, cheap and a recipe worth a million bucks that’s probably just been passed down from one family member to the next, without it ever being written down or given out.
Mango-chile frozen pop. Are these available in the US? Junior? I need these in my life everyday. I love the fuck out of some dried mango with chile and this is just the next obvious step. GIMME DAT!
MEXICO CITY
Our next stop was Mexico City. This place is like the capital of street food. So many different foods being sold in the streets here, you can get full without having to walk into a store or restaurant. I love it.
That there is what’s called a “huarache”. Now you might be saying “wait Dan, that’s the name of Mexican leather sandals. You didn’t eat that.” And I’d be like “yeah you’re right dude.” Huarache is a sandal but it’s also a flat, crispy corn base topped with refried beans, nopales (cactus), cilantro, chile and cheese. A great tasty street snack that apparently originated in Mexico City. History and grub, all in one bite. Can’t beat that.
More street grub. Cup o’ corn! It was pretty spicy too. And like, 10 pesos. That’s less than a dollar.
After walking for a while we did drop into a restaurant where I got a dish called “alambre”, which means wire. I’m not sure where the name of this dish came from (maybe the food is grilled on a stick or wire?) but it was basically like fajitas with cheese mixed in. That’s ok though because I dig fajitas and I definitely dug this alambre. I got mine with pastor (spiced pork). Good stuff.
MONTERREY
When we got to Monterrey we were all hungry. So of course that meant the first order of the evening was to get tacos.
We found a place called “Tlaquepaque”. All they serve are tacos made one of two ways: seco (dry) or bañados (bathed). I got the bañados, because I’ve never had a taco swimming in hot sauce. They were lovely. Five beef tacos drenched in smokey chipotle salsa. Delicious. Cheap and very filling, just like Mexican food should be.
Afterwards we went out again to get some grub. (SYG takes food very seriously by the way. We would rather go out eating then go out partying. Remember that if you ever kick it with us.) We went to a simple little restaurant where I got a burrito. Now if you know anything about burritos then you should know that they’re not an authentic Mexican dish. They were invented in Texas by some Mexican dude who realized that wrapping up a bunch of stuff into a tortilla was a great way to serve it. That said, they’re not easy to find in Mexico. But not impossible.
This place served them so I had to see what was up with burritos in Mexico. The major difference was that unlike most burritos we’re used to that have rice and beans and whatever else you load yours up with, this one had only meat, cheese and avocado. This thing was pretty huge. I don’t think I even finished it. But man it was delicious. The carne asada was so good and was practically falling out of the burrito there was so much of it. I could definitely fuck with burritos like this again.
TIJUANA
Oh shit. Mexican food. My favorite food. I’m kind of a Mexican food snob, I won’t really eat it in the US outside of California (Texas, Arizona and New Mexico I’ll make exceptions for sometimes). But our last tour wasn’t in the US, it was in Mexico! So of course I got down on PLENTY of good food.
Our first stop was in Tijuana. Before our show we wandered around and found a damn good seafood restaurant.
Look at all that goodness for under the sea! We got ceviches with shrimps, fish and octopus in there, oysters and even blood clams! Ceviche is a bunch of lime and citrus juices mixed up with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, peppers and spices and then combined with whatever seafood you want. You eat it with big tortilla chips and it’s delicious! Those oysters were great. Fresh and you can still taste the ocean in them. This was the first time I had blood clams and I loved them. Chewy and blood all dripping down my chin. Mmmm. The way every meal oughta be!
Afterwards we walked off our gigantic seafood lunch. One of the reasons Mexican food in Mexico is so great is because you can buy so much of it right on the street!
I bought this bag of churros from a sweet lady cooking them right there on the sidewalk. One dollar for the whole bag. I couldn’t even finish them all!
The next morning I dipped into the diner at the corner and had some quality chilaquiles.
Chilaquiles is a staple Mexican breakfast dish made of eggs scrambled with fried tortilla strips, topped with cheese and either red or green sauce. And if you go all the way like I like to you get chicken with it too. These were good. Not the best chilaquiles I’ve ever had, the green sauce could’ve been a little spicier, but still tasty and filling. On to Monterrey!
