--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> --- In [email protected], "sparaig" <sparaig@> wrote:
> >
> > --- In [email protected], "sparaig" <sparaig@> wrote:
> > >
> > > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@>
wrote:
> > > >
> > > > --- In [email protected], "Rick Archer" <rick@>
wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Plenty of Coke around here, probably of both kinds. I
drank
> > > > > a huge one last weekend in a Mexican restaurant in
Ottumwa.
> > > > > There are lots of Mexicans there who work in the hog
> > > > > slaughterhouse, so the restaurant is very good and
authentic.
> > > >
> > > > Oh, now you've done it! I'm salivating like one of
> > > > Pavlov's dogs. If good Mexican food exists anywhere
> > > > in France, I have yet to find it. It's difficult to
> > > > even roll your own, because the ingredients one can
> > > > find around here are so crappy. Every time someone
> > > > visits from Santa Fe and asks what they can bring
> > > > me, I ask for a suitcase full of salsas and spices.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Hmmmm... Define "authentic" and what spices and so on do you
lack?
> >
> > I take it back, you didn't say "authentic," you said "good."
>
> Ok. Now I'll answer. :-)
>
> Santa Fe has arguably the highest number of great
> restaurants per population of any city in America.
> (According to several gourmet magazines.) It kinda
> spoils you for lesser food. The Mexican restaurants
> there are superb, real cutting-edge stuff. Not all
> "authentic," but consistently wonderful.
>
> > To be honest, I've lived in Tucson 40 years, and probably had
> > "authentic" Mexican food zero times unless it was at some
> > hole-in-the-wall in South Tucson. OTOH, a lot of the
> > Mexican restaurants in Tucson serve tasty food.
>
> The only "authentic" Mexican food I've ever had was
> in Mexico and in one restaurant in L.A. (a favorite
> of Jackson Browne and many other rockers, BTW). It's
> lighter and tastier than gringo Mexican food.
>
> I could make stuff from scratch here, and often do,
> but sometimes it's difficult to *find* "scratch,"
> like the right kind of beans, or tortillas (unless
> you make them yourself), much less annato seeds and
> banana leaves and habaneros for making Robert
> Rodriguez's famous puerco pibil recipe from 'Once
> Upon A Time In Mexico.'
>
> It's even worse if, like me, you're a tequila snob.
> In Santa Fe I could find easily 100 varieties of
> tequila, most costing over 50 bucks a bottle. Tequila
> is one of those liquors that, like Scotch, improves
> with aging. It's a sippin' drink. No one who knows
> tequila would waste a really good one on a margarita.
> Well, you can't find diddley-squat here in France.
> There is just no market for them yet, so no one
> imports them. The stores don't have any of the good
> ones, the restaurants don't have any of the good ones,
> and even the distributors don't have any of the good
> ones. Sigh.
>
If either of you ever make it to the Bay Area, check out Compadres
in Palo Alto. Something which makes a great restaurant for me,
Mexican or otherwise, is atmosphere. This place has a large glass
and timber covered patio (used to be a foundry) with heaters and a
fireplace when its chilly or raining, and you can spend all day
there. Brick floors, rough hewn wooden tables, the place just oozes
relaxation, and the cool thing is most people eat inside so its
usually ours for the afternoon. Great selection of tequilas,
probably 50 or so, and even their margaritas are a lot more than
just Cuervo mix and ice. Their burritos are delicious and packed
with good stuff like carnitas or lobster or mole chicken, and they
have lots of other stuff. They also have a couple restaurants in
Hawaii, but I haven't checked them out.
