Yesterday's post was all about wine at AltaMed's East LA Meets Napa and Beyond.
But the tasting was about food too--Mexican food--and there were great dishes from L.A. area restaurants. These were three of my favorites.
Chichén Itzá in the Mercado La Paloma turned out killer shrimp. They were grilled over mesquite and bathed in a habanero cream sauce just spicy enough to be interesting without damaging your mouth. Underneath were sauteed zucchini strips.
The delicate, sweet sauce on this turkey taco was mole velo de novia, or bridal veil mole. Pale as a bride's headgear, the mole was made with pine nuts and sunflower seeds instead of red chiles and chocolate. It's a prehispanic recipe, according to Juan's Restaurante of Baldwin Park (above and at top). The tortilla underneath was colored green with nopal cactus.
La Parrilla's tlalcoyos had an oval base of masa filled with black beans. You could choose between two toppings, chicken tinga (above) or nopales. Once you made the decision, you spooned on bright green salsa.
The tortillas for Juan's turkey tacos were made on the spot (above).
So were the oval masa bases for La Parrilla's tlalcoyos (above).
The tasting ended at 9 p.m. If you were lucky, you went home with a sack of pan dulce and cookies from Carnitas Uruapan Market & Deli. But you had to pick that up early. The market, which has a panadería in the back, brought lots of goodies including the golden orejas above.
Comments