Gastronomic, or at least food-centered, notes #4

Since I didn’t have to go to the Tec today, I decided to explore Cuernavaca after a morning devoted to e-mailing, clarinet practice, some reading, food shopping, and the regular bleeding via the local ATM of my bank account. On my way back from the Mega I stepped into a restaurant called “Mariscos [‘Sea food’] El Aguachil” to inquire about their hours, as my intention was to treat myself to dinner out tonight. No sooner had I asked my question (barely three words had left my mouth) when a tall man, dressed in a pink Lacoste polo, started speaking to me –imagine my surprise—in Catalan. From the card he later gave me I learned he was Eugeni Gratacós Vallès, a Barcelonese like me, who is now the chef of “El Aguachil,” a restaurant specializing in sea-food delicacies from the state of Sinaloa, in NW mainland Mexico, on the sea of Cortés.



As I was the only customer at the time (about 1:30 p.m.), Eugeni sat at my table and we chatted or, rather, I posed him all kinds of questions and he gave me his answers. Upon his recommendation I had three small “tacos de camarón” (hand-made corn tortillas wrapping a couple of shrimp fried in a light batter and with some shredded carrot on top. Eugeni brought me delicious home-made salsas to try; I liked the one with peanuts very much. Then I had a tostada of minced sea scallops (simply cooked in lime juice), onion, and cucumber: tostada de callo de hacha. And to drink I tried –I tell you I was in an adventurous mood—a beer, a Pacifico (of course, for Sinaloan food), in the style they call “michelada,” that is, the beer is served in a big glass with the rim doused in lime juice and dipped in salt; the beer is then poured in along with some more lime juice –there is no end to limes in this country—and a couple of ice cubes. Perfect. It’s refreshing, and not too heavy for the hot midday we had today.

Among other things, Eugeni commented on Mexican gastronomy (promising, but with a way to go), ways to get to (as he called the capital) D.F., his life story (chemical engineering, work in a tannery, then in import-export US company, then as a culinary teacher in D.F.), how much to tip waiters (between 10 and 20%), the state of the economy (dubious), the work habits of Mexican help (temperamental), and the best (to his mind, the only) restaurant in Cuernavaca, the Gaia (with directions). I should have insisted that El Aguachil wasn’t too shabby, but it seems Eugeni’s aspirations are set higher.

After my first meal in Cuernavaca, at Casa Hidalgo on the main square the night I arrived (the setting pleasant, the food uneven), I’ve been avoiding upscale or even middle-scale restaurants, though folks at the Tec have given me several recommendations. I’ve eaten a few times at a little place just outside the back of the Tec campus called “La Fuente.” There they serve, as they do in many other places, what is called “comida corrida” [‘a meal in sequence’] which is the equivalent of what in Spain is a “restaurante de menú”: a midday special for a fixed, and inexpensive price. The comida corrida at La Fuente costs me 36 pesos; or US$4.00 with tip. The difference between the Spanish menús and the Mexican comidas corridas is that the latter offers you no choices: you have a soup, a main course, dessert, and a cup of sweetened (and weak) coffee, and they bring a pitcher of “agüita” or fruit drink. Not bad for the price. Ah, and I forgot to mention that they also bring a bowl of frijoles (the archetypal Mexican black beans) and their cousins: a little saucer with hot sauce, and a container with four or five home-made steamed corn tortillas, my favorite part of the deal; the main course has normally some rice. So the comida corrida is nutricious and delicious, filling and fragrant –if you get my whiff.

I expect that when Francesca and Miró get here, on the 11th, we’ll try some of the fancier eateries. The one recommended by Eugeni, Gaia, is a fusion (Mexican/Mediterranean) restaurant very near the zócalo or epicenter of Cuernavaca. I dropped by this afternoon after I got myself to a distant but recommended bookstore, and saw (pardon my patriarchal tone here) that it was good. Must say that the place looks great, with tables around two nicely kep inner patios. Some ladies (very upper middle class) were awaiting their ride at the door of the Gaia; one of them, seeing me with my unmistakable gringo looks (I mean, being obviously Catalan!), informed me that “it is a very good restaurant.” Good for Gaia: two serious recommendations in a day. Besides, the maitre d’ informed me that they keep longer hours and on week-ends they are open ‘til midnight, while most other establishments start turning people away at six in the evening. Particularly El Aguachil; according to Eugeni it is a no-no to have sea-food in the evening.