Friday, June 21, 2013

North vs. South: The best Mexican food in New Mexico

Many will agree with me when I say that there is a clear difference between northern New Mexico Mexican food and southern New Mexico Mexican food. And then they'll agree when I say southern New Mexico food is the best.

Growing up in northern New Mexico, I hated Mexican food. I didn't like either of the green or red sauces, I didn't like chile and I always ordered a hamburger when my family and I went to a Mexican restaurant. Nothing was very special for me. (Actually nothing in the Gallup and Farmington area -- where I'm from -- is special to me.) I hated all this stuff because it was always so hot too. Eating Mexican food was painful; it hurt. And I didn't like it.

I seems, to me, that in the northern part of the state, people judge the quality of the dish by how hot the chile is. If it's making your throat bleed and your eyes and nose water, than it's good. That's how it was in my hometown (Crownpoint, N.M.). It was like a tough contest to brag to everyone how hot things are. I always got "it's not even hot" when in fact, it was smouldering hot.

When I moved to Las Cruces as a college student at New Mexico State University in 2008, I saw the light. First, I resisted and never went to Mexican restaurants. Then I tried one place, and then another, and another, and another. I tasted the difference and was satisfied.

The red and green sauces were a lot more flavorful and didn't have such a strong focus on heat. (I'm still a green chile girl. I'm not particular to the roasted red chile sauce yet). The salsas were more flavorful too. It wasn't just tomatoes and fire-hot chile, I could taste the garlic, cilantro and limes for the first time. (Cilantro was another thing I disliked for a long time until I came here). I tasted Muenster cheese for the first time. In northern New Mexico they use cheddar/yellow cheese, which, really, does not go well with everything and is a lot greasier. A whole world of Mexican food items were introduced to me when I moved to the Borderland. Up north, the menu is pretty plain compared to the variety served down here.

And no wonder why. Las Cruces is closer to the border. Restaurant owners come from Mexico and make it their living to cook all this food. This is famous Hatch Green Chile land, this is where we host an annual SalsaFest and The Whole Enchilada Festival. There is a Mexican restaurant on every street corner. Las Cruceans take it seriously here.

I'm addicted to the stuff now. I eat Mexican food every week, sometimes more. My favorite things are street tacos and any fish dish on the menu. I'm also crazy for chips and salsa, even when the chile is hot, it's all very satisfying. (I guess, over these few years, I've built up my chile-heat tolerance too.)

When I'm back home in northern New Mexico I don't bother going to Mexican restaurants except for Delicia's in Albuquerque (they have a restaurant in El Paso and two in Las Cruces). I tried, but once you eat here, nothing else tastes the same. I notice the difference and I prefer the south.

If I ever move away I'm going to miss the food. I'll miss enchiladas from Delicia's and Andele, homemade refried beans at Ranchway, huevos rancheros at El Patron, fish at La Guadalupana, green chile cheeseburgers from El Sombrero and soup from Chachi's. And the chips and salsa from anywhere in town is the best.

I have to give Chachi's another try because I've only had the albondigas there. I also have to try El Jacalito again for the tacos al pastor. Oh, I'm hungry.... for Mexican food!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

On the mend

The top two wisdom teeth came out no problem. A third, bottom, one required more expertise and a whole month to heal. The last and most recent one was brutal. The dentist cut, drilled, pulled and stitched a week ago and I'm still bruised and a little swollen. On the first day I didn't eat anything. After that, I have been on a liquid, geriatric diet that bans spicy and crunchy things.

My care givers gave me canned soup, pudding and Jell-O cups, a trifecta of store-bought things I really don't like. I slurped, sipped and swallowed these packaged meals and snacks for a few days and I was grateful for it because it soothed the harsh hunger that ensued my painful ordeal.

I'm still healing. I'm glad this is the last wisdom tooth of mine that has to be dealt with. Just as a precaution — and because I'm still sore and my jaw is still really stiff, I'm still on this liquid diet, but it doesn't come from a can anymore.

Remember my earlier blog about me hating soup? Boy, am I glad I'm over that stage! In this past week I have tried to make the best of my situation and explore some new menu items and make some new soups.

I made egg drop soup for the first time. It was really easy and very tasty. This is a good soup to have if you're mouth is on the mend. Recipe here. I added a little soy sauce to the recipe and used real chicken broth that was left over from some boiled chicken we had the day before.

Our family butchered a sheep for the first time last week before my ordeal. We had mutton steaks, ribs and fried intestines and with some left over meat my mom made mutton stew. I added pieces of frybread to the juice to make it soggy and soft. My mom also made blue corn mush, which is a fine ground blue corn mix, like cream of wheat, that I like to eat with sugar. Others like to eat it with salt.

I went to Chachi's for the first time in Las Cruces and I ordered albondigas, a Mexican soup with meatballs. It was great. Simple vegetable broth with large chunks of carrots, squash and potato with corn. The meatballs were the diamonds in this dish. They had a spice in it that made it very tasty. The limes and cilantro added a perfect accent, a touch of Mexican flavor to remind you that albondigas is a Mexican dish. Ah, anything served with limes and cilantro gets a gold star in my book.

I made aush, an Afghan soup the other day. It's quite simple to make, actually. It's ground beef spiced with coriander, paprika and tomato paste. It's served over noodles in a chicken broth with beans and I added kale for the vitamins. To finish this dish, you add yogurt and lemon. Dried mint is suggested, but I didn't really like that in there. I followed this recipe.

Just because my mouth is healing, doesn't mean there shouldn't be any flavors and variety to my meals. I got tired of canned, watery chicken noodle soup very quick. I need something from China, the Navajo reservation, Mexico and Afghanistan to satisfy me; and I deserve my satisfaction because I went through that pain and that hideous bout of swelling.
 
Next, I think I'll try to perfect a soup I made a few weeks ago. It had chicken, lentils, kale and noodles. It's spiced with turmeric, onions, bay leaves and some other stuff. It was really good and quick to put together (I also made up a turmeric baked chicken recipe that was genius! I need to perfect that one too). I also want to order the new spicy Ramen at Kim-Chi House. I had it a few weeks ago and it was the best twist on Ramen noodles I have ever had. I want to try the fish soup from La Guadalupana, the new Mexican joint in town and find a good clam chowder somewhere. Any suggestions?

And a bonus: I lost five pounds in one week by eating soup and laying around the house watching movies. If I keep it up I'll shed 20 pounds this month, which I need to do. So I will not complain about being hungry all the time. Soup is very healthy and can be really low fat. I find myself making healthier choices since this all happened. I'm eating things that I know will be good for me and good to help me heal. At Chachi's I was going to order an enchilada plate because enchiladas are soft, but I ordered albondigas instead because it was the special and I had never had it before. I can't wait to slurp down dinner. It's leftover aush tonight!