Grasshoppers With Mescal in Oaxaca

Marcela Taboada for The New York Times

The patio at El Naranjo, which serves updated versions of classical Oaxacan cuisine.

Grasshoppers With Mescal in Oaxaca

By DENNIS RAY WHEATON

Published: September 5, 2004

ARTICLE TOOLS E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Format Most E-Mailed Articles Reprints & Permissions READERS' OPINIONS Forum: Join a Discussion on Dining Out TIMES NEWS TRACKER   Topics Alerts Food Restaurants Mexico Travel and Vacations Marcela Taboada for The New York Times A display of the moles in the rooftop dining area at Los Pacos. Marcela Taboada for The New York Times Marco Polo specializes in seafood in an outdoor setting.

Correction Appended

FOR decades, the lovely colonial city of Oaxaca, surrounded by magnificent Zapotec and Mixtec archaeological sites, has been my favorite destination in Mexico. Above all, I am drawn by the finest regional cooking in the country.

When I was last in Mexico, in March, I found it hard to pry myself from the markets and head to a restaurant for dinner. Then I was stopped dead in my tracks almost every block by the temptation of a street vendor cooking tlayudas, giant thick pre-Hispanic tortillas infused with lard drippings and topped with bean paste, cheese and salsa. But I pressed on, inhaling the aromas of the wonderful local ingredients - especially the raw milk cheeses, chilies and spices - that chefs in the top restaurants are using. Most ingredients come in from farmers in the valleys of Oaxaca except for seafood, which is brought in daily by air from the Pacific Coast.

Oaxaca is famous as the "land of seven moles" - the complex chili sauce sometimes incorporating chocolate, nuts or toasted seeds and spices that change the flavors and the colors from amarillo (yellow) to negro (black) - and I love them. But there is so much more to the region's food, from the common use of grasshoppers and maguey worms to the fine coffee and chocolate raised in the highlands to the mescal, the smoky cousin of tequila that has vastly improved since I visited a decade ago.

El Naranjo

Chef Iliana de la Vega operates one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the city. Past large wooden doors a block southwest of the central square in a century-and-a-half-old colonial-style home, the patio setting has a huge modern skylight sheltering a central fountain and orange trees (naranjo in Spanish) framed by peach and sky-blue stucco walls matching the elegant blue cloths with peach overlays on well-spaced tables.

Chef Iliana creates updated versions of classical Oaxacan cuisine, lightening dishes with touches like not using lard. She regularly patrols the dining room, stopping at every table for a chat in Spanish or English. Service was efficient and our waiter had quick answers to questions, like an explanation of the irresistible spreads served with whole wheat bread - one was chicken liver pâté and the other was butter blended with orange and fiery chile piquin.

My wife and I, dining with a friend, began by ordering a traditional botana Oaxaqueña, a shared platter of regional specialties that is popular for Sunday afternoon family dining. It held an array of spicy guacamole, light stringy cheese called quesillo and acidy salted queso fresco, fat chorizo, grilled salted beef called tasao, and fried pork skins. There was also a little chile relleno stuffed with meat and an enchilada filled with the thinly sliced pork tenderloin called cecina and covered in a rich red sauce. Served with fresh hand-made tortillas, the botana was a meal unto itself, but we also enjoyed a delightful array of organic lettuces and spinach with jicama and bacon tossed with hibiscus flower vinaigrette. My family has had no problem eating raw produce in these upscale restaurants. Taquitos de Santa Clara filled with picadillo Oaxaqueño made with shredded pork fillets came in a sultry, smoky mole coloradito better than I've ever tasted. From a whole menu page of chile rellenos, we chose the knockout green poblano stuffed with cheese, squash blossoms, and corn served with almond sauce. Chef Iliana features a different mole daily, with chicken or pork, but I had to try her everyday offering of black mole, made with more than 20 ingredients and always referred to as the "king of moles." It was sublime, deeply complex with spicy and sweet notes, bathing exceptionally tender and flavorful chicken.

With our meal we chose a bottle of Mexican Petite Sirah ($210), from Monte Xanic in Baja California. Afterward, our waiter brought around a tray of five desserts. We loved the coconut flan crusted with lots of caramelized coconut and sugar, and a creamy chocolate cake made with almond paste.

Casa Oaxaca

Chef Alejandro Ruiz is creating nuevo Mexicano cuisine in the central patio restaurant of this beautifully renovated colonial house, now a six-room luxury hotel. Past the doorbell you ring to gain entrance, the quiet dining area combines an art-filled indoor room and a spacious open patio bordered by white walls with arched openings, trees, columns draped with vines, and tables with beautiful linens sheltered by a glass screen.

We began with glasses of elegant Señorio Reposado mescal, the almost sherry-like brand that is served at all these restaurants. The mescal came with a little bowl of ground-up dried gusanos (maguey worms) traditionally mixed with chilies and salt for a bracing chaser. When I asked about wine, the waiter invited me to inspect the display of bottles behind our table and recommended a rich blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot from Monte Xanic (about $30).

Then we ordered elegant jicama canellonni, paper-thin slices of the white root wrapped around roasted eggplant purée and served with watercress in carrot juice and cardamon dressing. Just as enticing was fresh corn soup with parsley shoots and squash seeds and blossoms, served with a cheese quesadilla.

Elegantly prepared seafood is Chef Ruiz's specialty, and our solicitous waitress brought out a platter of raw seafood to inspect: big robalo (snook), huachinango (red snapper), and head-on shrimp. The pleasant waitress steered me to the red snapper, and for a sauce - there were three options - one made with mountain pears and basil. The fish, grilled and then filleted, was impeccable, although the fruity sauce was sweeter than I had hoped. I found the garlic sauce with anise-flavored hierba santa on the big succulent grilled shrimps more satisfying.

The finish was a choice of creative desserts, and we were happy with a mamey fruit tart with a stunning mango sauce, and a tower of a thick almond brittle layered with chocolate mousse and garnished with black zapote, a native Mexican black persimmon with dark brown flesh.

Since my visit in March, this restaurant became so popular that Chef Ruiz is limiting the reservations at the original location to 8:30. But he has opened another dining room not far away for dining early and later into the evening.

Los Pacos

This cozy, well-appointed restaurant has two rooms and a white stucco ceiling and red tiled floor, as well as open patio dining on the roof. But on a sultry evening we preferred the fans in the main room, near the open windows. An opening dish of pickled vegetables and chilies included buttery marble-size peeled baby potatoes.

The owner and manager (I missed his name) said that a good way to start was with the mole sampler. It was a clever presentation of little bowls of negro, amarillo, coloradito, verde, chichilo, and estofado moles, meant to be sampled by spooning them over fresh tortillas so that you can choose one to be served on chicken or pork.

We picked the amarillo - a yellowish-orange one with little white beans - with pork, and it made a great pairing. My companions weren't thrilled when I ordered quesillo fundido con chapulines - melted cheese studded with lots of small fried and salted grasshoppers - but I thoroughly enjoyed it. They were happier with the enmoladas, tortillas folded over excellent spiced pork picadillo and topped with a choice of moles - we picked the colorado for this.

We also enjoyed desserts of peaches with the rich local cream and crepes with goat milk caramel and pecans. We shared a quarter-liter bottle of excellent mescal that worked beautifully with the spicy fare.

Marco Polo

This sprawling outdoor seafood restaurant is frequented by local business people settling in to their main meal at midday.

Secluded behind a vine-covered stone wall and massive carved wooden doors, the casual tables are shaded by trees and umbrellas. We began with big seafood cocktails made with a variety of shellfish and a naranjada - fresh orange juice with seltzer - and a dark Corona draft beer, vastly better than the watery brew sold in the United States. My favorite was a combination of oysters and shrimp in a spicy tomato sauce.

I had a friendly chat with the cook, who tended the oak-burning clay oven with a wooden paddle to make the roasted specialties of the house, from whole red snapper to a banana dessert.

A main course of camarones al ajillo was terrific - smoky shrimp served with toasted dried red chilies. Big chunks of garlicky tender octopus also came straight from the oven, in such a huge portion I couldn't finish my order. Carol tried the chile relleno filled with octopus, calamari, shrimp and snails, but it was heavily smothered by a thick pinkish sauce that made it far too rich for midday dining.

Split bananas wood-roasted in their skins and doused with cups of fresh cream or rompope, an eggnog-like liqueur, left us smiling.

Restaurant Information

These restaurants are all within comfortable walking distance of major hotels and the central square. All of these restaurants accept major credit cards, and bills may be calculated in United States dollars; all allow smoking. Reservations are advised except at Marco Polo.

El Naranjo, Calle Valerio Trujano 203; (52-951) 514-1878. Dinner for two with wine about $60, at 11.5 pesos to the United States dollar. Open Monday to Saturday, 1 to 10 p.m.

Casa Oaxaca, Calle García Vigil 407, Colonia Centro, (52-951) 514-4173; Casa Oaxaca el Restaurante, Constitución 104-A, Colonia Centro, (52-951) 516-8889. Dinner for two with wine is about $100 to $125. The Calle García Vigil location is open daily for dinner; Casa Oaxaca el Restaurante is open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner.

Los Pacos, M. Abasolo 21, Centro Histórico; (52-951) 516-1704. Dinner for two about $40. Open Monday to Saturday, noon to 10 p.m.

Marco Polo, Pino Suárez 806; (52-951) 513-4308. A midday meal two with draft beer costs about $35 to $45. Open daily except Tuesday for breakfast and lunch from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Food of the Gods Festival 2004, Oct. 2 to 9, will include special meals at El Naranjo, Casa Oaxaca, Marco Polo and Los Pacos. More information can be found on the Web at www.food-of-the-gods-festival.com.

DENNIS RAY WHEATON is chief dining critic of Chicago magazine.

Correction: Sept. 7, 2004, Tuesday

The third photo in the online version of this article was originally published with an incorrect caption. The man in the photograph is not the chef at El Naranjo. He works at Marco Polo.

Correction: Sept. 19, 2004, Sunday

The Choice Tables column on Sept. 5, about Oaxaca, Mexico, referred imprecisely to ingredients used in some outsize tortillas known as tlayudas. The tortillas themselves - as well as beans and salsa - were eaten in the Americas before Columbus; lard and cheese were not. The column also misstated the price of a bottle of Petite Sirah wine; it is $18.50, not $210. (The use of "$" in Mexico to signify pesos led to the misunderstanding.)