Tortas
July 30th, 2012
To refer to a torta as Mexico’s answer to a sandwich would be calumny. Mexico City street food por excelencia, if a torta isn’t exactly a work of art it is by all means a handicraft. A roll is split in half and heated while its contents are cooked on a grill. It might be filled with ham, chicken, cheese, egg, roast pork, a breaded cutlet, shredded pork in adobo or any combination of those. A traditional torta is not piled high with meat, but stacked with additional complementary elements: refried beans, onions, sliced jalapeños or chipotle sauce, avocado, tomato. To call a torta fast food is deceptive. Torteros are often painstaking in their preparations.
Tortas are most often eaten from stalls on the street while standing.
But they are also available at cafeterias like Armando, which claims to have invented the torta in 1892.
The torta combinada, with various ingredients piled atop each other, is also very popular, and without a doubt one of the causes of the extreme obesity problem in Mexico City. Some excellent versions of these are available at the cantina El Portal, about which I have posted previously. The Tepito and the Toluqueña are killers (and I am not referring to the cardiological punch they pack).
A joint on calle Juan Escutia near the corner of Zamora serves tortas a la barda, a specialty from Tampico. They include beans, ham, sausage, head cheese, American cheese, panela cheese, avocado and salsa. I had to try it once. I was underwhelmed. I might have liked it better had the ingredients been heated through.
Photo by Edgar Clement from the Crónica de Castas blog
I draw the line at El Cuadrilatero, on calle Luis Moya near the Alameda, owned by wrestler Super Astro. If you order the torta El Gladiador and consume all of it — that’s about two and a half pounds of sandwich — within fifteen minutes, you get it for free.
Labels: Mexico City
7 Responses to “Tortas”
By Don Cuevas on Jul 30, 2012
I have walked by El Quadrilatero many times, and… kept on going. There are so many other good food places in the area that I won’t be lured in by gimmicks such as a 1 kilo torta.
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
By Jeff on Jul 30, 2012
Don Cuevas, you’re not missing much. The only things that distinguish El Cualdrilátero are the larger-than-average tortas (and priced accordingly) and the lucha libre memorabilia on display. It clearly has its appeal; the whole time I was there I watched guys admiring and discussing the latter.
The tortas are much better at Don Polo, where they claim to have invented the torta caliente in the 1950s IIRC — at least at the original location in Del Valle. But I’m not suggesting they’re worth going out of your way for.
Taking these claims at face value you do have to wonder about the pace of innovation in the torta craft…
By John Pedroza on Jul 30, 2012
I love tortas we can get them here but they are just not the same here in California. The one exception however is the Tijuana torta, avocado and chicken, it is good. My favorite torta however is a pierna torta just outside the miguel angel de quevedo station in DF.
By Anne Geyer on Jul 31, 2012
I prefer a simple Cubana any day. They’re great!
By ana manwaring on Jul 31, 2012
I love sincronizadas, although I rarely eat jamon in California. Not that it’s bad in Wine Country. On the contrary, we get amazing “craft” cured pork, but all that meat… . I’m trending toward vegan these days, except in Mexico!
By Sra Potts on Aug 3, 2012
David, your post is so well timed! Chefs in DF just set a Latin American record for the longest torta — 53 metres!
video and explanation at the UK Guardian:
http://gu.com/p/39en4
By Gloria A. Perez on Aug 11, 2012
Nada más mexicano que las tortas y para tortas las poblanas, además la simple palabra TORTA es tan usada en los albures que es imposible no hablar de ellas siempre.
Good one as usual ;D