Mexico City

Fake food

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Restaurante Tokyo on Calle Hamburgo 134 in the Zona Rosa is one of Mexico City's longest-running establishments for Japanese food. If the meals here are not especially memorable, they are absolutely reliable, and the place is a decent, reasonably priced option in the neighborhood (which is crowded with fast-food emporiums and greasy taco joints). I have always loved this window display of plastic food at street level, which has not changed in more than twenty years since I first came to Mexico City. Sometimes I think it looks more enticing than anything that is actually served in the restaurant.

A woman in uniform

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A couple of years ago I had a bite here at Maque, a café on the corner of Ozuluama and Iztaccíhuatl in the Colonia Condesa.  I was accompanied by intrepid reporter Témoris Grecko, who enjoyed the afternoon breeze at the sidewalk tables, and the excellent pastries made on the premises. However, he was incensed by the uniforms worn by the waitresses, which he felt were demeaning.

Given the flounce and the lace, I couldn't really argue with him, although I thought he went a bit too far  -- if I remember correctly, he thought that they represented colonialism, enslavement, and so forth. I pointed out that the uniforms are far worse in the coffee shops at the chain stores known as Sanborn's, in business since 1928 and currently owned by Carlos Slim. The unfortunate waitresses there have to dress in these getups, as if they were walking piñatas.

At another famous chain of coffee shops, Vips, they used to be even worse: need I say anything more than pink polyester mindresses? However, on a recent visit I saw that they had updated their uniforms. If they are no more fetching than before, they offer those who wear them a modicum more of dignity.

 

She knows her tacos

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My friend Lesley Tellez, whose charming website The Mija Chronicles details her experiences -- mostly culinary -- in Mexico City, also give a series of food tours around town.

While you are eating -- at taco stands, holes-in-the-wall, cantinas and tortilla shops -- Lesley explains much about the history and culture of Mexican food. While she says her work is geared toward tourists who don't speak Spanish, and as such can be easily confused if not totally confounded about what they are ordering, I recently accompanied her on what she calls a "taco tour." She took us to some old favorites plus a couple of standout places to which I had never been. And even I, who have called Mexico City home since 1990, was absorbed and surprised by some of her anecdotes and information. It occurred to me that, as much as I love the food here, and opinionated as I am about it, I really did not know as much as I thought I did about the origins and traditions of what I put into my mouth.

I had a great time with her and a couple of Australians with gargantuan appetites who were with us. Information about the tours is on her website, but here is a direct link to the appropriate page.

On the air

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1960

Colin Marshall, a Los Angeles-based writer, recently passed through Mexico City and recorded an interview with me for his radio show, The Marketplace of Ideas. Broadcast on KCSB in Santa Barbara, the show deals with books, culture and commerce. I was both impressed and engaged by the questions he asked -- he had clearly read my books closely, which, unfortunately, a writer cannot count on when he or she is inteviewed. If you are interested in my work, you might want to listen. Click here to go to the podcast version of the interview.