A Food Trip Report

[Donna]

Sounds like a trip to Playa for a few days may be in order..

[TnJ]

Wow! - great report!! ready for more PDC good eats again!

[Rissask]

This was AWESOME- thanks a lot! Great reading and the pics were mouth watering!

We braved the hot dog stand (by the bus station) last trip- more than once even- they were quite tasty actually.

[SunKneeMarie]

Wow, that made me incredibly hungry! Thanks! (i think)

[Jesus]

Originally Posted by Mike G

The pink stuff is onion that's been soaked in red wine vinegar-- and if that's not vinegary enough for you, try this bright fuschia salsa:

A little correction: it is not normal onion, it's a variety and has different flavor, you should ask for "cebolla morada" purple onion, otherwise the cochinita pibil won't taste the same.

Other than that, I can only say: wonderfull report!!!!!

It's fun to see the other side, some of the things you noticed are so common here that one doesn't care for anymor.

[Jesus]

For toppings they set out literally a dozen or more tubs, I would have liked to have had RST there to tell me what they all were, or maybe just another couple of dozen tacos to try some of each. I especially liked a creamy guacamole and this stuff at the front, which was sort of like Guatemalan or Salvadoran cortida, but with more green and less vinegar mixed in. I never saw it anywhere else, so I'm not sure if it's from another region or what.

From the look of it, can be nopales en escabeche. nopales (cactus), tomatoe, parsil, jalapeno chili, onion, vinegar. But I don't know for sure.

And, in the last message I forgot to complain, you didn't write about Relleno Negro tacos, available in the same stand where you got the Cochinita Pibil.

[beachenit]

Great report, many people will benefit from all of your work.
Thanks

[Lois Munday]

How did I miss all that food?? We've been to Playa twice. We managed to find Chedraui and even saw the McDonald's nearby but missed all those little shops.
We walked from Chedraui to fifth Ave. then headed back to the hotel finally grabbing a cab when it began to rain.

Next trip we'll really walk around and sample. Thanks so much for the great pics and narrative, Mike.

Interesting about the nopales en escabeche, I assumed the white strands were cabbage, but that was probably because I was expecting to see something like cortida. They could very well have been cactus cut into that shape, I didn't examine it that closely.

It's interesting because the consensus is that we have very authentic Mexican in Chicago-- from certain regions (i.e., Michoacan, Guerrero, Mexico City). But not from the Yucatan, in fact I don't know of any restaurant here that particularly serves any Yucatan food (even though we do have Guatemalan, Belizean, and other semi-nearby things). So a lot of these things are quite unusual compared to what we see here-- the use of red wine vinegar at all is quite different from anything here. I didn't quite follow your onion comment, by the way-- so cebolla morada is the purple onion they use, and it's different from U.S. purple onions? In what way?

So relleno negro-- was that the mounds of blackish looking stuff they had at the carts? I thought maybe that was huitlacoche or something. When you say they had tacos of it, do you mean chicken or something that had been coated in that for cooking? I didn't see anything like that there (which does not, however, mean it wasn't).

Not that I'll be acting on any of this information any time soon, but I'm glad to learn more and file it away....

[Lizacat]

I sent the link to the friends with whom we are travelling to PDC in a couple of weeks and they are really pumped! My husband and I have been drooling over it all weekend. One question I have about a dish that wasn't mentioned...Mayan Lime Soup..I first had it at the Mayaland Hotel by Chichen Itza..then had some things like it on a subsequent trip..It is the most amazing soup...maybe tasting it right after climbing that huge pyramid made it better, but I'd like to find more on this trip. Anyone familiar with it..and where to get it?

It's very common, I can't tell you who has an especially good version but it's certainly all over. The next portion of my report will be on comida places, a couple of which served it as part of the lunch.

[LIZLEWIS42]

Hmmm, will drool damage my keyboard?..

Yum, really great report...

[cambo]

Awesome report indeed! I'm really looking forward to the rest of this.

[Jesus]

Originally Posted by Mike G

Interesting about the nopales en escabeche, I assumed the white strands were cabbage, but that was probably because I was expecting to see something like cortida. They could very well have been cactus cut into that shape, I didn't examine it that closely.

Certainly no cabbage, the flavor won't add anything to that "salad". Nopales would be the most common one by just looking on the picture.

Originally Posted by Mike G

So a lot of these things are quite unusual compared to what we see here-- the use of red wine vinegar at all is quite different from anything here. I didn't quite follow your onion comment, by the way-- so cebolla morada is the purple onion they use, and it's different from U.S. purple onions? In what way?

The vinegar can be white, is the most common, seconded by the apple vinegar (yellowish color) and the red wine vinegar is the least one used (I think it's more expensive).
The purple onion should be the same as yours, but I guess by your text that a lot of people would think they use normal (white) onion for the Cochinita. For the dressing they use white vinegar and purple onion.

Here is a recipy for the cochinita http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/recip...nitapibil.html

This one for the onion (in all other sites they just make the habanero wth onion, this is not spicy).
http://www.vanguardia.com.mx/circulo...001/13/d4.html

Originally Posted by Mike G

So relleno negro-- was that the mounds of blackish looking stuff they had at the carts? I thought maybe that was huitlacoche or something. When you say they had tacos of it, do you mean chicken or something that had been coated in that for cooking? I didn't see anything like that there (which does not, however, mean it wasn't).

Relleno negro is another traditional dish made of turkey or chicken (not as traditional), it is also called Chilmole. It's made of Recado negro sauce (the saulce is black because the chiles are toasted and get that color), and with that you "bathe" the turkey, it's served with hard boiled eggs.
It was in a different bowl , so it must have been the black stuff, and sometimes is gone before the cochinita

Huitlacoche is so scarce on the dry season it would be very expensive to have that way, hehe.

Originally Posted by Mike G

Not that I'll be acting on any of this information any time soon, but I'm glad to learn more and file it away....

Hey, you have to write about what you got first hand, no worries. y Buen provecho.

[TAPPY]

Great report and GREAT pictures.....loving it !!!

(I love trip reports just like this one)