Chow with Xhico: Taco Tasting

I'll be doing a Taco Tasting in LA this weekend. I'll be serving up beer-braised beef, achiote orange chicken and veggie tacos. There will be homemade salsas, fennel slaw and aguas frescas. If you want beer, wine or whatever, you have to bring your own booze. It's first come, first serve. Eat what you want, pay what you want.

SUNDAY, MAY 4, 2014

5-7PM

GET FULL DETAILS HERE

Silverlake location will be posted 3 hours before the event.

Filipino Street Food in Los Angeles...Only $1!!!

Authentic Pinoy Street Food in Los Angeles

Anytime I see a crowd of people standing around fire, I always hope for the best and that there is something delicious roasting over the coals. As I drove down Temple through Historic Filipino town, I passed a very unassuming yellow food truck. There were two BBQ's aflame, a huge line of people and the small mini mall was packed with cars whose hoods had become make shift dining tables where people were eating, congregating and having a great time. From the looks of things and wonderful aroma in the air, this was most certainly going to be something delicious.

I got quail egg, shrimp balls, lumpia and chicken feet.

The nice ladies of Dollar Hits!

I made my way through the smoke, closer to the slow jams blasting out of a large boom box neat the truck. There was a huge table in front of the truck filled with trays piled high with all sorts of finger foods -many things that had been skewered and many things that had been fried, and some had met both fates. I wasn't sure where to begin, so I started at the sign that says "Line Starts Here". A very sweet lady greeted me and I explained that I was new to all this. She explained that I was at "Dollar Hits" and everything was a dollar each. You pick either a small tray if you want a few things or a large foil tray if you're taking the party home. Then you proceed down the line picking all the amazing street foods that you want. Then you start adding up the dollars. There's worse ways to use your dollar bills: buying useless things at the dollar tree, making it rain at Jumbo's Clown Room or making origami cranes. I would much rather make countless trips through the line of this food truck.

BBQ's fired up with lots of goodies

I ended up getting the shrimp balls, deep fried quails eggs, lumpia, BBQ pork and BBQ chicken feet. I had never had chicken feet before. They were skewered and doused with sauce. Once you start sucking that sauce off, you really get into it and begin suckin' them bones clean! Lumpia is very much like a egg roll. It was fried to perfect with a flaky crust filled with spiced vegetables. Everything was delicious and I still have more to try when I go back. Also, if you get the melon (cantaloupe) drink, it's only $1 and free refills!

Free refills on Cantaloupe punch!

Only a five minute drive out of Silver Lake, you can find Dollar Hits Food Truck at the corner of Temple St. and Carondelet St. (just a few blocks from Rampart). They are there Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights from 6pm-11pm.

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El Papón: High or Hungover, This Is What You Need

(Xhico in Mexico)

The Tradicional Papa Rellena at El Papón in Mexico City.

 I may have been slightly hungover after too much mezcal from the night before as I stumbled out of Superama with some aspirin. Along the exit of the parking lot were the usual food carts selling tacos, tlacoyos and quesadillas. This one cart stood out to me, with a heap of foil wrapped objects. As I began to examine the menu and these odd shaped foil entities, I realized that they were two baked potatoes wrapped in one. Of course they were... I was at El Papón.

Potatoes wait to be smothered in goodness.

Chiles roasting

I didn't take me long to realize that these siamese-twin astronaut potatoes were going to get extremely insane with mounds of delicious toppings. An overloaded potato - this is what I really needed instead of aspirin. My belly begged to to quickly scan the menu and make a decision on the level of overload I would be achieving. How much cheese? How much butter? What combination of meat and other tidbits?

The dudes from El Papón, Mexico City.

El Papón, Food cart in Mexico City.

Two extremely friendly guys were eager to get to work on my potato. I decided to go with the Tradicional. I thought it would be the lesser of the evils. It turns out that it was a whole lot of evils together. First the potato master (as I like to call him) took the potatoes nested together and foil and began to beat them. He beat them and turned them and beat them some more until they formed a thick potato disc. Then with the precision of a surgeon, he slit an "X" into the foil and gently pulled the foil away from the center. He then began to fork the potato! He worked that fork and mashed up the inside. This was the beginning of a magical transformation. Possible more magical than the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Making baked potato magic at El Papón.

This once ugly potato began to be mushed with butter, then manchego cheese and it got prettier by the second. Then some jamón serrano. This potato was getting seriously sexy as it oozed before my eyes. Wait, then more cheese? Yes, more cheese - this time some ooey-gooey cheddar. Then how about some bacon and cream to top it off? This is some xrated potato action. I went into a foodgasm. I had to wait to get home to share it with Tanya, as I thought she may be in need of the same medicine. I won't lie, I did finger some of the cheese.

A few days passed and I was going to show Tanya where this potato cart heaven was to be found. But it wasn't there. After a quick drive around the block, we discovered that they opened a restaurant on the corner in addition to the cart. So make sure if you have a hangover in Mexico City and there isn't any birria around, to go get your self a potato orgasm to soak up all that alcohol.

El Papón is sometimes out side the Superama on Fernando Montes De Oca, The restaurant space is right down the corner on Fernando Montes De Oca and Jose Vasconcelos Circuito Interior in Condesa, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City, Distrito Federal.

Corona x Fútbol = Best Beer Display Ever

(Xhico in Mexico)

I walked onto the soccer field in Mexico City. Then I realized I was in the the Superama grocery store at what was the best beer display I had ever seen. Of course, it was Corona. Thanks to a hangover, I felt like I had the best seat in the Fútbol Stadium - we Americans know fútbol as soccer. The Corona boxes were arranged like a stadium and the bottles become soccer players and cans the spectators. ¡Salud! Corona! Now on to eat some of that street food I saw outside!

Amazing beer display by Corona at Superama in Mexico City.

Habanero Happy Family

( Xhico in Mexico City )

After finally finding my salt-shakers shaped like agua fresca barrels, I was walking through one of my favorite markets in Mexico City - Mercado de Medellín. I love this market because you can find typical kitchen utensils plus anything you want to cook to put those utensils to work.

Diana, her daughter and son, Carlo - the makers of Salsa Yucatiik

Habanero Salsa varieties from "Yucatiik"

As I left the produce section toward the exit, I saw some tools at work. It was a five-gallon bucket of orange sauce with a ladle at rest. It had obvious just filled several little jars that sat to the side. As I passed I could smell something intensely spicy. I looked up at the shelves and realized that I had stumbled upon a mini salsa factory. Not just any salsa factory, a habanero salsa factory. Who was behind this delicious magic? I made my way around the corner and found a woman seated having lunch with her son. They both jumped to their feet to help me as soon as they realized I was there ready to consume salsa.

Crema de Habanero being bottled at Mercado Medellín

Crema de Habanero being bottled at Mercado de Medellín

The woman with a kind face and gentle smile was the genius behind incredibly spicy and creamy salsa. Her name was Diana. With her son, Carlo, by her side she brought her family's recipe's from the Yucatan to make these habanera varieties of "Yucatiik" brand salsa. After many questions in my not so elegant Spanish, Carlo began speaking to me in English. Then Diana began to speak English also. Before I knew it, we were haven't a fluent conversation in Spanglish! They were really wonderful people. She told me that her sister also made food typical of the Yucatan, so I'm going to try that out on my next visit to Mexico City this summer.

Her salsas are a Habanero Cream, Spicy Habanero Red Salsa, Peanut Habanero (it's killer on chicken) and one called "Kut". It's a thick black salsa made with smoked habaneros. I'll be trying that on a steak soon.

Habanero Chilis in Mercado de Medellín

I took my friend Tanya by a few days later, because she had to know about this treasure known as Diana. If you're lucky enough to have dinner with me, I might share some of her salsa with you!

Find Diana's Yucatiik homemade salsa stand at Mercado de Medellín. It's right at the edge of where the produce section changes to bottled goods/prepared foods, around the center ... I know it's not a great description, but I'll have to study exactly more next time!

Sharp Knives & Bikes, The Perfect Combination

As we were sitting outside the patio at García Madero, I heard a loud whrrr and buzzz right behind me. Then Tanya said, "That guy behind you has a knife". I was expecting to turn around and be beheaded. My melon was safe. It was just the "el afilador".

Whether you're a professional chef or home cook, you know it's always vital to have a sharp knife. Here in Los Angeles, I have to wrap my knives and lug them up to the farmer's market or drive to a knife shop to get my knives sharpened. Mexico has the perfect solution for sharp knives, at your door step. That solution is a man known as "el afilador". He arrives at your restaurant on his bike, which also ingeniously contains his entire knife sharpening shop. After just a few minutes of grinding and polishing on his bike/sharpening machine, the chef can hold his knife once again keenly sharp without having to leave his kitchen.

Flofa Apple Street Art Sticker

Street art sticker by Flofa, Mexico City

While walking thru Condesa in Mexico City, I spotted this cute street art sticker by Flofa. It's an adorable apple. Provecho!

Recipe: Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Chicharron Prensado

While in Mexico City, I'm enjoying some of my old favorites (which always includes tacos) and always discovering new flavors. While at Mercado Medellín I as waking by the butcher and discovered a pork product that's new to me. It's called chicharron prensado. It's different pieces of pork meat and fat that is mixed with guajllo chiles and some other spices. The meat is then pressed into a giant cylinder. It basically looks like a giant piece of salami that is a foot and a half in diameter. Then when it's cut, it shaves off into pretty little chunks of a deep red color.

Since I'm staying with the gringas we decided to make the American classic of baked mac'n'cheese. But we needed a vegetable side. Even though we would have been fine with an overload of four cheeses.

I decided to make an adaptation of a roasted brussel sprouts recipe that I make often. Instead of bacon though, I used the delicious chicharron prensado.

Ingredients:

12 brussel sprouts (medium size, cut in half from pole to pole)

1/2 cup Chicharron Prensado (or more if you like pork as much as I do)

4-5 cloves of garlic chopped fine

1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a small baking dish and pour half the oil in the dish so that the bottom if well coated and there is a nice layer of olive oil. Toss the brussel sprouts with the rest of the oil so that they are well coated (I do this all in the same dish). Make sure the flat side of the brussel sprouts are face down in the pan. Squeeze over the juice of one lemon. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add garlic and chicharron prensado over the top. I add this last so that the sprouts can be well salted themselves.

Place in preheated oven on middle rack and bake 25-30 minutes until sprouts are fork tender through the middle. When ready, give a quick blast under the broiler for 2-3 minutes. When they start to brown they are done. Watch closely during this step so that the small bits of garlic don't burn.

Serve as a side. In this case, with Mac'n'cheese.

 

Provecho!

Note: you can substitute bacon instead of the chicharron. If you do you won't need as much salt because it's salty already. The chicharron isn't too salty, just full if flavor!