The Anthony Bourdain thread

"I think the two favorite meals that I've had in Chicago were at Avec and Hot Doug's so it was cool to see both of them there."

Those were my two best Chicago meals too!

The mexican food here sucks. I know, I was surprised, too.

Haha Kenan I think that opinion says more about your lucky lack of exposure to sucky Mexican food than it says about Chicago

I grew up in a solid hard-shell tacos / Old El Paso seasoning packet / packaged shredded cheddar / canned black olives kind of Mexican food place so Chicago seems pretty decent Mexican-wise to me.

Could be. All I know is, the mexican food in Texas is fan-freakin'-tastic, and here it ranges from stomach-churning to meh.

Just out of curiosity, have you been to any of the upscale places (Frontera/Topolobampo, Salpicon, De Cero, Adobo), or are you basing that just on neighborhood taquerias?

I grew up in a solid hard-shell tacos / Old El Paso seasoning packet / packaged shredded cheddar / canned black olives kind of Mexican food place so Chicago seems pretty decent Mexican-wise to me.

You forgot the shredded iceberg lettuce.

http://www.aintnosurfintexas.com/zz%20top%20tres%20hombres%20mexican%20feast3%20copy.jpg

On my other favorite show, Diners Drive-ins and Dives, they went to a mexican place in Chicago that looked AWESOME called Puebla Cemita or something.

I like the actual diners, drive-ins & dives, but I cannot watch the pink fuckface on that show for more than a few minutes.

I've been to De Cero and Frontera and thought they were both decent but kind of disappointing. De Cero seemed to be taking itself to seriously and didn't live up to what they thought of themselves. Frontera was good and maybe was really innovative like 15 years ago when everyone thought Mexican food was hard shell tacos with iceberg lettuce but didn't seem all that interesting to me now. I also thought whichever of the three Pasaditas I went to wasn't anything all that great.

But I've really liked Taqueria Moran every time I've been there - which admittedly I was either starving or hung over or with lots of friends so that may cloud it.

Frontera/Topolobampo

Oh man, Rick Bayless's places are amazing. Really killer stuff. I guess that's not what I meant by Mexican food -- I took my Dad to Frontera once while he was in town, promising great Mexican food, and I could see the puzzlement on his face as he looked at the menu. "Where's the giant bowl of queso?" So I guess I put that in another category, even though maybe I shouldn't.

jinky: best. gatefold. ever.

"Where's the giant bowl of queso?"

uh

I don't want to get into a whole Mexican thing, because we've done it before a whole bunch of different times, but lookit: I occasionally felt like Chicago's Mexican was lacking compared to the tasty southwestern stuff I grew up on (which is a whole different kind of food in the first place), but honestly, compared to almost any place else in this country, it is generally decent and nothing to complain about. Honestly. Seriously. Up until I found a good southwestern-style place here in New York, I'd have killed for even the kind of stuff you can get at Flash Taco.

(I would also submit -- from personal experience! -- that if you're really used to Texan or "southwestern" Mexican, you can get to a point where someone gives you certain types of authentic Mexican food and you're like OMG this is terrible, given that it's a big country and many parts of it are not gussying up their dishes with as much first-world richness and stewing and cheese as parts of ours.)

haha xpost! -- the parenthetical bit above = "where's the giant bowl of queso" EXACTLY

yeah, if i can get some tacos with tasty carne al pastor, cilantro, onions, and spicy salsa, then i'm happy. no queso necessary.

(i realize that the tex-mex thing is totally different, and i'm not that familiar with it)

You're making me so so hungry for things covered in red sauce and melted cheese.

That whole southwestern-vs-authentic thing once led to a really embarrassing conversation between me and another ILXor, about a local restaurant:

ME: Everything seems really weird and thrown-together there.
HIM: It's pretty much just authentic Oaxacan style.
ME: No way, they just throw that runny white cream on everything!
HIM: I believe that's known as Oaxaca Cream.
ME: Well they're definitely using some kind of cheap, bland cheese.
HIM: Yeah, that's called Oaxaca Cheese.

i hate that white cheese

so do they really provide big bowls of cheese at tex-mex places?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/65/Queso.jpg/400px-Queso.jpg

I have never seen such a thing.

I've never seen anything like that in my life.

Not saying I wouldn't down the whole thing, just saying.

so basically Chicago mexican is more authentic than Austin/SATX mexican?

Queso is amazing.

so basically Chicago mexican is more authentic than Austin/SATX mexican?

well, "authentic," like nabisco said.

My mom makes it as an intermediate step to homemade mac'n'cheese, it's basically your roux with sharp cheddar and whatever else melted into it. Then she has to beat us about the hands with her wooden spoon as we try to scoop it up with chips before she puts the pasta in.

But sitting, possibly lukewarm, on a restaurant table? I can hardly imagine.

I am also a fan of the giant hollow puffy fried corn tortilla smothered in queso. (Which is short for chile con queso, not to be confused with queso blanco, which is the stuff I could seriously live without.)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/2891374366_b89ab3436f.jpg?v=0

not like i don't like cheese, but that seems kinda unnecessary. mexican food isn't exactly healthy to start with, i don't need a giant bowl of cheese too.

Well, when they put it in front of you, just try not eating it.

Texas is all about the unnecessary

I think I would be totally fine with not eating that. But I can be picky about cheese products.

I would totally eat that.

I can't believe how many people haven't had queso! Surely most of you have at least had, like, a jar of crappy queso dip from the supermarket? Cause it would be sad if processed nacho cheese was as close as someone had come.

Anyway: it's not an authenticity battle, I'm just saying that when you're used to awesome American-regional versions of Mexican food, other versions can throw you, for a second. But yeah, I'd say that the bulk of decent Chicago Mexican falls into one of two camps: (a) the tacqueria-style basics, and (b) sit-down restaurants, catering to a good share of actually Mexican patrons, serving actual Mexican entrees -- you know, not just enchiladas and stuff but the seafood dishes and fried things and whatnot.

There's plenty of both in Chicago that's pretty good, and this is even ignoring "nice" places. But it's true, if you're used to Southern California style, or New Mexican style, or Texan style, or something like that ... some of these might seem blander or drier or less mind-blowingly delicious, I guess?

The queso home game is a bowl of melted velveeta mixed with salsa. It ain't art, but it's quality slumming.

Anyway, someone let me know when Bourdain goes to Ethiopia, please

Well, when they put it in front of you, just try not eating it.

yeah, you obviously don't know me at all.

he will never never eat the queso
oooooooooooo

if someone puts it front of me i pretty much have to eat it all

I think that's what Kenan meant -- like, you just try not eating it.

My mom will often bust out a block of Velveeta mixed with a can of Rotel tomatoes, melted in a crock pot and served up for an event of some sort with a bag of Tostitos. This dish is referred to as "Rotel". My mother-in-law was known to do a similar thing with a can of Hormel chili instead of the Rotel tomatoes. Authenticity, regionalism, whatever be damned - I'd eat both of them.

I love Rotel cheese dip, esp. with a strong shot of sriracha added.

velveeta and canned chili, which sounds awesome in a drunkfoods sort of way, becomes incredibly disgusting after about five chips worth. had it at a party last year, was at first psyched. then not.

My Texan friend likes to mix a small quantity of Velveeta with real cheese just so the queso has a better consistency.

I think that's what Kenan meant -- like, you just try not eating it.

this.

wouldn't have to

I was in Russ & Daughters today getting lunch, and the folks behind the counter told me that there's a No Reservations airing tonight where he goes to Russ & Daughters. !!!!

I had a pumpernickel with plain cream cheese and Gaspe salmon. (One of the only lunches I'll willingly pay $9 for, since it's SOOOO GOOOOD. Any other lunch over $6 is mad overpriced.) We'll see what Mr Bourdain eats tonight. ;-)

No Reservations is great television. Even when it's lying it's telling the truth. The Vancouver episode was so ineptly done that it accidentally revealed the truth about the city: it's based on stock footage of people snowboarding and doing "outdoor activities," a film industry nobody really cares about, and bullshit quality of life rankings in International Magazines.