My Mexican Adventure

It's already been established that I dig Mexico and am completely addicted to la comida Mexicana. So after reading a blog post from the Kitchen Chick (which if you love Detroit food, ya gotta check it out) I was inspired to head down to Mexican town and check out some areas I knew little about. Of course I knew about the restaurants on or near Bagley St (still love Lupita's) but I honestly didn't know anything about the area West of there. So armed with insight from Kitchen Chick ,Miss D and I went exploring.

With a slight tinge of sadness we zipped past the Bagley St area and much like the crew of the USS Enterprise we set out to go "boldy where no man has gone before". Well at least not this man.

My plan was to hit several spots which the Kitchen Chick reviewed. The first being a joint which specializes in goat. Can you imagine my heart break when I pulled on the doors and they didn't budge? Sadly the place which was to make all my goat tacos dreams (yes, I have them) come true, was no longer in business. As I wiped a tear from my eye we jumped back into the truck and trudged forward, saddened but not dismayed.

Next stop was El Rey de Pollo or The King of Chicken. Pulling up we could see the outdoor grill piled high with grilled chicken. Smoke and flame lifted the royal scent into the air and through my nostrils. It looked like Mexico and more importantly it smelled like Mexico. We went inside and ordered a half chicken dinner with beans, rice and salsa for $6. Best six bucks I've ever spent. The chicken comes cut into about 6 or 7 pieces, perfectly grilled with just the right amount of char marks. Chile, lime and salt season the meat and skin the way I'm certain they do it in Mexican heaven. For a Mexican joint to get my seal of approval they have to do beans right and they do. Whole pintos cooked simply and served in their liquid, cooked jalapenos and onions mixed throughout.

A great first stop on our adventure. We pointed the truck West on Vernors and were shocked to see a whole new world. Restaurants, bakeries, shops all Mexican, of every kind lined the streets. Much of it was new construction or newly renovated. And the streets were alive. People walking with bags from the shops we just passed. Man playing bones and drinking out of paper bags in a tiny park like setting. I can't believe I have never been down here before.

Just as we passed Livernois on our right a circus tent caught our eyes. Now this was no ordinary circus tent but a Mexican circus tent, "dios mio"! Not only was a Mexican circus in town but next to it was a Mexican flea market. Miss D enjoys a good flea market and I used to love going to Mexican fleas while living in Texas, so we pulled in. The market was just what I wanted, full of junk, counterfeit goods and food stands. There was a tamale stand, a taco cart and a pupusa stand. Though I've been aware of pupusas I've never tried one. Today would be the day. Three El Salvadorean woman manned the stall and made the pupusas right in front of you. One of the women took a ball of masa and flattened it out in her hand and placed a mixture of beans, pork and cheese on top, folded it over and formed a flat disk and placed it on a flat top grill. Once off the grill it looked delicious, but she wasn't finished. The dish is not complete without pickled shredded pickled carrots and cabbage and fiery fresh chile salsa on top. Good, like "just got out of prison sex" is good. I am now a die hard pupusa fan.

Still high from my pupusa enlightenment, we bought tickets to the circus. Now, this wasn't Ringling Bros quality this was my like Homey Da Clown meets Ren and Stimpy quality. First it was entirely in Spanish. We got an idea how bad it was going to be when the first act, "three beauty queens" made there way to the big top. Don't wanna be rude here but the one in the middle was better suited for plowing fields. The show didn't get much better and honestly if it had I would've been disappointed. It was cheezy, silly, corny and I loved it.

From there we continued down Vernors heading West. Again I was amazed, more restaurants and stores and people. It's going to take me all winter to uncover all that's there. It's truly shocking to see the investment and how well that area is thriving. I know of no one that goes down there and it's a shame.

Before heading home we stopped into Mexican Town Bakery. Its a modern, good looking place that honestly made me a little nervous. I like my joints to be run down and dodgy. Miss D and I over came our prejudice and struggled not to buy everything on the racks. We settled on four delicious looking yummys and were shocked when the bill came to $4. Honestly, just one of our items would've cost that much at Holiday market.

Mexican Town is not just Bagely St. Do yourself a favor, the next time you're headed down that way, resist the urge to go the tourist joints. Get outside of your comfort zone. Go where the locals eat and you too will be digesting detroit, one drink and one bite at at time.

Lupita's, Mex as it gex.

About 12 years ago I stumbled upon this small, kinda crappy looking Taquiera down in Mexican Town, called Taqueria Lupitas. At that point in my life I had been to Mexico a few times. Now when I say Mexico, I should clarify. I had been to what I call Disney Mexico. That is Cancun and all the fake silliness that goes with it. On the few occasions we veered away from Senior Frogs or the "Stupid Gringo, we really don' t serve monster burritos in Mexico" Restaurant, I really dug what seemed to be real Mexican food. It's been 10 years since I last ate at Lupitas and I've gained much more Mexican food experience. I've traversed the country and have eaten off of street carts in every city. I've fed my bean hole from every Economica Corrida I could find and I've swallowed Tacos al Pastor from Nuevo Laredo down to Palenque. I'm not claiming to be an expert, but I know Mexican food as well as I know any other cuisine. It was time to go back to Lupitas and see how they measure up.

As I entered it was clear some things had change. Now there was silly faux stones on the wall and a monstrous ceiling light fixture which looked lost and out of place hanging from the dirty, stained and broken ceiling tiles. In some ways it reminded me of Mexico. Outside of your tourist areas, restaurants and business' are often cobbled together in a quaint schizophrenic way. A quick glance at the picture menu board put me at ease. Of the dozen or so items only one, the burrito, is the only one I've never seen in real Mexico. Things, like Caldo de Res, Ceviche Tostadas or the before mentioned Tacos al Pastor are very familiar to me. One other thing had changed as well, there were more white people (Guapos) getting their fill of authentic tacos. Nice to see this wasn't a Taco Bell or Chli's crowd.

The main menu brought back a lot of memories. Cabeza tacos in Guanajauto. Carnitas Tacos in Ciuad Mexico. Cocktail de Camaron in Vera Cruz. Or just about everything brought back some kind of food memory. Some people have memories of sights or what they bought when they travel, mine are almost exclusively memories of food. My gut is my souvenir.

Our waitress brought chips and four colorful salsas to the table. A tradition that is only found in the states. They are available but you have to ask and pay for Totopos y salsa. Tradition or not, each salsa was right on the money. Pico de Gallo, limey with an actual bite from the jalpenos, smokey dried chile salsa, creamy avocado salsa and a blended salsa which for some reason was my fav that day.

Hoping to relive those memories I order the Al Pastor dinner and two Ceviche Tostadas, which came out first. If you're not in the know, ceviche is any raw seafood marinated in citrus. The citrus actually cooks the seafood. Lupitas ceviche is made with mild white fish, lime juice and a little Pico. First bite, hooray!!!! Delicious! I've eaten these on both the Gulf and Pacific coasts and these are yummy.

My main meal came to the table with a mound of seasoned, roasted pork, charro beans, rice, corn tortillas (the only way to eat Mexican food) and condiments. So I don't bore you with a detailed description and the hyperbole I'm known for, let just say everything on my plate was delish and spot on. If I closed my eyes I might think that I was South of the Border. Even the Spanish spoken at most of the tables would lead me to that conclusion. Throw in blaring TVs and the odd stray dog and I'd feel right at home.

Lupitas is the real deal. You may find the odd Tex Mex thing on the menu but please avoid those. Go for the real thing. Eat your tacos with corn tortillas, eschew cheese and for the love of god, do not ask for extra sour cream!

Soon fall and winter will force me into pants and jackets and I'll move from tacos to caldo (soup), specifically caldo de res or caldo posole. When I do I'll let you know. Between now and then, I'll be rediscovering my city, one bite and one drink at a time. digesting detroit es divertido y delicioso!

Taqueria Lupita Map

Slow's BBQ and rocking Tamales

It's Sunday morning and I'm nursing a wicked hangover courtesy of an all night limo bender. What's worse is its a perfect summer day. The sun is out and it's going to be in the mid 80s all day. With a hangover like this I prefer it to be raining and miserable. That way I don't feel like a drunken loser for laying on the couch all day burping up last night's White Castles. You don't waste days like these in Detroit or sometime in February you'll regret it.

I've been talking with a friend about Slow's BBQ and we decide to take the bike down to Corktown to give it a try. She's a bike virgin and is terrified but I need BBQ so after begging and cajoling she jumps on the back complaining that the helmet is going to muss her pretty hair. Twenty minutes later we're pulling up to Slow's BBQ, alive. Mussed hair and hangover in full swing.

Walking to the front door I'm diggin' the building, it's brick and ancient. It sits on the end of a row of buildings none of which are as nice as this. I love BBQ joints, from Memphis to Austin to KC to just about anywhere someone with skills in smoke, rub and meat sets up a joint. I like the lowdown dirty feel of them. No pretension, just meat, sauce, table and chair, generally with authentic kitsch thrown up on the wall to remind you that you're supposed to eat with your hands. This is not Slow's. Gotta tell ya, I was surprised when I walked in. Exposed brick, copper on the bar and on the kitchen walls, modern almost arts and crafts ceiling, very cool. This is modern Detroit. Using natural elements like copper, wood and brick (not natural but give me some liberty) they made the place look like what Detroit should look like.

I've been told there is generally a good wait for a table particularly on the weekends but apparently they knew I was coming and gave us a table without delay.

I'm not going to go into all the menu items but let's just say it's well represented with all the BBQ staples from the different regions of BBQ heaven.

I'm always looking to try something new and the okra split pea fritters was a starter I had to try. God, I wish I didn't. They came to the table a dark almost black color. This isn't from over cooking this is from old fryer oil. Yikes, a Southern joint that doesn't know how to fry? Not feelin' good about this. I get past the color and faint scent of old used oil and cut into the big puffy fritter. To put it bluntly the fritter sucked. It faintly tasted of okra and had the color of split pea. There was a sauce on the plate but it didn't matter. Neither did the five sauces on each table. To put it in perspective, I eat everything. I don't turn my nose up on any type or style of food. This simply was not good.

Next came the grub. We decided to split a combo of Texas style brisket and pork ribs. Just so you know, I know Texas BBQ. Lived there six years and ate at least a ranch full of steer. On the plate was meat from two parts of the brisket. One is the lean thin sliced brisket many are familar with and the other is the fatter juicer part. I started with the thin leaner part. Good smoke, good overall flavor just a little dry. A good shot of the North Carolina vinegary BBQ sauce made everything better. The fatter part was delish. Juicy, beefy, smokey, what's not to love. On to the ribs. Smokey, nice rub, and a little dry. Hmmmm....., noticing a pattern. They could've used a little more meat on them bones but overall pretty good ribs. You get two sides with your meal and we chose the mac n' cheese and the green beans. I really dug the mac. Cheesy, black peppery, nice crust on top, just like Mom never made, yum. The beans had me a little worried. I was expecting Southern style, cooked a long time with a little pork, but these were relatively short cooked and covered in whole grain mustard sauce. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise (as my good friend Gomer would say), the beans were good. The mustard sauce was mellower than I thought and slightly sweet.

The both of us ate for under $20 bucks. The waiter took the funky fritters off of the bill. He asked how the were and I, well, I told him. I appreciated the gesture. If he hadn't I was going to tell all of you about the piece of food that was stuck to the side of his mouth the entire time we were there. That would be mean so I'm not going to do it. The other reason we ate for under $20 is that my friend eats like Kilpatrick cares about morals, very little.

Bottom line on my first visit to Slow's is, it was solid. Loved what they did with an old building in a shitty part of the city. The BBQ was good but far from the best I've had. The service was good and aside from the thing I'm not going to tell you about, I liked our server. I'll be back because I want the BBQ to be great and I want daring entrepreneurs like the folks at Slows to succeed in Detroit.

I mentioned Tamales didn't I? Si, I did. From Slow's we jumped on the bike and cruised into Mexican Town with the thought to see what's new and check out the shops. I was thrilled to see Taqueiria Lupita is still there. This is as authentic and good as it gets. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this place. I stopped in to see if the menu was the same and it is. The best thing is my knoweldge of Mexican food as grown greatly since my last visits to Lupita. I know shit from shineola and this is pure shineola. I''ll be back soon for ceviche tacos. Walking around we got it in our heads to get tamales. The panderia on the corner sold them back in the day so we went there. They still sell them. At $8 a dozen I knew we could do better. On the opposite end of Bagely sits Mexican Town restaurant. Their tamales are $5 a dozen. We left with one dozen chicken and one dozen pork. They threw in some salsa as well. Long story short, I've been eating them for days. Mio dios!! They are estupendo! Seriously these are great tamales and the salsa rocks too. Muy happy.

The rest of the day was a self guided moto tour of Detroit along the river. We rode through downtown, Indian Village, Belle Isle, Grosse Pointe and ended in St Clair for drinks on the lake. Gotta tell ya, I didn't think a ride in Detroit would be as satisfying. If riding in Detroit doesn't kill me, I think you'll read more Sunday posts as we're digesting detroit.