Yuma – Page 9 – mmm-yoso

Pupuseria y Taqueria Cabañas 2: Yuma

April 29, 2008 ed fromyuma Salvadoran Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Kirk still has tales of Southeast Asia. Cathy is roaming about looking for food in San Diego, but today ed (from Yuma) finishes his discussion about the best Salvadoran restaurant in Yuma.

*** I am saddened to write that Pupuseria Cabanas is no more. One of the few cases of a restaurant doomed by its success. At least as I have heard it, the landlord was getting complaints from the towing/repair shop next door that there was no place to park during the day because the pupuseria had too many customers. Lucia was not allowed to be open weekdays, and then on Nov. 1, the restaurant was empty with no sign about another location etc. I will update if (I hope, when) she has relocated *** :-(

When I walked into Cabañas for my second visit, my idea of Salvadoran food was pupusas and tamales. Okay, I'd also eaten some fried plantains at a couple of other Salvadoran places, but I didn't find those interesting enough to consider going out of my way to eat them again.

On that second visit, I was hoping to try some tamales, but it seems that the restaurant only has tamales on the weekend. After some linguistic misunderstandings, I ended up ordering soup – though I wasn't sure what kind of sopa it was going to be. When the soup arrived, accompanied by a hand made corn tortilla, it looked pretty much like most soups look:

With the first taste of the broth, I realized that this was very different. Rarely have I tasted a broth with such depth of flavor and width of complexity. Perhaps the original stock was a chicken flavor (perhaps), but all I could taste was the intense flavor of a multitude of vegetables with a hint of shrimp.

My first bites were of those tasty vegetables. There was onion, carrot, zucchini, potato, and some other squash like vegetable. All of them had contributed to the incredible broth. Hiding underneath the surface of vegetables were numerous fresh tasting pink shrimp:

The shrimp was perfectly cooked for shrimp in a soup – tender and juicy. Also, please notice the rich golden color of that broth. That deep color matched the deep flavors of the soup. I'm not making this up folks; this was ultimate soup.

Since that visit, the soups have become the main attraction of the restaurant for me. Each broth is intensely savory and complex. My culinary heritage tends to be west central Europe, and the standard vegetables that go into most of my traditional soups are onion, celery, and carrot (and cabbage when appropriate). At this restaurant, squashes (and/or squash like items) make a major contribution to the breadth and depth of the flavor. This makes some primal sense as squashes were the very first domesticated crop in the New World – around 10,000 years ago. So these Salvadoran soups have an ancient heritage as well as a great taste.

This is well illustrated by what they call "chicken soup." The soup itself is a rich chicken broth that tastes primarily of zucchini squash. The bowl is full of zucchinis cut into inch and a half slices. There is not a single piece of chicken in the bowl:

The nicely roasted chicken, along with rice and an undressed salad, is served on the side:

The leg and the thigh were mildly seasoned and have a nice crusty exterior. The insides of each piece were juicy and tender:

I advised Tina to dump her rice into the bowl with the stock and the zucchinis, as I usually do when I am served rice with a Mexican soup. The more I think about this dish, the more I believe that the chicken also could have been broken up and put into the soup. That would have intensified the chicken flavor of the stock (as if that broth needed any help) and added nicely flavored chicken bites to it. It also would have been a real chicken soup that avoided the boiled chicken texture and flavor that sometimes mars caldo de pollo.

The least wonderful of the four soups that I have tried at Cabañas was the beef rib soup. You have heard of damning with faint praise; this is praising with a faint damn. It was very good, but just not quite as good as the others.

When I asked about what soup was available that day , the young man said "beef rib soup," but then he had to turn and ask the cook a question, and I suspect that he was asking whether the soup was ready because he was answered with an affirmative and then he assured me that they had the soup.

The bowl was packed with the range of vegetables (potatoes, squashes, and carrots being most predominate) and two huge chunks of beefy rib meat:

Compared with most caldo de res that I have had in Yuma, this was a good soup. The beef was rich and flavorful, with just a bit of fat:

My only complaint (and that is too strong a word, really) is that the soup would've been better with a little more cooking. The beef was tender, but not falling apart. My spoon couldn't break the two huge chunks up into bitesized pieces, so it became finger food. The stock had a nice beefy flavor, but it was the least intense of any of the soups I have had at the restaurant. Maybe another hour on the stove would have changed that.

One interesting note about that soup was the unusual vegetable that I found hiding in it:

Do you have any idea what this is? At first I thought it might be some sort of marrow bone since it had an obvious ring around it. Then I took a small bite and realized that this was indeed a vegetable of some sort, but I had never seen such a thing before (or so I thought). When I asked the young man what it was, he said it was a male banana – whatever that is. Perhaps he meant plantain. In any case, after I popped the piece into my mouth and started chewing, the flavor of savory banana was apparent. Nonetheless, I was totally amazed to have a chunk of banana, skin and all, in a beef rib soup. Another sign that this place is different from anywhere else I've ever eaten.

I have saved the best for last. One day they offered cow hoof soup. When I ordered it, I was warned that it had tripe as well as a cow hoof in it. Rather than deterring me, that excited me. As with many of their other soups, this one didn't immediately look at all strange (though in this pic it does look fuzzier than in real life):

Like their other soups, squashes and potatoes were evident throughout, but a major element in the flavor of the broth was tripe. And the bowl contained numerous pieces of flavorful and chewy cow stomach:

At first, I noticed that this was a different tripe from the little pillows of tender joy that I am used to in menudo. This had more chew – though it was by no means tough – and a good tripe flavor. But then I discovered that the great tender joy of this incredible soup was resting on the bottom of the bowl, a cow hoof:

Having never encountered such a thing before, I wasn't sure what to expect. What I found was a mass of bone covered with the most tender and delectable soft tendon. These gelatinous emanations were just at the edge of melting into soup. This is as close to a religious experience I can have while eating. The words that come to mind are etherial, ephemeral, diaphonous, luxurious, transubstantive. This is how the flesh of angels would taste. Oh my god, what a textural delight.

Up to this point I had not understood why the tripe was the chewy kind, but now I realized the essential contrast that underlies this wonderful bowl of joy. The mouth feel of the various vegetables, the chew of the tripe, and now this miraculous cow hoof covered a gigantic range of pleasurable textures. In my reverie, I involuntarily began the mmm-yoso dance, eyes closed, arms bent, swaying side to side in my seat.The only down side was that I had to explain the mmm-yoso dance to Tina, who was probably wondering if I was having some sort of a seizure.

It seems somehow appropriate to end this post which began with me searching for a tamale with a tamale. Since I have been so blown away by the soup at this restaurant, I have had only one of their tamales – a sweet corn tamal that made a perfect dessert for a meal:

As you can see from the picture, the masa is full of chunks and flecks of sweet corn. What you can't see from the picture is that the tamal came with wonderfully sour crema. With the balancing of sweet and sour, this was a perfect treat. Tina said that she had eaten similar things at fancy restaurants. Of course, she added, then they cost a lot more.

Someday I will have to try more of their tamales, but right now, it would be hard to go there and not order another bowl of soup, particularly if there was a cow foot in it.

Last Sunday, Tina and I pulled up and the place was CLOSED. I almost cried. I stopped by today, and they were open – just had some church festival last Sunday. Woo-hoo! Sometimes life is good.

Pupuseria y Taqueria Cabañas, 3405 8th St, Yuma AZ. Open every day except Thursdays and special days at church. Open for lunches and dinners.

Pupuseria y Taqueria Cabañas 1: Yuma

April 24, 2008 ed fromyuma Salvadoran Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Kirk is back with pics and stories about Vietnam and Cambodia. Cathy and others are out eating and snapping photos, but today ed (from Yuma) wants to share a recent find.

At the end of last month, a friend and I were exploring Calle Ocho (8th St) in Yuma looking for interesting taco stands and such. After a campechana at Juanita's and some empanadas from Mariscos el Nayarita, I spotted a lit-up open sign in the window of this new pupuseria:

After finding a parking place, Tina and I walked into the small family restaurant (3 booths, one bench and table set, and one larger table that could hold maybe 8 people), and as soon as I started speaking the little bit of horribly gringofied restaurant Spanish that I know, every head in the place turned to look at us as if we were los Migras. I suspect we may have been the first native English speakers to come in looking for a meal.

Since there is no menu and no white board, some conversation is required to find out what is available and to place an order. Fortunately for us on this visit, a friendly young man who spoke perfect English instantly switched the conversation into a language that both of us could understand. He seems to be there on weekends. During the week, ordering becomes more problematic since my poquito español de comida Mexicana is only marginally useful, and the nice ladies' English is only slightly better than my Spanish. Nonetheless, crossing that language barrier is worth it to me.

On our first visit, I ordered pupuses, and soon the two women in the back of the kitchen started patting out thick corn tortillas, much like the woman on one of the wallhangings that decorated the spare restaurant:

Pupusas are two corn tortillas grilled together with a thin layer of filling between them. We ordered bean and cheese, cheese and some Salvadoran green veggie, and pork. They are served with a tomato flavored, marginally spicy red sauce and a large jar of Salvadoran coleslaw, mildly tangy shredded cabbage with shredded carrot and an occasional slice of jalapeno. My first efforts at decorating the pupusas led to things that looked like these:

It's hard to beat hand-made corn tortillas, and they are the primary element in a pupusa. The thin smear of filling inside adds a flavor note, rather than a dominant taste. At first, I luxuriated in the honest flavor of the tortillas, and I used the sauce and coleslaw as accents. Since then, however, I have learned that I like my pupusas more heavily dressed. Starting with a plain pupusa, I cover it with sauce, and then I pile on the coleslaw:

This way, the pupusa is salad, filling, and starch all together. Also, at $1.75 apiece, two properly decorated pupusas make a good $3.50 lunch.

While the pupusas at Cabañas are what first got me hooked on the restaurant, other things keep me coming back over and over. For example, they serve very interesting – in fact downright amazing – Salvadoran agua frescas ($1.50). The first one I ordered contained mango, pineapple, and some mystery Salvadoran fruit:

Unlike any Mexican Agua Fresca that I have drunk, this place serves a handful of diced fruit in each glass. Although I believe I am served a straw each time, these are meant to be drunk without one. That way, each gulp is a mouthful of sweet liquid and chopped fruit.

I have no idea what this critter that looks like a yellow cherry is called, but it does contain a pit somewhat like a cherry:

On another occasion, apple was the primary flavor, and I felt like I'd eaten half an apple by the time I finished the drink:

I have two small concerns about this place. It calls itself a pupuseria y taqueria, yet I have seen no evidence of any taco on the premises. Certainly no one has offered to make me one. In addition, the last time I was eating there, it was over 90 degrees outside, and the tiny wall-mounted 1960s AC in the restaurant was having no perceptible effect on the internal temperature. I may not want to hang out at Cabañas when Yuma gets to 115.

Nevertheless, this little place has quickly become one of my favorite restaurants in Yuma – and I will keep coming back, at least until I can't stand the heat and have to keep away from their kitchen. It is not just that the pupusas and the homemade drinks are outstanding, but the place also has served me some of the tastiest and most unusual soups of any place in town. The soups and other treats will have to wait for part two. Consider yourselves properly teased.

Pupuseria y Taqueria Cabañas, 3405 8th St, Yuma AZ. Phone #? If they don't have a menu, maybe they don't have a phone either.

Tacos from David’s Carneceria: Yuma

April 3, 2008 ed fromyuma Taco Shops, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

This is not Kirk, not Cathy, not anybody else but ed (from Yuma) here to share some tacos with you.

About a month ago I got an e-mail from my good friends and eating buddies, Paul and Joanie, raving about the tacos from the stand located at David’s Carneceria. I was embarrassed. It is my job to try every taco stand I can find, and while I had noticed this stand, I had not yet sampled it. I had been scooped.

Since Yuma does not allow roadside taco trucks within the city limits, the taco stand sits in the parking lot of a small market on Avenue B specializing in Mexican meats:

The set up is very convenient. There is a charcoal grill behind the tree and a series of small tables running alongside the market. For a small stand, this place cranks out a whole lot of tacos. I have stood waiting for my order on more than one occasion while two overworked employees take orders (sometimes for dozens of tacos) and prepare tacos as fast as they can:

The tacos (here one carnitas, one lengua, and one pollo asado) are presented plain:

However, a wide range of salsas, condiments, pickled vegetables, and grilled vegetables are available to complete the tacos:

When finished, the plate of tacos looks like this:

Or like this:

I am very fond of the lengua, its tongue flavor lightly spiced and cooked to falling apart tenderness:

Other meats are also available. Like the lengua, the Cabeza is cooked until it shreds, and each tender bite is full of juicy beefiness:

The carnitas, not as crunchy as I would like, is plenty porky and chewy and matches well with the guacamole:

Chicharrones, or stewed pork skin, is not for the faint of heart (or the narrow of artery), but if you have always wished for mouthfuls of lightly pork flavored and smoothly textured fat (and who hasn’t?) This is the dish for you:

The carne asada here is lightly marinated, beefy, tender, and lightly charred for a perfect flavor. Here it is, along with some cheese, in a burrito:

Just a note. The pollo asado here is really outstanding also, with a nice char and moist interior. I just had no outstanding (or even acceptable) close-ups of the chicken. Hope you have enjoyed the post. I certainly have been enjoying the tacos. Thanks and a tip of the floppy hat to FOYs Paul and Joanie.

David’s Carneceria, 191 S. Ave B, Yuma, 783-7221 (phone number for market; no phone at the stand).

Taqueria El Chipilon 2: A World of Tacos

March 19, 2008 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Kirk is the wonderful host and main writer here at mmm-yoso!!! , but he lets others play in his sandbox too. Today ed (from Yuma) is here to tell you that more than just vampires lurk at this Taqueria.

Just wanted to do a quick post about the huge taqueria where I found the vampire tacos in San Luis, Sonora. Usually we think of getting tacos at stands, trucks, and carts. Of course, you can also get tacos at most Mexican restaurants, but real restaurants have all kinds of other things on the menu. El Chipilon is remarkable for being a large restaurant that serves primarily just tacos.

On my last visit there, the pollo asado taco was exceptionally flavorful, though you can’t tell that from this picture:

The chicken had a wonderful flavor, a hint of char, and a moist and succulent interior. Much better than the rather undistinguished version I had had previously. A quick visit to the charcoal grill showed me why the taco was so much better that day:

That afternoon the chicken came straight off the grill and onto my taco. From this next pic, You can see that this taqueria prepares meats in vast quantities, so the quality of any item will vary depending on how long it has been on hold:

The positive side to this mass production is that the cooks can satisfy 50 to 60 tables full of hungry partiers all at once, chopping up the meats with skill and speed:

Friends tell me that the place is busiest and completely packed at 2:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights (more precisely, on Saturday and Sunday mornings). After all, what better way to end an evening of drinking and clubbing (and the drinking age in Mexico is 18) than to have a few great tacos?

And of course, all the tacos come with the wheel of condiments (and grilled veggies and house salsa):

Along with vampire tacos, this place does one other unique and distinctive taco – the Super Taco Chipilon:

Basically, just a cheese and carne asada soft taco (which is called a caramelo taco – see this link (thanks Alex)), this Super Taco Chipilon is loaded with moist and flavorful beef, and the white cheese lays atop a roasted green chile. What’s not to like? The combination of mild white cheese, carne asada, and green chile all enfolded by a yellow corn tortilla – with its touch of natural corn sweetness – provides a nice balance of contrastive flavors.

As good as these two types of tacos are, my favorite non-vampire at El Chipilon is their version of al pastor:

They don’t skimp on the meat. Most al pastor in Yuma is done with a dry rub, but this succulent pork flesh is carmelized and almost glazed and has a slightly sweet flavor note that surprised me the first time that I tasted it. It was only later, when I looked at this close up of the meat, that I began to speculate about the origins of this style of al pastor with its distinctive flavor:

Doesn’t this look a lot like Chinese barbecued pork – if it had been cooked over open flames? I’m not saying that al pastor estilo El Chipilon is unique, because I’ve eaten similar looking Mexican pork before, but the hints of sweetness in this meat made me wonder if there might be some Asian connection. Someone more knowledgeable than me has pointed out the profound influences that Mexican and Chinese food have had on each other along Mexico’s northern border with its large Chinese population. Some claim that Chinese cooks invented the chimichanga, so maybe it isn’t too fantastic to suggest that this shepherd style pork, which is often cooked on a Lebanese style spit, sometimes exhibits the finishing touch of some Asian pig herder (which seems appropriate considering that no one has ever shepherded pigs). Small world really.

How are the prices at El Chipilon? Well, no prices are listed on the menu, and I didn’t do any bargaining before ordering, so I suspect we paid the gringo rate. Nonetheless, 16 tacos (8 deluxe and 8 regular), 4 Pacificos, an order of beans, and a large jamaica came to $30 American. Seems fair to me.

Vampire Tacos: Taqueria El Chipilon

March 10, 2008 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

The blog is mmm-yoso!!! Sometimes (like today) Kirk lets one of his friends do an entry at the blog. Today ed from Yuma writes about his cross-border pursuit of the elusive VAMPIRE taco. It really won’t be scary at all – I promise.

Beginning last November, a friend of mine who teaches English as a second language began hearing from his students about vampiras — vampire tacos. He kept regaling me with stories about these mysterious treats, so soon I was driving down to the southern terminus of US Hwy 95 in San Luis (a city of well over 250,000 mostly located in Mexico, but with a smaller Arizona extension) on a mission to locate and sample the elusive vampire taco in its native habitat.

When I describe these tacos as elusive, I am really speaking of my difficulties in locating, tasting, and photographing them. My friend had convinced me that they were objects worthy of pursuit. However, my first two trips to a purported purveyor of bat tacos in San Luis Arizona (Nuevo Asaderos los Jarros) only convinced me that this was an establishment not open during the day – which I suppose is fitting for a place serving tacos vampiras:

When I finally tracked down vampiras in San Luis Mexico, in my excitement I must’ve hit the wrong button on my camera because I mostly ended up shooting a movie of my right knee. Oops! I’m sure it had nothing to do with the Cervezas Pacificos. Then, a nighttime visit to Los Jarros in San Luis Arizona was a great adventure that resulted in some tasty vampire tacos, but few usable pictures.

Finally last weekend, four of us descended into Mexico just to taste and photograph tacos vampiras – and some other goodies – at Taqueria El Chipilon, a huge taqueria (two outside seating areas and one inside) located on Revolucion near 22nd:

As the menu indicates, this taqueria serves a range of different tacos, but at the bottom of the menu lurks the dark shape of the vampiras’ namesake, a vampire bat:

In a matter of minutes, four vampiras arrived at out table – three of them having corn tortillas, the other flour:

At first glance, these tasty treats look much like ordinary carne asada tacos over stuffed with carne. However, a closer inspection shows that the marinated beef pieces lie atop a thin layer of white melted cheese. Also distinctive are the browned scalloped edges of each of the tacos:

A single bite makes instantly clear the difference between these and ordinary tacos. Instead of the soft tenderness of a regular tortilla, these tacos are crunchy.

Since they are filled with carne asada and not blood or bat flesh, why do vampire tacos carry their distinctive and unusual moniker? The answer to this question and the key to a vampira is the preparation of the tortilla. The tortillas are not just warmed, steamed, or deep-fried. Instead they are griddled until they are completely desiccated and charred and have begun to shrivel up, giving them the appearance of a bat’s wing (hey, use some imagination here, help me out) — hence the name vampira:

Sometimes when I describe vampiras, someone will say, "oh, that is just a tostada." And yes, the vampire taco shares the crunchiness of a tostada, but they are not tostadas. First, they have a concave shape, perfect for holding meat and toppings. Second, vampiras do not shatter as one bites into them, so they are intended to be eaten with one’s fingers. Every tostada that I have tried to eat by hand has sent tortilla shards and various toppings cascading down whatever shirt I was wearing, leaving an avalanche of guacamole, sour cream, and frijoles resting in my lap. So very not good. That does not happen with a vampira.

Another tasty feature of El Chipilon that improves the taste of their vampiras is the wheel of condiments served with the tacos:

In addition, grilled chilies and charred scallions along with cucumber and radish slices and an excellent spicy house salsa are also brought to the table:

The first time that I ate a vampira, I left it very plain so that I could savor the lightly marinated tender beef chunks, the mild cheese, and the tortilla. Later, thinking about the experience, I realized that vampire tacos have another distinctive quality. Because of their concave shape and because the crunch of the tortilla is protected by the layer of cheese, one can load up the taco with lots of various goodies. This one, for example, is covered with two kinds of salsa, guacamole, chopped onion, and chopped cilantro; if I wanted to, I could have added even more stuff. Nothing oozed out of either end, and a fiesta of flavors hit my tongue:

One of my fellow culinary adventurers even put some of the grilled green onions on hers.

So some vampires do come out during the day. My flying taco hunt was no wild goose chase. Maybe my karma intended for me to return again and again to seek out and eat these tacos. I hope so; that’d be good karma.

* * * * * * *

Sometimes, disappointments and frustrations can have positive results. In my search for the wonderful and rare vampires of the taco world, I was reminded of the tremendous culinary resource that is San Luis, Sonora, Mexico. Back in the 80s, when I was merely a visitor to Yuma, a trip to San Luis was a part of every visit to the area. And no trip to San Luis was complete without a meal or two at local restaurants. By the time I moved to Yuma, however, the road between here and San Luis seemed to be in constant repair, and the 20 minute drive more often took 35 minutes with detours and stops. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of the local American tourist trade rerouted itself to the convenient tiny border village of Algodones, Baja California. Now, though, the road to San Luis is in good repair, and the return border crossing on foot at San Luis runs about 10 to 15 minutes (compared with over an hour at Algodones). Even more important for me is that San Luis Mexico is really Mexico. It is not overflowing with American tourists, and a walk along Obregon – the main street – exposes one not only to the sights and sounds of a truly foreign city but also to all of the fragrant and enticing smells of al pastor tacos, tortas de lomo, and birria. Large Chinese and mariscos restaurants abound. I will be back. I feel like somebody living in Mira Mesa who just remembered the existence of El Cajon Blvd and University Ave. Yum.

Somerton Tamale Festival

December 16, 2007 ed fromyuma Festivals & Events, Mexican Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Believe it or not, Kirk is letting ed from Yuma do another post on mmm-yoso. Any rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated, though I have been buried under stacks of student papers for the last three months. I finished grading on Friday, and (seredipitously) on Saturday, the south Yuma county town of Somerton was hosting its first annual Tamale Festival.

It’s always a little scary going to the "first annual" of any event; sort of like showing up the first day a
new restaurant has opened. Do they know how to do this right? Are they ready for what is going to happen? But this was a tamale festival. Me miss a tamale festival that’s only a few miles from where I live? Not gonna happen – which explains why I was pulling into the first annual Somerton Tamale festival, a little after noon on Saturday.

The central two blocks of downtown Somerton had been closed off, and both sides of the street were lined with little tentlike coverings under each of which there was one or more tamale vendor happily selling single tamales, combination plates, and bags full of dozens of tamales. As advertised, there were well over 20 vendors, far too many even for the intrepid stomach of mmm-yoso to sample. What’s more, not a single restaurant name could be found; these were all the real deal, homemade tamales prepared according to traditional family recipes.

To pay for the tamales, one had to purchase tickets,and since this was for a good cause (college scholarships for local youth) I bought a few more than I needed.

My first sample came from this nice young woman. At first the rich chili flavor seemed deceptively mild.The long shreds of abundant beef were full of meaty flavor accented by a deep red chili sauce – all complimented by the slightly sour stuffed green olive. After I was half way through, I realized that there was a distinctly picante note of hot chile flavor probably from the thin shreds of green chile mixed in with the meat and sauce.

Then I went across the street to try one of the few tamales de puerco. This was another rich, succulent, spicy, treat. This one was slightly doughier andsaltier than my first tamal. The porky goodness of the meat was a perfect match to the dried red chile sauce.

As soon as I saw these women standing over their tamale kettle, I knew I had to sample their wares. They were having a good time and showed me the festival’s largest tamal.

When I said I wanted a sweet corn and cheese tamale, they insisted that I also had to have one of their tamales de res. Who was I to argue with two abuelas? The beef tamal had more of an upfront heat than the first two I had sampled earlier.

Along with two un-pitted green olives (twins) , there was one additional secret ingredient. Yes, that is a french fry, so maybe California burritos truly have along history.

The corn and cheese tamale was perhaps a little doughy, but the sweetness of the corn and the mild cheese flavor made a nice contrast to what had come before.

The next beef tamal that I purchased came from a couple guys who were hawking their product like carnies outside a sideshow. Theirs was the mildest of the afternoon and contained the most potato. Nonetheless, it was full of beefy goodness, and the beef flavor was nicely balanced by strips of green chile.

By now, I was full enough that I could wait in a line for the spicy beef tamal.

At first bite, I was disappointed; it hardly seems spicier than the previous mild version. However, two or three bites into it, I became aware that yes, indeed, this one packed some fiery punch.

My last tamal (and dear reader, by now I was eating for you rather than satisfying any hunger that I might have had) was made by using a different approach. Not only was this beef shredded, but it seemed to have been sliced or chopped at some point as well, so there were no long shards of beef.

This one also had no potato and the least amount of chili flavored sauce (if any at all) – excepting of course the cheese and corn tamal. It also had a very thin layer of masa, so all together it was extremely beefy, but perhaps a little greasier than its predecessors.

Throughout the festival, music was playing, and as I was getting ready to leave, one of my favorite local bands, the Chuckawalla Rhythm Kings, began playing.

It is certainly a unique group. Probably the only group named after a lizard of the Desert Southwest performing Celtic folk music. Certainly the only one performing this day at a tamale festival, that’s for sure.

When I went to get my half dozen tamales to go, the purveyors of my two favorites from the afternoon had already run out, so throwing caution to the winds, I got my tamales to go from a completely different vendor. Who says I’m not a risk taker? Right now, I have no idea whether they are any good or not as the last thing on my mind is eating another tamale today.

Seeing the turnout and tasting the tamales, I am convinced that the Somerton tamale Festival is going to become a new tradition (now that’s an oxymoron). In any case, it’s also a good thing.

A quick word from our “Eastern Bureau”…..

December 7, 2007 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

That would be Ed from Yuma:

"Guess where I will be on Dec 15."

"You also might want to announce the festivities at the
blog. After all, now’s the time to come to the Yuma
area. Plus the chance to taste 20 different vendor’s
tamales is unprecedented, at least in my experience.
Also what could be a more traditional food for Xmas? I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward.

Somerton is between Yuma and the border."

Somerton’s First Ever Tamale Festival

WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 15th-2007

TIME: 11am-10pm

WHERE: City of Somerton-Main Street (Highway 95). Traffic will be detoured through local traffic.

BENEFIT: Proceeds will benefit scholarships to first generation college students attending Arizona State University.

Click on the poster to enlarge.

And just in case you haven’t had enough turkey yet….

This is something called "The Gobbler"($5.99) from Sandwich Emporium. Turkey, cranberry sauce, and potato salad(!), on "stuffing bread". All you need is some gravy! It actually tastes pretty good. I’ve been told it’ll be available through Xmas.

Have a great weekend!

Cantonese Feast at Yummy Yummy in Yuma

August 19, 2007 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Hi everyone – this is ed from Yuma again. mmm-yoso!!! is Kirk’s wonderful blog, and he is kind enough (or lazy enough?) to let Cathy and I post here occasionally. I felt like sharing with you a meal that I recently shared with some of my friends in Yuma. Unfortunately for you, they got to taste the dishes, you just get to read about them. Sorry about that!

I can still remember a conversation that took place about seven years ago. I was waiting for some take-out from this nearby Cantonese restaurant, and I asked Mary, the proprietor, if they could make greens with foo-yee sauce.

"You like foo-yee?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and a quizzical look on her face.

"I love it," I lied. I had never tried it. However, I had just read at Chowhound that Jim Leff initially judges a Cantonese restaurant by ordering greens in foo yee sauce. If they could not make it, the restaurant was not authentic. If they could not make it well, the restaurant was not likely to make anything else very well either.

A week later, I opened my first carry out box full of greens in foo yee sauce. The pungent aroma of fermented tofu heavily laced with garlic rose to my nostrils in a scented steamy cloud. The greens were in a light colored sauce full of garlic chunks and smears of fragrant tofu. What a funky wonderful way to eat a vegetable. As it turned out, this was the true beginning of my relationship with Yummy Yummy restaurant and of my education about Cantonese cuisine.

Over the years, Mary has taught me about various Chinese greens and other vegetables, and her restaurant has served me hundreds of generally satisfying dinners and lunches.

Anyway, this last week I hosted a veggie dinner at Yummy Yummy for nine of my friends, most of whom have treated me to dinners and parties at their homes. This was my way of partially repaying them for their gracious hospitality without having to clean my apartment. Since I had just returned from San Diego (and the Ranch 99 market), I made sure that Mary had a range of interesting vegetables to prepare.

After we had opened numerous bottles of wine that we brought, and after steamed rice, fried rice, and a vegetable chow mein hit the table, the first real entree to arrive was fried tofu and pineapple in a sweet and sour sauce:

As usual at Yummy Yummy, the tofu was perfectly fried, putting a nice skin over the moist and tender interior. To balance the sweetness of this dish, the bitter melon in black bean sauce was served next (photo is a bit fuzzy):

While some of my friends are not very fond of bitter melon, I love this dish, and Mary has taught me how to select melons that are more or (as in this case) less bitter. The deep flavors of black beans provide a perfect foil to the smooth bitterness.

Two orders of vegetable egg foo yung soon followed. While not earth-shatteringly good, Yummy Yummy’s egg foo yung has a straight-forward, mild flavor. I had never ordered it until some of us got together for a similar feast last year, and one individual asked for egg foo yung, and I was reintroduced to a dish I only remembered from childhood:

In order to show off Yummy Yummy’s Mexicali style kung pao, I asked Mary to prepare kung pao squash.This restaurant’s kung pao is done with celery, baby corn chunks, and water chestnuts instead of peanuts to add crunch. While I usually have the dish with chicken, the squash was a good substitute that added to the various textures (sorry about the blurry picture):

Everyone thought this was a very tasty and spicy dish.

The next two dishes were two versions of yu choi (Ranch 99 was out of on choi and their long beans looked long on age). One of them was prepared with foo yee sauce, and the other with a ginger and garlic sauce (pictured):

Although both preps were good and showed off the fresh green flavors of the yu-choi, the greens with the foo yee sauce were the favorite of my friends. Considering that no one at the table had ever eaten foo yee sauce before we started dining at Yummy Yummy, it amazes me to hear someone say "wow, I love that foo yee sauce!" with a rich Texas accent.

Two plates of my favorite dish from the meal, tofu with fresh shiitake mushrooms, then followed:

The intense umami of the mushrooms is a perfect complement to the neutral tofu. In addition to the soft chewy ‘shrooms, the slightly bite resistent tofu skin, and the soft creamy interior of the tofu, thin strips of onion and celery added to the contrasts in textures and to the overall mouthfeel of this succulent and savory dish.

Tiny baby bok choi arrived next, their light sauce full of ginger slices and chunks of garlic. Again the cooking emphasized the freshness of the veggies, leaving plenty of cruch to match up with the softer green parts of the leaves:

The same wonderful baby vegetable then arrived paired with fried tofu:

For a bit of a change of pace, the spicy tofu was served with steamed tofu. Normally this dish would have had different vegetables, but I think Mary felt that she needed to use up the whole bag of shiitakes that I brought back from San Diego:

Amazingly, most of the spicy dishes at Yummy Yummy are created using a single dried chili pod from a type of chili that I cannot recall ever seeing elsewhere in a restaurant or a store (the pic is from another meal). Yet that single chili is perfectly capable of spicing up and flavoring an entire plate of food.

The final dish, egg plant in oyster sauce, was a fitting conclusion to the meal and tasted much better than it looked. The rich flavor and soft texture of the vegetable gave all of us pleasure:

I should note that most of these dishes are not regularly available at the restaurant. The menu simply notes "Chinese Vegetable" ($6.99), and normally only one or two Chinese vegetable choices are available at any time. But as you can tell, this restaurant is very willing to work with a customer (particularly a customer possessing a Chinese vegetable or two) to create wonderful meals.

I should also point out that this is not fancy food, by any means. Instead, Yummy Yummy prepares straight-forward, ingredient-centered dishes. Nonetheless, the 9 omnivores and the one mostly vegetarian person all left feeling like they had enjoyed a true gourmet experience.

I hope you readers and friends of mmm-yoso have enjoyed looking at and hearing about this meal almost as much as my friends and I enjoyed eating it. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s possible.

Yummy Yummy Chinese Restaurant, 2241 S. Ave A, #23 in Palm Plaza, Yuma AZ 85364, (928) 376-0419.

Los Manjares de Pepe – Yuma

July 12, 2007 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

It’s just ed from Yuma again – this time writing a real long post about probably the best restaurant in town. Just in case you might someday be stuck in Yuma at mealtime, this is one place to remember.

Los Manjares de Pepe is widely recognized among the culinary cognoscenti of Yuma (well, at least among my friends and me) as the best Mexican restaurant in town – and that’s saying something considering how many good Mexican restaurants our town boasts of. It doesn’t get this acclaim because of its wonderful signage:

Or because of a beautiful building:

No, people love Pepe’s for several reasons, all of them connected with the great food served. First, Monday through Friday, the restaurant features incredible specials, all at $4.99. On Mondays, you can get a caldo de albondigas. Like all meals here, the soup comes with good chips and spicy (if somewhat thin) salsa. You also get rice, beans, and your choice of tortillas. This great bowl of soup contains a nice rich stock, filled with 4 or 5 large and flavorful meatballs and an assortment of vegetables – celery, onion, carrot, and potato. Like the other specials, this a great deal.

On Wednesday, the special is peurco en salsa chipotle. This dish may be the tastiest thing I have ever eaten in Yuma, anywhere. Chipotle is not a common flavor used in most of Yuma’s Mexican restaurants, but Pepe achieves something fantastic in this dish. The large chunks of rich and slightly fatty pork are bathed in a intensely smoky and moderately picante sauce. The balance of flavors achieved is excellent. The chipotle flavor is strong and rich enough to please the palate without drowning out the meaty flavors of the pork chunks.

Friday’s special is truly special as well. I have always liked pozole since I first had a taste of this wonderful concoction of pork, hominy, and chile flavors years ago. The version at Los Manjares is, nonetheless, far and away the best I have ever eaten: Pozole broth with its meaty richness and deep red chile flavors is basically a great taste. Plus, Pepe doesn’t short change customers in any way with this dish. This stock is as powerfully rich and as densely flavored as it looks. The bowl is full of hominy kernals and huge chunks of pork. In addition to the chips, salsa, beans, rice and tortillas, the customer also gets a selection of add-ons (the picture is of the extras for two). Each bowl is served with chopped onions, lime wedges, chopped cabbage, and a generous helping of cilantro. These can be dumped into the soup to add flavors and crunchy textures. Other people add these extras onto the tacos or burritos made with the pork and tortillas. Either way, they provide a nice addition and add to the taste and mouthfeel of the dish.

For those of you who are sure that your cholesterol has gone up twenty points just looking at the last set of pictures, I need to add that another reason why I think that Los Manjares is so outstanding is its chicken. We all have experienced lousy Mexican restaurant chicken. Take a chicken, boil it until tasteless, shred it, and then dump these wet flavorless shards of fowl into a flour or corn tortilla. But there is no boiled chicken at Pepe’s. For example, take a look at an order of Pollo Deshuesado (boneless chicken)($7.99):

Each of these chunks of chicken is a delight to the mouth – tender, well-spiced, and full of chicken flavor. But Pepe uses his flavorful grilled chicken in his whole range of chicken dishes. I recently ordered the chicken enchiladas (senior size with 2 enchiladas, $4.99) and was served this wonderfully flavoful plate:

As much as I love posting at Kirk’s wonderful blog because I can show all of you folks pictures of these wonderful things I have eaten, this picture does not do justice to this savory and succulent meal. The enchilada sauce, although it looks like most other enchilada sauces, has double the intensity of deep red chile flavor. And inside each of these rolled cylinders of tasty corn tortilla hides spicy and tasty morsels of Pepe’s flavorful grilled chicken.

A picture does begin to convey the quality of the world’s greatest chicken taco salad (no shell, $5.50):

It is hard for me to write about this salad without sprinkling superlatives over my sentences the way some of us sprinkle black pepper on scrambled eggs. On top of a smear of creamy frijoles, a mound of iceberg is surrounded by shredded pollo asado and topped with diced tomato, dollops of crema, rich fresh guacamole, shredded queso, pickled red onion slices, and chopped cilantro. Is it by chance that the colors across the top reflect the colors of la bandera – the flag of Mexico? Anyway, as beautiful as this looks, the looks don’t come close to the flavors. Each shred of chicken is full of spice and is chewy tasty. The neutral background of crunchy lettuce brings together each biteful of salad. Overall, my mouth is full of multiple contrasts of temperatures, textures, and tastes (particularly after I drizzle salsa over the whole thing).

One of my favorite meals at Los Manjares – and years ago at El Zarape when Pepe cooked there – is the pollo al carbon, bone-in, well marinated chicken grilled outside over charcoal. Sometimes, after smelling the aromas of the chicken cooking outside, it is impossible not to order it for lunch (with beans & rice – 2 pieces $4.99, 4 pieces $6.99), so I have probably eaten this meal 20 times at least. I knew I had to have a photo for this post, so on a recent dinner visit, I order the 4 piece dinner:

Sad to say, this was the sorriest version of the pollo al carbon I’d ever eaten. First, the 4 pieces were 2 legs and 2 thighs. And the pieces look bigger in the pic than they were in real life. Second, the chicken had either been overcooked on the grill or had been sitting around under heat for too long so that the crunchy exterior almost extended to the bone. In any case, this was a disappointing meal. Still, though, the chicken had an excellent flavor, and the overly crunchy meat was OK in tacos. I just missed the usual moist and chickeny interior that I have come to expect from this dish. It also reminded me that sometimes even the best places don’t always get everything right.

In addition to the daily specials and the (usually) great chicken dishes, Los Manjares also serves a wide range of wonderfully prepared Mexican restaurant standards. Since I had decided to do this post, I have been trying a few dishes that I could not remember eating before at Pepe’s. So recently, I ordered a carnitas torta ($3.99):

I was astounded by the size of the sandwich; it filled up an entire plate. I know now that I had never ordered this dish before because it was a truly memorable torta, and not just because it was so large. The bottom layer of filling was a smooth beany smear of frijoles. On top of that was a layer of porky and crunchy carnitas. The carnitas was covered with chopped lettuce. The upper half of the bolillo was spread with Pepe’s flavorful fresh guacamole, chopped cilantro, and pico de gallo, that flavorful fresh salsa of diced tomato, onion, and jalapeno. I never for a moment considered trying to pick this sandwich up with my hands and eating it. Doing that would have spilled goodies all over my shirt, and goodies this good need to be in my mouth, not on my wardrobe. So I attacked the torta with knife and fork and began devouring. Nonetheless, as good as it tasted, I could not completely finish it. Wow!

Los Manjares also prepares a number of dishes in a rich and tomatoey ranchero sauce:

This is a plate of Camerones Rancheros ($10.99), one of the most expensive dishes on the menu. The shrimp were tender and tasty, their mild flavors enhanced by the subtle ranchero sauce. Equally good is the Steak Ranchero and the Lengua, which is also served in this sauce. Unlike the deep red chile or chipotle flavors of some sauces, the ranchero with its tomato and bell pepper accent stays in the background and compliments the flavors of the shrimp or meat.

I want to end this long post by looking at one last dish done very well by Pepe, Al Pastor:

Believe it or not, this gigantic order of tender dry rubbed pork slices sells for $7.50. No, that is not a misprint. There is so much food here (and don’t forget the chips, salsa, and tortillas) that I only order this if I am really hungry, and I still often bring enough pork home for a midnight snack. I doubt if there is a vertical spit in Pepe’s kitchen, but this dish does not suffer from that in every way. The spices rubbed onto the meat before cooking add flavor to the meat. What’s more, the pieces of pork are often tastily charred:

As this picture also illustrates, my favorite way to eat the Al Pastor is folded into a taco with the pico de gallo (and sometimes the pickled onions) from the plate added to the taco. Moments after this photo was snapped, I ladled a couple of teaspoons of salsa on this homemade taco and chowed down. Chewy, spicy, meaty, tender, crunchy and corny all at once. Yum!

I do have one fear about writing this post for Kirk. I can imagine some big city restaurateur reading this blog and suddenly deciding that he could make a fortune selling Mexican food this good in New York City. Then virtually overnight, Pepe would be pulling down six figures, living in a Manhatten condo, and charging willing diners, who had lined up outside the restaurant 2 hours before it opened, $50 for a plate of Al Pastor. If that should happen, New York, as well as Pepe and the restaurateur, would be the richer, but poor old Yuma would be left with a huge culinary hole. So if you are a New York restaurant owner, just let me say, "Nah, it’d never work."

Los Manjares de Pepe, 2187 West 8th St., Yuma AZ. (928) 782-2366

High Way 95 Cafe – Yuma

July 6, 2007 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, Thai Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Yeh, it's ed from Yuma again. Today I decided to write about one of Yuma's Asian restaurants. Yes, you read that right – Yuma has Asian restaurants.

March 2011 update: Since this post was published, Hwy 95 opened a fancier location called Palagor, which closed after a few months. More recently, they have taken over the old Fortune Cookie locationat B and 16th, so they now have two restaurants.

This small restaurant perched at the edge of town on Hwy 95 is overall the best Asian restaurant in Yuma.

You don't know how hard it is for me to write that last sentence. First off, I am automatically suspicious of any restaurant that claims to serve "Mandarin, Thai, and Asian Cuisine." In addition, some of my first visits to the restaurant were unpleasant: The "pan-fried" dumplings were deep fried. An "Indian" noodle dish was a nasty disaster. On one of my first visits to the place with friends, they forgot one person's order – and that person was (at that time) my girlfriend (now my latest ex-girlfriend). I also have developed a long relationship with another Chinese restaurant in town that is still a personal favorite. So it has been hard for me to concede primacy to Highway 95 Cafe, but as a whole, this is the best in town in terms of quality and especially variety.

One thing I love about the place are the varieties of soup noodles. This is the Roast Pork with Wonton Noodles Soup (5.95)

A very nice-looking and generous bowl of soup. Though hard to tell from the photo, the roast pork is in chunks, not thin slices, and has a good porky flavor. It includes plenty of perfectly done noodles with some pull to them, a few leaves of napa cabbage, and several broccoli florets. On the other hand, the two wontons are pretty flavorless and filled with just a little ground mystery meat. Similarly, the broth lacks a deep savory richness, its main flavor note being a background hint of soy sauce. Nonetheless, I would gladly order this hearty soup again.

Surprisingly (considering that the owners and chefs at the restaurant are Mandarin speaking Chinese), some of the best noodle soups on the menu are versions of Thai soups. The Tom Yum soup (without noodles $4.95, with noodles $5.95) caught my attention the very first time I slurped up a spoonful of its sour and spicy broth. While the underlying stock may be as lightly flavored as in the pork noodle soup, here the Thai spices, lemon grass, and sour tang provide a depth of taste that the other soup lacked:

Yes, that soup is as spicy hot as it looks. Another Thai style noodle soup is the Coconut Curry Noodles Soup (5.95).

Here the spicy hot broth is matched by Thai red curry flavors and the creamy mouthfeel of coconut milk. I also love the array of veggies here. In addition to the red onions, cilantro, eggplant strips, and shrimp visible in the large photo, there are chunks of chicken, sizable pieces of green bean, slices of tofu, and two or three baby okras. While this may not seem amazing to those of you who live in large cities, such a range of unusual veggies is hard to find in most restaurants in Yuma, much less all put together in one soupbowl. For some reason, I had never tried this soup before I started visiting the Highway 95 Cafe to take pictures for this post. What a discovery!

Another of my favorite dishes here is the Pad Thai:

I know some of you are probably thinking, how ordinary. And yes, this classic dish, which has introduced many newbies to the wonders of Thai cuisine, is often perfunctorily bland and clumsily prepared even at good Thai restaurants. Highway 95's version, however, is as good as I've ever had – anywhere (of course, I have never been to Bangkok). The rice noodles are perfectly cooked and then stirfried with a whole scrambled egg, 5 or 6 small fresh-tasting shrimp, several chunks of chicken, a few strips of tofu, green onions, and bean sprouts. The combination provides various textures and multiple flavor notes. The Pad Thai is also supremely well-balanced. I order it extra spicy, so I get two small dried red chilies, and this background heat matches up nicely with the tang of the lime wedge, the hints of tamarind, and a touch of sweetness. I'm sitting here at my computer salivating at the thought of it.

I don't mean to imply that everything is outstanding at the cafe. In my mind, it is too difficult to do such a wide range of cuisines with uniform success. Recently, I tried the Chow Kueh Teow, a Malaysian seafood and noodle stirfry($6.95). Although I generally liked most of the mixture of seafood (shrimp, mussels, and tender squid slices), krab was the predominent element. Also, unlike the Pad Thai, this dish lacked much interplay between its various elements as soy sauce provided the primary flavor, making the end result monochromatic in taste and in looks.

Another dish that left something to be desired was the Seafood Chow Fun with Lobster Sauce ($8.95). I don't mean to imply that this item was a total failure. The three large shrimp were pristine and quite tasty. On the other hand, the rest of the seafood consisted of one small clam and a few pieces of krab. Moreover, when I look at my photo, I'm not sure if it's a bit blurry or if that's how this noodle dish actually looked in real life. Yes friends, just as it appears, this was a bowl of either gloppy goop or goopy glop – I'm not sure which. To make it worse, both the chow fun and the little bit of cabbage and carrot were overcooked, so the mouthfeel was as uninteresting texturely as this picture is boring visually. Like the photo, the flavors were monotone and understated as well.

Nonetheless, it really wouldn't be fair to end a look at Yuma's best Asian restaurant on such a down note, so I'd like to finish with two of their best items. The Kong Pao Chicken (Sm $4.25, Lg $7.25) is a good version of that classic dish:

Served with plenty of steamed rice, this is the small size portion of the Kong Pao Chicken, and it is full of flavor. The first tastes hit the mouth with both the hot spiciness of the chilies and a distinct peanut flavor. The textures contribute excellent contrasts as all the crunchy ingredients – peanuts, celery and finely diced water chestnuts (and something else I couldn't identify) – balance against the extremely tender chicken pieces. In fact, I have only two minor complaints about this fine lunch: 1) the chicken is almost too tender and lacks chickeny flavor (maybe too much parboiling?), and 2) there is a background sweet flavor that is unfortunately common in much Chinese food prepared for Americans.

Another excellent item is Homestyle Bean Curd ($6.25):

What's not to like? The tofu is perfectly cooked with a chewy skin and moist and tender interior. The tofu plays off against the crunch of the cabbage and broccoli. The chile flavor is also excellent. It is hard to see from this photo, but that chile in the foreground is not your standard Chinese restaurant chile. If you look carefully, this chile still has a dark green cap on it. According to my good friend and eating buddy, Chip, the proprietors actually grow some of their own chilies for use in special dishes at the restaurant. And this is a special dish.

Because of the good flavors, wide range of dishes, and excellent prices, Highway 95 Cafe has been voted the best Asian restaurant in Yuma by readers of the local paper. I know that these sorts of polls often select eateries about as well as American voters choose politicians, but in this case, I must admit, they got it right. Let's just hope the voters do as well in 2008.

High Way 95 Asian Cuisine, 2585 E. 16th St. , Yuma AZ, (928) 329-8882.