Viva la Mexican food!

I heart Mexican food a whole bunch. I particularly adore chips and salsa and Margaritas (super adventurous, I know). But I also like almost everything else. And like most “foodies” (ugh, I try to avoid using that term btw)  I  am constantly in search of anything dubbed “authentic.” On a recent trip to Mexico, the area where we stayed, Cancun, didn’t offer much more than terrific salsa and great grilled fish, so we took a day trip to Tulum.  We did plenty of research to find the “best food in Tulum” and came up with a short list but upon arrival found the places quite difficult to locate. In the end, David spent a good 15 minutes speaking to a cab driver who sent us to “El Tacoqueto.” It was exactly what we were looking for- no menu, no english and amazing looking food. Problem was, none of us speak too much Spanish and the best translation proved that the only thing on the menu that day was soup, which on an 86 degree day, didn’t sound so appealing. So we snapped a few photos, commented about how awesome it was and continued our search. 

The lovely ladies of El Tacoqueto. Apparently it’s known that if you don’t speak Spanish, they show you the menu by lifting the lids.  

Fortunately, a few blocks away we spotted “The Picadi to Jarocha”  which looked equally authentic and proved to be just as delicious. 

I got some of the best chilequelles I’ve ever had. I chose the red version that consisted of crispy tortilla chips, rich red chili sauce, moist shredded chicken, raw white onions and creamy black beans. 

David was also in heaven with his chorizo torta topped with chicharrones (fried pig skin)  and sopas. I didn’t get a pic of my sis’s torta but she also loved it and we all concurred that we would have been happy to eat there for dinner as well. 

While in Tulum we were also in search of a taco cart called “Don Taco” that was supposed to have the best Tamales in town. Like our other restaurant searches, we were unsuccessful. Finding a restaurant without an address without a map is hard. Finding a taco stand in the same conditions is pretty much impossible. We were disappointed but felt like we at least succeeded with our lunch. After resigning to the fact that we’d have to eat dinner in Cancun we stopped at a gas station in Playa de Carmen to find a man with a push cart selling tamales and grilled corn. David bought us both and we enjoyed the most delicious tamales ever. They were huge and filled with moist meat (probably chicken), potatoes and many other vegetables. They were also cooked over charcoal so the delicious smokey flavor was incredible. 

All in all, it was a great trip. The water in Cancun and all of the Rivera Maya is gorgeous, the people are extremely friendly and you really can’t go wrong with the salsa or margaritas anywhere. But if you are lucky enough to find yourself in Tulum, I suggest you try one of the places I tried and definitely grab a tamale if you ever see someone selling them.