Editor’s note: This story is the first in a series of Four Bites travel stories exploring Mexico. Coming next week: exploring Aztec aquaculture on the brilliantly decorated poleboats of Xochimilco, serenaded by mariachi, and the brilliant tacos you can eat afterwards at Trinidad Ritual de Sabores, inside the bustling Coyoácan Market.
OAXACA, Mexico – People visit Oaxaca, on the Pacific coast of southern Mexico, for the history, like Monte Alban, a city founded about 2,500 years ago.
The awesome architecture, like Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzman.
The streets bright with casual art adorning so many walls, and calendas, weekend dance parades that Oaxacans throw for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and other life celebrations.
And the food. That’s why I traveled here from Buffalo, with Jen, my partner.
She’s the plan maker and executrix who hacked my decisionmaking paralysis to get us to Mexico. She found a small tour group that would make exploring Mexico’s art, nature, cultural museums, and archeological wonders simple. I started researching Mexican regional cuisines.
Like the tlayuda, a Oaxacan specialty. It’s a corn tortilla that’s completely different. Crispy edged. Grilled or griddled, wisp of scorch. Chewy, even leathery, but its sturdiness makes it perfect for eating a meal one-handed as you navigate the stalls of Oaxaca’s central market.
Tlayuda sellers often make the tortillas ahead by roasting them, finishing them to order for customers. Start with a layer of refried black beans, moisten with pork fat, shredded cabbage, then shred a blizzard of queso fresco.
That’s the basic loadout, the cheese pizza of tlayuda. Load it with pork, chorizo, crickets, cecina beef, beef jerky, tripe, or skirt steak.
Before heading to Oaxaca, I asked Oaxacan chef Leonel Rosario of Maizal Mexican Kitchen in East Amherst where he goes for tlayudas. So when we got settled in the Hotel Casa Conzatti we headed out to Tlayudas el Negro.
When we walked in, we were greeted by a server. It was quiet, between lunch and dinner, only us and the big papier mache woman. Oaxacans make puppets of the guest of honor for calendas, Oaxaca dance parties.
Two salas and habanero pickled onions arrived first. Then the tlayuda, which sorta looks like it’s been in a plane crash.
But there’s also a sprig of fresh herb called chepiche, tastes like cilantro with a real attitude. You take a bite of tlayuda, a bite of chepiche. We sampled it, nibbled it, then tore into it
Tortas are an all-day sandwich loaded with meat, avocado, beans, and cheese inside a telera roll that’s crispy like banh mi but flat, meant to be griddled. We happily demolished it.
While we ate, we read some of the messages customers left on the wall, a local custom. “Deliciosa comida !!” Si.
That was definitely the best tlayuda I’d ever had – and torta too. In a pretty colorful neighborhood.
The next day, we walked from our hotel to try Las Tlayudas Antojería Oaxaqueña. A little family restaurant with an adult in the kitchen, and a youngster serving customers. This family restaurant comes with a playground.
Three salsas this time, but a broader menu. Our server suggested the tripe, and when it arrived we seconded that recommendation, between nibbles of that fresh herb
I had to check pozole off my lifetime to-eat list, too. Chile broth, rich from stewing pork or chicken, plus big hominy corn kernels, and a plate of limes to squeeze and cabbage to pile on until it’s a glorious salad-stew.
It kept my spoon moving until it was gone, and I was completely pozoled.
Stay tuned next week as we explore the best taqueria we found in Mexico.
Vicente Guerrero 1029, Obrera, 68080 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oax., Mexico
Hours: noon-1 a.m. daily
Phone: +52 951 227 1700
Las Tlayudas Antojería Oaxaqueña
Calle de Lic Primo Verdad 119D, Hacienda, 68080 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oax., Mexico
Hours: 10 a.m.-midnight daily
Phone: +52 951 114 7961
Editor’s note: Las Tlayudas’s Facebook page says they’re opening a different location at Calzada de la República 104 esquina con Antequera, barrio de Jalatlaco, Oaxaca de Juárez. The restaurant’s Google card says the original location remains open at the address above. Still, I’d check via phone or social media before heading there.
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