Had A Whole Fish For Dinner

Went to our favorite Mexican restaurant last night. Los Compadres was as good as ever. I ordered the Huachinango Frito (fried whole red snapper). Haven't had this in a while, and it didn't disappoint.

I ate through everything that was edible, even around the head. Yum!

I think this picture might be a candidate for my new "Fish Are Food, Not Friends" t-shirt.

Zz.

My Most Favorite Mexican Restaurant In The Area

Here in the US, there is an abundant (over abundant?) number of Mexican restaurant. And because of this, there is also a wide spectrum of quality of Mexican restaurant, from the very good and very high end (the Frontera Grill's) to the nasty fast food (I won't name names). Add to that, the majority of the food that are termed as "Mexican" tends to be Tex-Mex, originating from the Texas, Arizona, New Mexico region of the US, rather than authentic cuisine from the various regions of Mexico.

In other words, finding a "good Mexican restaurant" can have a wide meaning and can be a daunting task.

My take on ANY ethnic restaurant is this: Is the clientele of that ethnic restaurant predominantly of that ethnicity? If it is, there is a very good chance that the food is either authentic, or very good, or both. I mentioned earlier of why we love Izakaya Sankyu near where we live, and on any given night, you'll see predominantly Asian, and more specifically, Japanese clientele in the restaurant. So apply this to Mexican restaurants. If you walk in, and the clientele in predominantly Hispanic, there's a good chance that the food is good. If you walk in and you don't see even a single Hispanic customer (and trust me, I've been in many such restaurant before), then there's a good chance that either the restaurant is over-priced, or it is not any good.

After searching around for a good Mexican restaurant near here, I can safely say that Los Compadres in Mount Prospect is my most favorite Mexican restaurant in the area, hands down. On any given day or night, you will see a predominantly Hispanic customers, and the food is consistently good. The menu is huge, and it doesn't have just your typical Gringo-style Mexican fare. In fact, there will probably be many menu items that you haven't seen before in your typical Mexican restaurant. And to me, that is a huge plus.

The restaurant is in an old Pizza Hut joint. Decor is minimal (almost verging on a hole-in-the-wall type). But this is perfectly fine with me, because most people who go there are more interested in the food.

So let's talk about the food. I haven't had any bad items at all. My favorites so far are the fried whole red snapper or whole tilapia. YUM! I love this not just because it is always delicious and can be shared with another person, but it is relatively cheap when compared to other places that serve whole fish. And BTW, you people need to get over this aversion to seeing fish heads on your plate. The fish is dead, and the head meat, especially around the cheeks, is the most succulent piece on the fish!

Another favorite is Arrachera Campesina, which is a skirt steak served with grilled cactus. I tend to eat this by slicing the steak and the cactus, and then wrapped them in corn tortilla with a squeeze of the house salsa. This is simple but delicious.

Finally, I love their tacos, mainly because the selection of meat for it is larger than usual. My most favorite meat for my tacos are the lengua (tongue) and barbakoa (braised goat). Served with cilantro and onions, these are delicious!

I've also had their "cocktail" and the 7 Sea Soup. All were quite good. Like I said, I haven't had anything bad here. And often, when I'm there, I try to look at what other tables were ordering, just so I can see if I want to try them next time.

Service can be a bit interesting. You do sometime have to flag a wait staff if you want something, especially the check. If they are busy, this can take awhile, but there's nothing to stop you from simply walking to the cashier counter and paying your bill there if you don't want to wait. But even then, all the staff are usually very nice and friendly.

This is my most favorite Mexican restaurant in the area. If it is good enough for the local Hispanic/Mexican population here, it is good enough for me.

Zz.

Avodaco And Deforestation In Central Mexico

I'm not naive into thinking that a small act often can make a difference. It is not usual and happens only in rare cases. But still, I doesn't mean that I don't care.

I read this article about how the growing appetite for avocado is driving farmers in Mexico to cut down on forest to plant more avocado trees.

Avocado trees flourish at about the same altitude and climate as the pine and fir forests in the mountains of Michoacan, the state that produces most of Mexico’s avocados. That has led farmers to wage a cat-and-mouse campaign to avoid authorities, thinning out the forests, planting young avocado trees under the forest canopy, and then gradually cutting back the forest as the trees grow to give them more sunlight.

What is more devastating for me is that this happens in the Michoacan forest where the Monarch butterflies over-winter, and I LOVE MONARCH BUTTERFLIES after I learned about their multi-generation life-cycle. I plant milkweed in my yard hoping to attract them.

So I'm now rethinking and hesitating to buy "Avocados from Mexico", as the slogan from the TV commercial says.

Zz.

Molinillo

I love kitchen gadgets. But what I love more are kitchen gadgets that have some cultural connection, something that has been used in certain ethnic cuisine or food.

These are Molinillos. Just by themselves, they are amazing craft work. It appears that they were carved out of a single piece of wood, and the wood rings were carved right in place (there's nothing to indicate that they were slipped in after the main shaft were carved). They are amazing work of art by themselves. As you can see, I have two of these. I've used one of them, but they look way too nice to use. So right now, I have them as a kitchen decor. I use a regular whisk instead to froth my chocolate drinks.

But what they are really used for is to froth chocolate drinks in a traditional Mexican household. Frothing a chocolate drink not only cools it down so that you can drink it, but also add air/oxygen to the drink and gives it more aromatic flavor when it is drank. The presence of this froth is a sign of a good chocolate drink.

This video shows how it is done.



Zz.

Lunch And Dinner

We knew that we were going out for dinner a couple of days ago, so I decided that we should have a light lunch. I went back to my favorite standby during the cold, winter months, and prepared myself a bowl of miso soup.

I added tofu, inoki mushroom (my favorite!), swiss chard, seaweed, and green onions. I was quite satisfying.

Then for dinner, we went to a Mexican seafood restaurant formerly known as Las Islas Marias (I forget its new name). I had one of my regular item, the Huachinango ala Natural (deep fried red snapper).

It was OK. The fish tasted as if it was old. The quality of the food at this restaurant has gone downhill over the years that I've visited it. Still, this is another photo that I can use for my "Fish are Food, not Friends" t-shirt if I decide to make another one.

Zz.

Fish Are Food, Not Friends

If you have seen Disney/Pixar's "Finding Nemo", you might be the inference. The sharks in the movie were on some sort of a 12-step program to stop eating fish, and they kept reciting the manta "Fish are friends, not food."

So I thought I turn it around, since I like fish. I made this t-shirt and I've worn many times, including at the Walt Disney World.

I've had a lot of people chuckling when they saw the shirt, especially if they made the connection with the movie. The picture on the shirt was something I took. It was a dish of fried whole red snapper, a menu item at Los Compadres Mexican restaurant near here. This is our most favorite Mexican restaurant in the area (more discussion on our favorite ethnic restaurants soon).

This is the original photo of the dish:

It is a delicious, simple dish, and very filling.

Yum... now I have a craving for Mexican food!

Zz.