Interior Mexican Food

"Interior Mexican food" doesn't have much of a ring to it, but the concept is all the rage in foodie circles.  The tag is meant to differentiate the food eaten in the heart of Mexico from that which is eaten in the border areas, or Tex-Mex.  It's exciting  to see more interest in popularizing a broader range of the diverse food traditions of Mexico.  That's what I love about what foodies have done to our dining landscape in America:  they've created a market for adventurous eating by talking it up all over the place.

Here in San Antonio, La Gloria Ice House is the best example of this niche of Mexican food.  "Street food" is the guiding principle.  That may not sound appealing, but street food in Mexico is an art form.   At La Gloria, there are bottles of Coke imported from Mexico (made with cane sugar instead of corn syrup), a few different types of ceviche (pickled fish, basically), tlayudas (sort of a Mexican pizza), tortas (who knew Mexicans had their own sandwich cuisine?), panuchos (a type of gordita), sopes (very thick corn tortillas with toppings), and more, as well as lots of different tacos, of course, served on corn, not flour, tortillas.

Let's go to La Gloria for lunch-- it's like eating on the streets of Mexico City or Guadalajara, but without the pesky likelihood of being caught in the crossfire of drug cartel warfare.  (To be fair, those two places are not the typical sites of the drug-related horrors happening in Mexico.  But still, because of the dangers, this lunch is about as close as I'm going to be able to get to Mexico for quite a while).  Here's what I'm ordering:  I'll have the Tacos Dorados de Pollo Verde, "Crispy chicken tacos with tomatillo salsa garnished with queso fresco y crema", a Quesadilla Deshebrada, "Corn tortilla filled with shredded beef and queso Oaxaca", and I'll try the Ceviche Verde, "Marinated fish, avocado, tomatillos and manzanilla olives". To drink I'll have the Refresco Mexicano of the day, which may be the bright pink Tuna, which is juice made from the fruit of the prickly pear, or the Jamaica, made from the hibiscus flower.  Most  food items on the menu are served in small portions, so people with larger appetites could add, say, the Tamal del Dia (tamale of the day) or a sope, or both.

I like atmosphere in a restaurant, and I like hip places.  La Gloria satisfies on both counts.  It is located beside a recently developed part of the Riverwalk, next to the Pearl Brewery complex.  And it is so hip that I saw San Antonio's mayor, Julian Castro, having lunch there on about my third visit.

Urban Taco is a similar restaurant in town that I am just getting to know.  It's got a chic atmosphere, and I had a delicious Chicken Tinga taco there, and they have the true mark of this new kind of Mexican restaurant:  you have to pay for the chips and salsa.  If I remember correctly you get to sample three different kinds of salsa, though.  And when I go back I will definitely be getting some churros, "crunchy fluted fritters" in Rick Bayless' words.