Move over Gordon Ramsey

Occasionally you stumble on some little place to eat that you know is going to be special.  Some hawker stall or little food stand somewhere that has just the right mix of smells and looks.  The cook usually isn’t young and they all have that look, “I don’t care if you eat here, fool”.  You just know that they know it’s going to be your lose.  Maria Elena’s was just that place.  The smells where hard to pin down.  Something frying, something boiling, smells of peppers and stews.  Maria Elena was just a bit over 4 feet tall.  Barely able to look over her own counter.  She most certainly didn’t care if you eat at her stall or any one of the others that were yelling at me.   Some of her competitors had their youngest cutest women yelling at the gringo.  It didn’t matter you just knew Maria Elena’s was the place.  Move over Gordon Ramsey, there is a new sheriff in town.

Maria cooked me the best Milanesa I have had in my months in Mexico.  No question.  She brought me the plate and with my first bite I was so happy I forgot about my butt pain from the 6 x 6 inch tiny stool I was forced to sit on.  It came with spaghetti.  Now, I have been to Mexico many times but on this trip everyone seems to serve spaghetti with everything.  They serve it with fish, sushi, meat, tacos, just about everything.  It’s the new black beans of Mexico.   Maria quickly brought me some tortillas and I could feel her watch me over her counter as I let them sit on my table and continued destroying my food.  For some reason Maria was not pleased with my decision to ignore her tortillas.  She came back around the counter and pointed to the tortillas with a less than pleased look.  “Tortillas son aqui”, she told me.  To be honest this woman scared me.  I did as I was told.  I had tortillas and spaghetti and smiled all the way through.  She was finally satisfied that I had it down but continued to watch me from behind her counter.   I was finally able to break the cycle by focusing on how to get a straw out of a half liter coke bottle.  NO, it didn’t float up to the surface every time.  Any of you engineers out there will have to give me a hint.  Regular bottles no problem.  Half liter is a problem.    If you have just a little over two bucks to blow in Taxco.  I would go to Maria Elena’s in the old part of the Las Palmas market.  She is near the back or just follow your nose.