Category: Mexico

Postcard from Puebla, Mexico: Sprouting a new crop of enthusiastic chefs

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A green and yellow stamp featuring a corn plant and flower, labeled 'FLORA DE MEXICO' and 'maiz' with a moon in the background.

Above: Seafood soup at Mucho Bueno Pesca y Pisto

Our prior trip to Puebla was a decade ago, and the food scene has changed dramatically since then. You will find only one revisited restaurant represented in this alphabetical summary of places we enjoyed. While you might be expecting photos loaded with plates of the region’s famed chiles en nogada, we were not there during their season, which is now.

A bunch of fresh huauzontle, a green herb with small flowering buds, displayed against a white background.
Above: Fresh huauzontles

Chefs’ elevation and celebration of herbs and vegetables native to the Americas has increased, often corn-centric. Several places introduced us to huauzontles, a bushy, wild herb related to quinoa and amaranth.

Augurio compressed huauzontles into breaded patties filled with fresh goat cheese afloat in a pool of chile pasilla mole. The restaurant manages to combine an upscale contemporary feel with traditional ingredients and recipes of “baroque” Puebla.

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Postcard from Queretaro, Mexico: Queen of the night, monarch gems and more

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Colorful postage stamp featuring monarch butterflies, designed by Michael Parsons in 1988.

Above: Night-blooming cereus, or Queen of the Night, in the garden of La Casa de los Ladrillos

Late this past summer in Queretaro, shimmering jade-green pendants ringed with golden beads clung to patio walls of a casa particular where we stayed with a friend. Gleaming gems sheer enough to reveal the treasures growing within – golden wings emerging to flutter and feast on flowers before joining the millions migrating to nearby Michoacan.

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Postcard from Norfolk, Virginia: ‘Nobodies’ somebodies at the Chrysler

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Above: One of Colectivo Subterraneos’ “Nobodies” on exhibit at the Chrysler Museum of Art through May 11.

Oaxaca has emerged as a global hub for contemporary printmaking, fueled by the medium’s rich history in Mexico and the city’s vibrant artistic heritage. Internationally renowned Oaxacan artists, most notably Rufino Tamayo and Francisco Toledo, invested heavily in developing their native city’s cultural infrastructure. Building on this foundation, numerous printmaking workshops now thrive in Oaxaca, fostering an environment of experimentation and collaboration.”

Curator’s notes, “Oaxaca Central: Contemporary Mexican Printmaking”

Unless you are new to my blog, you know I wander streets far and wide prowling for street art. I’ve been pursuing Colectivo Subterraneos‘ “Nobodies” around corners in Oaxaca, Mexico, during numerous visits over the past few years.

When I went back to the land where I grew up, Virginia Beach, to visit my sister and her husband in early March, I was surprised to encounter a fresh crop of migrating “Nadies” peopling gallery walls in Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum of Art as part of “Oaxaca Central: Contemporary Mexican Printmaking.”

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