Day two of my initial visit to Mexico City with Bill Esparza (Street Gourmet LA) led to Coyoacán, a funky neighborhood on the south side of the city that’s crawling with artists. In the 1520s, it was also home to Hernán Cortés, the soul-crushing Spanish conquistador who precipitated the fall of the Aztec empire, but that’s another story for a different blog. We were in the neighborhood to experience Mercado de Coyoacán, a multi-faceted market that’s dwarfed by crosstown Mercado de la Merced, but still offers more than enough culinary treasures of its own.
Mercado Coyoacan houses a number of tostada stalls, including one favored by Rick Bayless that resides near the entrance, but we continued into the building’s core to experience Tostadas La Chaparrita, which has offered more than 50 years of service to marketgoers.
We drew from the mountain of salpicon, strands of vinegar-marinated beef tossed with tomato, onion and cilantro. Stands provide complimentary forkfuls since there’s so much competition.
We committed to a full tostada of tinga – chipotle slathered chicken and onion – dressed with crisp lettuce, fresh-shucked avocado, crumbled queso and a squeeze of mayo. It was good, but more devastating tostadas resided at the adjacent stall.
The signage for Tostadas Coyoacan, founded in 1956, made it clear they produce a singular product, saying, “No Tenemos Sucursales” – We don’t have branches.
Fernando and Rodrigo crafted tostadas with impressive speed, skill and charm.
Tostada Mixtiada featured tender octopus tentacles, fresh-pulled congrejo (large crab), lettuce and the trinity of tomato, onion, and cilantro. On the side, we received two bowls of condiments: mayo folded with fresh chile de arbol and salsa de chile de arbol fresca with onion and avocado.
Tostadas Coyoacan’s tinga was even more vibrant, with deeper color and a lasting heat.with chicken, onions, tomatoes, achiote, lasting heat, unlike next door.
We also tried a tostada with queso blanco, along with spicy salsa de serrano with chunky diced onions.
Other interesting sights included…
…a mountain of chayote…
…local mushrooms and huitlacoche, prized corn fungus…
…and a row of limp-necked chickens.
Mercado de Coyoacan was full of colorful sights and flavorful bites, and we barely made a dent in the offerings, which is remarkable considering it’s “just” a neighborhood market.
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[…] on a Saturday afternoon. First, find the brightly-colored yellow Tostadas Coyoacán stand inside Mercado de Coyoacán. Order an assortment of AMAZING tostadas—be sure not to miss the jaiba (crab), camarón (shrimp), […]
Streetgourmetla
March 30, 2011 at 11:21 AM
I’m regretting the tostada at the other stand, it took up valuable real estate. Will return for more tostadas, like, for the rest of my life!!
Joshua Lurie
March 30, 2011 at 3:17 PM
No regrets, Streetgourmetla, just re-visits.
Priyank
February 8, 2011 at 6:53 PM
Hello Joshua,
Great to see this post. I was recently in Mexico city and when I found this market I felt jubilated! The tostadas I had here were one of my most fond food memories from Mexico. Thanks for the nice pictures!
Priyank.
Joshua Lurie
February 8, 2011 at 10:31 PM
Priyank,
Great to hear you also enjoyed your tostadas at Mercado de Coyoacan. Any other fond food memories from Mexico?
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