A Culinary Masterpiece

Early in this trip I wrote that ate "chile en nogada", the dish that I consider the masterpiece of Mexican cuisine, at "El Cardenal", a restaurant near my apartment.  "El Cardenal" is a great place that specializes in traditional Mexican dishes, and their "chile en nogada" was good.  

BUT...for the very best "chile en nogada" I knew where I had to go... to my favorite restaurant in Mexico City (perhaps my favorite anywhere)... "Angelopolitano"!

The last two Sundays, Alejandro and I tried to go to "Angelopolitano", but all of their outdoor tables were taken and there were people waiting to be seated.  Last Sunday, we ended up going to "El Bajío", another good restaurant for Mexican cuisine.  It's that time of year when many, if not most, restaurants here serve "chile en nogada", so we decided to see how good theirs is.  Well, the stuffing of meat and fruit that fills the poblano pepper was very good, but the "nogada", the cream walnut sauce that goes over it, was somehow lacking.  

Then, last Wednesday evening, Alejandro came over to the apartment, and asked if we should try our luck getting a seat at "Angelopolitano" on a weeknight.  Of course, I said yes.  We took off right away because the restaurant was going to close in an hour.  We were able to get a table outdoors.

As a starter Alejandro had the cream of poblano soup that I have ordered numerous times.  Instead of soup, I had a "sopa seca" ("dry soup") which is a pasta or rice dish.  My "fideos al chipotle" (noodles in a chipotle pepper sauce) were delicious.  To drink we had an "agua fresca" flavored with strawberries and ginger.

 

   And then came what we what we had for so long been waiting...

"Chile en nogada"!

It was so sinfully delicious!  It puts all the others to shame!

The chef and owner of the restaurant, Gerardo, knows us after years of coming here.  He came out and chatted with us for a few minutes.  He told us something that I should have realized... this is the 200th anniversary of "chile en nogada".  It was in 1821 that nuns in a convent in the city of Puebla created this dish in honor of Mexico's newly won independence.  In that year Spain finally signed a treaty recognizing Mexico's freedom.  As you can see, the dish features the colors of Mexico's flag... red, white, and green.

Happy anniversary to the most wonderful dish in Mexican cuisine!