Dinner Downtown

The weekend before last, when we were downtown, we decided to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, "Testal".  (By the way, I did not know what "testal" meant until I looked it up.  It refers to the measure of corn dough that is used to make a tortilla.)

There was a special menu of pre-Hispanic appetizers sitting on the table.

The items were "gusanos blancos de maguey" (the white larvae of a butterfly that lays its eggs in the "maguey" plant)... "escamoles" in butter (ant larvae)... and "chinicuiles" (another variety of caterpillars that infest the "maguey" plant).   No thank you!!!

We ordered somewhat less exotic items.  We had an appetizer of miniature tostadas with tuna and shrimp.  (I don't care for shrimp, so I ate the tuna tostadas.)  For soup I had cream of corn and "huitlacoche" (a mushroom that grows on corn).  Alejandro had lima bean soup.   

For my main course, I ordered "chamorro", pork shank.  The waiter removed the meat from the bone.  It was served with tortillas, guacamole and salsa for making tacos.

Alejandro had a stuffed "manzano" pepper.  You can see how the pepper got it's name.  "Manzano" means "apple tree".

Another excellent meal at one of our favorite restaurants.