My daughter arrived for the Xmas holidays on the weekend, and we went for dinner at a little restaurant south of town called Los Garcia's. After driving to Mexico City to pick her up at the airport with my new/used car (first time driving in Mexico City), I again got to drive my car while being given directions from my best friend here in Mexico, Raul.
The restaurant was located south of Cuernavaca about 10 miles, so we took the Highway for most of the drive. We took the Airport exit just past the Tech de Monteray University exit, and paid our 10 pesos toll. Then we made a returono and crossed over the highway and headed east for about 2 miles.
Once we reached the restaurant we could see it was extremely busy inside. The driveway to the parking lot in back went right past the open-air building (it did have a roof however) and it looked like almost all of the 20 or so tables was crammed with people. Once we parked, we entered from the rear door and walked all the way to the other end, searching for a free table. There were six adults and two tiny children in our group, so we needed almost a full table to ourselves.
As we walked through the restaurant, against the back wall were numerous cooking areas with tables in front displaying various types of food. Soups, toquitos cooking in hot oil, tostados, burritos, etc. We found a small family leaving as we arrived at the far end of the restaurant and we quickly snatched the table before someone else grabbed it.
We were given menus, and Raul started explaining how this restaurant worked. It was owned by one family, and all the brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and children were the people cooking along the back wall, and the waiters were also family. The restaurant was only open Friday and Saturday evenings for dinner. Raul wasn't sure if the family members had other jobs or just worked two nights a week.
The menu was a typical buffet of Mexican traditional foods, and for some reason, I had tomales on my mind. Raul suggested the house specialty, which contained chicken, mole, chiles and cheese - all wrapped in a banana leaf. He told me it was rather large, so I should probably only order one. My daughter had never tried Pazole, so I ordered a very tiny bowl to go with my tamale so she could have a taste.
Because all the relatives working in the restaurant were constantly cooking, it only took seconds for our food to arrive. Now I've eaten tamales before many times, and knew that the normal size was about 5 inches long by a couple inches wide and perhaps an inch thick. When my tamale arrived my eyes almost popped out.
It was centered on a plate that was about 8 inches wide, and it actually hanged over on both sides of my plate. Wait it gets better. Not only was it bigger then the plate it was served on, it was folded over - not once but twice. It was the biggest tamale I had ever seen. I wondered how big my mini Pazole would be when it arrived.
Needless to say, it was the best tamale I had ever eaten, but I had to be lifted out of my chair before leaving. Oh did I mention the cost. This monster tamale was 23 pesos - about $1.50 Canadian. Oh, and my daughter loved the Pazole until we explained what the ingredients were.
I'm glad I found this new restaurant, and will never forget the name. My second ex-wife is currently living with a man names "Garcia".
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