NOPALES!!!

so, let's, and when i say let's, i mean myself, be honest with ourselves here: i'm a lazy vegetarian. years ago when i stopped eating meat, my friend eric was talking about how good the salads are at the service station in norman, OK, and i thought to myself, "i may be a vegetarian, but i ain't crazy. i'm not just ordering a freaking salad!" i never said that to him though, but i thought it. cut to years later, the fascination with frozen amy's organic meals far in the past, and the boredom with every combination of veggie burger and potato long since set in, i've become an adventurous cook...but still a skeptic at the restaurant. when i was in mexico, everyone ordered the nopales (cactus) at least once at the amazing taco stand that we went to at least 7 times, everyone except me. drunk one night in a crappy mexican restaurant in my old neighborhood (and for some reason not at one of the two AMAZING mexican places in Ditmas Park, El Alamo or Cinco De Mayo), i decided to give the nopales a try, and my verdict was "wow...tastes like a bell pepper." maybe there was a sarcastic clap afterwards, like i said, i was downing negra modelos and trying to solve the mystery of Victoria beer (a tale for another day), my memory of the dinner is foggy and the only lasting sensation of that dinner is one of being underwhelmed.

so today, in my very minimal red hook ballfields weekend (one visit), i accidentally got nopales. also, btw, anyone caring to go to the ballfields and not wait in line at all for any vendor, go around 11 or 11:30. i walked right up to the huarache stand and ordered my veg. huarache con queso, and in the assemblage process, the senora making my huarache asked me repeatedly if i wanted something on my huarache, the word describing whatever that little something was being a: in espanol and b: out of my diminutive spanish lexicon. so, i replied "si," she handed me the huarache & it was loaded with sliced, grilled nopales. sweet and tart, soft but not soggy grilled nopales. it was a revalation, a welcome addition to the palate. highly recommended. also, the ballfields was turning up the volume today, and i don't mean in food quality or service quality, though both were far above par today. as i walked up to the soccer field, i could hear a loudspeaker from blocks away, and when i got there, an assemblage of teams, i assume all of the teams playing there today, were in a giant circle on the field, and the MC was holding court. i think there was a national anthem playing, my unfamiliarity with other nation's national anthem is, frankly, embarrassing.

I ain't never had too much fun!

so, the red hook ballfields did finally open this weekend, and i think i discovered a simple fact about my own body that i didn't really realize before. it is definitely possible, to quote some modern country, to have too much fun, or i guess to accurately quote, the guy (trace adkins) who sang "i ain't never had too much fun" has a much stronger constitution than I. specifically, i had stated goals of eating 4 solid, strong meals this weekend at the red hook ballfields (lunch & dinner sat. & sun), but i couldn't hack it (i only ate there 3 times). also, even after doing all my homework thanks to the fine fella who writes the porkchop express blog, i still went back to the old standbys at the ballfields.
the delicious vegetable huarache. the undeniable bean and cheese pupusa. the roasted ear of corn with lime & mayonesa. 2 huge fruit drinks per day (2 lime, one cantaloupe, one watermelon). i was a happy, happy man, with a bellyache that literally lasted 2.5 days afterwards. Also, I had a shocking random observation out there: Saturday afternoon around 1:30 or so, the Red Hook soccer fields looked suspiciously like McCarren Park. Never have I seen so many young white people out there, many nervously eyeing the booths & trying to navigate their way around a bunch of booths with no menus & very few vendors who habla ingles (i've been there too). However, by Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon, the demographic shifted back to what is normality for the food stands, which is predominantly Latino with a hodge podge of other folks of various age, ethnicity and sex.

This observation led me to cement what i have always really suspected: New Yorkers, fundamentally, don't really like Mexican (or, what they view as Mexican) food. They're burrito tolerators, occasional taco nibblers, and non-discriminatory salsa dippers (not scoopers). I thought the popularity of the Chipotle near the UN was odd, it's long lines out the door. I've always questioned the combo Mexican/Chinese places, but Jack in the Box sells tacos too, so the concept is not foreign. The popularity of Rosa's Mexicana really helped hone this point to an edge, albeit not a fine one, because really, isn't Rosa's Mexicana to New York what Chelino's and Don Pablo's are to Oklahoma, what El Chico and the comically named La Hacienda Ranch (literal translation: The Ranch Ranch) are to Texas, what On The Border is to most of the Southeast, i.e., the baby step above Del Taco/Taco Bell/Taco Mayo/Taco Bueno? However, Rosa's Mexicana isn't ubiquitous like the other quasi-upscale chains listed above, there are only 3 in New York, and though it has it's devotees, Rosa's Mexicana is great Mexican food for people who don't really like Mexican food. so, Mr. Suspicious Local, questioningly eyeing the carne at Hernandez Huaraches...i've got my suspicious eye on you.