Around the Table — Tortillas and El Cucuy

Welcome! Glad to see you could make it again. This week's table is a bit spicy -- hope you like things with a little kick. Go ahead and dip into the salsa and tortillas while I pour you something cold to drink and share the latest news, a story or two, some recipes and more ...

COCKTAILS
It’s just not October without some warm sauerkraut and serious beer, you know? That’s why I’m thrilled that Victor’s Bistro is presenting Oktoberfest from 3 p.m.-until on Saturday, Oct. 18. Come out and enjoy delicious German cuisine, drinks and alfresco dining featuring bratwurst, knotwurst, steamed sauerkraut, German potato salad and more. Best of all, Victor’s will be introducing 14 — count ’em — 14 new beers from U.S microbreweries and around the world. O’zapft is!

APPETIZERS
BREAKING NEWS: Sonny Shila, owner of the popular Old Europe Mediterranean Grill, will be opening a brand new eatery in the coming weeks. Roma Oven, a brick oven pizza café, will be located on West Palmetto Street next to Harris Teeter. Formerly the site of Canvas Creations, the building is in the midst of renovations and, knowing Sonny, I guarantee it will be a delightfully artistic endeavor. Roma Oven is expected to open in about three weeks. I’ll keep you posted.

Shane’s Rib Shack wants you to exercise your right to vote — and they aim to entice you with some free food. On Nov. 4, the voting age hungry who walk in wearing an official “I Voted” sticker will receive a “Vote America Meal” free of charge. That’s right. In this time of dire economic woes, the folks at Shane’s will be handing out 3-piece hand-breaded chicken tenders, fries and a 20 oz drink. After election day, you can get this meal for a reasonable $5. Shane’s is located at 1940 Hoffmeyer Road, near Moe’s at Florence Mall.

From the headquarters of Chick-fil-A: Chick-fil-A has announced it has eliminated trans fat from its entire menu — from entrees to condiments. Chick-fil-A’s core menu items, including its signature Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich, have been free of trans fat since their respective introductions, dating as far back as the chain’s first restaurant opening 41 years ago. And, the chain was recently recognized as being “America’s Healthiest Restaurant for Kids” in a new book by the editors of Men’s Health magazine. Read more about the nutritional content of Chick-fil-A foods here.


ENTREE
Rainy weather triggers a nesting instinct in me, so I was fully prepared to cocoon last weekend and keep watch over the soup pot. Then, I heard a siren in the distance -- suddenly, I was craving the earthy, comforting taste of handmade tortillas … there’s only one place to get those in the Pee Dee (that I know of anyway) so I put the soup pot away and grabbed my shoes.

I ventured out on that blustery night to dine at one of my favorite places in the Pee Dee. Tio’s, located at 229 N. Main St. in Marion, is an enigma of sorts for this region in the sense that it’s a Mexican restaurant that doesn’t feel, look or taste much like any other Mexican eatery in the area. I’m not saying the food at our local Mexican restaurants is not good — it is good, very good -- and you can find me dipping my fair share of chips into the salsa at any of a number of them.

But if you’re looking for a Mexican meal to linger over, a dining experience that is intimate, yet casual, a place where you can pair a fine wine or bold imported beer with your entree, a Mexican eatery where the food has a comparative uniqueness about it, then you’ve got to try Tio’s. (As a wine lover, I was particularly impressed – and surprised! -- when owner Ernesto Rivas recommended a nice Tempranillo.) They also offer some wonderful fresh seafood dishes like ceviche, Baja Tacos and a grilled seafood platter served Mexican-style.

While all of these things combine to give guests a different take on the Mexican dining experience, I was initially enamored with Tio’s because it conjured childhood memories. I grew up in a largely Hispanic neighborhood in the L.A. suburb of Pomona. In my years there, I learned a great deal about the Mexican culture and its richly rustic culinary heritage.

The homemade tortillas served with many of the meals at Tio’s bring me back to those years spent in our simple ranch house at 1487 Delaney Street -- and to the sounds of sirens.

My sisters and I were close friends with the Gonzalez children – Weda, Gloria, Henry, Arturo – who lived down the street. The youngest of that family, 5-year-old Teresa, was a shy and quiet little girl. And I mean quiet – it was several weeks after we moved to Delaney Street before I heard her utter a sound. But when she finally did, it was a neighborhood event.

I was playing with some other kids in the front yard when a fire truck siren sounded in the distance. As the vehicle veered closer, the sound grew louder. Now all of us kids had stopped playing and turned our attentions to the corner intersection in anticipation of seeing the blaring red lights as the truck whooshed by. But from behind, another wail was rising – it was coming from a dark speck moving fast in our direction.

I saw the eyes first – fully saucered, terror-filled. The feet were tiny and bare, the hands flailing like a pair of bird wings struggling for lift. A wild nest of black, tangled hair framed the face of speedy little Teresa Gonzalez, and she was making enough racket to raise the dead.

“Cucuy! Cucuy!” she screamed. “Cucuy!”

By that time, the whole neighborhood was on the sidewalk, watching the spectacle and laughing. She looked me in the eye, but I knew she didn’t see me. Instinctively, I took off after her and, though her rapid-fire feet were working the concrete with all the madness of a mouse on an exercise wheel, I managed to scoop her up. Her little hands tore at my shirt, my hair, my face – but I held tight, holding her close as I trotted, struggling, toward her house.

"Cucuy!” she screamed, over and over and over.

Weda and Gloria came running toward me and helped me get their little sister home. We sat the trembling child on the sofa and Mrs. Gonzalez laid a warm, corn tortilla into her hands. Teresa immediately grew quiet. She sniffed the fragrant treat and began to nibble on it a bit. Then Weda explained to me what had just happened.

It seems that a relative had taken cruel pleasure in convincing children that a siren was actually the sound of an approaching monster – or “El Cucuy” (pronounced coo-COO-ee), the Latin boogey-man of lore. While most of the Gonzalez children just laughed about it, poor little Teresa took it most seriously. Nothing could console her in those siren times except the miracle of her mother’s cooking.

I remember whiling away many an hour in her kitchen, watching with fascination as Mrs. Gonzalez ground herbs, seeds, chiles and tomatoes for salsa with a molcajetes – a mortar and pestle made from lava stone, the original food processor, if you will.


If you’ve ever tried to make your own salsa with a blender or processor, you will get a whole different result than if you grind and chop all the ingredients by hand. The processor will pulverize everything and whip a lot of air into the liquid. You’ll find the result has a frothiness that you just don’t get when you process everything manually. When you invest the time in making salsa the old-fashioned way, the texture is just so much better – when your mouth navigates the diverse, complex terrain of hand-processed tomatoes, chiles, onion, garlic, cilantro, cumin, oregano, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

Once Mrs. Gonzalez set the salsa aside, she would heat the frijoles refritos (refried beans) with a smidgen of lard, then go about the fascinating task of preparing the fresh tortillas. She’d take handfuls of masa harina (a traditional flour made from maize that has been treated with lime and water) and mix it with a bit of water. After a good working over with her hands, she’d pinch the dough into balls and press each between wax paper using a tortilla press.

She quickly cooked each round on the hot griddle just until the edges were dry, then handed them over to us steaming hot in our bare little hands. Before spreading with the beans, topping with shredded cheese, avocado and salsa, I’d hold the fragrant corn pastry to my face, inhaling the rustic, earthy perfume of a culture that wasn’t mine, but into which I had been warmly invited.

Little Teresa had many more “cucuy” episodes during our tenure on Delaney Street. And I became quite dedicated to the chase-and-retrieve. If she hadn’t been so convincingly terrified, I might have suspected she, too, had an ulterior motive …

TAKE OUT
Make your own corn tortillas at home with this easy-to-follow recipe from Bon Apetit. Note: Most Mexican stores in the area (tiendas) have tortilla presses for sale.



DESSERT
Red Fox Oyster Roast and Shrimp Fest: Make plans to be at the Hartsville location of J. Michael’s from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25. It will be a tasty evening featuring Ed Saleeby Jr.’s famous grilled shrimp and J. Michael’s oysters. I hear there also will be live music by Dan E. Lockemy — At the Beach and Billy Scott & The Party Prophets. Tickets are $30 and proceeds benefit Hartsville High School Athletics. Get your tickets at Hobnob Gourmet http://www.hobnobgourmet.com, First Citizens Bank, J. Michael’s and from the Hartsville High main office.

Don’t forget these fun food affairs:
>n Taste of Dillon County, 5 to 8 p.m., Oct. 16, City Wellness Center, Dillon
>n Kingstree Pig Pickin’ Festival: Oct. 16-18, Kingstree
>n Pee Dee International Festival, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Oct. 18, Francis Marion University

MOOD MUSIC
This week’s blog was written to the sounds of Marta Gomez.

Next week’s menu: Fair food is in the air …

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