International street food finally gets a place at the table
— -- Chef Richard Sandoval remembers walking through the outdoor markets of Mexico City as a child, begging his parents for change to buy warm sopes cooking over fire pits.
Today, Sandoval makes the same corn-based sopes for his restaurants, Maya in New York, Tamayo in Denver and Ketsi at the Four Seasons Resort in Punta Mita, Mexico. But instead of filling them with shredded chicken or beef, he uses decadent toppings like duck confit and huitlacoche (a mushroom grown on corn, considered a Mexican delicacy).
"I like to call it 'old ways, new hands,' " he says. "It's taking traditional Mexican recipes, but serving them in a modern way."
Today, many top-trained chefs are reaching back to the street food from their home countries and giving it an upscale twist. No matter how dressed up these dishes get, they evoke memories of simple comfort food — just like a grilled-cheese sandwich or meatloaf does for many Americans.
Chef Jose Garces, a Mexico City native, was excited to add esquites to his menu at Distrito in Philadelphia. The traditional dish uses cut-off-the-cob sweet corn, warmed in a saucepan and topped with chiles, onions, salsa, mayonnaise or sour cream. It's considered a "to-go food," served in a plastic cup with a spoon, Garces says.
At Distrito, esquites is served in tall flute glasses and arrive layered with queso fresco and chipotle mayonnaise, topped with a chile pequin powder and lime zest.
In Tabriz, Iran, where chef Hoss Zaré grew up, street vendors served up lots of sheep and lamb. The most popular part of the animals, he says, was the jigar.
"That's the liver," Zaré said. "You'd see small barbecue places on the corner, cooking jigar over charcoals and serving it kabob style with jalapeños and tomatoes."
For his San Francisco restaurant, Zaré at Fly Trap, the chef created a "liver three ways" dish, dubbed Ménage à Fois. Served with toast points, the dish includes a serving of sheep liver with marinated jalapeño and tomato confit, chicken liver over onion marmalade and aged balsamic, and foie gras over huckleberry compote.
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