Sunday, April 22, 2012

Lunch at Mercado Hidalgo - Tacos Fitos and Carnitas El Jerezano

Tacos Fitos

Having worked up an appetite exploring Tijuana's Mercado Hidalgo, we headed outside to the North corner, where there were a number of places selling tacos de birria de res - tacos made with stewed beef.

We stopped at Tacos Fitos, which I had read about on the Masa Assasin blog.

Tacos Fitos

We tried both the birria de res taco and the taco campechano (shown on the left, below), which was made with a combination of birria and tripe.

Birria and campechano tacos at Tacos Fitos

Here is a closer shot of the birria taco:

Taco de Birria de Res at Tacos Fitos

Both tacos were fantastic. Super flavorful.

After wandering around the market some more, we stopped at one of restaurants in the interior - Carnitas El Jerezano:

Carnitas El Jerezano

The carnitas was just ok, but the place was comfortable, the staff was friendly and the freshly made corn tortillas were great

Carnitas El Jerezano

Tacos Fitos and Carnitas El Jerezano were but two of many dining options in and around Mercado Hidalgo. Rest assured that if you come to visit the market, you will not go hungry.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

A Day Trip to Tijuana's Mercado Hidalgo

Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana

A couple of Sundays ago, we had some friends visiting and we decided to take them down to Tijuana for the day. Within minutes of walking across the border, we had grabbed a cab and arrived at Mercado Hidalgo, Tijuana's central market.

Here is a map of the market's location - as you can see, it is not far from the border crossing:


View Mercado Hidalgo in a larger map

Taking up a whole city block, the market vendors are arranged around the edge, with the center being a large parking lot.

There was plenty of fruit on offer:

Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana

as well as sweets:

Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana

and of course, lots of chiles:

Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana

and mole pastes:

Mole Pastes at Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana

There was even a little cooking store:

Cooking Store at Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana

and a few vendors selling Mexican cheese varieties:

Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana

Quite a few places had this purple corn for sale. I'd never seen it before, and don't know what it is typically used in:

Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana

There was a glass case that contained the largest amount of chicharrón I'd ever seen in one place:

Chicharrón at Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana

Next to it was this interesting mass that was labelled "Chicharrón Prensado":

Chicharrón Prensado at Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana

This was the first time I've encountered "pressed" chicharrón and I'm definitely curious to learn more about it.

We didn't do much real shopping on this trip - only buying some piloncillo (sugar cone) and tamarind - but the vendors and other shoppers were friendly and relaxed. It made for a very nice day trip.