It's Cinco de Mayo, and what better way to celebrate this day than with Mexican food? Of course, Argentines don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo as it's a Mexican holiday. But there are a few that are aware of the holiday and celebrate it symbolically by eating Mexican food and drinking tequilas, just like we do in the States.
Unfortunately, the only authentic Mexican restaurant in Cordoba City that serves actual Mexican food (so far) is Mex Resto-Bar, It's in Avenida Recta Martinolli 8794. Under normal circumstances, we would jump at the chance to check this place out. Unfortunately, it's a bit far from where we live and we still prefer to social distance ourselves from the locals until we get our vaccinations. But all hope is not lost.
Recently, we discovered a Mexican specialty store in Luis Braile 1855 called Xalisco: Sabor Azteca. They offer wheat tortillas for tacos and fajitas as well as chips, cheese dips, and spicy salsas with a Mexican twist. So we decided to share some of the goodies that we bought in case any other expat living in Cordoba gets a craving for Mexican food.
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| Corn tortillas for burritos or soft shell tacos |
Now, let me just say that most Argentines we've encountered over the last nine years had a low tolerance for spicy foods. In fact, we've bought chips at the local supermarkets that claimed to be spicy but weren't really spicy at all. Maybe growing up in a country with Chipotle, Taco Bell and Papa John's, which provided a fresh jalapeño in each pizza box, made us more tolerant to spicy foods. Who knows? But we worried that the sauces from Xalisco wouldn't be as spicy as they claimed.
Thankfully, we were wrong!
The Frida Dulce y Picante sauce is equivalent in spiciness to Taco Bell's mild sauce. The Salsa Picante Barbecue is a spicy smoked barbecue flavored sauce. And the Adobo Pastor is the mildest sauce and really oily, too, like olive oil. So, I would only recommend this sauce to season a salad.
I recommend the Salsa Cheddar Ranch sauce on the left as a salad dressing only. I tried it on a sandwich and on one of the tacos we made, and the flavor didn't really blend well for either meal. However, the Salsa Cheddar Jalapeño was a real winner in spiciness and taste.
Now, I foolishly thought that heating these cheese sauces up and using them as dip for the nacho chips would work. It didn't and here's the reason why. When I nuked the Salsa Cheddar Jalapeño, it altered the taste of the sauce in a way that it felt like I was eating spicy oregano. But the cheese flavor was gone. Of course, that doesn't mean that we were ready to throw the sauce away. Instead, we tried again without heating the sauce up, and it was actually amazing!
So, here's what our menu looked like for Cinco de Mayo 2021.
Yes! I know. You're probably wondering where the lettuce and tomatoes are. We're not really big on vegetables. I'm not dogging anyone who likes it, but it's not our thing and we didn't feel like spending ingredients on things that we would end up picking out of our food.
We're still holding out hope that Taco Bell and Chipotle will come to Argentina, specifically Cordoba City, someday. In the meantime, we'll make do with the tasty ingredients of Xalisco: Sabor Azteca, particularly their sauces that offer quite a kick but will put a smile on most spicy lovers' faces.
