Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
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Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
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At Uncle's in TJ: Smoke signals!
From The San Diego Reader, for pics and original article go to: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/feast/2013/sep/25/uncl...
By Ed Bedford
“The smoke wafts past your nose. The sabroso smell. Then you spot the chimney, shooting white puffs like the Vatican announcing a new Pope.
I'm up in Tijuana's Colonia Libertad. This community is like a small town in its own right. It's just across the line, but feels more like interior
Mexico than a lot of Tijuana.
The big smoke 's coming from this little place with a sign outside that says "Pollos a la Diabla." And right behind, a wicked glowing-coal grill with
maybe 2 dozen chickens laid out and crackling away.
Turns out it's actually called Pollos El Tio (Avenida Aquiles Serdán 11261, between 9th and 10th streets in Colonia Libertad, about half a mile from
the border crossing. 011.52.664.682-49-93). Guess you might call it "Uncle's Chicken."
Whatever you call it, OMG. That overpowering aroma. Have to head inside. This is about noon. Early for Mexican lunchtime. So it's empty, but you can
tell from the grilling going on that they're expecting a crowd. Inside, a family, kids, a mom, a grandmom are all chatting and working away at a
table. Two guys work the chicken grilling rack.
Me, I'm staring at the yellow wall on the left. They list a whole bunch of different "paquetes" of chicken. Each comes with chiles, grilled onion,
tortillas, salsa and two "complementos." That means you choose from a list of rice soup, beans from the olla, a kind of macaroni salad, and of course
tortillas and salsa.
The main guy, Oscar Osuna, asks which one of the five "paquetes" that I want. They range from #1, two whole chickens with all the "complementos" (180
pesos, say $14) to #5, a quarter chicken with two complementos (38 pesos, say $2.80).
That's the one I go for. Off comes a chicken from the grill...
...Out comes the cleaver. Chop chop chop!
I get a leg and a big chunk of breast. He adds a blackened jalapeño chile and a half-onion wrapped in foil. His young-looking mom, María, ladles the
beans from the olla, and adds a pot of the pasta salad.
Oscar's grandma Jovita brings me a box of cloth-wrapped steaming-hot corn tortillas, and a black molcajete brimming with red salsa.
Believe me, the quarter-chicken is plenty. By the time I've gotten through that breast I'm full. But I save the best for last. The leg. It has all the
spicy, burned taste that I first smelled in the smoke. Dee-lish.
"We came up from Guadalajara," says Jovita. "All we put on the chicken is salt, pimiento, pepper, and love."
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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chuckie
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6082
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WOW! Well written..makes me want detour that way from Tecate....Thanks!!!
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bajabuddha
Banned
Posts: 4024
Registered: 4-12-2013
Location: Baja New Mexico
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Mood: Always cranky unless medicated
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Ahh, reminds me of my favorite pollo asada restaurant at the first topes just north of the smelter in Santa Rosalia. Not as many options for side
dishes, but chop-chop, and mmmm, good! They only sell sodas for bebidas, but there's one of each kind of depositos on each side of it. And i always
buy a whole pollo so i have comida para llevar for the fridge at home...... just a few more weeks to wait.
I don't have a BUCKET LIST, but I do have a F***- IT LIST a mile long!
86 - 45*
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aguachico
Senior Nomad
Posts: 602
Registered: 3-23-2007
Location: tijuana
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Mood: logic cannot get thru to the illogical
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Chicken is expensive in TJ. My place is in Pipila. A block away from the calimax/cablemas center. The chicken is not cheap, but it is well worth the
price.
Two whole chickens with extra ensalada, medio kilo de costillas and I'm ready to feed the troops and any unexpected guests.
hmm may have it tonight.
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