Feb 19, 2008

Awesome Find, and Strange Coincidence

So, I just happened to be in Provo for President's Day weekend. A lot of you guys just happened to be in Provo, too. :) Skywalker and I were looking around for a Mexican Restaurant that serves Mole, because he has been wanting me to try it for a while. He served his mission in Anaheim California, with the Spanish speakers of the area, and he had all sorts of different kinds of Mole while he was there.

I looked around on the internet until I found a review of a restaurant, and a menu that contained 2 different Moles. We went and were very pleased. Incredibly authentic food (according to Skywalker). While there, we were served by the owner. We asked a few questions and he talked our ears off about Mexican food, authenticity, getting recipes right, not cutting corners as far as cooking procedures and ingredients are concerned. The man is on a mission to teach Utah Valley (non-Mexicans) about true Mexican food. We had Mole and Chile Relleno (Skywalker went ahead and ate chicken this time, for the sake of my Mole education). It was amazing! The mole was dark brown with sesame seeds and was made with so many ingredients that my taste buds were swimming. Just so you understand; two of those ingredients were chocolate and chicken broth. And the chile relleno was Divine. As a Vegetarian family who loves mexican food, you can take our words for it.

So the amazing coincidence: I've been writing a novel over the past year. (Well, OK, three novels.) This novel follows the MOnarch migration from Michigan to Michoacan. As I don't know much about Mexico and have never been there, a lot of my information up to this point has been collected via internet blog accounts, pictures, maps of cities, and as much first person information as I could get my hands on (very little). This restaurant was named Las Tarascas. The name rang a bell but I couldn't put my finger on it until I saw the three monarch butterflies over the restaurant's sign.... the Tarascans, or Purepechan Indians, are the natives to the MIchoacan region. I was ecstatic. Maybe we can make friends, and then I can ask the owner a million questions... he admitted he wasn't from Michoacan himself; but his hired cooks were from there, and he got all of his recipes by calling up the MIchoacan grandmas he knows. So... how coincidental is that.
It's a sign.

Right?

At any rate, the next time you have a hankerin' for Mexican food and you happen to find yourself in Utah Valley, give Las Tarascas a try. THey're really good, the owner is really nice, the food isn't too expensive and you can be sure you're getting the most authentic Mexican food in the valley.

3 comments:

Putz said...

grool stuff, just like the grood stuff i have stoled and incorporated on my putz blog without YOUR permission because i loved your poetry especially mahatma's walk to the sea, and since i love mexican and live only 2 hours away by jet( oh i mean car) you are not in afganistan, i will try that restaurant

Lucy Stern said...

Living in Houston, We have a ton of Mexican restraunts around. I saw Mole in the grocery store just yesterday. I love eating Chile Relleno's. My daughter married a "part" Mexican fellow and she has learned how to cook some authenic mexican food. I'm glad you got to try it out.

Pirate Princess said...

We've eaten there! :O)

I made my first homemade tortillas the other day along with my 1st
Spanish Rice that was fabulous. YUM!