Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

[upbeat music]

[horn honking]

- It's crazy. It's crowded.

It's noisy, and I love it.

Mexico City, I'm proud to call you my second home.

♪ ♪

Every time I see this view, my heart skips a beat.

♪ ♪

We're here!

Tenochtitlan, Mexico City.

So many emotions, because there's so much history

in this exact spot.

It all started here in Tenochtitlan,

capital of the mighty Aztec empire,

until the Spanish invaded 500 years ago

and changed its name to Mexico City.

The amount of churches you can see from up here--

there's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Seven in one block.

That's called the Spanish conquest.

[sizzling]

Over time,

new spices and ingredients started to appear,

carried across continents by traders and travelers

from faraway lands.

I don't know the secret to happiness.

All I know is,

every time I eat Mexican food, I'm happy.

- Yeah. - [laughs]

I'm Eva Longoria, born and bred in Texas,

with Mexican-American roots, which makes me a Texican.

I'm exploring Mexico to see how the people, their lands,

and their past have shaped a culinary tradition

as diverse as its 32 states.

Mexico City is going through a major makeover,

shedding its old reputation to emerge

as one of the world's greatest food destinations.

♪ ♪

- I love that Mexican food is now that.

It's not only, like, Taco Tuesday.

- Natives of Mexico City are nicknamed chilangos.

- Yeah?

It used to be an insult.

But now that the capital is flourishing,

it's worn with pride.

This is the chilango in the family.

- Yeah!

- Chilangos love their food fiery.

So be warned.

Those innocent-looking salsas

you see everywhere...

I'm gonna get in trouble with that.

They can be hot.

Adds a kick. [laughs] - Oh!

- But for a wannabe chilanga like me...

More salsa!

Never too spicy.

[steady music]

♪ ♪

[light music]

I've had a home here in Mexico City

ever since I fell in love with a chilango.

Pepe and I got married almost a decade ago,

and we spend as much time here as we can.

Every time I'm in Mexico, this is my daily ritual.

Every morning, I wake up, and I do this.

My favorite place ever.

Hola!

The enticing smell of this bakery

can lure anybody in.

[both speaking Spanish]

Wow.

I always time my arrival

to when they're coming out of the oven.

Sweet, fluffy, and topped with crunchy sugar,

I just can't resist.

Muchas gracias.

Oh, my God. It's warm.

This is a concha.

Mmm.

Oh, my God. [laughs]

I don't think anything makes me happier.

♪ ♪

Sitting over a mile above sea level

in the center of Mexico,

this sprawling metropolis is the country's capital.

[lively music]

Over centuries, it's held a magnetic appeal

for immigrants,

drawing them in from all over the world

to make it their home,

bringing a wealth of culinary influences with them.

In the last 70 years, its population has exploded

from 3 million to 22 million.

And if chilangos were a food, they'd be a taco.

They are the lifeblood here...

the perfect fuel to eat on the go

when powering through this crazy, busy city.

♪ ♪

Hola! - Hi, Eva. Nice to meet you!

- Gabriela Rentería is a journalist

who writes about tacos.

I mean, talk about a dream job.

You're never not happy eating a taco.

I'll say that. - Never. Like, never.

And you never get enough.

[upbeat music]

- We're in the historic center,

the oldest part of town,

built around the city's most famous landmark,

the Zócalo.

♪ ♪

Here, you're never more than a block away from a taqueria.

♪ ♪

- This is the city of tacos. - The city of tacos.

- Yeah, because you can find every taco,

no matter our budget, no matter our taste.

- No matter where you live. - Yeah.

Taco is democratic.

- There are dozens of taco varieties

in Mexico City,

the most famous being al pastor.

Oh! I can smell it already.

- Yes.

- Made of slow-cooked pork on a spit.

- Hola, Daniel.

- Hola. - [speaking Spanish]

- Oh, my God.

Look at those cooked onions.

- It's amazing.

And the flavor, the smell. - Wow.

♪ ♪

The onions and pork are covered in salsas

and wrapped in a tortilla

to hold in all those amazing juices.

♪ ♪

both: Gracias.

♪ ♪

- Okay, more salsa.

I'm gonna get a T-shirt that says, "More salsa!"

♪ ♪

- Wow.

- It's ultra-tasty.

- Oh, my God. Wow.

This cooked onions in the grease

that's falling from the pork...

- Yeah, it's amazing, the flavor.

- It's like a game changer.

So how did tacos al pastor land in Mexico?

It used to be lamb. - Right.

In the Middle Eastern places, this is a lamb spit.

I think it's really interesting

that one of the most famous tacos of Mexico

is from somewhere else.

- People bring-- - Bring a lot of things.

- Bring their flavors from their country.

- I do? - Yeah.

- Oh, good. I'm doing it right?

Elbow up? [laughs]

Chilangos take their tacos very seriously,

with passionate opinions

about where to find the perfect ones.

♪ ♪

I'm on my way to meet a taco authority

who's gonna show me his new favorite.

♪ ♪

So I'm meeting my friend Ricardo.

He's the reason I even know Mexico City.

The first time I ever came to Mexico City

was because of my friend Ricardo.

And he's also the guy

who introduced me to my husband.

He always knows the new hot spot.

Like, if it just opened, he's already been.

And today, he's showing me a new taco place,

and I am always up for a new taco place.

- Hola.

[laughs]

- How long have I been coming to Mexico City?

- For 17 years now.

- That's how long we've known each other.

Don't you think the food scene has changed?

- Oh, it's changed a lot.

Everything's changed.

- Well, remember when I would come,

and I said the only thing I want to eat...

- Tacos? - Is tacos.

- Yeah.

- And we would go to all the little stands.

- Yeah.

- But now it's like tacos have gotten fancy.

- And now this place is like it's a high-end chef...

- Yeah. - Doing, like, street tacos.

Why don't we go eat some tacos?

- Yeah, let's go check it out.

- Yeah. - I'm so excited.

So this is new tacos? - Yeah.

- The trendier-- - The better.

- The better. [laughter]

[upbeat music]

Tacos Los Alexis

is sizzling hot in the taco world right now.

Hola! - How are you? Welcome!

- Hi. - Welcome.

- This is Alexis. - A pleasure.

Alexis Ayala. - Eva. Nice to meet you!

Its owner, Alexis, uses his five-star culinary training

to transform traditional recipes from his childhood

into gourmet tacos to die for.

♪ ♪

- My mother was from North Mexico,

and my father was from Mexico City.

This represents my two parts of life, norteño and chilango.

- So you're a chilango. - Yeah, I'm a chilango. Yeah.

- So what are we eating today?

- A cheese chicharrón.

- A cheese chicharrón. - Chicharrón de queso.

I can't wait to try Alexis' vegetarian version

of northern-style chicharrón,

which swaps the usual crispy fried pork skin

for crispy fried cheese.

I already love it, 'cause it has cheese.

- Cheese.

- It's topped with a savory delicacy called huitlacoche,

Mexico's answer to truffle.

What is huitlacoche?

- Huitlacoche is the--

- Oh, look at you!

You have a corn tattoo! - Yeah.

- Wow. - Wow.

- That is, uh--that's Mexican.

- He's the king of huitlacoche. - Yeah.

- And so the huitlacoche is where?

- It grows--it's a fungus that grows around the maize.

- On the corn.

- Yeah, so it has this delicious flavor,

and we make a lot of dishes with huitlacoche.

It's, like, very traditional, very endemic.

[light music]

- Alexis's secret is to allow the cheese to brown

until it's firm enough to roll around the huitlacoche.

- And then we finish it with a raw salad.

We have the glory here.

Enjoy, my friends. - Wow.

Thank you so much. - Wow.

I can't even-- I can't pick it up.

♪ ♪

Mmm.

The filling and this salad on top--oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

- So good.

- Another place that you've brought me to that is amazing.

- Amazing. - [laughs]

Muchas gracias. - Gracias.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

[light music]

- Every time I land in Mexico City,

the heart beats to a different drum.

[laughs]

For a city that is very big, it feels very intimate.

You find your spots,

and it starts to become smaller.

[whistle blasting]

Gracias.

♪ ♪

[soft music]

Leafy, laid-back Roma is the Bohemian part of town.

♪ ♪

Once a wealthy district,

it fell on hard times after an earthquake in 1985.

♪ ♪

Today, it's popular with artists and expats

and home to some of the best places to eat in the city.

♪ ♪

And I'm here to visit

one of my favorite restaurants,

Contramar.

Wow!

[laughs] - Hi.

- Hola. - Hola.

- Its owner, the legendary Gabi Cámara,

is as famous as her restaurant

and a good friend of mine.

- This is fish from all over Mexico.

This is super fresh, delicious, from different coasts.

- So they speak Spanish. - They all speak Spanish.

I think they've traveled. I think they've traveled.

- What are you making me?

- I'm making you pescado a la talla.

- Pescado a la talla is Gabi's signature dish.

Today, she's making it with cabrilla,

a Mexican sea bass.

♪ ♪

- You can really feel the firmness of the meat.

It's gonna be delicious.

- Before Contramar, it was almost impossible

to find restaurants in the capital

serving fresh Mexican fish.

Crazy, considering the country has 9,000 miles of coastline.

♪ ♪

You started the fish movement.

- Many people were eating fish on the coasts,

but here in the city, you know, everybody wanted

turbot from Britain and French oysters.

But though it sounds absurd,

to make a restaurant with only Mexican fish

was super, super revolutionary.

♪ ♪

Okay, so now our fish is ready,

and we're gonna make the salsas.

And we're gonna make

the garlic and parsley sauce.

Fresh parsley and garlic, olive oil,

a little bit of spices.

[whirring]

- Nice and green.

Oh, my God, that looks so good.

- It comes from an Italian salsa verde.

My mother is from Italy.

My grandmother made the best salsa verde.

And now, red palla.

[upbeat music]

- Fresh and fiery, the salsas

are a celebration of Gabi's heritage,

green for Italy and red for Mexico,

with four types of chilis.

♪ ♪

- We're gonna put all of this in the blender.

This has the cloves. - So interesting.

Cloves is such an interesting ingredient.

- Well, you know, Mexican food

is a combination of foods

and ingredients from everywhere.

- All over the world.

- Because first, we had the Indigenous cultures,

all throughout the Americas,

and then the Europeans come.

You have all these extra ingredients

from Europe and Asia.

♪ ♪

- Red and green. - Red and green.

But now what we're gonna do

is we're gonna use the green sauce

and put it on one side. - Yeah.

Wow, you really coat it. I mean, you drown it.

- You do the red, my darling.

Please. - Oh, God.

I don't want to mess it up. - No, you won't.

- Well, I never thought I'd be painting

the colors of the Mexican flag on a fish.

But there's a first time for everything.

- It's gonna go straight into the fire.

- Oh, my gosh.

- Close this.

- Oh, wow!

- And it cooks on the skin side to begin with.

- Uh-huh. - It stays nice and moist.

Time to flip this.

Ah.

- Ooh! That's so beautiful!

- Okay.

- Oh, you put the thing like that.

That's so smart. - Oh, yes.

And then you turn it over.

- Oh...

ooh!

My goodness.

- Okay.

So this is our pescado a la talla,

red and green.

And I feel it's very much like me, right?

It's like my Mexican side, my Italian side.

- Oh, nice!

This is Gabi's identity in a dish.

- [laughs]

Pescado a la talla.

[upbeat music]

- I'm not surprised

Contramar is always packed.

With dishes like fresh tuna tostadas,

mouthwatering shrimp aguachile,

and whitefish ceviche,

I'm lucky to get a table here.

♪ ♪

Because I have a date with one sexy chilango...

♪ ♪

My husband, Pepe.

[laughs]

Que romantico! - Que romantico!

Forgive me for interrupting this romantic moment.

[laughter]

- To get us in the mood, Gabi starts

with Pepe's favorite, red clam ceviche.

♪ ♪

Wow. Mmm.

- One of our first dates was here at Contramar.

- We had so much fun, because we were, like, just dating,

and we had to be smooshed into the--

really tight into the bar.

I mean, first of all, you were impressed with my Spanish.

[laughter]

No. - When I started to date Eva,

she goes, "I'm Mexican!"

I said, "You're a Mexican that doesn't speak Spanish?"

[laughter] "I speak Spanish!"

Okay. Cool.

- Ven, Mauricio!

Gabi's boyfriend, Mauricio, drops by.

He and Pepe were friends

way before I moved to Mexico City.

[speaking Spanish]

You're like chilango, chilango. - Yeah.

Were you born in Mexico City? - He was born--

- Oh, so was Mauricio. You are the two chilangos.

Before, it wasn't an honor to be called a chilango.

It was-- - It still is not. I mean, I--

I feel honored to be a chilango,

but at the end... - Yes.

- If you go out of Mexico City,

people don't like us as much,

because they think that we're in the place

that everything happens.

That's what we think. - Yes.

- But you can be an adopted chilanga.

- Honorary chilanga. - True.

- Cheers for that. - Cheers for that.

- Cheers. - Ole!

- Pescado a la talla.

- I may just be an honorary chilanga,

but look at this Mexico City classic I've helped make.

♪ ♪

Wow.

You can taste all of the chilis,

the garlic, the salt.

Oh, my God.

Let me taste-- let me taste the green side.

[laughs]

- Oh, the green side is amazing.

- Mmm.

People know Mexico as tacos, tequila,

tacos, tequila, tacos, tequila.

This changes that idea.

And I feel like Contramar has turned it on its head

and said, "This is Mexican food."

- I love that Mexican food is now that!

It's not only, like, Taco Tuesday.

- It's--it's so much more than that.

I don't know the secret to happiness.

All I know is,

every time I eat Mexican food, I'm happy.

- Yeah. But it's true!

- But it's true!

♪ ♪

- Beautiful.

- For me, Contramar captures

the spirit of Mexico City.

As chilangos have grown in confidence,

so has their cuisine.

♪ ♪

Besides, is there a better place

to fall in love with your husband?

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

[soft music]

♪ ♪

- Imagine if they would blindfold you,

and then drop you off here.

- "Guess where you are." - "Guess where you are."

It would be impossible for you to say,

"I'm in Mexico City."

- This would be impossible to guess Mexico City.

- Right? Yeah.

♪ ♪

- This feels like another world.

But can you believe we're still in Mexico City?

This is the dreamy district of Xochimilco,

a mystical network of waterways

built by the Aztecs.

♪ ♪

- So this used to be a lake.

The Aztecs built it,

Chinampas, which is little islands,

to grow food.

♪ ♪

- I can't think of a better guide

to these island farms

than Eduardo García, or Lalo,

one of Mexico's superstar chefs.

♪ ♪

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

Lalo's gourmet restaurant, Máximo Bistrot,

is in the heart of the city,

and it marries French and Mexican cuisine

using fresh produce from island farms

here in Xochimilco.

♪ ♪

Ah. So this is it. - This is it.

This is Arca Tierra.

- This farm provides Lalo

with some of the vegetables for his seasonal menu.

[both speaking Spanish]

It's run by his friend Lucio,

an archeologist turned farmer.

- Right now, we have some parsley,

some herbs around here,

some chard, and the brassicas.

- I feel like I'm in a bowl

of a really big salad right now.

[laughter]

- So for chefs, it's really like a paradise

to come here and harvest.

- So you come here, and you get inspired

by what's growing, normally?

That's how you decide what to cook?

- Basically, I come here,

and I gather what I'm in the mood for,

whatever looks good to my eyes.

And I take it back. - Yeah.

- You don't have something fixed, though, in your mind?

- No, no, no, no.

That's what's so beautiful and stressful about my job.

Because that makes it even more stressful.

♪ ♪

- Lalo always lets Mother Nature

dictate which produce to pick.

And I think she's just had a word.

- You're gonna have verdolaga today.

- And what is it?

- In English, it's purslane.

- Purslane. - Yeah.

As soon as it starts to rain,

you'll see this grow everywhere.

- How do you know you're not getting a weed?

- Well, we probably are, but we'll clean it.

- Oh, we probably are.

- And honestly, there's no agrochemicals here,

no fertilizer.

So even if we do eat a little bit of weed,

I mean, it'd still be good for us.

♪ ♪

- What does it taste like?

- To me, it's--

- It tastes like watercress.

- It does have that texture.

- Mm-hmm. - But you know what?

This--our ancestors here in Mexico

have been eating this

for hundreds and hundreds of years.

You can have it in a salad. You can cook it.

Probably one of the most healthy food you can eat.

After this, it's gonna be your favorite.

- Everything.

- You know what?

I want to do a roasted beet salad.

We're ready for lunch. - [laughs]

- So we're gonna cook with it. - Okay.

♪ ♪

The farm has an outdoor kitchen

where Lalo is showing me how he cooks the beets.

Even their names sound delicious;

white sugar beets, red bull's blood,

and candy stripe.

We leave the beets to roast slowly

and fry onions, garlic, and tomatoes

as a base for the purslane.

- Now we're going to add our verdolagas, purslane.

- Oh, my gosh. - Okay.

And then we're gonna cover it.

♪ ♪

- Where did your passion for cooking come from?

- I started cooking out of pure necessity.

When I was a kid, my family and I were migrant workers.

My father did it for 30 years.

I never went to school.

I needed to find a job

to support the family with my father.

[soft music]

- When Lalo was eight years old,

he and his family left their home in North Mexico

in search of a better life in the States.

♪ ♪

They worked without documentation

as migrant fruit pickers around Florida.

When he was 15, Lalo got his first job in a restaurant.

♪ ♪

- So I found a job washing dishes at a restaurant

that required no education.

I had a fake green card that said I was 18.

So they hired me, and I was--

I've always been a very good worker.

That's just what-- something that I have.

Fast and whatever was-- needed to be done, I--

- Resourceful. Initiative.

Yeah. - Yeah.

Because I had the mentality of making money,

making money, for... - Surviving.

- For survival. - Yeah.

- So after a few years working there,

I started to have friends, wannabe gangsters.

And I wanted to be a wannabe gangster.

I went to jail for four years.

And when I came out, I was deported.

But I didn't stay in Mexico.

I went back to the States,

looked for a job in the kitchen.

My boss saw something in me,

and she told me, "You have a gift.

You can do this for a living."

And that kind of sank in, you know?

And I was like, "This is what I want to do."

And with time, I just fell in love with it.

- Yeah. - And here I am.

- Wow, that's amazing.

I'm gonna cry. [laughs]

- Don't. It's a happy story.

- It is a happy story, but it just shows you,

like, you just need one person

to give you permission to be great.

- Yeah.

I think they're ready. - Okay.

- Let's taste it.

- Mmm. - Mmm.

- Oh, my gosh. I love it.

- Imagine this with Parmigiano-Reggiano

on the top. - Mmm.

It does have the texture of a pasta.

- Right? - Yeah.

Like a vegetarian pasta.

- I love it. - Oh, my God.

I love it.

- No calories. - No calories?

- No saturated fat.

Maybe a few calories from the olive oil.

- And it's so filling.

- But anyways, with our beets, they're ready too.

- Oh, that's so beautiful.

Look at the rainbow of color!

Oh, that's the best spoonful right there.

Just one hour ago,

this produce was in the ground.

And now Lalo is laying his roasted beets

on a bed of freshly picked arugula.

It doesn't get more farm-to-table than this.

- We have a little bit of mint, and we're done.

- That's it?

♪ ♪

Oh, this is so beautiful.

I would eat here every day. - For sure.

- This is when you know it's a healthy meal.

It has all the colors of the rainbow.

Ven, Lucio!

Mmm. - [speaking indistinctly]

- You plant, and he cooks?

Is that the deal? - That's the deal.

[laughter]

♪ ♪

- Mmm. - Mmm.

- The beets and that sweetness.

Mmm. - Mmm.

- Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God.

This might be the best salad I've ever had.

♪ ♪

It's interesting, 'cause we've both been

on a journey of, like, leaving our roots,

and then coming back, and this, for me,

has been a rediscovery of my Mexicanness.

But for you, what have you discovered about yourself

or about Mexican culture?

- The migrants who go to the U.S.,

they always look for the American dream.

But what I discovered when I was deported to Mexico

is that I found that American dream in Mexico.

I learned that our culture is amazing.

You know what brings people to Mexico?

The food culture.

I fell in love with it.

It's been an amazing journey for me.

I needed to be here.

- The universe was telling you, "This is where you belong."

- Yes. - Yeah.

♪ ♪

I really connect with Lalo's story.

For me, rediscovering my Mexican heritage

and making a home here

gives me a sense of belonging, just like him.

- Like, I consider myself to be

an extremely lucky person that I am here.

♪ ♪

- Thank you so much for cooking.

- Gracias.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

[upbeat music playing]

- I love that that music's coming out of a pharmacy.

[laughs]

[upbeat music]

Here's my tip for driving in Mexico City:

always add an extra hour onto your travel time.

There's always traffic in Mexico City.

♪ ♪

There's not a time of day or day of week

that there isn't traffic.

I mean, there's millions and millions of people

coming in and out of the city, working all over the city.

That means traffic.

♪ ♪

I'm in just one

of the 6 million cars on the move,

or rather, not moving.

But I'm used to it.

Traffic jams are a way of life here.

Just getting to work is a job in itself.

No wonder this city is known as "the monster."

♪ ♪

Beautiful Mexico.

♪ ♪

[horns honking]

♪ ♪

So how do you feed a city this big?

With hundreds of markets,

like the Jamaica Market near the historic center

where I'm meeting food blogger Anais.

[both speaking Spanish]

By Mexico City standards,

this market is considered pretty small,

but it's still the length of a city block.

Wow, this is huge. - Yeah.

- Is this your favorite market to come to?

- This is, yeah, my favorite market.

This is just one of the 300 markets

that we have in the city.

- 300. - 300.

- People come here for groceries,

not the supermarket?

- I think you have a little mix of both.

Prepackaged stuff, you get those in the supermarket,

and you come here for fresh stuff.

- Oh, my God!

This is, like, the most beautiful stall!

- Look at the chilis.

How long it takes-- do you think it takes?

Yeah, exactly. - Look at this!

Habaneros!

♪ ♪

Many stallholders use this amazing produce

to create street food to die for.

I challenge anyone not to be tempted

by these mouthwatering dishes.

Wow. What is it?

- It's a green chorizo stand.

- Green chorizo. - Yeah.

It's amazing.

And it's green because of all the things

they put in, they mix with the meat.

The put, like, poblano pepper, serrano pepper, spinach.

- And how do you eat it?

- In a taco. You can eat it in a taco.

[speaking Spanish]

- [gasps] Look at all these salsas.

- We need our toppings. - Oh, my God.

I'm gonna get in trouble with that serrano.

And I'm gonna do green salsa.

All right. Here goes my--it's hot.

- Ready?

- Mmm. Mmm!

It's almost refreshing.

- Right?

- Now I feel like I'm being healthy.

- You have your salad you've thrown in there.

- Other than the chorizo part, it's a super healthy taco.

- [laughs]

♪ ♪

- It's hard to fathom

how you keep Mexico City's 300 markets

stacked high with the freshest produce.

Well, it works like this.

Every day, tens of thousands of vendors

bring fresh food into the capital

from the surrounding countryside,

some of them traveling hundreds of miles.

Luci is one of them.

She lives in Toluca, west of Mexico City,

where she grows produce and prepares ingredients

to bring into the market...

a round trip of roughly six hours.

♪ ♪

[both speaking Spanish]

- This is the amazing Luci.

She's like... - She's super fast.

- A master. She's super fast.

♪ ♪

- Luci's the queen of tlacoyos,

a favorite Mexico City street food.

- It's an oval-shaped patty, and it's stuffed with,

usually, beans, fava beans, or cheese.

She puts the fava bean inside,

and this is where-- like, the tricky part.

She has to keep the oval shape, keep the filling inside,

and the same thickness.

- Oh, my God. She did that so fast.

You--I don't know how you guys are gonna film that.

She went...

- Otherwise, it doesn't taste the same.

- So she brings the carbon from...

- Yes.

- Her town? - Yeah.

- [speaking Spanish]

- This is definitely food made with love,

right down to Luci's green salsa,

cooked cactus, and cheese.

- [speaking Spanish] - Oh, my God.

- It smells so good.

I'm gonna wait for you to get yours.

- Yeah? - Yes.

[both speaking Spanish]

- Tlacoyo cheers.

It's really hot, but temperature-hot.

- It's hot! - Yeah. All right.

- Mmm.

Wow! - Mmm.

- Oh, my God.

Wow.

[light music]

This is so good.

Spicy.

- It is, and you got a lot.

- I like it.

To me, these markets are like

little magical cities within a city.

Their culture is woven into the fabric of the capital,

thanks to vendors like Luci,

who treat their customers and food with true devotion.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

[soft music]

- Mexico City's rich mix of cultures

is a result of centuries of immigration.

But it's also the crossroads

for many migratory routes to the United States.

♪ ♪

I've come to Tacubaya,

only 5 miles from the historic center,

but it feels like a world away.

♪ ♪

I'm here to visit a remarkable refugee shelter

where cooking is at the heart of communal living.

♪ ♪

[knocking]

both: Hola!

[both speaking Spanish]

- Gracias.

- Gabriela Hernández Chalte is a force of nature.

She started Casa Tochan over a decade ago

to offer shelter to refugees fleeing their homelands.

- Wow.

Gaby encourages her guests to paint the walls

with their personal stories and hopes for the future.

[bright music]

- The residents love cooking dishes

from their homeland to share with their housemates.

Hola. [speaking Spanish] - Hola. Yaciel.

[both speaking Spanish]

- Cubano! A Cuban in Mexico.

So what did we put in the pot first?

- Uh-huh.

What was your journey?

You came from Cuba to here?

- What made you want to leave Cuba?

- Do you like Mexican food?

- Sí.

- It looks to me like Yaciel's Cuban fricassee

is also going to pack a punch.

Yeah.

- For the pressure, so we can eat faster.

♪ ♪

Finally, time to eat,

and the rich aroma of the pork smells divine.

Yay, bravo, chef!

- They go hand in hand. They go hand in hand.

- Nicaragua. I love Nicaragua.

- Uh-huh.

[all speaking Spanish]

Mmm.

Wow.

This is so good!

I can't believe we made this.

[laughs]

Okay, you made it. You made it.

But this is so good.

What do you think of the food?

Do you miss your food from your country?

[speaking Spanish]

- Sí. - Sí.

- [speaking Spanish]

Sí. Gracias.

- Gracias. Gracias.

[soft music]

- I love that Casa Tochan

really focuses on food,

reminding them of their country

and what they've missed.

This house is full of light,

and it's full of love,

and it's full of hope.

And I think food has a big part to do with that.

[laughter]

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

[upbeat music]

- Hola! - Hola!

[speaking Spanish]

- Gracias.

This is El Moro.

It's an institution in Mexico City.

It's--you have to come here when you're in Mexico City.

Churros and chocolate are a dream come true

for my four-year-old son, Santi.

- Yeah!

- This one, but softly.

Soft, soft, soft!

Slow.

This is the chilango in the family.

When it comes to food,

we all have our guilty pleasures.

For my son, it's chocolate and churros.

[laughter]

And for me, it's anything Japanese.

So I'm excited to try something new:

Japanese-Mexican cuisine,

pioneered by Chef Edo López in Mexico City's Little Tokyo.

- Welcome to Mexico.

Have a seat.

- I've never been to Little Tokyo.

- Really? - Yes.

- Well, we call it Little Tokyo

because there's a lot of Japanese places around it.

- Uh-huh, but are you of Japanese descent?

- My grandfather

and my family lived in Japan for a long time.

- Really? - Yeah. Yeah.

But I was raised and born in Tijuana.

I'm very proud Mexican, very, very proud.

And I try to bring this love with food to Mexico.

You know? - You want to show them

both your cultures. - Yeah.

♪ ♪

- I had no idea that in the late 19th century,

thousands of Japanese people came to Mexico to work,

many of them putting down roots here.

And now Edo is reviving this Japanese-Mexican link

through his cuisine.

- So what do you think if we go to eat yakitori?

- I'm in. I'm in. - Cool. It's around the corner.

- All right.

[lively music]

♪ ♪

I've asked my friend Ricardo to join us

at Edo's innovative restaurant, Hiyoko.

And this time, I'm the one showing him

the latest dining sensation.

♪ ♪

I'm so excited, 'cause Ricardo has shown me Mexico City,

and now I get to show him something.

You didn't know about this! - Never.

All my friends have come, and I've never been here.

- Something to drink? You want some sake first?

- Of course. - Water?

- You don't know my friend Ricardo.

- We like it. - [laughs]

- Okay. So--

- So how do you say "salud" in Japanese?

- Kanpai. - Kanpai.

- Kanpai. - Kanpai.

♪ ♪

Oh, my God. What is that?

- It's tapioca. - Tapioca.

- And squid ink.

- This is genius.

Edo uses tapioca pearls, popular in Japanese cooking,

in place of corn to make his signature tostadas,

which he tops with grilled chicken and serrano chili.

- So we have yakitori tapioca tostada.

- Arigato.

♪ ♪

Look at that.

♪ ♪

Mmm.

Sweet and savory.

- Savory. It's very savory.

- But you know what I like?

The take on the Mexican tostada.

- Yeah, right? - Yeah.

- Like, has the chili at the end, like--

- Kanpai. - Kanpai.

[light music]

- I'm really curious to try this next dish,

a classic skewer with a very Mexican touch.

- So chicken breast with onions.

And then top it with a powder of chicatana ants.

Do you know the chicatana? - What?

♪ ♪

Eating large flying ants isn't some crazy new trend.

This goes way back to pre-Hispanic times,

and they're still a delicacy today,

thanks to their distinctive taste.

Itadakimasu. - Itadakimasu.

♪ ♪

- Mmm. Oh, yeah. That--

those ants are pretty smoky. - Right?

- You taste the smoky ants? - Yeah. It's really good.

You get the best ratio of onion and ants

in the same bite. [laughter]

- You do love your ants. - I do love my ants.

- And just when I'm about to burst,

it's time for the main course.

- So today will be rice and grilled duck donburi.

- Like, the best part of the meal comes last.

- Yes. - So what, is this an egg yolk?

- Egg yolk.

♪ ♪

- Can I applaud now?

- So...and you're gonna have it also with soup.

- This is like a chicken broth. - Yeah.

- Do I pour it on there? - No, no, no.

Just, like, on the side. - Oh, on the side.

- And you can--like a tea.

You can, like-- and it's very aromatic.

- I'm gonna pour my broth in it.

Can I do that? - Yeah.

If you want to, of course.

- Okay. So yeah.

I'm gonna mix the egg.

- Yeah. - How's that?

By mixing the Mexican chicken broth

with the Japanese rice,

I've just created my very own fusion dish.

- Thank you. It's beautiful. Thank you.

- Mmm. - Really beautiful.

- That chicken broth is so light.

- So I'm gonna do your style. Let me check.

Yeah, so the egg--

- Do my style.

See, the egg cooks a little bit.

- Yeah.

- Look at that. - Mmm.

- Right? - Thank you for coming in.

Kanpai. Salud. - Kanpai.

- We're confused now-- [all speaking at once]

Gracias.

- I love how Edo's cuisine

captures the spirit here.

Like so much of the food from Mexico City,

it takes influences from all over the world,

transforming it into something uniquely chilango.

I'm proud to be part of this great city, but...

Wow.

I don't know if I can ever call myself

a chilanga.

I think somebody has to anoint me.

I think there's a ceremony, and I'm crowned chilanga.

But I don't think so.

Not until I speak better Spanish

will I be able to be a chilanga.

[laughs]

♪ ♪