A trip to Taqueria Doña Tere

A small group of us braved the chilly weather Friday to check out Taqueria Doña Tere and sample the elotes, champurrado, and other authentic Mexican lunch items.

I decided to try the elote as suggested--covered with mayonnaise, rolled in crumbled cheese and sprinkled with lime. It is very rare that I eat mayonnaise, but I wanted an authentic experience. It was...mayonnaisey. I think I would have preferred it with just a teeny bit of butter, cheese and lime instead of the mayonnaise. I don't think I've consumed that much fat and calories on a stick in my entire life. And once you've started eating an elote, you've pretty much committed to it because you can't really set it down (or share it, really). Despite the fact that I had my face buried in an ear of corn that I did not share, my dining companions did offer to share what they'd ordered. Jim Ridley from The Scene offered a bite of his bean and cheese gordita and boy am I glad I tried it. A layer of beans and cheese with fresh cilantro and onions (optional) between two thick corn tortillas. Delicious. Though, I fear not completely vegetarian (as in, I'd be willing to bet the beans contained lard).

But what is vegetarian is the champurrado, which was like cinnamon-y hot chocolate mixed with finely-ground grits (hominy). Claudia was kind enough to share her champurrado with me and it's a good thing because there's no way I could have finished an entire cup on my own; it really is a meal in itself (and likely whole grain!). And they also serve stewed nopales (the fruit of the prickly pear cactus stewed with onions and spices), which we were given to sample. Several people in the group really liked the nopales, but Claudia and I agreed it was too salty for our tastes and the dish was a little too spicy for me, as well.

We all also enjoyed washing down our food with Mexican sodas you don't find at most restaurants. Once again, on Jim's recommendation, I ordered the Senorial Sangria soda and I was not disappointed. I love sangria in just about any form and one that's appropriate for a non-three-martini lunch (because I don't work in the ad business any more!) is a winner with me. Next time, though I'll try the tamarind soda.

It was great to see some old friends and meet some new ones. Next time we all get together, we need to do so when we have more than an hour!