The yentas are often hungry. It’s their nature. And when they’re hungry, they eat. What to do, what to do, a couple of days ago when we were in a remote part of town, far from our customary Italliani’s salad when hunger struck. A desperate situation. But then – we noticed the orange signs. Pollo asado. Everywhere. Lots of them.
We pulled up in front of one of the modest little places and the driving-the-car-yenta stepped out of the car into a filthy puddle filled with black grease that took a long time to scrub off later.
Chicken
Grill
Pollerias Ruby, at the corner of Calles 117 and 50, had both grilled and fried chicken. Both looked great, but we were good girls and picked the grilled. Good choice. The chef handed us a plastic bag containing an entire cut-up chicken, two helpings of yellow rice, a lot of home-made hot sauce and a crisp cabbage salad. We actually thought for a moment that it was more than we could eat.
Side dishes - rice, pickled onions,salads, etc.
They had nothing there to drink, so we gave them some money and one of them ran to a nearby store and brought us huge bottle of icy cold diet coke.
Owner Miguel Ascencio and chef Joaquin Uribe Cel
One of the gringas, smiling bravely, said to the chef, Well, I guess we’ll go eat this in the car. Oh! said the gallant young man. Would you like a table? (There were none.) Yes, we said. They scrambled around for some plastic boxes and chairs. How about plates and glasses, he asked? Why yes, that would be great, we said.
Soon we were ensconced on the modest patio of their home, right behind the chicken stand, with knives, forks, glasses, plates, food and drink. What more could a girl want? For about 45 pesos ($3.50 USD) the two of us had a delicious lunch. That chicken was really excellent.
Anonymous yenta with pollo asado lunch
Pollo asado from those small family venues are a good bet. It’s hard to go wrong on seasoned grilled chicken and if you’re worried about bugs of any kind, getting your chicken right off the fire is a good way to go. We demurred briefly, contemplating the wisdom of eating the raw seasoned cabbage, but overwhelmed with lust, we went for it and were none the worse.
The yentas had a terrific lunch.
Joaquin
We also have several of those stands in the hood. My fav is on 81 at the end of 70. It’s actually their house; you step into the entry sala where they keep the TV and the cash box. There is a table where they gather all your goodies together. The chicken is on the grill at the back door, the other stuff in the kitchen. We also get tortillas and either caldo or frijole colado for 50pesos.
Now that is fine eating!
saludos
Debi
OK, what made it so delicious? Spices?
Spices and charcoal grilling. Probably some fragrant wood in there.
This kind of chicken is part if theMexican traditional food served almost EVERYWHERE and yes its delicious. Even here in St Elena there are more than two places where you can buy it.
THe secrets I’m not going to tell you cause you may see it on my menu in July.
Valerie Pickles owns and operates The Pickled Onion in Santa Elena. It’s an oasis of good food and good ambiance near Uxmal. And you can cool off in her POOL.
b