La Olla: Oaxaca Restaurant Review
Alvin Starkman, MA, LL.B.
Sit in most small restaurants in Oaxaca, for the comida corrida (full meal, daily special) and as fast as the Burrito Brothers flight is your server for a bowl of warm soup with minuscule floating grease bubbles, a healthy serving of white rice fried in oil, then boiled dotted with diced carrots, a piece of cooked meat or chicken swimming in a spicy scrumptiously mole, a glass of fruity water-of-the day "(Water day), and a two-inch slab of flan to finish … on the other hand there is the Pot.
In the popular downtown bistro-style restaurant La Olla, if customers made for the dish of the day, or select from the menu, co-owner-chef Pilar Cabrera offers the polar opposite — a healthy but tasty alternative and traditional herbs. She and her husband Luis for years have had a faithful following of tourists and residents alike. This welcoming oasis has managed to thrive without my business, I suppose because while living in Oaxaca I've learned to live with lard, pine for Pan Bimbo and rolls (respectively, the Mexican equivalent to starch and crisp white wonderbread Portuguese-style buns), and the pursuit of everything else sugary, processed and refined. The sixties' all things – good-for-you mentality had been out of the oven mind forever, or so I thought.
La Olla is a thirty-seat restaurant with simple wooden tables and chairs and an adobe brick and tile hand-painted fireplace as the focal point on the main floor. A larger dining room with bar is upstairs. The restaurant is adorned with art by Oaxacan artists who exhibit on a rotating basis.
On this visit, my wife and our daughter Sarah chose the letter, while I dare to try the cuisine, even to lower my cholesterol level, opted for the full weight of food 70. Almost immediately after being seated, a small loaf of bread, hand corn sliced whole, along with tortilla chips, arrived in a basket with butter sauce and marinated vegetables. Predictably, Arlene gravitated towards the un-husked while I ate the fried dough (corn).
I had not drank anything green since listening to Deep Purple, Moby Grape and the early years of Pink Floyd, so when tall soda fountain glasses of what appeared to be murky algae arrived, I was horrified — pineapple celery juice. I had no choice. I was not asked, but I prefer Red Bull, or anything else with dextrose first ingredient, fructose or caffeine. It is very cold, with the right combination of fruit and vegetables to provide a refreshing naturally sweet nectar, neither ingredient masking the flavor of the other.
The psychedelia continued. Who would have thought the combination peanuts, jicama (yam bean), orange pieces and boiled beet juice, and then have the gall to call it a salad? I was in a purple haze no. Limp lettuce to which I had become accustomed, drenched in a sea of oil happy. Crunch and Munch, followed by a sun of citrus then soft legume, with seemingly more flavors, textures, colors and tones that all the individual components.
Thankfully my soup held no surprises, but the beans are not normally regular restaurant fare in Oaxaca, or elsewhere in this hemisphere. They were complemented by nopal paddle (), onion, tomato seeds, and cheese, Chile provide the necessary bite. A Again, attention was paid to different levels to ensure consistency.
The chicken fajitas, however, were not expected. But this time I was back to my past over the previous decades of free and voluntary welcomed a main dish lacking excess grease. The chicken breast strips were of course. The vegetables are prepared separately in order to maintain their individual titles, do the cooking. The liquid was more in the nature of light stew juices than canola oil to the wok. The seasoning was Italian, but with the essence of nice fresh cilantro predominating.
Sarah's organic salad mirrored mine in terms of taste and texture, but was sliced baked apple, pieces of watermelon, flax seed and goat cheese. Aztec soup served His inimitable. Most Oaxacan restaurants serve all the ingredients already combined, or porridge and some ingredients arriving already are mixed with those who remain on the side. At La Olla the tortilla strips, diced cheese (cheese), avocado and dried strips hall Chile presented in a bowl, over which you pour the tomato-based broth. Unfortunately, rich and distinctive taste of Chile is not evident how the soup is served, so best to mix well and wait, or add some salsa and fresh lime juice for maximum zestiness … unless you have a cowardly palate.
Arlene ordered the red snapper (red snapper), deviating from their general to avoid fish and seafood, while in the interior of Mexico. This new element menu is a keeper. Two good-sized portions of Pisces properly packaged in bags, each one wrapped in hoja santa yierba aromatic offered on a plate ringed with salsa guajillo. Again there was some healthy heat, and texture, always banana, cactus and jicama.
Our only regret was not having had the opportunity to try some of the other fresh fruit and vegetable juice combination and one of the sandwiches safe and sound, for which La Olla is known. Maybe next time … over time alfalfa sprouts on the side, please.
La Olla
Calle Reforma No. 402
Centro Historico, Oaxaca
Schedule Hours: Monday – Saturday, 8 am-10 pm
Live music Friday and Saturday night, 8-10
T: (951) 516-6668
W: http://www.laolla.com.mx ; http://www.mexonline.com/sabores.htm
About the Author
Alvin Starkman received his Masters in Social Anthropology in 1978. After teaching for a few years he attended Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, thereafter embarking upon a career as a litigator until 2004. Alvin now resides in Oaxaca, where he writes, leads small group tours to the villages, markets, ruins and other sites, is a consultant to film production companies, and operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast. ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ) .
