Sometimes it's better to just miss what you can't have rather than torment yourself with a cheap imitation.
Fahri, my Turkish teacher slash ultra-generous host around Turkey took me to Ephesus (see photos on site). On our way back to Izmir we had dinner in a nice restaurant called Tex Mex tonight. At first blush it seemed promising. When I saw the description of chicken tacos (sour cream, guacamole and cheddar cheese--all of which are rare in Turkish markets), my mouth started to water.
Today's travel moral: Don't count your chickens before they hatch.
The ultra-posh ambiance of Tex Mex (glass wall with a view of Izmir's glittering lights, two waiters per table, carefully-groomed maitre d', plush chairs, etcetra) should have been a tip-off that I would not be eating Mexican food as I knew it. Tacos and burritos are meant to be consumed in quantity off of ugly, dirty plates in scuzzy hole-in-the-wall joints where you might (but never do) get food poisoning.
When my tacos arrived they were in the middle of a pristine square white plate, delicately perched on a bed of shredded iceburg lettuce. Fahri had ordered the same thing, and I realized in a split second that I should not, repeat NOT, pick the taco up and bite into it. Forget it if that's how you actually eat a taco. This is Turkey. This is an elite restaurant, with people celebrating their anniversary at a specially-decorated table a few feet away. Some American girl chomping through a taco and would not improve Tex Mex's reputation. So, following Fahri's example, I picked up my knife and fork and delicately consumed my taco's filling, then tackled the remaining corn shell. All the while thinking: What the fuck?!?!
Two strips of semi-melted American cheese were criss-crossed as garnish on each taco--I guess you can call whatever you want cheddar cheese, as long as you live in a place where no one has any idea what the hell it really is. There was definitely no guacamole in either of my tacos. The chicken was flavored with BBQ sauce. (Hence the Tex in the Mex?) Oh, Chipotle, how I yearn for you.
I kept laughing about how absurd it was, but just passed it off as me delighting in the food when Fahri asked what was up. "Yes, it's so good. Yes, it's almost like being back in America." I was not about to bitch and whine since the tacos cost 12.50YTL.
Add it to the list of things to do upon resurfacing in America: Mexican food like whoa.
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1 comment:
Jaime this is great! Not that you spent so much to be disappointed, just the experience in itself. I have not yet tried to find Mexican food here because unlike the Italian, Japanese, and Uzbekhi food, I know it will not be made by anyone from Mexico or anyone who has even been to Mexico! Good luck on the food front and Happy Thanksgiving (even though this word does not mean a holiday to most people in Moscow).
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