El Restaurante Mexicano
Summer 2002
Ensalada de Nopales with Margarita Vinaigrette
Hispanic Produce Takes Root
Plantains, nopales, jicama and other "exotic" items are a growing trend on menus nationwide
By Jeff Siegel
Contributing Writer, El Restaurante Mexicano
©2002 Maiden Name Press LLC
When Michael Marx worked in Austin several years ago, his produce supplier gave him epazote for free. She grew it in her back yard, and had plenty. Today, Marx, the chef-owner of Blue Agave Restaurante y Tequileria in Baltimore, Md., pays $30 a pound for the Mexican herb.
"Clearly, what I've noticed, and that demonstrates it, is that there is more produce and the customers are better educated," says Marx, who has owned the traditional Mexican restaurant in the Federal Hill neighborhood for more than two years. "When I started, nobody knew what tomatillos were. Today, I go through 80 pounds a week."
And that's not just true for the East Coast, or for higher- end restaurants like Blue Agave. Hispanic produce – tomatillos, jicama, plantains, nopales, avocados, mangos, cilantro, chipotles, chayote and more – are turning up on menus from coast to coast, up and down the price chain. Chipotle Mexican Grill, the upscale quick-serve burrito chain that has restaurant analysts drooling, has brought roasted chile-corn salsa and cilantro rice to places like Minneapolis and Cleveland.
"We've seen so many unique items enter the mainstream, like tomatillos, that it's getting harder and harder to find unique items to offer," says Tristan Millar, the director of marketing for Frieda's, Inc. in Los Alamitos, Calif., one of the largest produce suppliers in the country. "Instead, what we're seeing are chefs and restaurants using traditional items in unique ways."
Empanadas de Plátano
Statistics support Millar's observation. According to the Global Agribusiness Information Network, U.S. imports of papayas more than tripled in the mid-1990s, while imports of jicama increased by one-third and mangos by two-thirds. Meanwhile, the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas reported that imports of tomatillos from Mexico almost doubled between 1996 and 2001.
"I think there has just been a higher usage of all exotic-type products," says Julie Wozniak, quality assurance/food safety manager for Chipotle. "And what we've noticed in the past couple of years is that these products have been used in all sorts of contexts."
That's evident from restaurant menus. Traditionally, salsas have been red, chiles have been jalapeños, and plantain was short for plantation. Avocados have been a staple for years (usually in guacamole), and jicama became well known in the 1980s when Stephan Pyles and Dean Fearing pioneered what has become known as Southwestern cuisine. (This issue features a salad recipe using jicama, cilantro and chipotles).
But in the past decade, others have used those items as a starting point to expand menu horizons. Fruits like mangos and papayas have come into play (even Chevy's boasts a tropical fruit relish and chefs are experimenting with nopales, chayote, and dried chiles like chipotles and anchos. (Click here for a great mango and guava fruit salad.)
Jicama-Orange Salad with Chipotle Vinaigrette
One reason restaurants have been able to do these things is that suppliers and distributors have made increasing efforts to find quality produce at competitive prices, several chefs say. A chain like Chipotle, for example, goes through 561,600 avocados (11,700 cases) every month. Availability is increasing, and many previously seasonal items can be found year-round, or close to it, thanks to imports from Mexico and South America, says Allison Moore of the Fresh Produce Association. Mexican chayote, for example, is available 12 months a year, not just in late spring and late fall. So are papayas (150 million pounds annually), while mangos are plentiful from February to September.
Marx has noticed a similar development among suppliers and distributors. When he opened in 2000, it was not only difficult to find vendors to supply the produce in the quality and quantity he needed, but also it was difficult to find vendors who wanted to do it. They didn't see a profit in handling items considered so exotic. Two years later, the situation has improved markedly. Marx says he can choose from more than one supplier, and that quality and price have improved thanks to the competition. "That's because I'm not the only one who is buying nopales," he says. "Other people want a 40-pound box, too."
Ensalada de Nopales with Margarita Vinaigrette
Chefs and suppliers see two trends over the next couple of years–an increasingly sophisticated consumer who doesn't consider things like jicama to be unique, and chefs who are eager to experiment to please those consumers.
Says John Rivera Sedlar, a Los Angeles chef and consultant: "Consumers want to know what the ingredients are in the dishes, and they want to see different ingredients."
Fruits seem to fill the bill here. Millar says she has seen an increase in the popularity of little-known items like the pineapple guava, or feijoa, and the cherimoya, which is similar to a papaya but has creamy, white flesh. Both are intensely sweet, and lend themselves to relishes, fruit salsas, and even sorbets.
In addition, sauces made with fruits may become more popular, especially if Mexican cuisine continues to become more upscale and the same sort of fusion process that has influenced other regional styles takes place, Sedlar predicts. He sees chefs using items like tamarinds for sweet and sour sauces for game and meats, and an increasing number of menus which feature non-traditional moles made with less well-known items.
All of this experimentation gives chefs a chance to vary the plate presentation, which adds another level of sophistication – and another way to boost sales of unique menu items – Millar concludes.
Jeff Siegel, who lives in Dallas, writes about a variety of restaurant
and marketing issues.
