Sampling Mexican Cuisine in San Juan Bautista by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
Every feast of Saint John the Baptist on June 24th
or around it, my family and I would go out to San Juan Bautista for lunch at
Les Jardines Restaurant.
The first thing you have to know about driving in San Juan
Bautista is that roosters strut around the town and in all the roads. They are pets. They will never be coq au vin.
Their owners do watch over them, but you are in the
roosters’ town, and you must slow down for the roosters and kids. That is driving etiquette for adults.
There are actually three restaurants that I like in San Juan
Bautista: Dona Esther, Les Jardines, and a Basque restaurant that has changed
names over the years depending on which family member owns it at the time.
We usually went to Dona Esther when Florence was little,
because children, parents, and grandparents usually eat there. There is a lot of good, warm food; wandering
mariachi bands on Sunday; and children can practice their “nice manners”
here. Children at Dona Esther do not
play video games. They talk with their
families and learn how to speak with people of all ages, including
grandparents.
Les Jardines is a more adult affair, which makes Tex-Mex
food, but serves it European style. I
like Les Jardines, because I can get menudo soup everyday of the week here
instead of just on Sunday like I do at El Rancho in Marina, California.
Menudo is a Mexican tripe soup with spicy
chicken-tomato-pepper broth. It comes
steaming hot with dry parsley and a lime-like citrus fruit from Mexico called a
citron.
You squeeze the citron juice into the menudo and put parsley
in it. Menudo is supposed to be a cure
for hangovers, but I just like the flavors.
There are a lot of nutrients in this soup and something like zero
calories.
For people who are squeamish about eating tripe, they should
remember that one of the specialties of French cuisine is tripe a la Caen. The French travel to that city to
specifically eat this dish, buy Calvados (apple brandy), and visit the tomb of
William the Conqueror.
Laurent usually orders a carne-asada platter (thin-cut,
grilled steak), which arrives with a mound of stewed, black beans, sour cream,
torn iceberg lettuce with California black olives; Spanish rice; and soft, corn
tortillas.
Les Jardines does not stint on the soft, corn
tortillas. You get about six to make
carne asada meat into a quesadilla-like fold over full of the ingredients that
I just mentioned.
I like cheese or chicken enchiladas with chile verde sauce
made from tomatillos (Mexican green tomatoes) and various green peppers. The chile verde sauce can probably be made
spicier upon request. Peppers contain
Vitamin C, which is good for fighting colds.
I especially like somewhat spicy peppers, because they help clean your
sinuses, which fights colds, too.
I like refried beans, Spanish rice, and shredded lettuce
with California black olives and a dollop of sour cream on top along with
Spanish rice. European olives are
lovely, but many people do not like how salty they are. California olives do not clash with the salsa
flavor wise either. I also like
promoting American agricultural products and not putting Americans out of work.
Chipotle knows people in the suburbs like this, too. That is why McDonalds created this chain for
people, who are afraid of going into inner-cities for food.
When I go to Les Jardines, I always get Negra Modelo amber
beer. It has a flavor like light
molasses, but is not as strong as Guiness.
And, you must get flan at Les Jardines for dessert that
floats in a pool of warm, caramel sauce.
After dinner, we would walk around the garden and look at
all the cactus plants. They had several
ducks in the garden behind chicken wire that would quack at the roosters, who
could roam freely. Florence would quack
at the ducks and chase the roosters away from the “cute” ducks.
Florence knew all about Saint John the Baptist from Catholic
School Bible classes.
I told her that many people in France had the tradition of
jumping over a bonfire to celebrate Saint John’s Day.
“That is an unsafe and stupid tradition. Do not do it, even if it is said to be very
authentic by the French. You can shove
someone into a fire very easily, if they are jumping over it,” I said.
“Mom’s word of wisdom for the day,” Florence remarked and
laughed.
I always tried to think up a didactic lesson for an
after-dinner lagniappe in San Juan Bautista.
Laurent ate mints and tried to look like Hitchcock. (A major scene from Psycho was filmed at the Mission in San Juan
Bautista.)
By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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