Fajitas- The Forgotten 80's Classic

There are few foods hotter these days than Texas Hill Country Barbecue specifically smoked brisket. People are waiting two hours early in the morning for Franklin Barbecue in Austin (which recently appeared in the movie Chef and Obama himself has stopped by). Shows on the Food Network and the Travel Channel are extolling generations of pit masters who have worked the legendary spots like Salt Lick, etc. New York City has no less than four restaurants devoted to Hill Country BBQ with places like Brisketown
But back in the 80's as a kid living in the Hill Country, BBQ was not a big deal. Don't get me wrong, I loved it. Instead of crappy deli meat, I got my mom to buy brisket by the pound and make my lunch with that. But it wasn't something made to worship, it just was part of everyday life. What was a big deal at that time was a sliced skirt steak dish served with peppers and onions on a sizzling hot plate- the Fajita.

Now this was special occasion food. During the early 80's we would trek all the way to Market Square in the heart of San Antonio to eat at La Margarita. There waiters jostled about with sizzling platters of fajitas that would be brought to your table with great fanfare. You assembled your own tacos with a myriad of ingredients brought to your table. Mariachis played in background, the location was historic, the food was good, the whole scene was magical. It was my understanding as a kid that the early Fajitas were an effective way to feed cattle ranch hands with a "throw away" cut of tough meat and that the dish was commercialized by La Margarita in the 1920's/1930's. From there it formed the centerpiece of the Tex-Mex menu throughout the remainder of the 20th century

La Margarita

Of course this was all complete bullshit. The "Fajita" didn't appear until the 1970's and those Fajitas were skirt steak cut up into strips and assembled into tacos. No sizzling plates here. It was a German head chef at the restaurant in the Austin Hyatt who came up with the sizzling steak concept in 1982 (for complete history see this excellent article here). Customer loved the theatrics of a sizzling plate arriving at their table with all of the fanfare that entailed. Soon he was moving 13,000 orders of this stuff a month. And soon more legit Tex-Mex restaurants picked up on this dish success and started replicating it at their own restaurants.

Unfortunately by the late 1980's, everyone was doing Fajitas and the dish was watered down. Skirt steak started to get expensive and restaurants started pitching shrimp and chicken fajitas. All of the Mexican chain restaurants(i.e. Chevy's, El Torrito, etc.) started serving the dish often cuts other than skirt. The final nail in the coffin was when fast food chains got in the game with the legendary Chicken Fajita Pita at Jack-in-the-Box and what Taco Bell called Fajita tacos. The once proud icon of 80's Tex-Mex cooking was now a fast food joke best represented in the first episode of Family Guy when Peter orders 6000 chicken "va-ji-tas" .

Ian's Fajitas

Well its time to take this dish back! You are going to have to make it yourself since finding a decent restaurant version is next to impossible outside of Texas. The key to a good plate of fajitas is a long marinade that tenderizes the meat and gives it that distinctive taste. Also use skirt steak! No sirloin, no tenderloin, and I wouldn't even use flank. The beefiness and fat content of skirt is key to the dish. Alternative cuts just don't have the same level of flavor or don't have the right fat content. Make sure you have a cast iron pan as a non sizzling plate of fajitas is just sad. Outside of those rules, feel free to make the dish your own. The dish was born as a hodge podge of more traditional ingredients, so there is not a longstanding tradition to follow here.

Here is how I make it:

Fajitas for Two
(will feed two Texans, four of anybody else)

Ingredients:
1 lbs of Skirt Steak
1  Onion cut into rings
1  Julienned Red Bell Pepper
1  Julienned Bell Pepper
2  tbs Minced Garlic
1/2 Cup Worcester Sauce
2 tbs Goya Adobo with Coriander
1 tbs Freshly Ground Pepper
1 Packet Goya Sazon
1 Tbs Canola Oil
1/2 tsp Cayenne (optional)

Additions:
2 Cups of Shredded Monterrey Jack
2 Cups Shredded Romaine Lettuce
1 Cup Minced Cilantro
Salsa
10 Flour Tortillas

1. Mix together the garlic, Worcester Sauce, Adobo, Sazon and pepper in small bowl
2. Combine spice mix with steak, onion and peppers in a gallon sized bag
3. Marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours
5. Assemble your extra ingredients
4. Heat a gas grill up to 450 degrees

5. Heat oil in a cast iron pan
6. Place meat on the grill cooking each side for 2 or 3 minutes
7. Saute onions and peepers on the heated cast iron pan until peppers are slightly charred and onions are
    caramelized
8. Let the skirt steak sit for five minutes then slice into thin strips
9. Add skirt steak to the sizzling pan and saute with the peppers and onions
10. Serve the pan still sizzling to the table with all of the extras

Spanish Cuisine-Does It Translate?

In the late 1990's, I was planning a post-graduate backpacking trip to Europe. My route was going to take me from London to Paris to Spain. I had devoted two weeks out of my month long trip to exploring Spain for one reason only...it was cheap. I knew a smidgen of Spanish, a little about its history (mostly in relation to the Americas) and liked the movie Barcelona.  But as I did my research on Spain, I became more and more fascinated. More than anything I was intrigued by tapas-little plates that were individually described and photographed in my Eyewitness Guide. Back then there were few Spanish restaurants and very few tapas bars. The small plate trend was a couple of years away and I had never been to tapas bar (it sounded vaguely erotic). It was with great anticipation that I headed to Spain to try these tasty morsels.

Once I arrived in my first destination-Madrid I didn't have much success with the food. My companion was not much of adventurer so our dining options were fairly limited. Most the time what I discovered was that most restaurants didn't fall into the classic models described in my guidebooks. The tavern that I had lunch in served a large grilled pallard (chicken) with french fries and a  gazpacho starter. I was quickly learning that Spanish food was much more than the classic Patas Bravas, Albondigas, and Spanish Tortilla of the guide books. The places that served those dishes were for tourists. In Granada, I had a delicious mixed fried seafood plate-misto fritto and ham with the freshest tasting peas that I have ever enjoyed. Then in Barcelona, I ate at the legendary Cal Pep a seafood tavern where I dined on delicate fried baby squid, blistering padron peppers and clams that tasted better than any that I have had since. I can remember the look on my girlfriend's face when I told the bartender "Que Recomenda"and have never regretted that decision since. One of my great foodie moments.

     

Cal Pep's Clams

However, I have found that Spanish cuisine doesn't translate well in the United States. Too often Spanish restaurants serve the same dishes that you find at the tourist traps in Spain. The same dishes appeared at every Spanish joint I tried- Patas Bravas, Albondigas, and Paella(which would have its own type of restaurant devoted to it in Spain). It was like when Spaghetti and Meatballs, Chicken Parm and Raviolis dominated the menu of "Red Sauce" Italian restaurants for years. Luckily that is no longer the case for Italian restaurants have regionalized and absorbed local California ingredients into their menus. However, the same cannot be said for Spanish restaurants for the most part. Why don't we have Spanish restaurants that focus on one region or type of cooking? Even big name Spanish restaurants like Jaleo served all of the classics albeit delicious versions of them. Where were the daring regional or fusion Spanish restaurants that would transform the cuisine like we have seen with Italian and to a lesser degree Japanese cuisine.

In the Bay Area, a couple of big Spanish restaurants have opened up recently- Shakewell, Coqueta, and Duende. Shakewell is Spanish-inspired while Coqueta and Duende feature a few unique dishes mixed with the classics. Duende had several creative dishes that broke the traditional Spanish menu mold like Txipiones (fried baby squid with frisee) but featured standards like patatas bravas and paella. The space is beautiful with Art Deco flourishes and a fabulous bar centering the space. However the dish that I was ultimately the most excited (Txipiones-fried baby squid) to try was the most disappointing.  The baby squid were over cooked and paled comparison to the fried gossamer bites that I experienced at Cal Pep. The prices were high with most of the tapas being priced in the teens.  For the amount of money spent versus the middling quality of the dishes, better value/experience can be found at Shakewell and Coqueta.

Txipiones at Duende

Coqueta felt like a Disneyland version of a Spanish tapas bar with a beautiful setting on Pier 5 smack dab on center of the San Francisco Embarcadero. The space at first glance was stunning with a glassed in bar separate from the main restaurant and a big city brasserie meets rustic tavern look in the main restaurant. But upon closer inspection(and a trip to the bathroom) the buildings roots as a waterfront warehouse appear. The whole thing feels like you are on a sound stage or in Vegas. The service was excellent with a very attentive waitress who knew her stuff and wasn't afraid to direct you to the highlights of the menu. Even if I didn't always agree with her assessments, I appreciated her command of the menu. My wife and I started off with fantastic Rioja (Biga de Luberri) that got the evening started on the right note. There were plenty of (relatively) reasonable wines on the list which is a nice touch for a restaurant like this. We got some pinxtos(tapas on skewers) which were a mixed bag. Chorizo and Manchego made for a happy couple but the quail egg and jamon serrano didn't have chemistry. At $2.50 each these were not cheap bites. Next we got a Kale Salad with Strawberries($12) that I read was excellent. I am generally suspicious of all things kale but this has to be the best salad I have had all year. Everything in this dish worked together- the soft cheese bound the kale and strawberries together and the acidity of the dressing finished the dish off perfectly. The next dish was a "sunny side up" huevo ($13) that was the most intriguing item on the menu. It consisted of a sunny side up egg that was mixed tableside with fried potato matchsticks, shrimp, and chorizo infused dressing. While it looked and sounded spectacular the dish itself was slightly overpowered by the chorizo dressing. The wife thought it made the dish unappetizing but I believed if salinity was toned down slightly it would have been perfect. Finally we finished with the Seafood Paella which was technically perfect...good "la raspa" (burnt rice layer), quality ingredients, and decent flavoring. The ingredients were separated from the paella and then composed tableside with a lemon/garlic aioli. A very sophisticated Paella with a price tag to match($45). A strong meal but the cost and hassle of obtaining a reservation were big detractors from the overall experience at Coqueta. Coqueta was like a Las Vegas interpretation of Spanish cuisine-good, pricey, and somehow disingenuous.

"Sunny Side Huevos" uncomposed

Finally I made it to Shakewell, a Spanish inspired restaurant that just opened up on Lakeshore Ave in Oakland. I had high hopes for this restaurant as it was only two exits down from my house and could easily make my regular rotation. Upon a arrival, Shakewell has that look that most new Oakland restaurants posses....slick bar, loud, open kitchen in the back. Nice but nothing exceptional or noteworthy unlike Coqueta and Duende. We were last minute drop ins due to a severely delayed flight. Rather than subject ourselves to the horror of Oakland Airport food we decided to relax with a few cocktails and small dinner here at Shakewell. The menu consisted of small plates of varying sizes-with no patatas bravas or gambas al aijo to be found. They have section for rice dishes called Bombas(in honor of the grain that they use) that fill the gap for paella.  The prices were $5 dollars less than those at Coqueta on average. With many of the small plates and salads being under $10 dollars. We avoided the Bombas and ordered on the lighter side due to time concerns. First up came a quartet of melon/jamon serrano pixtos ($6 or $1.50 each) that made for a refreshing starter.  Also on the small plates menu we chose the Octopus/Olive cerviche-esque combo. The tartness of the olives formed a nice foil to buttery octopus. For mains we chose the Albacore($19) and Lamb Kefta ($17). While both of these dishes had a more of an Middle Eastern influence then embodied the spirit of spanish cuisine-great local ingredients and playful presentations. The Kefta was arranged as five "lollipops" with a tangy yogurt sauce. The lamb was well seasoned but would have benefited from a second element to the dish. The albacore was the star of the evening. The fish was cooked perfectly and paired well with a smoky eggplant spread and crispy sugar peas. We finished with the churros that were fresh from the fryer and a great way to finish the meal. While there were service miscues, overall this was the favorite of the three restaurants. In large part because Shakewell dishes broke the generic Spanish mold.

Lamb Kafta Lollipop

Seared albacore with charred eggplant

So has Spanish cuisine finally been translated in the Bay Area? I am not sure but things certainly have improved in the fifteen years since my meal at Cal Pep. Of course that meal becomes less real and more legendary as the years go by. Some recent reviews that I read talk about Cal Pep going downhill and becoming a tourist trap. Hopefully I will get to go back to Barcelona in the near future and find out for myself. But in the meantime I am more and more excited about what is available in the Bay Area.