Emiliano Comida y Vino

After a long time without writing, dedicated to my latest job as Touristic Competitiveness Director at Tourism Board of Nayarit, a year and a half that left me a lot of experiences and knowledge but over all an increased love for my beautiful state, Nayarit, I felt the need to communicate again, so now is time to go back to my favorite hobby: Being a Foodie and boast about it on my blog!!!

September, the patriotic month, the Mexican pride; this is the month to celebrate our Independence, so, I had to talk about a “very” Mexican place where we can celebrate our rich gastronomy, our traditions, our wine and the warmth of our people; that’s why my choice was “Emiliano Comida y Vino”, located right on the Historic downtown of the capital city of Nayarit: Tepic.

Tepic´s downtown is now so very interesting because of the renewal of the museums, the Mexico Av. (main street in town), the implementation of two great touristic/historic shows: “Edificios Parlantes” (talking buildings) and “Luces del Bicentenario” (Bicentenary lights show) – I promise to about this in the future-.

Everything around Emiliano Restaurant is inspiring and full of traditions and this, together with its own essence and a special touch, make it a unique place that we can´t miss to enjoy.

There is so much to talk about Emiliano Restaurant, come and join me!

I see and feel Emiliano with different scenarios; one starts in the main entrance, with a paint dedicated to  Emiliano Zapata, the national revolutionary leader “Caudillo del Sur”; he rebelled against the  Porfirismo, and created an army to fight for justice and opportunities. He became  “apóstol de la revolución y símbolo de los campesinos desposeídos” (apostle of the revolution and symbol of the poor people of the country fields) he was also the creator of a very celebrated (and true) phrase: I prefer to die straight up that live all my life on my knees. This is the patriotic way that Emiliano says Welcome!

Another scenery of Emiliano brings us to the Antique Tepic houses with a patio in the middle, surrounded by long halls and columns. Around the patios were the kitchen, the living room, a reading room and the bedrooms, but they are now converted in the restaurant kitchen, a private room and the bar. I like the feeling of being in one of those houses, but now decorated in a contemporary style.

The halls in the restaurant are decorated with the purest tradition of the Mexican Septembers with hand chopped paper flags, that with a flash back to my childhood, I can see my school, the streets in downtown, the plazas and September parties decorated with this flags everywhere in different colors.

The central patio brings us to the agave fields; with flower vases at the walls with agave leaves and a beautiful play of lights that feels like sunsets, sunrises and nights at the Mexican fields of Agave. The patio floor is made of hand painted tiles and the fountain in the center makes me think of the pre-Hispanic cities with the water channels running among the pyramids (I know, a bit crazy but this is what I feel like!)

The next scenario is a very modern cellar; Emiliano Comida y Vino, is the main wine promoter in Tepic, specially of the emerging and very good Mexican wine.

This cellar and the wine list “belong” to the sommelier Dora González Robles (with me in the pic), the feminine spirit of the restaurant, always welcoming the guests with a warm, friendly smile and recommending the best wine to pair with our food. She is a pride for us, not only for being the only Sommelier in the city but also for being one of the first women in what was sometime ago, considered a men profession.

Chef Marco Valdivia prepared the menu, dedicated to the patriotic month of September and it was exquisite! I was offered to enjoy it with a glass of Monteviña Cabernet/Merlot from Casa Madero, the oldest winery in México, a great option not only for being a very easy to drink, aromatic and fruity Cab, but also because the price-quality relation is pretty good.

I started with a Tortilla soup, a traditional dish of Mexico; with avocado, chili, and fried tiny sliced of tortillas, I enjoyed until the last spoon!

The second course was a fresh Nopales (cactus) salad, one of the creations of the Chef Patricia Quintana (will talk about this further on) this salad simulated the Mexican flag made of the Nopales (cactus), onion and tomato, loved it!

The third course was one of my all time favorite dishes: Chile en Nogada!! Prepared with some traditional and also some fresh ingredients from the local market and red granate, available only during this season, so I am sure I am not the only one waiting for my Chiles en Nogada; they bring thoughts of the flavor of Mexican grandmothers cooking but now they are also innovated by all Mexican Chefs in their own particular way, this makes them a traditional but also special dish that have a different taste and some cool addition to each one I´ve tried.

This is the magic of the cuisine, a field of emotions, some memories and a bunch of unexpected aromas and tastes!!

Talking with Marco was a very nice experience, I was pleased to see how talkative he is as I thought he was shy, but it was great to hear all the passion abut cooking, all his experiences and about all the projects he has with the Emiliano´s team.

Marco studied Tourism with the vision to travel, learn languages meet other cultures and taste all kinds of food, but in the process he fell in love with the culinary profession and just after that, he started to practice in the Holiday Inn Hotel at Puerto Vallarta, where he learned to cook in big amounts.

One day at surfing the net he found an opportunity to work at Emilano Restaurant; he began working as an auxiliary cook with the Argentinian Chefs Calixto & Diego, but at that time, Tepic wasn’t open to try big innovations in the kitchen, so, a Mexican chef replaced the Argentines.

Finally, in 2000, Marco took over the kitchen at Emiliano, with the vision and confidence of the owner, who always bets on teaching and modernizing his team. The owner brought chefs from other countries to teach all the kitchen staff and they were glad to participate in an exchange to learn and be motivated.

Emiliano has catered many important events in Tepic, like weddings, graduations, dinner parties for Governors, artists and celebrities and they have also participated in The International Gourmet Festival; despite that geographically they were not in the same place that the Festival was traditionally held every year: Bahía de Banderas, They were invited!!

Very motivated and excited about their participation, they decided to invite the talented and internationally recognized Chef Patricia Quintana. So Owner and Chef went to México City to visit her at “El Izote”, her wonderful and very prestigious restaurant, when she said “Yes” they were really happy, because they were the newbies on the festival but they were going to have as a guest one of the most important chefs of the country!!

Her menu for the 10 days of Festival in Tepic, was created in honor to the Mexican Revolution, inspired by the Mexican heroes and our deeply rooted traditions. Everybody loved it! (Including me I enjoyed a delicious dinner of Chamorro accompanied by a wonderful tomatillo sauce with Mezcal, Nopales salad and for dessert, honeyed guava that still makes my mouth water each time I remember it! This dessert s now included in the menu of the restaurant)

The participation of Emiliano Comida y Vino was remarkable, not only because of the caliber of the guest chef, also for the enthusiasm of the restaurant´s team to bring some innovations to their participation, which included lectures to students of gastronomy and tourism, cooking classes to aspiring chefs, housewives, Mexican cuisine lovers, workshops, etc.

A real cultural and gastronomic exchange that captured the essence of the Festival: the promotion of the gastronomy and the impulse for the tourism industry.

This year, the Chef invited to the Festival Gourmet International Vallarta-Riviera Nayarit 2011, www.festvalgourmet.com (November 10^th- 20^th) will be Martha Zepeda, winner of the 1st place in Regional cuisine of Chiapas, award presented by President Felipe Calderón. She will remain throughout the entire Festival in Tepic, with her menu of the amazing cuisine of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, also offering a 7 courses tasting menu and following last´s years success with events surrounding the Festival, she will also feature conferences, tastings, cooking classes and workshops.

Restaurant Emiliano Comida y Vino always engaged in a permanent promotion of the vast gastronomy of the state of Nayarit has participated in events of great prestige like the Festival “Morelia en Boca” accompanying the team representing Nayarit, a team that included the beloved Public Relations of the OVC from the Riviera Nayarit www.rivieranayarit.com Richard Zarkin, the also very dear and talented Chef Betty Vázquez, from “El Delfín” restaurant at the hotel “Garza Canela” in San Blas, Riviera Nayarit, also the Chefs that by their trajectory and sympathy we “stole” to make them Nayaritas, Eugenio Villafaña and Tlaltekiti Rivera, from the Hotel Villa del Palmar Flamingos and the renowned Chef of the now famous restaurant Café des Artistes del Mar, Gerardo Sandoval

The representation of Nayarit in “Morelia en Boca” was widely applauded and recognized by visitors and other participating Chefs.

Chef Marco describes it as an “incredible experience and a wonderful response”, they brought a degustation menu of very traditional dishes from Nayarit, like Zarandeado fish, Albóndigas de Camarón (Shrimp meatballs) ceviche, smoked Sea Bass and much more.

The contribution of Nayarit to the successful Festival was great, unfortunately I wasn´t able to attend, but I heard only good comments about it; the exceptional organization, an excellent advertising program and the quality of the guest Chefs, whom their contribution and collaboration made this one of the best events of the Culinary Scene in México.

Now, Emiliano Comida y Vino, takes part in an event of international presence, the Festival International Cervantino, where Nayarit has been invited as Guest of Honor State, accompanying on this occasion the two Honor Guest invited countries: Finland and Norway.

Nayarit has so much to offer culturally and I hope that someone knowledgeable of what Nayarit will present in Guanajuato, talk us about it in this blog.

It is the first time that a guest State includes their Gastronomy as part of their participation, Emiliano will offer 3 tastings in 3 different dates during the Festival, but also opened a restaurant: “Casa Nayarit” only a few steps from the Plaza del Baratillo. The menu is completely focused on regional cuisine and some of the dishes they offer is the traditional fish Zarandeado, a culinary pride for the people of Nayarit, cooked with firewood in a brick oven installed there for the purpose and following the traditional way of preparation. They are also the famous Srimp Meatballs, Shrimp Empanadas, Shrimp Pozole, many kinds of Ceviches and Shrimp Pâté among other dishes that are also very representative of our State.

This is how my chat with Chef Marco Valdivia and my visit to Emiliano ends, a place that brings the traditional gastronomy to another level much more gourmet, which fosters a passion for culture and the consumption of wine in Tepic, which participates in the team that brings the name of Nayarit to Mexico and the rest of world.

If you are around don´t miss it, because each dish is a surprise, a great combination of colors, textures and flavors…

Viva Emiliano Zapata! Viva the heroes who gave homeland and freedom in our country!!!

Viva Mexico! Viva Nayarit! …. And all those who put Nayarit on the culinary map of Mexico and the world, Viva!!