Pati Jinich, voice-over: Cities are living things, stitched together by streets and reimagined by the people who call them home.
Urbanist Paola Montes takes me soaring above rooftops and mercados in Mexico City on the Iztapalapa cable bus to see how design and transit are reshaping the way people move and live.
[Speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: Back in my kitchen, I'll make suadero tacos inspired by the tacos Paola and I ate at Taqueria Los Cuados... [Speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: served with a bright salsa verde and packed with flavor that moves fast and stays with you.
Mila wants to know suadero, too.
Pati, voice-over: With my feet back on the ground, Diego Crdenas at Bamboocycles shows me how his bamboo bicycles are helping to build better communities through sustainability.
Do you want to go ride some bikes?
Yeah!
Let's do it.
Oh, look at the roses!
Pati, voice-over: We end the day with street tlacoyos.
Whoa!
Pati, voice-over: And I'll show you how to make them at home.
Oh, this is so much fun.
Pati, voice-over: Filled with fava beans, topped with nopalitos and a fiery salsa roja.
The perfect food for life on the go.
[Speaking English] Pati, voice-over: Because a city isn't just its skyline, it's its people, their ideas, their meals, and the ways they keep building forward.
[Birds chirping] Pati: Mm!
Mm-hmm.
This is so beautiful.
That's fabulous.
[Laughter] Mm.
Est delicioso.
[Birds chirping] [Bell rings] Announcer: "Pati's Mexican Table" is brought to you by... Announcer: La Costea.
Por sabor!
Announcer: From the flavors of the Caribbean to the tastes of Latin America, on the menu with Marriott Bonvoy.
Men: Avocados from Mexico [Acoustic guitar plays Avocados from Mexico jingle] Announcer: Over 40 years bringing authentic Latin American flavors to your table-- Tropical Cheese.
Eggland's Best, available in your grocer's egg aisle.
Visit egglandsbest.com.
[Acoustic guitar playing Nationwide jingle] Pati, voice-over: Down in the street, Mexico City is a busy, vibrant, never-ending maze.
From high up in a cable car, it's still never-ending, but it feels almost calm.
Both: Hola.
[Both speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: Paola Montes has dedicated her career to studying and improving urban transportation systems.
In a city of 22 million, that requires some novel solutions.
[Speaking Spanish] Pati: Whoa!
[Speaking Spanish] [Speaking Spanish] No.
Pati, voice-over: In 2021, Mexico City launched the cable bus system in Iztapalapa.
At over 10 kilometers, it's the longest in the world, servicing roughly 100,000 daily riders, reducing pollution and cutting commute times in half.
[Pati speaking Spanish] [Paola speaking Spanish] [Paola speaking Spanish] [Pati speaking Spanish] [Paola speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: Part of that increased quality of life has been more investment in displaying the creativity of local residents near the line.
[Pati speaking Spanish] [Paola speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: Back on the ground at the station, the productivity created by the cable bus system is on full display.
Commuters return from their jobs and entrepreneurs gather to supply them with everything they need or crave on their way home.
Paola and I are heading to dinner at Taqueria Los Cuados, where they specialize in two kinds of tacos: tacos al pastor and tacos al suadero, served en trozo, that is, in larger slices for people to create their own tacos.
The local crew swears by it, so we have to see what all the hype is about.
Hola.
[Speaking Spanish] [Server speaking Spanish] [Speaking Spanish] [Paola and Pati laugh] Pati: Wow!
[Paola and Pati laugh] Mm.
S!
[Laughs] Wow.
Pati: I'm sharing with you two really beloved street foods from my hometown, Mexico City.
One is taco de suadero and the other one is tlacoyo.
So we're gonna start by making the tacos de suadero, and the first thing I'm gonna do is make the marinade for the meat.
So I'm gonna choose one orange.
The juice of a lime.
Two teaspoons salt.
One teaspoon pepper.
I'm gonna chop 3 garlic cloves.
Mix it really well.
It uses a kind of meat that has a considerable amount of fat, like the brisket I'm using here.
First, I'm gonna marinate it.
You can marinate it anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour, but if you have the chance, marinate your meat for up to 24 hours.
I'm gonna start turning on my casserole over medium heat.
I'm kind of massaging the marinade into it.
OK, I'm gonna rinse my hands.
Now I'm gonna add a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil, and I'm gonna start browning my meat in batches.
[Sizzling] You know when the meat is ready to be flipped when it has created a crust in the bottom.
I'm using a slotted spoon to keep all the fat in the pan.
I'm adding the rest.
Ah, you can see the beauty.
So now that it's browned, I'm gonna add all of the meat in here.
And now I'm just gonna add water, and I just want it to barely cover the meat.
I'm gonna add 3 bay leaves.
So now that it's boiling, cover, and then reduce the heat to medium low, and this is gonna cook for a couple of hours.
I hope you will wait here with me for the... I'm kidding.
I'm gonna make a salsa.
This pot already has water.
So we're gonna use the tomatillos.
I have a pound and a half here.
We're going to use serrano, jalapeo, chiles de rbol, and I'm gonna use 3.
Two cloves of garlic.
Adding that in there.
Gonna let that simmer.
My meat is cooking in the back.
My tomatillos and chiles have been simmering.
The ingredients are ready and we want the tomatillos to be bursting.
So we do all the tomatillos.
I'm gonna puree until I can still see these tomatillo seeds.
Jalapeo.
Serrano.
All my chiles de rbol.
Here are the garlic cloves.
Like a half a cup of the cooking liquid.
Chipotles in adobo sauce.
This is gonna be feisty.
Slice of a white onion.
Cilantro.
Coarsely chop and add a teaspoon of salt.
And now we're gonna puree until smooth.
[Whirring] That is the smell of a beautiful thing.
Mm.
Mm.
It only needs a taco.
This is ready.
I'm gonna take out the meat.
And the comal needs to preheat before you heat the tortillas.
At Los Cuados, they're famous because they do the suadero en trozo, which means in large chunks.
Now, I'm not gonna do the suadero in large chunks because I do like it chopped, but what I am gonna do is give you a big plate of the suadero with a salsa, cilantro, and onion, and then they lay the warm corn tortillas on top, and then you can taco your way through the plate.
Mila wants to know suadero, too.
This looks good.
3 tortillas.
If I wanted to flip the tortillas right now, they would stick, so you need to let them warm.
Meanwhile, we're building the plate.
In Los Cuados, they give you the big chunk.
Here, see how easy it is to flip?
The tortilla didn't even fight.
So suadero, salsa.
Chopped white onion.
Chopped cilantro.
Just throw the tortillas on top.
Mm, mm, mm, mm.
Mm.
The raw onion, it's, like, exploding with brightness.
And the salsa has so much flavor.
Satisfying.
Filling.
And it's really food that's made at home and brought to the streets for when you have a craving.
It's food made with a lot of love.
Pati, voice-over: In a city famous for crazy traffic congestion, Diego Crdenas is turning to nature to create a unique and beautiful solution to urban mobility.
Pati: You have all those styles?
Diego: I have more, even.
Long tails, Mm-hmm.
that's our new model.
Families are buying them to get the kids to school.
Hybrid bikes.
Mountain bikes.
So there are, like, 18 different models.
Pati, voice-over: Diego began creating his bicycle blueprints while going to university for industrial design.
During his studies, he took a trip to Europe for a special course on working with bamboo.
I was in Florence, in Rome, in London, in Paris, and I just saw, like, a lot of people riding bikes and I was like, "That is amazing.
That is the way people should move inside cities."
So coming back to Mexico City, I found that there was a big contrast.
Pati, voice-over: Diego decided to take matters into his own hands and built his own bike from scratch using bamboo.
And in every corner, "Where did you get it?"
Oh, yeah?
"How can I get one?
Where can I buy it?
How much is it?"
It's beautiful.
Yeah.
First one was not that beautiful.
I have to admit.
[Laughs] Pati, voice-over: Diego now creates fully custom road bikes that can withstand the chaos of Mexico City.
Are people more conscious about people biking?
I think it is a work in progress.
We're not Denmark.
Yeah.
[Laughs] But I think we're doing the steps that are appropriate to get more people on bikes.
Pati, voice-over: Since Diego opened in 2010, interest in biking has increased.
He and his team now build 4 custom bikes per week for Chilangos looking for a new way to get around.
It is actually a grass.
[Laughs] That is so wild.
Bamboo is a grass.
Wow.
And it is very, very light.
[Speaking Spanish] We made some, um, tests.
So cool.
We broke, uh, bamboo like this.
It was 300 kilos just to, like, snap it.
Pati, voice-over: It all starts with Diego's main ingredient.
As strong as it is, the bamboo still needs to go through Diego's special process before it can be used as a bike frame.
Pati: So you dry them with the air first?
Yes.
And then we use, uh, fire, like a torch, to roast them.
This makes the skin, uh, the sugars from the skin, uh, caramelized, and this makes the bamboo stronger.
I try to source everything from Mexico.
So resin, it comes from the State of Mexico.
Uh, steel comes from Monterrey.
Resin comes from Jalisco, bamboo from Yucatn.
You're, like, cooking a bike.
Yes.
It looks yum.
[Both laugh] And we're just going to go with the resin, with the fiber, around the joint like this.
So once this is dried, we sand it, and then the bike is ready to be ridden.
Do you want to go ride some bikes?
Yeah!
Yeah!
Let's do it.
[Speaking Spanish] [Both laugh] Pati, voice-over: Diego and I are riding nearby to his favorite tlacoyo stand for lunch.
Go, go, go, go.
Pati, voice-over: Each morning for the last 20 years, Rufina Loyola Maya and her daughter Felicitas Maria Loyola prepare their stand and assemble handmade ingredients.
They're making tlacoyos for hungry locals like Diego and me.
This is such a pretty ride.
Oh, look at the roses!
Pati: Hola.
Woman: Hola.
[Diego speaking Spanish] Pati: OK.
[Diego speaking Spanish] [Diego and Pati laugh] [Pati speaking Spanish] Pati, voice-over: Both start with masa.
Tlacoyos are flattened ovals, stuffed with ingredients like cheese, fava beans, and chicharrn.
Then they're fried or toasted and topped with nopalitos and salsas.
[Speaking Spanish] [Felicitas speaking Spanish] [Pati gasps] Mm.
Mm.
Oh, yeah.
Gracias.
Mm.
Mm.
The fava beans, it's so tasty.
So nicely seasoned.
I love the nopales on top.
Mm!
Whoa.
Mm-hmm.
[Speaking Spanish] I've loved learning about you and what you do and really how you approach living in this city, in the community.
It's really enlightening.
Tlacoyos are not only a really popular street food, but they are perfect for on the go.
So we're gonna start by making the filling of the tlacoyo.
One of the most popular fillings is fava beans.
I learned from Felicitas and Rufina the secret to making really good fava bean tlacoyos is to soak them for over 24 hours, then grind them, and then you cook them.
This has been soaking for more than 24 hours.
I'm gonna drain.
I'm gonna add the fava beans in here.
I don't wanna pulse it until it turns into a puree.
You want texture.
[Whirring] Gonna start heating my pan.
A little more.
[Whirring] OK.
We got it.
I'm gonna add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
A slice of a white onion to season the oil.
I'm gonna scrape the fava beans.
This is the texture you want.
The onion is going to continue to brown, and I'm gonna finely chop two cloves of garlic and one jalapeo.
I'm removing the onion, leaving that flavorful oil behind.
So now I reduce the oil to low.
I'm gonna add the jalapeos first.
Now I'm gonna add the garlic.
[Sizzling] And now I'm gonna add the fava beans.
A half a teaspoon salt, half a teaspoon pepper, a half a cup of chicken broth.
And then we cook these for one or two more minutes.
Let us taste.
Mm.
Mm!
Even Mila, who's the biggest meat eater, is now looking at what's in the pot because it smells so good.
So now we're moving to the next part of the tlacoyo.
A delicious masa then has to have a delicious filling, which traditionally is fava bean; requesn, which is a kind of cheese, like ricotta cheese; chicharrn prensado, which is pork cracklings that are cooked in a sauce and then compressed; and nopalitos on top.
When you buy them, make sure that they look fresh, that they don't have mold in the bottom, that they don't have soggy areas.
So this is a perfect nopalito.
To clean them, cut the base, remove the thorns, and I have some that I already cut.
I'm gonna add a little oil to the same pan.
About a tablespoon over medium heat.
Half a teaspoon salt.
While my nopalitos cook, I can actually mix my masa.
I have two cups of blue corn masa harina and half a teaspoon of salt.
I'm gonna add 1 1/2 cups of water in mixing, and you can see how the color starts getting a little bit more intense as the masa harina hydrates, but it looks a little bit crumbly.
I'm gonna get a couple more tablespoons.
Add a little at a time until it comes together.
I like to add one tablespoon oil to the masa.
I love making masa at home.
So I'm gonna cover it and I'm gonna rinse my hands.
I have the fava bean filling.
The masa here resting.
Nopalitos are almost ready and the last thing they need is a squeeze of lime.
Look at the nopalitos.
See?
Cooked and brown on the outside.
They still are going to give a crisp crunch.
Now we're gonna make a feisty salsa.
It has garlic cloves, chile de rbol, ripe tomatoes, and onion.
So I'm gonna chop the garlic cloves.
While I chop them, I'm gonna heat the oil.
[Laughs] Two tablespoons of oil.
So I'm gonna let the garlic cook in the oil with the chile de rbol.
We want it to render the flavor into the oil.
Chile de rbol.
About a quarter cup of chopped onion.
Beautiful.
I'm gonna add ripe tomatoes.
This makes for a full pound.
3/4 of a teaspoon of salt.
I'm gonna cover it and reduce the heat to medium low.
Now we have to make the tlacoyos.
I'm gonna get my comal and I'm gonna start preheating it.
We have the masa.
If the masa is getting a little bit dry in your hands, you add a little bit of water.
Tlacoyo experts can shape them with their hands.
But that's people that make tlacoyos every day.
So you can use your tortilla press, like me.
See, it's much bigger than if I was making a tortilla.
Then add plastic on top.
Press.
We're gonna add the filling.
I'm gonna fold it as if it were a quesadilla just because I wanna close it.
You want the filling inside.
And then once you know that the filling is in, then with the same plastic, just shape it like a long football.
You can press again.
And then you're gonna just add it to your pan.
I'm so hungry!
That sounded like Cookie Monster.
Give me cookies.
Give me tlacoyos.
A little oil.
Each one needs to have its own egg.
[Sizzling] Tlacoyo.
Nopales.
Egg.
Salsa.
Mm-mm-mm.
Cheese.
A little bit of raw onion.
A little cilantro.
And there's a tlacoyo!
Mm.
Mm, mm.
The masa, so earthy, so crispy on the outside.
And then the filling has so much flavor.
The fava bean, tasty, so deliciously beany, earthy, pronounced.
And then the nopalitos are tart and crisp.
If I was a friend of Diego, I'd go visit him every few days.
Yeah.
Look.
Yum.
Pati: For recipes and information from this episode and more, visit patijinich.com and connect.
Find me on Facebook, TikTok, X, Instagram, and Pinterest @PatiJinich.
Announcer: "Pati's Mexican Table" is brought to you by... Announcer: La Costea.
Por sabor!
Announcer: From the flavors of the Caribbean to the tastes of Latin America, on the menu with Marriott Bonvoy.
Men: Avocados from Mexico [Acoustic guitar plays Avocados from Mexico jingle] Announcer: A tradition of authentic Latin flavors and family recipes.
Tropical Cheese.
Eggland's Best, available in your grocer's egg aisle.
Visit egglandsbest.com.
[Acoustic guitar playing Nationwide jingle] Announcer: Proud to support "Pati's Mexican Table" on public television.
Passport
Follow Us