Food GPS, Sonora Mia

The trip’s first meal drew from the sea, as we feasted on an array of creatures with fins and shells. That was all well and good, but if you’re going to hang with a horde of food writers for a full day, the subject matter inevitably turns to meat. Given that, we arrived at Sonora Mia, a very good Sonora-style steakhouse with meat from Mexico’s beef capital.

We passed under the pixilated cactus sign to find a homey wooden restaurant and an intoxicating aroma emanating from the sizzling mesquite-grilled steaks. La Familia Munoz hails from Hermosillo, the state capital of Sonora, and has represented their state in style for a decade. Every steak comes from Ranch 17, a ranch used by many of Tijuana’s leading restaurants, including Villa Saverios. The cows are grass-fed through and through.

The best way for a Mexican restaurant to make a good first impression is to deliver premium salsas. Sonora Mia loaded our table with a powerful trio, including dishes of creamy avocado, orange chile de arbol and fiery jalapeno, seeds and all.

Our carnivorous feast began in earnest with a Burro Machaca (50 pesos ~ $3.50), a streamlined burrito loaded with dried beef with a consistency akin to pork floss, plus a liberal amount of roasted onions and peppers.

Bill Esparza (Street Gourmet LA) insisted on ordering two different regional soups, and his decision paid dividends. The herbaceous Gallina Pinta (60 pesos) was loaded with tender beef tail and rib meat, plus beans and hominy. This was a hearty but satisfying soup.

Cazuela (60 pesos) was another winner, strewn with shredded carne seca, peppery vegetables and chunks of potato.

Sonora – Mexico’s Wild West

by Bob Brooke

During the heyday of westerns, films showed cowboys riding through the Great Sonoran Desert from Arizona to what is now the State of Sonora in Mexico. The desert is still there and so are the cowboys.

Sonora is Mexico’s wild west. In some ways, it reflects the Old Mexico of the by-gone days of yesteryear. In others, it reflects the new Mexico-the Americanized Mexico of Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, Pizza Hut and Burger King.

Beginning in Nogales on the Arizona border with the U.S., I decided to make a trek into an area of Mexico that’s often left off of the main tourist beat. The main roads through the State are well-marked and maintained due to Sonora’s almost fraternal bond with its northern neighbor, Arizona. Since I was already within the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the landscape changed little as I crossed the border.

Unsuccessful early Spanish attempts to settle what’s now the state of Sonora left the area nearly invisible until the 17th and early 18th Centuries. But the discovery of gold in Alamos brought a steady stream of settlers from the south, and by 1824 the former province of Sonora y Sinaloa had become the State of Occidente. Eventually, the Mexican government divided Occidente into the States of Sonora and Sinaloa.

El Persistente Espiritu de Sonora

By: Nabhan, Gary

Publication: Américas (Spanish Edition)

http://www.marinadorastorrey.com

Seculares tradiciones enraizadas en la tierra sobreviven al cambio en este árido y hermoso estado del noroeste de México.

La vida norteña es un estilo de vida frugal aunque fructífero, que puede estar desapareciendo con la misma rapidez que el desierto y los hábitat de espinosos matorrales que la sustentan. También es una forma de ver y de reconocer la belleza y la utilidad de los muchas veces escasos recursos de una tierra conocida por su «clima de hambre».

Como lo demuestran las numerosas ceremonias indígenas y católicas de Sonora, también es una forma de encontrar la espiritualidad en los materiales y las cosas más cotidianas.