"Comida Chilanga" is food popular in the center of the country, Mexico City (D.F.) to be exact. I have become a regular at the "Chilanga" cocina economica around the corner from our office here in Merida, "Platos Rotos" (Broken Plates), because when it comes to lunch, I fully admit I am too lazy to prepare food for myself at home to bring to work. I love that the food there always tastes so "home-made", is served on chipped/hand-painted ceramic plates, and I can tell it's made from fresh ingrediants. With most full dishes ranging in price from 40-55 pesos ($3-4), it is also super affordable compared to my lunch options back in Boston, where it was hard to get a sub and drink for less than $10, and if you wanted chips or some fruit with that, $13 was the typical daily price tag for a full lunch. Another reason I like eating out for lunch is that I at least have OPTIONS; I find it a bit depressing cooking for just myself because it means I have to eat the same thing for days. Any single person out there can tell you, it's next to impossible to cook ONE serving of anything. Sooooo, with my whole healthy kick lately, I've come up with some rules for myself on how to eat healthy while eating at a restaurant serving cuisine that is notorious for it's delicious oil-soaked, fried specialties and fattening cheese & cream toppings. Here are my rules:
1) Say "no gracias" to the chips and frijoles put on the table when you sit down and ask to have salad with the main dish instead (the local avocado is super healthy!)
2) Choose soup with noodles, pasta, OR rice--only one source of carbs at the meal.
3) Forego the tortillas placed on the table; use the knife and fork provided even though the local custom is to use the tortillas to pick up the food--you don't always have to follow the local custom. Your knife and fork still do the job!
4) Choose items cooked in salsa verde, which is low in fat and calories compared to cream-based and mole sauces.
5) If all of the daily menu items are fried, request "pechuga a la plancha" (grilled chicken breast), which is always available but not always on the daily list.
6) Ask a day in advance when you know they'll be serving fried fish for them to set aside one fillet to be grilled instead of fried. (This time a year a fish dish is always served on Fridays because Catholics observing Lent do not eat other meats that day of the week; so that means ask on THURSDAY for the piece of fish to be set aside.)
7) Opt for water instead of high-calorie, sugar-loaded fruit juices and horchata. "Un vaso de agua" is always free, so it's healthy and economical. (And much contrary to the American traveler superstition, water served in a glass WILL NOT KILL YOU in Mexico. I drink water WITH ICE daily, and my stomach is juuuuuust fine. They pour the water into a glass from a big bottle of water, NOT the TAP. Restaurant owners in Mexico are not out to kill American tourists, promise!)
And there you have it, the rules to healthy "Chilanga" dining!
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