Zee Peralta Chef from p 16 backpack through Oaxaca. There, a matri- archal society taught her to cook iguanas and mole. The curious chef soaked it all up. She watched as Indigenous women demonstrated how to make mole time and time again. Even after Salcido Esparza had been doing it for years, she figured she could always learn something new. “I am focusing on what she’s doing, how her hands are moving, the history. The movement of her hands is the move- ment of her mother and her grandmother before her, like they’re all holding hands and making it together,” she says. And whether it’s mole or masa for tamales, the process and history of Mexican food inform the seasonal menu at Barrio Café, which is sprinkled with staples that stand the test of time. The pollo en mole is one such dish: a spice-rubbed half bone-in chicken topped with your choice of sauce, whether it’s the dark-as-molasses mole negro with choco- late and hoja santa, a peppery herb with hints of anise, or the mole rojo crafted with pasilla and ancho chiles. The chicken is served with corn tortillas and plenty of fixings including pickled onions, sweet piloncillo carrots, and quelite beans, a dish made with pinto beans, wild greens, onions and spices. On a recent trip to the unpretentious eatery, bright murals decorated the walls and Moroccan lanterns hung from the ceiling. Salcido Esparza sat across from a table of five, chatting familiarly with her customers while sporting a shirt that read “Decolonize.” If you didn’t know who she was, the magnitude of the recipes that preceded her, or the fact that she’d been nominated for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest eight times over, you’d mistake her for a friend of the family. Barrio Café is a welcoming space. It feels as though you’ve landed in your abuela’s clay-tiled home, the food just as good as it was in your childhood memories. The chiles en nogada is a stuffed poblano pepper dish traditionally cooked with pork, though Barrio Café makes a The chef with her “Comida Chingona” lowrider. chicken and vegan version. The chicken iteration also contains nuts, dried fruit, apples, and pears, and is topped with an almond cream reduction, pomegranate seeds, and cilantro. The cream adds depth to the mildly spicy and sweet dish while the pomegranate seeds bring tang. It’s served with spiced mashed potatoes and calabacitas, which are made with sauteed Mexican zucchini, red onions, and grilled corn. It’s an example of Salcido Esparza’s avant-garde approach to Mexican cooking, Kashanipour says. “Barrio Café pays homage to some of the deep traditions of Mexico without being wedded to them,” Kashanipour says. This is exemplified in vegan variations of popular dishes like posole verde, tradition- ally a pork and hominy soup, and the huitla- coche enchilada. Huitlacoche is a parasitic fungus that envelops planted corn kernels, and an admired edible delight in Mexico and Central America. Salcido Esparza tops hers with a shallot-truffle oil cream reduction. The chiles en nogada represents the colors of the Mexican flag, garnished with fresh green cilantro and topped with a white cream sauce and red pomegranate seeds. It’s a regular meal on September 16 in Mexico, the country’s Independence Day, says Ruben Salcido, Salcido Esparza’s nephew. Salcido, 29, has been working alongside his tía at Barrio Café and its various itera- tions for the past 15 years. That spans Barrio Queen in Old Town Scottsdale, no longer affiliated with the original, and Barrio Urbano, which opened next to Culinary Dropout at The Yard on Seventh Street in 2015, only to close two years later. Salcido also cooked with Salcido Esparza at Barrio Café Gran Reserva, a tiny restau- rant with white linen tablecloths on Grand Avenue that succumbed to COVID-19. He began as a busser and dishwasher, then made his way to the kitchen, eventu- ally attending culinary school under Salcido Esparza’s guidance. “Silvana will occasionally pop >> p 20 19 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES AUG 18TH–AUG 24TH, 2022
