Consomme de res

Doesn't look like much, and when I tell you what it is, won't sound like much either, but it was delicious and a perfect gateway drug into the Merida street food scene.

It took a while to find, as the Santa Ana market is all but closed in the evening, and the centro wasn't exactly what I was looking for (with more touristy and upscale joints, and a number of what seemed to be Yucatecan chain restaurants), but eventually I made my way down to the Parque San Juan, which I suspected might be the right place.

I had passed through earlier in the day and been treated to the sounds of mariachi horns wafting out of a corner cantina, so it had already won me over.

At first glance, though, I seemed to be wrong. There were a number of street vendors, but they all seemed to be selling hot dogs and hamburgers. (At which point I should probably make the embarassing confession that one of my favourite vendors in D.F. was Don Cente, who had some kind of weird but amazing hot dog taco confecton that I still think of fondly.) In any case, by the time I had rounded the park, I was considering hot dogs, but then something caught my eye. Or my nose, to be accurate.

I was told that what I was eyeing was called consomme, which seemed odd, but it was a broth, a beef broth in this case, which is poured over a bed of chickpeas and chopped boiled beef, topped with onions and parsley, if you so desire. (I did.) To this, diners add their own green salsa (a pale green, possibly with avacado) and lime. And wow. Oh, and you can order a side of fresh tortillas for dipping. Do.

I waited until today to rave about it in case there was a price to be paid. There wasn't. Highly recommended.

Oh, and you can get the beef as tacos, too. Probably equally delicious.