Caldo!!!

Good midday.

Yesterday Carlos didn't come due to the illness of his wife, but the day before that we'd spent some time discussing where to eat out to get a good dish of caldo, which is basically meat broth and other good things added to it.  He suggested a place called Plazita's on Broadway near Anita, so last night we went to try it out, I being hungry for caldo.

The place is called Plaza's and  it's where he said it is.  And I got caldo, and it was so good.

Theo got beef tacos and I could tell they were ordinary. But the soup was not ordinary, or rather, it was --just what was wanted, an ordinary bowl of excellent beef broth, beef, and vegetables.

The size of this bowl of soup, for $6.49, was the size of the middle bowl of a set of Pyrex mixing bowls.  (I brought home half.)  The ingredients were:  plenty (at least a half pound) of good soup meat cooked to a tee,  a small red potato, 2 carrots, and half a chayote entire. And leaves of cabbage. There was a side of rice and I added that to the soup.

The classic way of serving caldo would be to make the soup and remove all the solids. On a platter you'd slice the meat, then you'd lay the cooked vegetables alongside it on the platter. When you served the dinner, the liquid broth would be in your soup plate and you'd add whatever you wanted to your bowl.  My mother, when she made vegetable soup, would explain to me that that is not how the Mexicans would do it.  She cut everything small (they don't) and served it all together.  She also put tomatoes in her vegetable soup and there were no tomatoes in the caldo. There was the usual restaurant side table at Plaza's, with jalapeno carrots, three salsas, lots of green lime quarters, a deep bowl of chopped onions, a bowl of dried herbs, and a bowl of green herbs.  You could doctor your soup with any and all and I did.

The soup was  flavorful and fresh; the meat was tender and savory, the vegetables actually short-cooked, especially the cabbage leaves. But not raw; they were just right. Of course, the potato was done.  It was a little master piece. Perfect for supper. YAZZYBEL