Feeling Down? Get Bionic-o!!

Thanks for checking in folks! This will be the first of many "foodie" articles that I wish to write. For those who have the pleasure of knowing me (j/k), you know that I like nothing more than good food and good drink.

My favorite type of food is Mexican, hands down, no competition. It shouldn't be that much of a surprise, after all I am Mexican (in that pocho kinda way that most Angelinos are). Lately I have been on a big Mexican food kick. Not to say that I normally don't eat Mexican food; tortas, tacos, and burritos have always been in heavy rotation. Its just that these days I have been digging deeper, looking for Mexican food that really tells me something about who we are as a culture.

My Mexican culinary revolution began when I read an article in the LA Weekly about El Huarache Azteca in Highland Park. This place is a lot like your typical neighborhood taqueria and it serves the standard fare like tacos, tortas, combo plates and all that jazz. What really got me going about this place is all of the different items they serve. This restaurant is known for their "huaraches," a thin slab of corn dough that is deep fried. The name "huarache" comes from the fact that it looks like indigenous Mexican footwear. Topped with your choice of meat, queso fresco, and whatever else you want, the huarache is good enough to make tacos seem a little pedestrian. The other day I returned to El Huarache Azteca to get a pambazo de chorizo y papa (a torta filled with chorizo and potato, doused with red salsa, and regrilled to get the bread crispy), a quesadilla with flor de calabaza (a mix of cheese, grilled squash and corn, topped off with crumbly Mexican cheese), and a Sangria Senorial to wash it down.

The specialties at El Huarache Azteca do not end there. The next time I go there, I will have the costillas de puerco en chile rojo (pork ribs in red salsa) and possibly a quesadilla de huitlacoche (gourmet talk: a Mexican corn truffle, real talk: corn fungus with a smoky and earthy flavor).

The day after my gastronomic adventure at El Huarache Azteca, I was feeling a little heavy. I definitely could not go out for eggs and bacon. When I feel like this, usually a whole wheat bagel with cucumber, tomato, sprouts, and a little cream cheese will do the trick. To be honest, I have always felt a little guilty. In moments when I need to lighten up the food load, I have to abandon Mexican food. Hardcore Mexicans, like my pops, would eat meat, rice, beans, and tortillas three times a day and be cool with it. Too much Mexican food, without a break for whole grains and veggies would put a hurting on me something serious.

Instead of going to a bagel joint in a situation like this, I remembered that my uncle had hipped me to a place up the street that sold bionicos. I had heard of a bionico before, but never had one. From what I can tell, a rash of Mexican juice bars started popping up in the LA area a few years back. These places were juice bars proper or just taquerias that jumped on the trend. These places sell aguas frescas (fresh juices), raspados (snow cones), licuados (shakes), and bionicos.

A bionico, pictured above in all its splendor, is a fruit salad on steroids. The base is a fruit salad consisting of apples, bananas, mango, papaya, pineapple, and melon. What takes a bionico to the next level is a "sweet cream" that is placed on top of the fruit. I use the phrase "sweet cream" because shop owners are reluctant to say what the cream consists of. People I know have asked what is in the cream, only to get answers like "Oh, its the same sweet cream they sell at the store." I think that the recipe is guarded, like Coke or BBQ sauce. Efforts to make a homemade bionico have proved futile. At the end of the day, the cream is probably some mix of condensed milk, yogurt, and who knows what else. After the cream is added to the fruit, the bionico is then topped off with a healthy serving of granola. The place I went to, Tortas Guadalajarra on Holt Blvd. in Pomona, also gave you the option of adding shredded coconut, raisins, or other types of cereal (like Fruit Loops). Mix and match. There truly is a bionico for everyone.

How authentic is the bionico? Who knows? A quick Google search was inconclusive. If you know, shoot me an email. The more important question is: Who cares?

At the end of the day, the bionico might be the only Mexican breakfast that won't give you a heart attack and that is a good thing. It is good to see that Mexican food is starting to see some balance. Deep fried corn and meat versus fruit and yogurt. The ying and the yang, the huarache and the bionico ... life has never tasted so good.