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| Meaty tacos are enjoyed in corn tortillas at Dongguan's Al Chile, while Beijing's Tex-Mex eatery Lucky Lopez wraps tacos in fresh flour tortillas. Photos provided to China Daily |
Cinco de Mayo, or the fifth of May, celebrates the day Mexico drove out occupying French forces in 1862. The date is often confused with Mexico's independence day - that's actually Sept 16, which marks the beginning of the country's war of independence from Spain.
The "holiday" has been called an invention of bars and beer companies along the Texas-Mexico border, where for decades the only wall has been a huge pile of empty Corona bottles on the morning of May 6. Marked in Mexico by military parades, Cinco de Mayo in the US has become a week-long celebration of Mexican-American culture. The fun has spread around the world, and Mexican eateries around China will embrace the party spirit on Friday.
As a native Texan, I took the opportunity of the upcoming holiday to check out a Mexican eatery in Beijing with Texas roots.
Lucky Lopez is far from the flashiest Mexican restaurant in town - nearby hotspots like Q Mex and Cantina Agave will have much livelier Cinco de Mayo parties this weekend. But Lucky Lopez, hidden in an alley near Sanlitun's bar street, offers home-style fare that owner-manager June Chow's Dallas neighbors would recognize immediately.
"We make our horchata fresh every morning," says Chow of the traditional Mexican milk-based drink with a touch of cinnamon, a great palate cooler if your food choices are a bit spicy. A source of pride here are the flour tortillas, also fresh-made daily with a tortilla press Chow toted over from the US. These are indeed beautifully soft and satisfying, especially for Americans who tend to prefer flour tortillas to Mexico's almost sacred corn versions.
