Mark Laba
Province
Brenda Cortez puts together tacos at Dona Cata Mexican Food. The restaurant is named after Brenda’s grandmother and uses her recipes. Photograph by : Gerry Kahrmann, The Province
DONA CATA MEXICAN FOODS
Where: 5438 Victoria Dr., Vancouver
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-436-2232
Drinks: Jarritos, horchata, agua fresca and soft drinks
Hours: Tues.-Sat., noon-9 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m.; closed Mon.
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When I walk into a place to be confronted by a bevy of bowls of homemade salsas beckoning with a spicy murkiness that could make an iguana sweat, I feel like Indiana Jones in the Temple of Intestinal Fortitude.
So it was with this small place. I truly felt like a culinary explorer and really, that’s hard to come by in this town these days. I mean, we’ve got the West Coast-locally sourced shlimazels laid out in artistic presentations suitable for framing in your stomach lining, the profusion of fusion-style eats where balsamic is rubbing shoulders with black bean and bonito flakes or tapas that are tapped out from overkill. So sometimes you just want to escape.
Dropped in with The Law and Small Fry Eli for some truly authentic and all home-cooked Mexican food. Painted directly onto the walls of this eatery are child-like brightly coloured images of Mexico, like burros and avocados and cacti. Mexican music is playing, everyone’s talking in Spanish and the place is hopping with a boisterous south-of-the-border energy that makes you feel you’ve travelled thousands of miles just by crossing the threshold of this taqueria.
Nineteen seats for eating in and, at the counter, the lineup of magnificent salsas and covered steam trays are ready to reveal the secretly spiced family recipes within.
Owner Brenda Cortez de Castrejon is cooking up her grandmother’s recipes (her grandmother ran a taqueria and meat shop in a small town in the state of Morelos, Mexico, for 45 years) and for whom the restaurant is named and, along with her husband Jenner Rodriguez manning the front of the room, is working up some serious Mexican mojo for the tastebuds.
When Mr. Rodriguez saw my confusion at some of the dishes’ ingredients he said, “Here, let me put together something for you. You’ll like it.”
So it was the combo platter for me ($7.50), which came with rice and beans, three small tortillas for wrapping and Mr. Rodriguez added two meats: longaniza, which is a homemade cured spicy-pork sausage and carne enchilada, chili-steeped pork that’s not as hot as it looks. Both have a wonderful rustic flavour from the spicing and slow-cooking.
I also sampled the pozole ($7.50), a corn-hominy soup with large slivers of tender pork and with some oregano and chilis sprinkled on top. With deep-fried bean tacos on the side, which you’re supposed to dip into the broth, it’s a meal unto itself.
The Law tried the chicken tacos ($1.50 each) and Small Fry Eli nibbled on tortilla chips. We went crazy with the salsa offerings. I’ve been to places where salsa is an art form but here, it’s a masterpiece. Jitomate, chipotle, chile de arbol, macha, Mexicana, verde, avocado and an intriguing chilis and peanut concoction. Each has its own distinct taste and range from soothing to fiery.
Matched up with meats like grilled bisteck (beef), chicken mole or the pork al pastor simmered with pineapple, it’s a marriage of earthy ingredients and heavenly flavours.
The menu reads like an edible quest with entries that include tacos campesino, alambres con queso and nopalitas con longaniza (cactus with sausage).
Wash it down with a Jarritos or agua de horchata and to top it off, when you get home, throw back a tequila or two to aid the digestive process.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Slapping the tastebuds silly with amazing food and salsas.
Grade: Food: A; Service: A; Atmosphere: B+
© The Vancouver Province 2007
