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  • (lively salsa music)

  • - This is the definition of a meat sauna.

  • This is an ultimate fiesta in here.

  • It's just a party in the middle of the morning,

  • a meat party.

  • All the action, the energy in here.

  • The meat love is out of control.

  • (lively salsa music)

  • Good morning, I hope you're having an amazing day.

  • It's Mark Wiens.

  • I am in Oaxaca City and Oaxaca is known

  • for having some of the best,

  • one of the ultimate food cultures in all of Mexico,

  • so I'm thrilled to be here.

  • We're gonna walk around today,

  • we're gonna go visit some local markets.

  • We're gonna eat some amazing Oaxacan food,

  • we're gonna visit some attractions.

  • We have one full day in Oaxaca City.

  • We're gonna make the most of it

  • and I'm gonna share it all with you

  • in this video right now.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • A cup of hot chocolate, mixes it up twirling that stick.

  • Oh man, this is a frothy, bubbly cup

  • of fresh hot chocolate, Oaxacan-style.

  • Oh, wow.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • We decided to try a Tamal de Mole,

  • and it's steamed in a corn husk.

  • There's the masa and then you can see the Mole underneath.

  • Okay, let's try this.

  • Oh, oh it's so hot!

  • I love how that's just stuffed,

  • it's just packed, it's just oozing with Mole.

  • And you can taste the dried chilies in there.

  • You can taste a little bit of a chocolatey flavor

  • and then it's all wrapped up within that corn meal.

  • I need a sip of hot chocolate after that.

  • Oh, we are off to an amazing start.

  • That was just my first bite

  • and my first beverage of the day in Oaxaca,

  • and it was fantastic.

  • Oh, and that's making me excited.

  • We need the bunny hat.

  • (people chattering)

  • Oh that hits the spot in the morning.

  • That's wonderful.

  • - Mark, Micah wants this hat.

  • - Micah.

  • (upbeat music)

  • It's 8:00 a.m. right now

  • and we're starting off this morning

  • at Mercado Abastos, which is the biggest,

  • it's the largest market in Oaxaca City.

  • It's absolutely gigantic.

  • You can find everything here from fresh vegetables

  • and seafood, oh, lots and lots of seafood, to fruit.

  • Anything, (speaking foreign language).

  • Also, we're gonna also find a lot of pre-cooked food here

  • that we're gonna eat for breakfast.

  • If you need a new pair of underwear,

  • if you need a pet, if you need fruits and vegetables,

  • this is the market to come to.

  • Oh, we're coming to the food section right now.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • (lively salsa music)

  • Some of the stalls are still opening

  • because I think they open around eight or nine,

  • this whole entire market,

  • but this stall back here is just absolutely packed.

  • It's called Comedor Lupita.

  • I'm not even totally sure what they serve yet,

  • but there are a lot of people here.

  • You know it's gonna be delicious,

  • so we're gonna stop here to eat whatever they serve.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • Shrimp soup or fish soup?

  • Shrimp soup or fish soup?

  • (people chattering)

  • They put a ball of masa in the,

  • what is that called, a flattener,

  • and then they flatten it into a tortilla

  • and then the tortillas go

  • onto the comal,

  • which is a hot stone, and then they just bubble up.

  • So we got fresh tortillas here,

  • we got the Caldo de Pescado, which is with fish,

  • a fish soup, and then Caldo de Camaron,

  • which is the shrimp soup.

  • For the Caldo de Pescado, it comes with a whole fish,

  • just overflowing over the bowl.

  • I'm just gonna taste that broth first,

  • before I add some seasoning.

  • (people chattering)

  • Mm, it's a little bit tomato-y.

  • You can taste some herb in there.

  • And you do taste the full effect of the fish,

  • that's a little bit fishy.

  • I'm gonna squeeze in some lime.

  • (people chattering)

  • And they also have some onion and peppers and cilantro,

  • which is all communal, which you can add to your soup.

  • I'm gonna add a bunch of onions and peppers and cilantro.

  • Oh yeah, this is gonna be amazing.

  • And then also some cilantro.

  • (dishes clattering)

  • Okay, and then for this bite, I gotta go into the fish.

  • Oh yeah, I'm not sure what type of fish this is,

  • but it's a whole fish in here.

  • Look at all that meat on the side.

  • Oh wow, that's hot.

  • (people chattering)

  • Mm, oh the fish is awesome!

  • Mm, it's really like silky in texture.

  • Actually the broth tastes a little bit seafood-y,

  • but the fish is very like pure, very clean,

  • not fishy tasting at all.

  • I can't wait to try one of these fresh tortillas,

  • and I think the easiest thing to do, is to just roll it up

  • and you kinda eat it like bread on the side.

  • (people chattering)

  • Mm, mm-hmm, the tortilla's a little bit on the drier side.

  • You can taste the fresh corn.

  • Actually it only tastes like pure corn,

  • maybe just with water in it.

  • It's good, it doesn't taste like oily whatsoever at all.

  • Okay, one more addition to the soup

  • that I didn't know they even had on the table is this salsa.

  • I gotta add some.

  • (dishes clattering)

  • (people chattering)

  • - [Man] This is what made you want to come, right?

  • - Yeah, this market?

  • No, I had no clue where to come here.

  • We were just gonna walk around and see whatever looks busy.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • Oh, oh that salsa is nice.

  • A little bit sour, and green chilies, which are,

  • I think they're roasted.

  • You can taste a smoky flavor to them.

  • Mm, this is a very soothing,

  • very warming dish to eat in the morning.

  • I'm loving it.

  • Next I'm moving over for the Camaron, which is the shrimp.

  • Squeeze in a little more lime.

  • Okay, take a look at this.

  • This is the same soup base,

  • but full of big shrimp with the head on, full shrimp.

  • So, I'll actually just take this guy with my fingers,

  • pluck off that head.

  • (lively salsa music)

  • Yeah, that's a good fresh shrimp,

  • then we follow with some of the soup.

  • Mm, yeah, this is a wonderful dish.

  • Taste that with a tortilla.

  • Both of the soups are excellent,

  • just depending if you want, and they taste the same,

  • it just depends if you want shrimp or if you want fish.

  • I like them both.

  • Probably I like the fish better,

  • it's a little more meaty.

  • Mm, mm, (speaking foreign language).

  • - [Woman] Ha, ha, ha.

  • Ha, ha, ha.

  • - One more thing that I had to try is their coffee,

  • because of how they serve it.

  • They serve it with a spoon, they serve it in a clay cup.

  • You can smell the coffee in there

  • and then you can also really smell chocolate in there.

  • It's okay to pick this up, right?

  • (lively salsa music)

  • - [Woman] Oh.

  • - Ah!

  • It's very light.

  • It's not like a strong coffee,

  • it's a very, very light coffee,

  • almost like you're just drinking water,

  • hot water with a little bit of coffee flavor

  • and then a little bit of a chocolate flavor,

  • but I mean, you can't think of it like an espresso,

  • or like a strong coffee.

  • And what's also cool is that you can see your reflection

  • in this bowl of coffee.

  • If you look down you could use it like a mirror.

  • Can you see my face down there?

  • This is a massive clay cup of coffee.

  • I'm gonna be peeing like crazy in about an hour.

  • This was a great place.

  • They're really friendly,

  • very popular local place for breakfast,

  • and yeah, that just hit the spot.

  • It's, you know, it's like very warm and soothing,

  • it's comforting.

  • That's what you need in the morning.

  • (people chattering)

  • (lively salsa music)

  • Okay, and I am loving the produce here.

  • There are so many different types of chilies, lots of fruit.

  • The passion fruit is gorgeous.

  • There are mangoes.

  • There are berries.

  • There's a lot of interesting and unique herbs

  • and vegetables here, and especially things

  • that look like they're kind of wild-foraged vegetables.

  • Yeah, this is a great market.

  • (people chattering)

  • (upbeat music)

  • One of the things that I notice just walking

  • around the market,

  • especially the vegetable and fruit section,

  • is that they have a lot of both tropical fruits

  • and vegetables, as well as more like dried,

  • arid-climate fruits and vegetables.

  • So it's a huge mix of such a diversity

  • of fruits and vegetables, and that's why, I mean,

  • that's part of what makes Oaxacan cuisine so diverse.

  • (upbeat music)

  • This is my kind of a market.

  • There's an entire lane that's just garlic.

  • There's so much garlic.

  • There's just an abundance of everything actually

  • in this market.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • We're just completely lost within this network,

  • within this labyrinth of a market,

  • but we could see the smoke pouring out of this stall,

  • and we knew it was a place we needed to stop

  • for our next thing to eat.

  • (people chattering)

  • (tortillas sizzling)

  • She works so fast but you can tell she loves what she does.

  • I can't wait.

  • I can't wait to try it.

  • And those salsas just look insane,

  • in huge mortars, stone mortars.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • (people chattering)

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • In order to make our Memelas, what she does is,

  • she first pounds the masa, she pounds the masa,

  • then it grills over the hot metal plate,

  • which is sitting over charcoal.

  • And we got the one with meat,

  • so she takes a really thin strip of meat,

  • she puts it into a little grill.

  • She sticks it underneath the hot plate,

  • which is where the coals are burning.

  • So that roasts until it looks like charred, fully charred

  • then she adds on something called asiento,

  • which is, she explained to us, is sort of like,

  • I think it's a lard, a pork lard.

  • Spreads that on, then she adds some of the salsa

  • from this giant salsa stone bowl, stone mortar.

  • And then after that, she sprinkles on some queso,

  • which is cheese and then finally we got

  • that piece of meat all on top.

  • It's so hot, it's so fresh.

  • Okay Carlos, you ready?

  • - [Carlos] Ready, let's do it.

  • - Yeah, these are so juicy,

  • they're just dripping with salsa.

  • (upbeat music)

  • Oh.

  • Mm, oh that is insane.

  • Carlos.

  • - Mm-hmm.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • - Mm, good.

  • - It's so good.

  • You can really taste that salsa in there,

  • which is like very smoky, a little bit spicy.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • That's just outstanding.

  • Definitely my favorite part

  • of that entire Memela is that salsa.

  • The complexity of flavor in that salsa will blow your mind.

  • (people chattering)

  • Whoa, I'm so happy right now.

  • Wow, that was absolutely phenomenal.

  • So flavorful, I absolutely loved it,

  • and she's so friendly, she's so nice, she's so caring.

  • Oh man, what a wonderful lady.

  • I have no idea how I can explain where this stall is.

  • It's somewhere within the thick of the market.

  • You just gotta walk around

  • but you will find little gems like that without a doubt.

  • What a market.

  • This is a place you have to visit

  • when you're in Oaxaca City.

  • This is the type of market I could literally just hang out

  • for the entire day, just explore, walk around,

  • see new things, and eat!

  • But we have a lot more to do today,

  • so we gotta move on and we're gonna head

  • to the center of the city now.

  • (car horns honking)

  • The weather is actually perfect today,

  • and it's actually not that far

  • to El Zocalo,

  • which is the (speaking foreign language),

  • so we're just walking over there,

  • and we're about to reach the old town.

  • (tapping)

  • (people chattering)

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • (tapping)

  • We cannot make it very far in Oaxaca

  • without finding more food.

  • The food here is so good!

  • So she has this giant pot

  • of slow-bubbling pork and pig parts, which is Carnitas

  • and then they're just braising in their juices.

  • Right as we were walking past,

  • she pulled out the bubbling heart,

  • and Carlos and I decided that we needed

  • to have a quick taco before we continue on.

  • We cannot make it far!

  • She chopped up the heart then she added it into the tortilla

  • and then she added some guacamole, some cilantro,

  • and maybe a little bit of salsa.

  • Or maybe that's some green salsa as well.

  • (people chattering)

  • Oh man.

  • Mm, oh that's delicious.

  • Heart is so tender.

  • It's not even iron-y at all,

  • and then that guacamole in there.

  • There's a little bit of salsa

  • and the cilantro comes in nicely.

  • Oh man!

  • That heart is so tender, it's not even like,

  • you know heart can sometimes be a little crumbly and dry?

  • That is so moist.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • Wow, that was superb.

  • It's so (chuckling),

  • that was one of those impulse food purchases

  • that there was just absolutely no way we were gonna pass by

  • on the sidewalk without tasting that.

  • We had to.

  • Okay, we're on our way to El Zocalo now.

  • Oh, there's just so much food.

  • Okay, we can't stop,

  • we can't stop, we gotta keep on moving.

  • But I want to so, I wanna stop so badly.

  • (laughing)

  • There's so much good food, it's endless.

  • (upbeat music)

  • (people yelling)

  • We're almost to the center but we came into a,

  • it's a huge protest.

  • Many of them are doctors and nurses.

  • I think protesting some kind of a health issue,

  • but we're gonna just kinda walk along with them

  • to the center there

  • and then visit the main plaza of Oaxaca City.

  • (people yelling)

  • It looks like the entire city of Oaxaca has gathered

  • in the center there and it's so busy that we don't even,

  • I think we're gonna avoid it right now.

  • Maybe we'll have a chance to come back later today,

  • but instead we're gonna go eat some more

  • at another market which is a very, very well-known market,

  • especially for their grilled meat.

  • This is the place I was looking forward,

  • have been looking forward to coming for years!

  • (upbeat music)

  • Welcome to Mercado 20 de Noviembre,

  • which is also known as the Grilled Meat Alley of Oaxaca.

  • There's so much meat here!

  • You choose your meat, they grill it for you fresh.

  • Oh, this is the place for meat lovers, that's for sure.

  • (lively salsa music)

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • (lively salsa videos)

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • (lively salsa music)

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • - Enchilada.

  • - [Mark] Enchilada, ah.

  • (lively salsa music)

  • There's about 40 or 50 or maybe more stalls,

  • all with an assortment of different meat

  • and I think they all pretty much have the same things.

  • There's beefsteak, there's pork steak,

  • there's longanisa, the sausages,

  • there are some other things.

  • Finally, you just gotta choose one of the stalls.

  • We went with a very friendly lady.

  • She offered us the whole mixed plate,

  • so we got the mixed plate.

  • What they do is they weigh it all out, and I loved,

  • my favorite part of the entire process was

  • how she takes the meat and she just kinda lightly tosses it

  • onto the grill, chucks it onto the grill.

  • It lands perfectly onto the grill,

  • then they grill everything up in a cloud of smoke

  • over just flaming hot charcoal.

  • This entire alley is a meat paradise.

  • This is the definition of a meat sauna.

  • (people chattering)

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • Yes, yes, (speaking foreign language).

  • (meat sizzling)

  • (people chattering)

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • We're taking our tray of meat down the alley.

  • Oh man, it's just filled with meat smoke all over the place.

  • And we're going to the vegetable section I think.

  • It's a little confusing and hectic in here and I love it!

  • (people chattering)

  • We got a table at the back of the market now,

  • and they serve you just the entire tray.

  • It's an entire basket of meat with the tortillas.

  • Oh, we got some salsas to go with it

  • and we got some red paper to eat off.

  • The meat aromas within this hall will just,

  • your mouth will immediately start to water.

  • Okay, I'm gonna try a piece of that beef first.

  • (lively salsa music)

  • Oh wow.

  • Oh that's insane.

  • Oh, it's salty.

  • It's tender but you feel the texture of the meat,

  • the stringiness of that meat.

  • You can taste how it's been grilled

  • over such a hot charcoal fire.

  • It has such a smokiness to it.

  • And with that saltiness,

  • that produces such an incredible meat tsunami.

  • (lively salsa music)

  • Wow.

  • That's absolutely stunning.

  • I love those roasted vegetables to go with the meat.

  • (people chattering)

  • Oh, I love the roasted peppers, too.

  • This is an ultimate fiesta in here.

  • It's just a party in the middle of the morning,

  • a meat party.

  • All the action, the energy in here.

  • The meat love is out of control.

  • Okay, next up this is a marinated pork

  • that she said it's in a chili marinade.

  • (lively salsa music)

  • I love that marinade.

  • It's a little bit on the dry-ish, like roasted side.

  • You can taste the dried chilies in there.

  • You can taste it's already sour, maybe from lime juice.

  • (lively salsa music)

  • Next up, I'm gonna try the longanisa,

  • which is the sausage that she grilled.

  • When she was grilling that,

  • you could just see the flames shooting up

  • because of all that juicy fattiness coming out

  • as it was grilling.

  • Okay, I'm gonna put the longanisa

  • into a little piece of tortilla,

  • add some of that salsa, it's like a Pico de Gallo salsa

  • with tomatoes and chilies and onions.

  • (people chattering)

  • Wow.

  • Mm-hmm, it's just meat after meat of deliciousness.

  • (lively salsa music)

  • That sausage is so smoky.

  • (people chattering)

  • Those onions are so sweet.

  • - [Carlos] That's like a bar.

  • (laughing)

  • Mark, there's one more left on there.

  • (laughing)

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • - Oh wow, oh that's delicious.

  • That's so smoky.

  • It's a little bit chewy,

  • but that releases so much juicy flavor.

  • Yeah, I love intestines, intestines are awesome.

  • (people chattering)

  • We are now walking out into,

  • oh, the market sort of opens up once you get out

  • of Meat Alley, and they have a lot more food.

  • Oh, this place is amazing!

  • There's still so much amazing food to eat at the market,

  • but we're getting kind of full, so we're gonna take a break.

  • We're gonna walk around,

  • we're gonna go back to the main plaza

  • and to a couple of churches and then after that,

  • hopefully we'll eat some more.

  • We've only been walking around for half the day so far

  • and already this Mexican food tour of Oaxaca,

  • the city has been outstanding.

  • I love this city, people are friendly,

  • the food is incredible, the culture.

  • It's such a food-based culture.

  • (upbeat music)

  • (Micah blows raspberry)

  • - [Woman] Micah (chuckling).

  • - We walked back over to El Zocalo

  • which is the main public square plaza of Oaxaca City

  • and today, yeah, it's still bustling from the protest,

  • but things have quieted down a little bit.

  • People are wandering off

  • but even if there's not a protest here,

  • it's still a bustling public space in Oaxaca.

  • It's just an overall very pleasant area.

  • (upbeat music)

  • We're walking up the walking street towards the mountains.

  • You can see all the mountains in the background

  • and we are walking towards Santo Domingo.

  • (upbeat music)

  • This entire Plaza Santo Domingo,

  • it's an incredibly beautiful part of Oaxaca.

  • You can come here just to relax,

  • sit on the walls of the plaza.

  • The church, the architecture is gorgeous.

  • It's calm, they have the whole Oaxaca sign here.

  • You can take your photos.

  • But it's a beautiful place.

  • This is a great place to spend some time,

  • when you are full after eating a lot of food,

  • and take a little break before your next meal,

  • when you're in Oaxaca.

  • We're walking out of old town

  • and we're on our way to go eat at,

  • it's a restaurant that serves a very famous Oaxacan dish.

  • Okay, you'll see what it is.

  • (car motor humming)

  • This is the spot and I think they just opened.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • Oh yeah, it's really quiet right now,

  • but I think it will really get packed in tonight,

  • but we're gonna have other plans tonight,

  • so we're here as soon as they open, which I'm okay with.

  • (upbeat music)

  • Tlayudas are one of the ultimate snack foods in Oaxaca.

  • Put on a thin layer of beans, and then after that,

  • she adds on some cabbage and then,

  • the famous Oaxacan cheese,

  • which is like a mozzarella string cheese,

  • and she really strips it into thin strips

  • but puts a lot of cheese on the inside.

  • Then it goes over the hot coals and so it grills.

  • But you can smell like that very fast,

  • kinda almost burning aroma to it,

  • but they keep flipping it so that it doesn't burn,

  • but that cheese starts to melt and all mingle together.

  • And then you can order it

  • with your variety of different meats,

  • which then they also grill over the really hot fire.

  • And then they put it all together on a plate.

  • So we got some fresh tlayudas to try right now.

  • (upbeat music)

  • I think they're all the same on the inside

  • but then they just come with different meats on the top.

  • This one is the marinated pork.

  • But yeah, you can see these are pretty huge

  • and they're folded up.

  • It comes with some garnishes.

  • There are some salsas and some onions on the side as well.

  • That's pretty heavy!

  • You can really smell the burnt, like roasted flavor of this

  • 'cause they keep it on such a hot fire

  • but they just keep flipping it.

  • We gotta take a look inside.

  • Oh yeah.

  • Look at all of that.

  • Oh, there's so much cheese!

  • That's like a giant mouth opening full of cheese.

  • (upbeat music)

  • That cheese is so elastic-y, and then,

  • it does have an amazing like roasted, fire aroma to it.

  • You can taste the crunchy cabbage in there.

  • The beans sort of give it some creamy richness,

  • and then, yeah, that's just delicious.

  • Okay, and let me add on some of the salsas

  • and a squeeze of lime, and also you gotta have some

  • of those onions on here, with some,

  • they kinda look like pickled onions.

  • Okay, let me pick this whole thing up again.

  • - [Man] Getting heavy.

  • - [Woman] Yeah.

  • - Mm, oh, mm-hmm.

  • Oh, that really enhances it.

  • The guacamole, the squeeze of lime

  • to make it sour, the onions.

  • I think that's the touch it needed for me,

  • because it was lacking that like sour, acidic touch to it.

  • Some of this garnish.

  • I don't know what this is.

  • Mm, slightly onion-y but without the,

  • like a grassy-tasting onion.

  • I think this is the same meat

  • that we just ate an entire platter of.

  • Oh, yes it is.

  • We got three different types,

  • but really they're all exactly the same.

  • The only thing that's different is the topping of meat.

  • So it kinda doesn't really matter which version you get.

  • I like how the cheese,

  • I mean, the cheese is not too salty.

  • They use a lot of cheese,

  • so you think it's gonna be really rich and really salty,

  • but actually the cheese is kinda light.

  • Not too salty, it has a nice rubbery elasticity to it.

  • (people chattering)

  • From here, we're gonna jump in a taxi.

  • It's a little ride away.

  • We're gonna go to a place called Monte Alban.

  • (upbeat music)

  • (child vocalizing)

  • There it is.

  • This site, Monte Alban, is on the 20 pesos Mexican note.

  • It's at the top of the mountain.

  • It overlooks the valley and you can see all of Oaxaca.

  • It was a pretty nice drive to get here.

  • And I was just reading

  • that it is the largest, pre-Hispanic city

  • in the Oaxaca region.

  • Something else that's very fascinating about this site is

  • that it's the first urban, planned city.

  • So actually where they took time

  • to plan the entire city out and the different buildings.

  • I don't know, everything is planned.

  • This is the first urban planned city in the Americas.

  • So it says this is the main plaza,

  • and it dates back to around 500 to 800 AD,

  • and it's a 40-meter wide stairway.

  • Okay, I'm climbing up.

  • (footsteps clicking)

  • Whoo!

  • (upbeat music)

  • It's 5:00 p.m., that's when they close.

  • I wasn't really sure what to expect when we came here,

  • but it was well worth a visit.

  • And what I like is that you're able

  • to climb up some of the ruins,

  • get the view of the whole city.

  • That was great!

  • (people chattering)

  • We're on our way back to Centro now.

  • (lively music playing)

  • You just gotta love the quality of those speakers.

  • That music.

  • We made it back to El Zocalo, which is the center,

  • and it's perfect.

  • It's in the evening,

  • this is the time when people are out and about,

  • when they're hanging out, when they're walking around.

  • And we came here actually last night just to walk around.

  • I wasn't filming but we stumbled into this stall

  • where they're making Elotes.

  • And Elotes, it's corn with lots of toppings.

  • It's one of the most common street food snacks

  • and you'll find it all over.

  • Like, in the evening, it's all over the place.

  • You'll find it everywhere, but this guy,

  • he has the longest line of any Elotes cart

  • in the entire city.

  • And then we asked some of the people standing

  • in line last night why,

  • and they said it's because of his style.

  • (upbeat music)

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • All the best things.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • Had a lot of things.

  • (upbeat music)

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • I would make a guess to say

  • that he probably has the most skill in the entire world

  • at seasoning a cob of corn.

  • He just flies!

  • Is Micah allowed to taste it?

  • - [Woman] No.

  • - Sorry, Micah, you can't taste this

  • 'cause there's lots of different chili sauces on it

  • and a lot of mayonnaise so I think Micah will just have

  • to watch this one.

  • But it looks beautiful.

  • It's just covered in so many things,

  • this has to be the fanciest corn on the cob

  • I've ever had in my life.

  • (people chattering)

  • Mm!

  • Oh, it's young corn,

  • so it's really soft and tender and juicy.

  • Full of mayonnaise.

  • There's so much mayonnaise on it.

  • Then you got the cheese which is really finely shredded.

  • You've got all those different chilies,

  • which are kinda salty.

  • The lime juice on there comes in really nicely,

  • and then, you know, just those mix of chilies.

  • (upbeat music)

  • That's so good.

  • And you'll see, like, so many people walking around,

  • eating this at this time.

  • Another thing that I just love about him is

  • how, you know, he sells something that's so common,

  • that's so typical, yet he does it with such style.

  • He takes such pride in what he does,

  • and I fully respect that,

  • and I'm fully willing to wait in line

  • 'cause he takes such pride in what he does.

  • (upbeat music)

  • I think I got a little mayonnaise on my nose.

  • It's been a very long day, but there's one more thing

  • that we have to eat to make this day complete in Oaxaca.

  • We are back at Mercado 20 de Noviembre

  • for one last plate of food.

  • On the opposite side of the market from the meat hall,

  • you'll find, it's kind of a big food court area

  • where you'll find all sorts of local Oaxacan food.

  • This is a great environment

  • and actually a lot of the stalls are starting to close

  • because they're mostly, I think,

  • they're most popular at lunch.

  • But you can come here to get your plates of Mole,

  • Oaxacan-style,

  • and we're gonna try a couple different ones right now.

  • Starting off with is Mole negro.

  • Oh (speaking foreign language).

  • And this is one of the ultimate dishes of Oaxaca.

  • It's, yeah it's probably one,

  • I mean, it's a dish you absolutely cannot miss.

  • They're famous for Mole here

  • and it's an exquisite blend of spices.

  • I know there's nuts in the sauce.

  • I think with the Mole negro there's also some chocolate.

  • That aroma is insane, you can smell those red chilies.

  • Such a dark, rich, like chocolatey-looking sauce.

  • (people chattering)

  • Mm!

  • It has a little bit of a sweetness to it.

  • So then you can taste the rich, smoky, like blackened,

  • slight bitter-y flavor to it.

  • You can taste all those chilies in there.

  • The nuttiness of it.

  • It's such a complexity of flavor.

  • (upbeat music)

  • Mm-hmm, a great way to end the day.

  • Carlos and I are splitting the Mole negro and the Mole rojo,

  • so this is the red Mole version,

  • which I don't think it includes chocolate,

  • or some of the other spices.

  • It's a totally, actually totally different blend

  • of spices and mixture.

  • Mix that with some of the rice.

  • (upbeat music)

  • Mm!

  • Mm, that's like totally different.

  • It's more on the saltier, without being sweet at all.

  • I really like it.

  • It's almost like a curry sauce.

  • We've come to the end of the day.

  • I'm running on my last steam

  • but I have a little bit more energy now

  • after that Mole, that final plate.

  • Oh, that was delicious.

  • I like both versions actually, were fantastic.

  • We only had one full day in Oaxaca City,

  • so we wanted to make the most of it.

  • I think it was an amazing success.

  • I'm very, very happy and that was some amazing food.

  • And I'll leave all the information of what we did

  • and the things we ate in the description box below

  • so you can check all that out.

  • And I wanna say a huge thank you for watching this video.

  • Please remember to give it a thumbs up.

  • Also remember to subscribe.

  • I'm gonna be publishing lots more food and travel videos

  • and click the little bell icon

  • so you get notified of all future videos.

  • Good night from Oaxaca.

  • Thanks again for watching

  • and I will see you on the next video.

(lively salsa music)

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