Pozole - La Casa de Tono

Casa de Tono


I recently recieved a great tip about a restaurant called La Casa de Tono from our kitchen designer over at Grupo Delia. During the week, the lines for a table are out the door. I've been told that they can pull off over 2000 covers a day. Pretty amazing, for a 50 seat restaurant.

What I ate was probrably the best pozole I've ever had. I also had flautas con pollo and quesadilla de chicharron con queso. Truly, a meal fit for a king!

So here are a couple points of history on pozole:

-Corn is one of the main ingredients in this dish. Corn was considered a sacred plant for the country of Mexico, therefore, this dish was made during sacred events.

-In the original version of pozole, humans were used as meat instead of pork or chicken. The Aztecs and Mayans sacrificed humans as an offering to their God. During the ceremony, the sacrificed humans would have their hearts ripped out, and their flesh would be chopped up and cooked in with the corn and spices. However, after the Spanish conquest, pork became the staple meat.

Recently, I've been considering making my own version of this national dish. It would be a "Chinese style Pozole" and would combine the flavors of hot and sour soup and the traditional flavors of pozole. Although, my fiance thinks it's sacrilegious, I think I'm onto something good. :)