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| - I think I'm at a crossroads with my position as a Yelper. Last night, 9 overly critical food geeks (myself included) bombarded this cute little Salvadorian's house. By house, I am being literal because the kitchen and small dining room looks to be an add-on to her actual house. We were her only customer's for the night. If we didn't show up, La Casa Tazumal would not have made money that night. And by the end of the meal, here we are critiquing and picking apart this meal right in her very own house like we are judges on some sort of grueling, soulless food competition. What on earth have we become? It just didn't seem right. I felt dirty. You don't critique Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma's house after all.
We ordered Spanish Hot Chocolate to start. The first four of us received our drinks in old china tea cups with matching saucers. When a few more at the table ordered the same, it was served in a variety of other random tea cups. It wouldn't surprise me if the owner ran upstairs to retrieve more cups since I'm partially convinced this place has never served more than 4 cups of hot chocolate at the same time. But that could just be a theory.
Next, we ordered pupusas with curtido. Pupusas being a corn toritilla/flour pocket stuffed with pork and cheese. The curtido was a pickled cabbage. Together, along with a homemade hot sauce and sour cream were absolutely wonderful. Next came our entrées. Each of the 9 dishes came out separately at different times. Of course, being smallish place like this that most likely doesn't see this type of crowd on a regular basis, I wouldn't have expected everything to come out at the same time anyways, so this was certainly excusable. I ordered the fried plantains, rice and re-fried beans. Look, this isn't fancy, Michelin star-rated food, but my expectations weren't set to expect that. It was perfectly satisfying though. I felt plenty of love and tradition baked into this dish. Others at the table had empanadas and tamales while others ordered a basic steak or chicken dish. Needless to say the degree of satisfaction seemed varied. But I don't intend to speak for everyone else, only myself.
Overall, I felt like the "grandma rule" should be applied here. Anthony Bourdain speaks of it briefly in his new book, "Medium Raw". Paraphrasing from the book... You may not like Grandma's Thanksgiving turkey. It may be overcooked and dry- and her stuffing salty with rubbery pellets of giblets that you find unpalatable. You may not like the turkey at all. But it's Grandma's turkey. And you're at Grandma's house. So, you eat it. And afterward say, "thank you Grandma, why yes, yes of course, I'd love seconds!"
We at Yelp who write reviews, who judge and critique can often lose sight of what is truly important when we eat out as often as some of us do. Sitting at a house filled with love, sharing memories and experiences with others sometimes trumps that of perfect cuisine. Critiquing Grandma in her own house or dictating to Grandma what you will eat or won't eat based on some sort of veganistic food conscious beliefs is just wrong. I speak not of our group specifically, but to eaters as a whole. When you come to a place such as La Casa Tazumal, you come for the privilege to have Grandma cook for you. And to eat the type of food that she serves and has been a part of her heritage for generations.
It was an absolute privileged to be welcomed to La Casa Tazumal last evening to the welcoming arms of two of the most adorable woman I've ever had the chance to meet. Thank you and yes, yes of course I'll be back for seconds!
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