A New Taste Experience

I am almost always up for a new experience for my taste palette!  I consider myself rather adventurous and unencumbered from culinary prejudices and assumptions.  So when I heard about this great new restaurant called El Jaripeo in Salt Lake City on Redwood Road, I was rather interested!  I hear that people drive for miles from all over the state to get this authentic Mexican food.  Now, I hear this term "authentic" Mexican food tossed around a lot.  I hear my fellow gringos talking about how they can really appreciate the authentic food and that they don't succumb to the poor imitation, the generic and the counterfeit stuff thrown out to the public at Taco Bell-esque type lunch counters.  They brandish about their superior knowledge of what a good Mexican restaurant should look like, and what the food should taste like!  I've heard that you want to go to the small, little establishments to get a really authentic chalupa or burrito. And generally, I listen!  I really feel like they know what they are talking about...up to a point! 

I'm just not sure what they might think about El Jaripeo!  This is, in my opinion, a truly authentic Mexican Restauraunt.  Granted, it's food from a specific province of Mexico, Oaxaca, in southern Mexico. The people In Oaxaca are country folk, even indigenous.   They live in one of the most rugged and isolating terrains in the country, but also boast a major resort on its coastline called Huatulco.   With that in mind, what kind of foods would be found in that region?  Well...grasshopper, for one thing.  The children run around the fields and collect them for their families.  To cook.  To eat.  They are toasted and put into food as protein and tasty treats!  Hey, I'm not knocking it....After all, John the Baptist had them!  Hopefully HE was able to toast them too!  Well, that is one of the esteemed dishes served at El Jaripeo and people are raving about it.  Another interesting dish served here is Mole.  What?  You heard me....Mole in a sauce..Also the cactus dishes are another specialty that people rave about.  I'm very curious about this place and I MAY just venture out.  I'll let you know if I do.

                  In the meantime, happy eating!
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