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The iceberg tomato disgrace

I've been talking to local New Mexico chefs and restaurant owners lately about the possibility of buying their veggies from local farmers.

I've been surprised how many say "You know, we really don't serve produce in our restaurant." And then they'll add, "except for some lettuce and tomatoes." This last referring to the habitual garnish for many Mexican restaurant platters.

Sadly, many of our local restaurants don't serve any veggie side dishes with their meals, but that will be a rant for another day.

Today, I want to talk about "some lettuce and tomatoes." This is an afterthought for many local chefs because it is the ubiquitous and only semi-edible garnish that goes with burritos, enchiladas, tacos etc in many Mexican and New Mexican restaurants. It is a pile of shredded iceberg lettuce with a few scattered cubes of diced tomato added. It is typically not dressed or seasoned, it is just there on your plate like some tiny, half-completed salad. Iceberg lettuce is not great lettuce, the tomatoes are typically generic supermarket produce, and the result is generally somewhere between bad and worse.

If you are a local chef given to the habitual iceberg-tomato garnish, I am calling you out, right here, right now. Are you proud of what you cook? Then why insult your own cooking with the iceberg-tomato pile? Why not show a little creativity with your garnishes?

Howzabout -

Jicama cubes, diced red bell peppers, and cilantro with a lime dressing?

Corn, onion, black bean and red bell pepper relish?

Spicy shredded carrot relish?

Coleslaw estilo Mexicano, with green chiles and oregano?

Even a decent pico de gallo?


This is just off the top of my head - there have to be dozens of ways to do better than the iceberg-tomato disgrace.

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