There I was checking out Soltribe, for the first time since their big move to Mercado Sano. A brave decision by them I thought. Could they survive where so many have failed? It’s a good-looking space but, with the room almost empty at lunch time, the jury, I think, is still out.
Over by the checkout I spotted something special, something very special, well to me at least. Morels. My third-best favorite funghi (truffles and cepes are first and second). I hadn’t seen or eaten fresh morels in over a year.
They were 200 pesos a basket. There were close to 40 in a basket. That’s a very good price for morels.
I emailed Don Day’s Wife.
The morels were on for dinner. And I was off to Aristocrat, the new restaurant that now fills the space where the lost and lamented Cafe Lula stood, to meet food writer extraordinaire Susan Knight York. The earthy, nutty aroma is almost as delightful as the taste of morels and Susan was soon burying her nose in the brown paper bag.
We had joined San Miguel’s sometime (I wish it was more time) chef, Michael Coon’s table and the talk turned to cleaning morels. It’s a popular subject as it’s not an easy task. The stems of morels are hollow and grit can easily get up there. Michael shared that he uses a mushroom brush to help clean his.
Now chef’s like Michael have mushroom brushes; cooks like Don Day’s Wife don’t. So when I got home I asked her to share what she does to get rid of any dirt.
She told me, “I snip off the ends of the stems, cut them in half, put them in a colander, hold it under the tap and shake and toss them for maybe 10, maybe 20 seconds. I dry them with paper towels. You don’t want them to soak up water and get soggy. Then they go right into hot olive oil and butter so, if there’s any living creature in there, they’re not going to be living long and, if you get a bit of grit, it’s not going to kill you.”
To that hot oil, Don Day’s Wife added a chopped up shallot, a few sprigs of rosemary from our garden, then half a cup of chicken stock.
Next in went slices of her homemade Italian sausage that she had first cooked in the oven, followed by a mix of ricotta and heavy cream.
When the mix was bubbling it was poured over al dente spaghetti in bowls. I told her, “You make the most of morels; this is fabulous funghi.”
Yesterday, I ran into Keshava Rossi, the chef/owner of Soltribe at the San Miguel y sus Sabores food festival. I wanted more morels. I wanted to know how long they’d be in season, how long the restaurant would have them.
Keshava confirmed that the shrooms get to Soltribe via Arif Towns and his little business Symbiosis and told me, “You better get there in a hurry. It’s only the extra rain that’s extended the season. What we’ve got now may be all we’ll have this year.”
The fridge was quite full when I was in Soltribe. Hope it still is now.
Soltribe is located on the second floor of Mercado Sano at Ancha de San Antonio 123 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The restaurant is open every day from 9:00 am to 10:00 pm.
That looks delicious!
I have always enjoyed morels, although haven’t used them much in my cooking. As you know, I am an old chef with years of culinary experience; therefore I found this recent article a bit disturbing: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/morel-mushrooms-food-poisoning-outbreak-montana/. As stated in this article from 4 days ago, I was “surprised to learn about the toxicity of morels, since I had no idea that morel mushrooms had this sort of inherent risk factor regardless of preparation.” At one very fine reataurant in Montana last week, 51 customers were poisoned and 2 died.
Yes, false morels can be fatal and they do look a lot like the real thing. I do really trust Arif Towns and his though.
I have stopped at Mercado Sana several times always to find it empty. At one time, it had an excellent mix of restaurants, but few remain As a retired marketing consultant, I can only contribute the demise of a delightful array of restaurants to the pandemic and substandard marketing.
Mercado Sana on Saturdays is bustling with people. What is needed is a promotion where the rental agent offers a rent reduction package to old and new restaurateurs with a month to month contract for six months. After this trial period, a longer contract may be required.
The rental agent, if she or he is serious about making Sana Mercado the vibrant shopping mall it once was, needs to establish a marketing fund requiring each tenant to contribute possibly based on square footage and sales volume. As an incentive, the rental agent can match the amount of this fund or add a percent depending on how much she or he desires to see Mercado Sana to become a bustling centre once again.
Now here is the secret ingredient probably never used before on planet earth. Hire an excellent publication artist to create a promotion once a week in which every tenant offers a different special seven days a week when possible. Some tenants might offer the same promotion to new clients the entire week.
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I got my morels! Next up. A pink peppercorn encrusted pork tenderloin with a morel mushroom and Maderia wine cream sauce.
You’re making me hunnnnnnngry!
oh goodness, this is delicate.. the original and continuing owner is not sensitive to your suggestion. Unfortunately HE feels he knows best, always a warning sign for anyone… I dream of a better mercado sano.. one with a better understanding of … whatever… so many former renters have fled due to his iron hand.
I am so envious. Last time I had morels was when I harvested/found some in Vermont where I live most of the year. I doubt Sano will have any when I arrive in 2024 but I’ll look,]. Thank you for the tip.
Oysters are cultivated in the East (USA) now and laughably inexpensive.
Chanterelles when I find them, summer into autumn.