It’s a coin toss. As to whether tacos or tamales are Mexico’s favorite comfort food. Except at this time of year when Candelaria is approaching. At this time of year, tamales are the clear favorites. I’ve always been confused about exactly what...
Did you notice anything different about the sound of the rooster? Did you notice it wasn’t the typical call of a San Miguel rooster? The kind of cock-a-doodle-do that could wake up Rip Van Winkle at 5:00 am from six blocks away. No, that was the sound of a...
It’s been a tradition in Mexican restaurants since the first day I walked into one. It was back in 1974. In Toronto. It was called The Peasant’s Larder. It was where the Carlton streetcar bent around and down Parliament Street. In the days when Cabbagetown...
When Don Day was thirteen, Don Day wanted to be just like Dad and, every Saturday morning, Don Day’s Dad went to the market. I thought the most difficult portion of this ritual would be rising at 6:00 am but I was to discover something else that took an even...
White foam arose from the immortal flesh and with it a girl grew. And the girl, Aphrodite, floated ashore on a scallop shell. A new chef had sailed into town. And people were saying she was putting magic on plates. I knew I had to have her conjure up some of those...
Every year, one of my favorite things to do is compile Don Day’s “best of” list. The choices don’t necessarily come from the best restaurants. They’re simply the best dishes. But you can presume that a restaurant that makes at least one...
We didn’t give a wino’s whistle what was inside. We bought it for the fiasco, which is what the bottle inside the raffia basket that it came in was called. And how appropriate that this unusually shaped bottle wrapped in straw shares its name with a word...
Dinner and a movie. With a side order of music. Is there a much better way to spend a Saturday night? For me the routine started in 1974. I’d landed a job in the big city of Toronto. And they were foolishly paying me the obscene amount of $10,000 a year. And I...
A head-scratcher. That’s what I would have called it when I was a kid. Before I’d learned words like conundrum and enigma. I’m talking about coffee and Mexico. Here’s a country that experts believe produces some of the world’s best...
I couldn’t believe it came out of Don Day’s Wife’s mouth. It wasn’t like I hadn’t heard the word before. Just not in such a personal way. Or quite in that context. I thought I knew what the word meant. I thought it had something to do...
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