Meats! Pasillo de Carnes Asadas in Mercado 20 de Noviembre, Oaxaca

Oaxaca is (obviously) super well-known for its culinary scene. I first became intrigued by the city when Rick Bayless couldn’t shut up about it on Top Chef Masters. The region is said to be the birthplace of a ton of Mexican cuisine, including mole, chocolate, Oaxacan cheese, tylayudas, and chapulines. And, of course, mezcal (my mouth waters just thinking about mezcal, and not in a good way). Oaxaca de Juárez (or just Oaxaca) is the capital of the state of the same name, and it is full of markets, street food, and one of the biggest celebrations of Día de los Muertos in Mexico. It’s also got those great colorful buildings and pedestrian streets, though not quite to the same extent as Guanajuato. When it comes to the food, however, Oaxaca is badass.

On our first day in the city, we arrived in a tiny plane and split a cab with some young people to the city center. We were a bit early for our AirBnb check-in, but our host told us we could drop our bags off there no problem. After stopping by, leaving our things with the housekeeper who had yet to clean the room, and having Charlie comment, “This is the shittiest place I’ve ever stayed in my life,” I decided to lead him to a place I’d been dreaming of eating since planning this trip… and prayed it wouldn’t be quite as underwhelming as our room.

[To be fair, the room where we stayed looked a lot better after it was cleaned up, the bed was made, and some mystery stranger’s belongings were removed. Plus the location was unbeatable. Also, Charlie is a diva traveler, really.]

We headed several blocks south, checking out the zócalo and browsing the selection of street food we passed en route. Luckily my directions to Mercado 20 de Noviembre were correct, because I’m not sure Charlie could have taken disappointment in addition to hunger.  This indoor market can be quite easy to miss with all the stalls, vendors, and everything you could possibly want sitting out on the streets in front of it. Look for the large, light blue, open entrance with “Mercado 20 de Noviembre” above it and it will take you straight into the Pasillo de Carnes Asadas.

And oh, the selection of meats you are confronted with! This was a meal I’d dreamed of… I’d even watched a video of Rick Bayless in this same spot ordering and eating his food just so I could get the process down and not blow it when we finally got there.

We arrived around lunchtime and headed into the crowded, smoky, meat-filled halls, and the first vendors to catch a glimpse of us began waving and shouting at us to eat at their stands which lined the walls alongside hot charcoal grills. Then others appeared by our sides to usher us to their counters full of meat. Don’t leave it to me to browse or carefully discern the quality of the offerings – really, the prices were competitive since the stalls were all in such close proximity – my usual cheap self just went with the first woman who spoke to us (her name, or the owner’s, appears to be Joselyn).

After asking her recommendation for two people, the woman suggested that a kilo should be enough – half a kilogram per person is the standard. Tasajo or thinly sliced beef was also recommended so we got half a kilo of that and half a kilo of chorizo since Charlie had recently discovered his love for the greasy spicy sausage.

After ordering our meats, everything went down like clockwork.

We were directed by one of the vendor’s employees to the vegetable stand a few steps away to pick up our accouterments at the vegetable stand. I was quickly handed a straw basket of onions and green chilies to take back to the grill where they were tossed onto the coals underneath our meats. We were then whisked away to have a seat at the communal tables which are used by all of the vendors.

No sitting unless you are eating! (Seriously, it’s the rules.) They really don’t like you taking pictures if you aren’t buying food either, so put the counter away unless you’ve got some pesos in hand too. I don’t really blame them, because this place is quite well-known and could get to be quite the clusterfuck if filled with tourists rather than paying customers. They have a system down here.

Out of the woodwork, a waiter appeared to take our order. Yes, we will be having the glass bottle Cokes that everyone else here seems to be having. Don’t people always rave about Mexican Coca-Cola? Isn’t it the real sugar cane in it or something? It really is better…

After we got our drinks, the waiter brought over a tray full of accompaniments to go with our meats. There was a price for each listed on the wall beside us, and you can just take from the tray whichever you want. You had the choice of pico de gallo, nopales, avocado, guacamole (pounded fresh right there), limes, a plate of cilantro and other vegetables, and many other things. We opted for salsa, pico, and avocados. Our grilled chilies and onions then magically found their way to our table.

Oh, and those grilled chilies were REALLY spicy.

The meat soon arrived in another straw basket with a stack of handmade tortillas underneath and a few napkins tucked in the side (which I found a little too late, to the detriment of my lips which were by that time on fire from the chilies). We marveled at the efficiency of the people working here, the freshness of the ingredients, and the price, before quickly assembling our tacos and not speaking for the next several minutes.

Oh. My. God. This food was amazing. Charlie asked if we could come back for every meal in Oaxaca. It was that good. Smoky grilled everything, fresh meat and vegetables, all cooked right when you order them, not to mention the salsas being made directly beside our table and mounds of fresh produce stacked everywhere. And all for around $227 pesos (or ~$16-17 USD for both of us). Yeah, we ate it all.

We never made it back to the Pasillo de Carnes Asadas, and that makes me sad. It was actually all closed up for the night when we tried to go back on Saturday (that may be their regular hours – which I can’t seem to find posted anywhere- or it could’ve been due to Día de los Muertos festivities).

That didn’t matter though, because just a block or two beyond the Mercado 20 de Noviembre, we found these really dank, meaty gringas at a little taco stall on the corner…

Do you see a trend here?

Stay tuned for more Oaxacan food.

I’m sharing this post with Travel Tuesday Link-Up via Adelante and A Compass Rose.