Chef Lupita
Frijoles Refritos Sonorenses con Manteca
Sonora's pinto beans cooked from dry, then smashed and fried in real manteca de cerdo until the edges crisp and the lard does its work, served with warm flour tortillas the size of a dinner plate.
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Chef Lupita
Frijoles Borrachos Norteños
The drunken bean pot of northern Mexico. Pintos simmered with tocino and chorizo, finished with a full bottle of Mexican lager that thickens the broth and rounds the salt of the meat. The pot that sits next to every carne asada from Monterrey to Hermosillo.
Chef Lupita
Frijoles Charros Norteños
The brothy bean pot of Mexico's north, built on pintos, bacon, chorizo, ham, and tomato, simmered until the broth turns the color of brick dust and served alongside every carne asada from Hermosillo to Saltillo.
Chef Lupita
Chicharrones de Harina Norteños
Sonora's wheat-flour duros, dried pasta wheels that puff into airy curls in hot lard, hit at the table with lime, sea salt, and ground chiltepin. Norteño plaza snack at its most honest.
Chef Lupita
Sopaipillas Norteñas
Northern Mexico's hollow fried bread from Chihuahua and Coahuila, leavened wheat dough cut into triangles and fried in lard until they puff like pillows. Torn open at the table to mop up stew or drizzled with piloncillo syrup.
Chef Lupita
Papas Gratinadas con Rajas Sinaloenses
Sinaloa's potato gratin built on poblano rajas, queso Chihuahua, and crema mexicana, layered into a cazuela and baked until the top blisters dark gold. The northern Sunday side dish that holds up the family roast.
Chef Lupita
Budín de Elote y Rajas Norteño
Northern Mexico's corn pudding, sweet field corn blended with crema and eggs, layered with charred poblano rajas and melted queso Chihuahua, baked in a wide cazuela until golden and set.
Chef Lupita
Papas a la Mexicana Sinaloenses
Sinaloa's everyday skillet of cubed potatoes browned in lard with white onion, ripe tomato, and chile serrano. The side that lives next to the carne asada on Sunday and inside the burrito on Monday morning.
Chef Lupita
Papas Asadas con Chiltepín Sonorenses
Sonora's mesquite-charred potatoes from the ranch parrillada, smashed and grilled until the edges crackle, then dressed with a molcajete salsa of wild chiltepín, lime, and raw white onion.
Chef Lupita
Papa Loca Sonorense
Sonora's parrillada potato bomb, a mesquite-roasted russet split open and loaded with butter, crema, queso Chihuahua, chopped carne asada, and a green ribbon of salsa de aguacate.
Chef Lupita
Arroz Blanco con Crema Sinaloense
Sinaloa's home-cook white rice topped with cold cubes of cream cheese that soften into the warm grain, finished with crema and a sprinkle of chiltepin at the table. The trick that makes a side dish feel like a small luxury.
Chef Lupita
Arroz Blanco con Elote y Chícharos Sonorense
Sonora's white rice, toasted in butter and steamed with sweet corn and tender peas. The clean, quiet partner to a plate of carne asada, not the red rice of central Mexico.
Chef Lupita
Verduras Asadas al Carbón Sonorenses
Sonora's parrillada vegetables, blistered over mesquite alongside the carne asada. Calabacitas, chiles güeros, cebollitas, and corn dressed with lime, chiltepín, and a few drops of Maggi.
Chef Lupita
Nopales Asados Norteños
Northern Mexico's grilled cactus paddles, charred over mesquite until tender and chopped with white onion, lime, and crushed chiltepin. A Sonoran ranch side dish that has fed cowboys and families for generations.
Chef Lupita
Chiles Toreados Norteños
The obligatory side at every northern Mexican parrillada. Whole jalapeños bruised by hand and blistered in lard with white onion, finished with lime and a splash of soy sauce. Eaten whole between bites of carne asada.
Chef Lupita
Camote Asado Sinaloense
Sinaloa's grilled sweet potato, roasted directly in mesquite coals until the skin blackens and the sugars run amber, split open with butter melting into the flesh and a pinch of crushed chiltepin salt at the table.
Chef Lupita
Cebollitas Asadas al Carbón Sonorenses
Sonora's charred cebollitas cambray, grilled whole over mesquite until the bulbs sweeten and the green tops blacken, finished with lime and salt at the parrilla. The dish that completes a northern carne asada.
Chef Lupita
Chop Suey de Verduras Mexicalense
Mexicali's wok-tossed vegetables, born in La Chinesca, where soy sauce and chile de arbol share a wok and the breath of high heat finishes the dish in under ten minutes.
Chef Lupita
Rajas con Crema Sinaloenses
Sinaloa's plate of charred poblano strips swimming in Mexican crema with sweet corn and white onion, finished with queso Chihuahua and scooped up with warm flour tortillas off the comal.
Chef Lupita
Ejotes con Tomate Sinaloenses
Sinaloa's ranch-style green beans, blanched and folded into a lard-built tomato sofrito with serrano, cumin, and oregano. The side dish that lands on the table next to the carne asada every week of summer.
Chef Lupita
Esquites Norteños al Chiltepín
Sonora and Chihuahua's version of the corn cup: kernels stewed in butter and manteca, finished with crema, crumbled queso fresco, lime, and a hot pinch of crushed chiltepin salt. No epazote. The north skips it.
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