nice to meat you

Consider yourself lucky.

I was fully prepared to write an essay about an intellectual property controversy in Mexico. The type of essay that would have required you to don your Wittgenstein waders.

But, while walking back from breakfast with Ed and Roxane this morning, I noticed a change in the Barra de Navidad neighborhood. A new butcher shop has opened. Well, an old butcher shop has opened in a new location.

Since I moved to Mexico in 2009, I usually bought my meat needs at La Vaquita Feliz (The Happy Cow) in San Patricio. It was handy when I lived in Villa Obregón, and, probably out of inertia, I did not look for a new butcher when I moved to Barra de Navidad.

That changed with the arrival of my brother and sister-in-law. Because they do not have a car here, they explored parts of the neighborhood I had not seen. One of their discoveries was a butcher shop. El Tunco 2.

I knew the name. El Tunco 1 is in Villa Obregón. 3 is in San Patricio.

Following my family's lead, I have bought my meat at El Tunco 2 since then. The reason I did not notice the shop earlier was its location. It is in a commercial area near one of our major grocery stores. But, because I was not looking for it, I never saw it.

This past winter, construction began at a far better location. I have written about Nueva España before. It is the main street through our neighborhood. Primarily commercial. It seemed to be a good fit for improving foot traffic for the butcher. (Even though El Tunco 4 is just a couple of blocks away on Nueva España.)

The construction was steady through the year. Just before I left for San Miguel de Allende, it appeared the new opening was imminent because the meat cases were being installed. It turns out that the store opened just after I left.

So, today I stopped by the shop to buy a healthy piece of pork loin. I am going to try a bit of fusion cuisine for lunch.

Omar had cooked up a bowl of brown rice. A good portion of it is still in the refrigerator. With some ginger, eggs, fresh fish sauce, soy sauce, an habanero, several serranos, maybe some red and yellow bell peppers, carrots, celery, peas, perhaps a few local mushrooms, and an African sauce I have been experimenting with, I should be able to send Omar off to school with a full stomach.

The one thing I can count on is that the quality of the meat. Whoever supplies it to El Tunco, knows his product.

Thanks are in order to Darrel and Christy for steering me to El Tunco. And congratulations are in order to El Tunco for its new location.