Dallas Food - Laredo Jalapeno Festival

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Laredo Jalapeno Festival
Posted on Tuesday, March 15 @ 06:50:46 PST
Topic: Mexican

If you’ve never spent Presidents Day weekend in Laredo, you’re missing out. Nearly a month of special events and festivities culminate with that weekend’s large parade in commemoration of George Washington’s birthday and the annual Jalapeno Festival. The hotels are booked up well in advance, as I’ve learned the hard way in previous years. This year, we headed to Laredo with a hotel reservation and an appetite. On to the food...

George Washington’s Birthday Parade.

The annual parade (on Saturday morning) results in complete shut-down of the central business district. Parked cars crowd every conceivable space (including lawns and medians). And it’s not unusual to see many people camping out overnight to get prime spots on the parade route. The corporate sponsor for this year’s parade was Anheuser-Busch, whose trademark Budweiser wagon and Clydesdales led the parade. (Those were some beautiful horses. Huge, muscular, spotless, and without a hair out of place.)

The floats often presented a very organic multiculturalism, with American and Mexican period costumes in the same display.

Young women in ornate dresses sat atop many floats. As they passed by, they would lift their skirts to show their shoes, which were often humorously incongruous with the dress (e.g., bunny slippers or jogging shoes).

Where have I seen this guy before?

El Rancho, Nuevo Laredo.

After the parade ended, we headed into Nuevo Laredo for lunch. My vote for cabrito at El Rincon del Viejo was overruled, so we went to El Rancho, which does very good fajitas. (The locals believe that fajitas were invented in Nuevo Laredo.)

A friend ordered menudo and proclaimed El Rancho’s version slightly above average. (I didn’t get to taste it.)

The queso fundido, however, was very nice. The hot, sticky cheese was garnished with crumbled, greasy chorizo. My young nephew, accustomed to quasi-queso (aka “pasteurized process cheese product”) in Tex-Mex joints, was surprised and delighted at the flavor and texture.

We shared a half kilo of beef fajitas, working our way through the pile till we got to the delicious crispy bits stuck to the cast iron. The tortillas, beans, and rice were unremarkable. But the fajita meat, with a few spoonfuls of their above average table salsa (with roasted tomatoes and serranos), was enjoyed by all.

During the walk back to the international bridge, a traveling zoo passed by us. Zebras, camels, tigers, lions, buffaloes, and other animals were visible through bars on the open-sided trucks that served as both transportation and advertisement.

Most of the street foods in this part of Nuevo Laredo are sweets: elotes, paletas, and, at this cart, gorditas de nata.

These “cream gorditas” were served hot off the griddle. The light texture and very mild sweetness made these a suitable dessert after the heavy meal.

We stopped by a candy store on Guerrero Ave. to pick up chile-dusted tamarind pulp sticks in bulk. (If you’ve never tried one, you really ought to. You might not like it at first. But after about three of them, you’ll be hooked. And don’t worry about what the FDA says. A little lead never hurt anyone.)

The tamarind sticks were there, as expected. But so were these tamarind mini-tamales. So many tart, spicy, high sodium treats to choose from.

Jalapeno Festival, Laredo.

We headed back across the border and set out for the Laredo fairgrounds, where the 27th Annual Jalapeno Festival was just warming up.

A giant jalapeno terrorized the kids. A large stage with projection screens was set up for musical acts that would perform later in the evening (with La Mafia headlining). The giant, inflatable jalapeno can to the right stood beside the stand where the jalapeno eating contest was held. Contestants had fifteen minutes to eat as many jalapenos as possible, without any drinks or other food items. A short video showing portions of the festival, including the jalapeno eating contest, can be seen here.

Food booths featured flautas, gorditas, tacos, fried jalapenos, and other goodies.

One booth was doing tripitas.

And what festival would be complete without funnel cakes. These funnel cakes, much thicker and crispier than what one usually finds at fairs and carnivals, were excellent. I’m usually not a fan of funnel cakes; but these made a believer of me.

Many of the more interesting looking dishes appeared in the festival’s cooking contest, in which jalapenos had to be a principal ingredient in every entry. Unfortunately, tasting was reserved for the judges.

We left the festival in early evening, well fed and entertained, but missing the grito contest and main musical performances. Perhaps next year we can stick around for more of the events. (There’s music, food, and celebration on the Mexican side of the border on Saturday night, too.) If you’re looking for an inexpensive, entertaining getaway in Winter, consider spending Presidents Day weekend in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. It’s well worth the road trip.