Santa Sofia Agave Vinegar
By Ed Avis
The first Cocina Sabrosa, which ended on Tuesday in Long Beach, California, was packed with energy, good vibes, and interesting products. It was a professionally run event that was solidly focused on the Mexican/Latin restaurant business. Congratulations to the organizers – I’m confident this show will only grow in the post-COVID era.
The el Restaurante booth had a lot of visitors throughout the two days – thank you to all the readers who stopped by! -- but I did have a chance to walk the show floor. Below are brief descriptions of some of the most interesting things I saw. (See the gallery below for photos. All of these products are available to restaurants, but many of them do not yet have solid distribution, which means you may need to order directly or via Amazon.)
Beverages
There were a lot of beverage options at the show. My favorite new discovery was Santa Sofia Agave Vinegar (santasofiaagavevinegar.com). The taste is slightly sweet and slightly vinegary, and would make a great base for a tequila or mezcal cocktail. It could even be sipped straight up, and of course it could be used for cooking.
Another favorite discovery of mine, which actually has a bit of the same acidic bite of the agave vinegar, was Tepachito Pineapple Cider (tepachito.com). This non-alcoholic drink, available through Novamex, is mildly sweet but not overbearing. It comes in four varieties: straight pineapple, pineapple with mango, pineapple with guava, and pineapple with coconut.
Naturally, there were a lot of alcoholic beverages and mixers, too. Among the best were Sangrita de la Casa, a mix for that classic cocktail made by Chapala (www.chapala.us); and Avocado Ale from Del Rio Brewing Co. (delriobrewingco.com). Another was Chaco Flaco (chacoflaco.com), a tasty line of canned craft cocktails with Latin flavors – Strawberry Daiquiri, Mango Margarita and Vodka Berry Mule. One company offered a line of wines that would be at home in a Mexican or Latin restaurant – Seis Soles Wine Co. (www.6soles.com). I tried the 2018 Sol Tierra Premium Red Blend and would definitely order that if I saw it on a restaurant menu.
If you’re looking for an easy way to make a good michelada, there were several options at the show. Arriba Chelada (drinkarriba.com) offers a number of flavors, including Mango, Shrimp and Clam, and touts its mixes as better-for-you mixes. Camaronazo Tomato & Shrimp Cocktail mix comes in three flavors – Original, Spicy and Chelada Lime (camaronazo.com). And Jarrilada Michelada (jarrilada.com) comes in its own little clay drinking vessel – just add beer.
Seasonings
It was no surprise to see several spice and hot sauce vendors, all of them offering something new. La Viuda (laviudafood.com) is a quality hot sauce brand that emerged from the same people who made Cholula and is now seeking a place on Mexican restaurant tables. Chipoktli (www.chipoktliusa.com) sampled their delicious and hot Salsa Macha, which includes peanuts and sesame seed. And trusty Tapatio was there, celebrating the brand’s 50th anniversary!
Sabor Victoria (www.saborvictoria.com) is a Chicago-based spice company with a range of all-natural mixes, including Sazon Nayarit, perfect for seafood or steak. Another spice vendor at the show was Spiceology (spiceology.com), which offers a wide line of spices made in the United States, which maintains freshness. De Silva Spices (www.desilvaspices.com), which is best known for vanilla but now branching out to many other spices, also was there.
Mexican/Latin Foods
Avocados and avocado products were in abundance at the show. Perhaps the most delicious avocado product at the event was the “avocado sushi” being made in the AvoSalc (www.avosalc.com) booth by Chef Chalo Martinez of K-Brones Restaurant in Los Angeles. The rolls of rice, avocado and other healthy ingredients were simply outstanding.
If convenience is what you’re looking for, you couldn’t beat MegaMex’s ultra-handy fresh packaged avocado products (megamexfoodservice.com). The company also offered samples of its delicious prepared guacamole.
Mexican/Latin cheeses also were in abundance. A most delicious one was Queso Para Frier from Don Francisco (donfranciscocheese.com). Central American cheeses were popular at the booth of De La Costa (www.delacostala.com), such as Crème Hondurena and Curo Viejo; and in Cremimex’s booth (www.cremimex.com), including Crema Salvadorena and Crema Guatemalteca. Los Altos (www.losaltosfoods.com) has a line of cheeses in pink packaging, including Queso Requeson and Jocoque, that supports breast cancer research.
Another delicious dairy product was Helados La Neta (www.heladoslaneta.com), all-natural Latin-inspired ice cream. I tried the Horchata flavor – yum!
There were lots of tortilla offerings, of course. One of the most interesting were the tortillas made from nopal in the Dona Cata booth (www.donacatafoods.com). Nopal is an untraditional ingredient for tortillas, but the result is impressive. Another popular tortilla-related booth was across the aisle – El Paraiso Tostadas (elparaisofoods.com), which are popular in Mexican seafood restaurants.
Other Interesting Things
MakaMex (https://www.instagram.com/macarendonhinterholzer/) had a large booth full of Mexican products they are importing. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the company is that their business is helping Mexican food manufacturers export to the United States, which can be a highly complicated endeavor. Congrats to founder and CEO Magdalena Rendon Hinterholzer for helping her clients break into the U.S. market.
There were a number of equipment manufacturers there. The one that probably got the most attention was Tortilla Masters (www.tortillamachine.com), the makers of the table-top corn tortilla machine. The sturdy but small piece of equipment reliably cranked out fresh corn tortillas the whole time.
Another cool thing at the show, and which got a lot of attention, was the robotic server on display from Bear Robotics (bearrobotics.ai). (Click here to watch a short clip of the robot delivering a can of pop to me). This is definitely a hot item in light of the current labor shortage.
This is just a sample of the many products at the show. The bottom line: This was a great place to see a lot of interesting stuff, and next year probably will be even better.
