Bar Sotano Sashimi Tlayuda
Haz clic aquí para leer esto en español
By Kathleen Furore
Just what is a tlayuda?
An Instagram post from Chef Gustavo Romero’s Nixta tortilleria in Minneapolis touting the tlayuda topped with frijoles, quesillo, beef salpicon, avocado, and tatemada salsa at Oro by Nixta, Romero’s full-service restaurant that debuted in 2023 next door, explained it this way:
Bar Sotano Summer Tlayudita
“Explain it? Ugh, it’s hard. I mean on the one hand it’s like a giant head sized singular nacho topped with all the things (beef, salsa, beans, freshies, avos), I mean sure smash it through the middle and make smaller nachos, but it’s also a lot like a pizza? On a crunchy tortilla? Use your hands, use your fork, w/e just make sure you use your noodle and don’t overthink it, just come try it!”
The basic definition goes something like this: It’s a Oaxacan street food made with a large, thin, crunchy tortilla topped refried beans, asiento, lettuce or cabbage, avocado, meat, queso Oaxaca, and salsa.
But as chefs at Mexican and Latin-themed restaurants are proving, there are ways to take the dish beyond the basics — and customers are embracing their new takes on tlayudas.
Case in point: The rotating menu of tlayudas from Chef Jackie Hernández at Chicago’s Bar Sótano, a restaurant in the Chef Rick Bayless stable that recently made the list of Wine Enthusiast’s Best Mezcal Bars of 2024. Hernandez’s tlayuda even got a call-out in the review of the mezcals:
“…Chef de cuisine Jaqueline Hernández takes Mexican bar bites to a new level, with dishes like a black mole tlayuda with Brussels sprouts and parsnips and lion’s mane mushroom ‘Milanesa.’”
That rendition was just one of several in Hernández's arsenal of artisan tlayudas that Bayless encouraged the chef to create.
“The idea came originally from Chef Rick Bayless — he encouraged me to take on the task to find new flavors and explore new ways that would represent us as a restaurant but also Mexican cuisine as a whole,” Hernández recalls. “Yes, the typical beans and cheese [tlayuda] is amazing, but when you bring upscale versions of a traditional dish people become more interested in the history behind it all.”
Bar Sotano Fall Tlayuda
Hernández’s approach often takes seasonal flavors into account.
She created a Fall Tlayuda with Prairie Fruits Farm goat cheese infused with sweet potato, roasted Brussels sprouts, brown-butter apples, crispy sweet potatoes, and red chile oil; her summer version featured a crunchy Oaxacan tostada layered with avocado mash, local snap peas, coconut-infused lentils, red jalapeño, cilantro, and toasted coconut.
Other offerings include a Salmon Tlayuda with hibiscus chile crunch, and the recently added Tlayuda de Mole Negro made with Prairie Fruits Farm goat cheese, Oaxacan black mole, charred Brussels sprouts, butter-roasted parsnips, toasted almonds, and añejo cheese.
“There are always two tlayudas on the menu at a given time. One is always vegetarian while the other one almost always is a mariscos-inspired one,” Hernández says. “I tend to change them both at different times rotating them on an 8- to 10-week basis.”
It’s been a successful formula.
“Our tlayudas sell extremely well at the restaurant, especially because they’re almost always gluten-free and shareable,” Hernández says, noting that one especially popular offering was inspired by a trip to Mexico City. “It was a Sashimi Tuna Tlayuda with thin sliced big eye tuna, avocado, chipotle ‘special sauce,’ crispy capers, and serranos.”
While tlayudas can seem simple to make, Hernandez offers some advice for chefs thinking of adding them to their menus.
“The biggest prep tip I have when it comes to these delicate beauties is to always toast them slightly before using or building [the tlayuda],” Hernández says. “The toasting helps them become more stable for you to build on and it incorporates much more flavor.”
Click here for a recipe for Hernandez’s Salmon Tlayuda
Kathleen Furore is the editor of el Restaurante.
SIDEBAR: Tlayudas Meet Nachos at Tabú
Tlayuda Nachos at Tabú in Chicago
When Tabú restaurant debuted in Chicago’s hot Fulton Market in 2022, then-general manager Pepe Fernandez told Eater Chicago, “It’s a fun, modern twist on Latin cuisine.”
According to Executive Chef Carlos Cantatore, the spot’s fun vibe played into the decision to add Tlayuda Nachos to the menu.
“Tabú is a very playful restaurant,” Cantatore says. “The Tlayuda Nachos we invented with the idea of making a show out of nachos.”
To make the nachos, the kitchen team places pickled red onion, adobo beans, escabeche, sour cream, cilantro, and white cheddar sauce — which the chef calls “the base ingredients” — in a large bowl, then covers those ingredients with a tlayuda, then tops the tlayuda with more of those ingredients.
“Tableside we use a maraca to smash the tlayuda into smaller pieces for a dramatic presentation,” he says. “Guests can then dig in.”
Those base ingredients never change, but guests can add items like chorizo or grilled steak, Cantatore says.
How popular is the dish? And how is it from a food cost/profit perspective?
“It is very popular and costs us 25 percent in food cost,” the chef shares.
Click here to go to the next article, Bar Essentials: Basic vs. Specialty Glassware