Dulce María Tecuapetla prepares pasta ajo.
By Joseph Sorrentino, writing from Mexico
On October 2, 1882, 38 families from Veneto, a region in northern Italy, founded Chipilo, about ten miles west of Puebla. The Mexican government had recruited them—and other Europeans—hoping they’d modernize the country’s agricultural sector. The Italians succeeded. They started farms and dairies, eventually becoming famous for their dairy products. Chipileños, as they’re known, have held fast to their language and customs and Chipilo is truly an Italian pueblo. Restaurants serve Italian food, but it’s Italian food with a Mexican twist.
Karina Stefanoni
Karina Stefanoni
Karina Stefanoni opened Buon Giorno eight years ago. “We only serve breakfast,” she said. “[The restaurant] is more Mexican...but it is also Italian because we use ingredients from Chipilo: queso, crema, sausage, ham, butter; milk, obviously. My influences are my mother and grandmothers, who came from Italy.” But, she added, “The food is picante (spicy), which is something Italians normally do not use.”
One dish that highlights the combination of Mexican and Italian cuisines is Huevos a la Italiana (Eggs Italian Style). “We use proscuitto and arugula, which are Italian,” she explained. “Arugula is something...that my grandmother used a lot. The bread is a recipe from my grandmother and great-grandmother.” The eggs are served with bacon, avocado and tomatoes, and topped with crema (akin to sour cream) which are the Mexican elements.
The menu has plenty of traditional Mexican options, like chilaquiles: crisp tortilla chips topped with red or green salsa, queso fresco and crema. “We’ve used the same recipe for eight years,” Stefanoni said, “one from my mother who learned it from her mother, who is Italian.” But the salsa isn’t as spicy as those served in Mexican restaurants, showing the influence of Stefanoni’s grandmother.
They also offer nopal (prickly pear cactus pad) which sits on a bed of refried beans, and is topped with panela, crema and red salsa, a dish I’ve not seen elsewhere. “It is a recipe my nonna used. They started making it when they came to Chipilo,” said Stefanoni.
It’s a little surprising that Stefanoni said she doesn’t use basil, an Italian staple, in any of her recipes. “It does not go well,” she said.
Just up the street from Buon Giorno is Bella Pizza, which has been managed by Salvador Gutierrez for ten years. He learned to make pizza in Los Angeles and brought his knowledge to Chipilo. He learned to toss pizza dough in the air, and it’s something he continues to do for two reasons. “First, it is an exhibition; children really like it,” he explained. “Second, the dough is hard to stretch and tossing it makes it easier.”
Typical Mexican pizzas have a thick crust but Gutierrez’s crust is very thin. “Our pizza is Italian with Mexican touches,” he said. “For example, we use squash, chorizo (Mexican sausage). I don’t use avocados but we do use habañeros. That is very Mexican. We sometimes add figs and that is not Italian.” Most Mexican pizzas are topped with avocados but Gutierrez avoids them because they can turn black.
Salvador Gutierrez
He’s been trying to change the way Mexicans eat pizza, with modest success. “Mexicans used to believe that a pizza without salsa and ketchup isn’t good,” he said. “Mexicans also use a knife and fork to eat pizza.” Perhaps to keep his Mexican customers happy, salsa and ketchup are available and while the thinness of his pizza invites folding and eating with your hands, knives and forks are provided.
Gutierrez avoids using cilantro and epazote, two herbs often found in Mexican foods. “Cilantro is a little bitter and epazote is very aromatic, very strong; cannot use these two in Italian food.”
Paolo Soliman moved to Chipilo eighteen years ago from Vicenza, Italy. His father was already here, married to a Chipileña, and Soliman decided to join him. Although he had no experience running a restaurant, he opened Il Canton de Italiano twelve years ago. “I was a stranger and I wanted Italian food,” he said. “I learned [how to cook] from my grandparents, from my nonna. They are the best to learn from. I didn’t go to school to learn.”
When asked which of his many dishes best demonstrates the mixing of Italian and Mexican cuisines, he didn’t hesitate. “Pasta ajo. It has red chile.”
Dulce María Tecuapetla, who’s been cooking in the restaurant for ten years, tossed a generous handful of sliced garlic into the hot oil and browned them deeply. She then added the red chile, mixed in the pasta and sprinkled on parmesan. It’s not a dish to order on a first date but, man, it’s good.
Like Gutierrez, Solimon doesn’t use cilantro or epazote in any of his dishes but he does use other traditional Mexican staples, serving a Pizza Mexicano, which has jalapeños, beans, avocado and crema.
El ItaloMexicano sits on the highway on Chipilo’s outskirts. Leonardo Stefanoni Mazzocco, the owner, has filled his menu with a number of intriguing dishes that show off his ability to mix the two cuisines. “We have Pasta With Mole Poblano, fettuccini with mole sauce and chicken and Pasta Ranchero, which has chorizo, jalapeños, tomatoes, basil, garlic and onion. We use less garlic because Mexicans are not used to it.” There’s also Plato ItaloMexicano: penne with salsa enojada, a red sauce spiced with chiles, gnocchi with a cream sauce, and spaghetti with pesto; the red, white and green in the Italian and Mexican flags. His minestrone has black beans instead of the usual white beans like cannellini or Great Northern. “We adopted a Mexican national bean for an Italian recipe,” he said. “It has a very Mexican flavor.” His salads mix Italian lettuces like arugula and radicchio with traditional Mexican lettuces, “...so that the salad is not so strong. They are a mix of sweet and bitter.”
Chipilo’s filled with restaurants, each one offering their version of Italian-Mexican food, some more Mexican, others more Italian. The fun part is trying them all and finding the right balance for each palate.