In the south of Mexico City, I exit Metro Copilco in search for a quick doctor visit at whatever nearby pharmacy.
Unfortunately for me, the doctor was not available and leaves the office at around 3 PM.
Knowing I need to travel a little bit more north in the city to check out other pharmacies where I can get a doctor, I decided to get some food first.
In front of Metro Copilco is a street vendor that has some of the best street food I have ever tasted in my years living in this city.
It’s not just that the dude makes a particular food like tacos really well.
He makes anything on the menu really well.
Doesn’t matter what you order – it’ll taste great and probably better than most street food places you’ll find in the city.
At least in the south of the city anyhow.
Not that it matters – I’m not telling any of you which street vendor it is because I don’t want a million gringos showing up to eat at his place and driving up his prices.
At any rate, I go there once again.
Checking out the menu, I see that he has some quesadillas.
Now what does one put in quesadillas?
Normally queso right?
At the very least, we got to include the queso!
Nor necessarily.
The sign that he has up advertising his quesadillas lists out the various quesadillas he can make for you.
Including sausage quesadillas.
Or quesadillas with just cheese (queso).
Quesadillas with potatoes and something else that he puts in it.
Quesadillas combinadas (meaning with cheese and any of the other options like sausage or whatever).
So on and so on.
Now, if you are new to Mexico City, what I just said might sound confusing to you.
After all, is this implying that the quesadillas can come without cheese?
Why the “combinada” option?
Shouldn’t they all include cheese regardless?
Well, while this guy does make really good food no matter what you order, he also suffers from being a street vendor in Mexico City.
For it is known that street vendors in Mexico City – and likely cooks in actual restaurants down here – often don’t naturally include the cheese in the quesadillas.
Imagine that – a quesadilla without queso!
What’s next – a taco without a tortilla?
A hamburger without a bun?
A hot Latina with no big tits and no ass?
The horror!
But that’s just how it is in Mexico City.
Quesadillas without queso.
Of course, you can order queso for the quesadilla by having the “combinada” option.
But that’s the thing that so many people outside of Mexico City who come live here find so odd.
Why do I need to remind them to put the queso in the quesadilla?
It should come with queso!
Otherwise, why call it a quesadilla?
Whoever invented this concept of a quesadilla is a mystery to me.
If I had to guess…
Maybe it was a poor street vendor who wanted to save on costs and convince people that quesadillas don’t always include queso?
Or perhaps it was a fresa upper class type from Polanco who wanted to invent some new ways of doing quesadillas to come across as “original” or some shit.
I have no idea.
Whoever did invent the idea sure has a fucked up idea on what a quesadilla is though.
Either way, there isn’t much more to say on the matter outside of this subtle warning to anyone visiting Mexico City.
If you do, the tip here is just to remember that Chilangos are culinary masochists who like fucking up food apparently.
Well, that’s a bit harsh – there are plenty of good food options in the city.
Still, a culinary masochist was needed for this idea of a quesadilla without queso.
Just remember, as a final tip, to always remember that you need to not forget to ask for the queso when ordering a quesadilla in Mexico City if you want a real quesadilla.
Nothing more to say.
Here’s a photo of a sausage quesadilla that I ordered from that same spot mentioned in the article earlier.
It did taste good!
But I also was not deceived and did remember to order cheese.
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Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt