ANNOUNCER: And now Signature Dish, a WETA original series.

SETH: Today on Signature Dish, we're savoring the authentic flavors of Mexico.

After kicking things off with the trendiest of tacos... RUDY: We're gonna do some birria tacos for you.

SETH: I've always wondered how birria tacos get so red.

We'll witness a true labor of love.

This is just a parade of ingredients.

It's so much work.

JOSIE: It is work, but it's also a lot of fun.

SETH: Before wrapping things up with a favorite fusion dish from the heart of Mexico's capital.

So we, uh, talking knife and fork here?

ELIO: No, actually, no.

You need to grab it and make a mess.

SETH: I'm Seth Tillman, WETA producer, and DC native, and I love good food.

That's why I'm traveling to restaurants across the DMV, at each stop, looking for the one thing you just gotta try... That Signature Dish.

My first stop on this Mexican voyage takes me to Camp Springs, Maryland, a small community just down the road from Andrews Air Force Base.

I'm stopping at El Papi Street Tacos for birria, the stewed meat tacos with a consommé dipping sauce, which has become a social media sensation.

RUDY: I'm from Hidalgo state.

I have a family of six siblings.

I'm the youngest, so all my, my siblings, they, they were studying university in Mexico City, so I was alone with my mother, so always cooking, always cooking.

So when I was studying on high school in Mexico, cooking took over me.

I was supposed to study architecture, so I decided not to and just move around Mexico.

SETH: While birria originated in Mexico's Jalisco state and is traditionally made with lamb or goat, Chef Rudy is offering up a version with a Tijuana twist.

RUDY: In Tijuana, I have some relatives, they live all their life in there.

So when I got to Tijuana, they show me so many secrets of the birria.

The difference between the Jalisco birria and the Tijuana is the meat.

We use brisket in Tijuana because it's more tender.

I was really surprised when birria came so popular.

We used to make birria for our customer, but we sent only, like, couple of plates a day, and then when the pandemic hit us, it was when the birria got on Instagram, and everybody was talking for birria.

So I've been making birria since 1994 since I was a little kid, so I know how to do birria.

I know the tricks.

I know the other birrias.

They don't know what I know.

They trying really hard... Keep trying.

SETH: Rudy.

RUDY: Hi, Seth.

How are you?

SETH: Pretty good.

Nice to meet you.

RUDY: Welcome to El Papi Street Tacos.

SETH: Oh, well, thank you so much for having me, 'cause I love birria tacos.

But I hear you guys are putting your own kind of unique twist on it?

RUDY: Yeah, we do a Tijuana style with brisket, and we have a lot of surprises for you.

Why you don't follow me, and I show you how to do it?

SETH: Sounds great.

RUDY: Hey, Seth, these are my kids.

SETH: All right.

RUDY: Charlize and Aurton 'El Papi'.

SETH: Hey, you're El Papi, all right.

So we have a whole family operation going here, and now... RUDY: Yes.

SETH: And what are the kids doing right now?

RUDY: Okay, they're preparing the brisket.

Uh, this is the main ingredient.

SETH: So, Rudy, how many pounds of brisket are you guys slicing through in a week here?

RUDY: About 1,000 pounds from local sources.

SETH: 1,000 pounds of brisket a week.

RUDY: Every week.

SETH: That, that's a lot of slicing.

RUDY: Yeah.

SETH: And what's gonna happen after this is sliced up?

RUDY: After everything is cut, it's gonna be a stew for about six hours at least.

SETH: Six hours.

So this is gonna really break down and completely fall apart.

RUDY: It's gonna fall apart.

SETH: My mouth is watering just thinking about that.

RUDY: The other key, Seth, is making our consommé.

Why you don't follow me, and I show you how to do it?

SETH: Sounds great, let's check it out.

RUDY: Come on, Seth.

SETH: Okay.

RUDY: I'm gonna show you how to do the consommé.

SETH: Now the consommé.

This is what we're gonna be able to dip our birria in, correct?

RUDY: Many people used to dip the tacos, but, uh, you can try it as a soup.

SETH: Soup, dip.

(laughs).

I'm excited to try it no matter how it's being served, and these are a lot of ingredients here.

RUDY: 17 ingredients, plus magic powers.

SETH: Magic powers.

RUDY: First, we have to soften some of the chiles.

So while this is softening, gonna fry our banana leaves.

It's one of the secrets.

But I get this banana from Colombia.

SETH: So would banana leaves be in all birrias, or is this a, a Rudy invention?

RUDY: No, this is mine.

I gathered this from my stay in Cancun.

SETH: So you're really bringing in flavors from all over Mexico?

RUDY: Yeah, okay, now this is nice and brown, and we're gonna drop it into our chiles.

SETH: So many nice aromas coming out of this pot, and you still have, like, 15 ingredients left to go.

RUDY: All of them coming here.

Okay, then we gonna soften also these herbs.

And then these herbs.

So this is the achiote.

I also bring it from Yucatan.

Nobody use the achiote on the birria, but I do.

So now we gonna put some more ingredients.

Cinnamon.

SETH: Oh, nice.

RUDY: Black pepper, cloves.

SETH: So you almost have, like, a little sweetness, too, to go with the spiciness?

RUDY: Yeah, yeah, okay, now the last ingredients, I just put 'em all together.

Some more herbs.

SETH: Some more secrets?

RUDY: Some more secrets, and I won't talk about this, then this, this.

SETH: This is just a cauldron of flavors bubbling away right here.

RUDY: Yeah.

Now we have everything ready and bubbling, and we gonna set the temperature a little bit lower, so it's gonna simmer for about, uh, 10 minutes, and then we gonna blend it up, and we gonna do some birria tacos for you.

SETH: After Rudy finishes blending the ingredients, they're added to the leftover brisket broth to finish the consommé.

We'll then try the Rudy sampler, a collection of the taqueria's birria favorites.

RUDY: Okay, Seth, the consommé is ready to go.

SETH: Ah, wow, looks great.

RUDY: I want you to meet Patricia.

PATRICIA: Hi.

SETH: Hi, Patricia.

You're the, uh, you're the, you're the taco-making expert?

PATRICIA: Yes.

SETH: All right, so what are the secrets to grilling a great birria taco?

PATRICIA: Okay, first we're gonna put the oil.

Then you put the tortillas, and just a, like, little bit oil.

SETH: Okay, by the way, I love the, uh, Maryland apron, Patricia.

PATRICIA: Thank you.

Me, too.

SETH: That's a great touch.

PATRICIA: So when the tortillas is warm, we put the consommé.

SETH: I've always wondered how birria tacos get so red, and now I know.

(sizzle) PATRICIA: We put, uh, more consommé, just a little bit.

SETH: Oh, so now it's just swimming in the consommé.

PATRICIA: Mm-hmm.

SETH: Love it.

PATRICIA: So in, it's time to put the cheese.

SETH: So this is the queso birria?

PATRICIA: This is the queso birria.

SETH: Queso?

Okay.

PATRICIA: Mm-hmm, this is the, the birria and chicken.

SETH: All right.

PATRICIA: Okay, so we're gonna prepare the, the mulita.

The mulita is a flour tortilla with beans and this is cheese, brisket, and chicken.

SETH: Got it.

PATRICIA: So it's time to fold up the tortillas.

Okay, this is the Rudy sample.

We're gonna make, uh, some for the family.

We put onion and cilantro.

Ready.

SETH: Wow, Rudy, Patricia, you guys weren't kidding about having a family to feed here.

RUDY: Yeah, we got a, uh, big family.

Aurton, Charlize, Hennessy, my sister-in-law Esther, Kelly, my oldest daughter, and obviously, Patricia.

SETH: Well, uh, thank you for welcoming me into the El Papi family, and this Rudy sampler.

And do you want me to start with the one that's just, uh, that's just pure brisket?

RUDY: Brisket, yeah.

SETH: You guys...

Between that consommé, which definitely has a kick to it, and that melty cheese with the stewed meat, that's amazing.

RUDY: Thank you.

That, this is what we do every single day.

This is what we do.

SETH: All right, and I gotta try a little bit of this consommé just by itself, just to see what it's like.

KELLY: Actually, even after it's done cooking, my dad lets it sit for about five days just to, you know, get some more of that complexity from the consommé.

SETH: Oh, yeah, real depth of flavor.

That is delicious.

You know what I like about it, too?

Some of the consommé that I've had, just too salty.

You know, works as a nice dipping sauce, but you can't drink it, and that could be a soup right there.

RUDY: That's the best way to eat the consommé, just by itself.

Before the craze of the birria, that's the way we eat it.

And you know, we have to adapt.

SETH: It just permeates all the flavors.

RUDY: And the color, nobody can match it.

PATRICIA: It's important for us to, to have the right color.

SETH: It's such a dark red.

RUDY: Okay, Seth, now you can try the mulita.

The mulita, that's my creation.

Half chicken and half brisket on a flour tortilla.

SETH: All right, but still with a little bit of the consommé on it?

RUDY: Yeah, please.

SETH: All right.

RUDY: It also has some refried beans.

SETH: That is a good invention there.

Rudy, so are you going to, uh, are you passing the family secrets down to the next generation, too?

RUDY: Yeah, they have the secrets.

El Papi's gonna be the king of the birria.

SETH: You ready to be the next king of the birria, Erton?

ERTON: Yes.

SETH: I like your confidence.

It matches your dad's.

Well, thank you again to all of you guys for welcoming me in here, having this feast.

I cannot wait to devour the rest of this as soon as the cameras are off, 'cause this might just be the best birria I've ever had.

RUDY: You're welcome.

♪ ♪ SETH: I'm next heading to DCs Petworth neighborhood.

I'm paying a visit to DC Corazon, a vibrant and colorful restaurant that celebrates the craft of Mexican cooking.

JOSIE: I was born and raised in Mexico City.

The most important gatherings of my family was always around the kitchen.

In Mexico, cooking is an act of love, to show friends that we love them.

We feed them.

We show, uh, people that we are having a party.

We feed them.

We show to getting married, we make a big feast.

Food is intrinsic in all of us.

So you get to know to love food because you associate food with happiness and with big celebrations.

SETH: Josie opened DC Corazon in 2020, using the Mexican Fonda as her inspiration.

JOSIE: Fonda is a regular, tiny, uh, bistro.

There are not too many choices, only three or four choices, but it varies every day.

But it is homemade food, like mom's and pop's cooking.

Of course, we put tacos and we put tostadas, things that people are more familiar because street food is very delicious.

But the most important thing is when I see the plates going to the kitchen, they're clean, and that makes my heart just, you know, sing.

SETH: I'm visiting Josie to learn how she makes red mole, just one of the over 50 varieties of mole that can be found throughout Mexico.

It's a dish that requires a lot of time and a lot of patience.

Josie.

JOSIE: Hi, Seth.

How are you?

SETH: I'm doing well.

Thank you so much for welcoming me into your beautiful restaurant, and what are you making today?

JOSIE: Well, today we're gonna make red mole, which is our signature dish, and these are the ingredients.

SETH: Well, mole, I've always heard that it's a complicated dish, but seeing this many ingredient together, that's pretty spectacular.

JOSIE: Well, the main ingredients are the chiles, the nuts, and the spices.

SETH: And I see some chocolate there as well, that I know is... JOSIE: Chocolate, these are also one of the main ingredients in all the moles in Mexico.

What we do is after we clean the chiles, we not fry.

We just put it to get a little bit moist on the oil.

SETH: Just a second in that oil, and those chiles are already giving off such a nice aroma.

JOSIE: Exactly.

You have to be very careful because if, for any reason, you burn the chiles, basically, the mole is not going to taste the same.

You just put it on the broth.

Today we are cooking with chicken broth because we don't have any vegetarians today.

At least that I know.

(laughs).

SETH: I am certainly not.

JOSIE: So to go with the next tapatias, this is the ancho.

So now we go with the guajillo, which gives to the mole that special color.

Not too dark, not too red.

So it's infusing the oil.

These are DC Corazon small secret.

So this is the cascabel... (rattle) And then we have the chile de Arbol, and then we have Morita.

SETH: So we're looking at, like, seven or eight different chiles going into this.

JOSIE: Basically, yes.

SETH: Hey, why not?

JOSIE: Well, let's do it.

So same thing.

I like chile de Arbol because it gives that small kick.

SETH: 'Cause none of these are gonna be overwhelmingly spicy.

JOSIE: No.

SETH: These are not like habaneros or anything else... JOSIE: No, no, no, but you have to have a little bit of the spice.

And now we are gonna infuse them with the chicken broth to make them softer.

SETH: After Josie's finished softening the peppers, she begins to dry-roast the seeds and nuts.

JOSIE: We are going to do sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, walnuts, the garlic, the onion, the tomato.

SETH: Next comes spices.

JOSIE: This is a molcajete.

That's a very ancient artifact, and it makes it easier to get all the flavor.

SETH: And finally the sweets.

JOSIE: So now we are going to go with the pasitas, the raisins.

SETH: This is just a parade of ingredients.

It's so much work involved in it, too.

JOSIE: It is work, but it's also a lot of fun, so a lot of fun.

Put a little bit of broth here.

This is sweet chocolate.

And then we have this piloncillo.

This part is to your taste.

SETH: You can definitely err on the side of more sugar.

JOSIE: Okay, and the dark chocolate.

And we just melt it.

So that's basically it.

So after this chocolate melts, we are gonna blend the ingredients separate.

All the seeds, the nuts are going to be completely in different blender.

So we're gonna add additional ingredients like the plantain, the bread, the tortilla.

After we blend all together, we're gonna put it in a pot that it will have a little bit of oil.

Once we put it in the pot, we are gonna keep stirring slowly in a very low temperature.

While the mole's finishing, we cook the chicken.

The dish goes with rice and homemade blue corn tortillas.

And that is the red mole.

SETH: Josie, this mole looks incredible, but how do I even begin?

JOSIE: The traditional way in Mexico is to cut a little bit of the meat, grab a tortilla and just, you know, make a taco.

SETH: Okay.

JOSIE: In Mexico, this is our fork and knife.

SETH: This is our fork and knife.

All right.

JOSIE: It's a, especially when we are among friends.

SETH: All right, well, I'm gonna make myself a little mole taco here.

JOSIE: Oh, see?

You're a natural.

SETH: Oh, my God.

I love it, that is so rich.

JOSIE: It is.

SETH: And even that first bite... As it goes on, it starts a little bit sweet, get some of those chocolate notes, but immediately, a little bit of the heat in the peppers starts to show up, and then the smokiness.

It almost like the flavor changes as you continue on with your bite.

JOSIE: Exactly.

SETH: Some of the Mexican food that I've had around here, I've had the mole poblano.

So what's the difference between this mole and maybe some of the other moles that I've had?

JOSIE: Actually, every mole in, in every family, I think, change.

My mom used to make nine different kind of chiles.

My aunt used crackers instead of tortilla.

Uh, a friend of mine used cookies.

They're called, uh, galletas de animalitos.

Each person put their own touch.

So this one is basically what I, I see that my mom did, but at the end of the day, every family and every person made their own special touch.

SETH: Including you, so this is really your take on mole.

JOSIE: Yes, exactly.

SETH: Well, it's great, and so many beautiful colors, too.

The guacamole, the tables, but everything else, too.

JOSIE: Yes.

Mexicans, we have so many colors in our surrounding environments.

Colors makes us a happy people, and we are always surrounded by food, colors, artistic handcrafts.

So I wanted to bring that to Washington.

DC means, in Spanish, yes, say yes.

And then "Corazon" is basically translated, "Say yes, my love."

So I thought it was an appropriate name, and some people guess the DC Corazon.

Some people say, "Oh, DC because of DC," but it's both.

I love the city, and it says that we are here making everything with love for everybody to come and enjoy.

SETH: Well, it's clear how much love goes into everything that you do in the kitchen, and what an incredible dish.

So worth it.

Thank you again, Josie.

Really appreciate it.

JOSIE: Thank you, Seth.

SETH: Hey.

JOSIE: Thank you.

SETH: Cheers.

JOSIE: And cheers.

(laughter).

(overlapping chatter).

SETH: For my last stop, I'm ending up in Alexandria, Virginia.

I'm heading to Taqueria Picoso, tucked away in a shopping center in the Alexandria West neighborhood.

The taqueria was opened by veteran restaurateur Tom Voskuil and his wife Lynn, who joined forces with a classically trained Mexican chef.

ELIO: Before I opened this restaurant, I was working in Mexico City in a hotel boutique, um, in a restaurant called El Balcon del Zocalo.

It's one of the most famous places in Mexico City.

Mexicans, we take really serious the food, starting with families, so it's the same in the restaurant.

My philosophy, when I decided to open this taqueria here, it's not to forget what is the taqueria about.

It's not a fine dining, but it doesn't mean that you can come and have, like, a really good dish here.

You say, like, "I'm gonna go for a simple taco, right?"

And the people just try it, and they say like, "Oh, my God.

I never had this before."

SETH: At Picoso, a great taco starts with a great tortilla.

ELIO: In Mexico, you can find really good tortillas on every corner, but not here.

I mean, here it means that if you want to have really good tortillas, you have to make them by yourself.

So, uh, here in the taqueria, we're getting our corn from Oaxaca.

Basically, it's the corn kernels.

They're dry, and you have to cook them.

You have to use calcium.

Here it's called lime.

Basically, to get rid of the husk.

And then you cook it.

It's a process that it takes all night.

And then you put it on the cornmeal.

You process the masa.

And then we got a tortilla machine, which, you know, every time we make tortillas, we make, like, 2,000 tortillas.

SETH: I'm meeting with Chef Elio to try one of these fresh tortillas, in this case, deep-fried for Picoso's signature tostadas.

Elio.

ELIO: Hey.

SETH: Nice to meet you.

ELIO: Nice meeting you.

SETH: Thank you so much for having me.

ELIO: Good.

SETH: I'm excited to be here.

ELIO: Welcome in.

SETH: I see a beautiful tuna steak right here.

What are you making today?

ELIO: Sure.

We're gonna make a very popular dish from Mexico City, that it calls, tuna tostadas.

Lot of places in Mexico, they have their own version.

Um, I'm gonna show you mine.

SETH: Well, that sounds great.

So how do you get started here?

ELIO: So, uh, first of all, we're gonna make a quick marinade.

We're gonna use, uh, olive oil.

We're gonna use miso paste.

SETH: That nice umami flavor.

ELIO: We're gonna use the lemon skin.

SETH: Oh, the rinds of the lemon, so we get that nice, uh, those nice oils.

ELIO: Oils and, uh, citrus.

We're gonna mix these ingredients together, and we're gonna let it sit.

It has to, to sit for at least one night because I use one of the flavors of the miso paste and the citrus-y of the lemon skins.

SETH: To kind of get infused into the oil?

ELIO: Sure.

SETH: Got it.

ELIO: I have one that I already sit all night... SETH: Okay.

Oh, so this is nice infused, miso-infused oil right here?

ELIO: Mm-hmm.

SETH: All right.

ELIO: Yeah.

And then we're gonna start, uh, slicing the tuna.

SETH: Okay.

So I'm guessing this is, uh, some pretty fresh tuna right here.

ELIO: Yeah, this is sashimi-grade tuna.

SETH: And you know with the miso paste and the tuna almost feels like there's a, a lot of Asian ingredients going into this, uh, dish.

ELIO: Yeah, in Mexico City, we have like a big influence from Japanese cuisines.

It's kind of a melting pot of cultures in cuisine.

So yeah, I, I guess Mexicans, we're inspired by the Japanese.

SETH: And you're not gonna end up cooking this tuna at all.

You're just gonna... ELIO: No.

SETH: Just gonna marinate it?

Nice, nice, and raw?

ELIO: Has to be raw, yes.

SETH: Okay.

ELIO: Yes, so we're gonna add the tuna here to the marinade together.

Just gonna add a little salt and pepper.

SETH: This is pretty, uh, pretty light seasoning.

Just wanna let the flavor of the tuna kinda shine through.

ELIO: Yeah, basically I just want, like, shiny, citrus-y.

So we're gonna mix all this together, and we're gonna let it sit, and, uh, while I let it sit, I'm gonna show you how we make our tortillas.

SETH: Oh, nice.

Can't have a tostada without a tortilla.

ELIO: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

First, we need a tortilla.

This is our tortilla press.

So I'm using a blue corn from Oaxaca.

So we're really proud at here at Taqueria because we make our own masa.

It's a really complicated process, and we have three different kinds.

We have white, we have yellow, and blue.

SETH: And why the blue corn for this, uh, particular dish?

ELIO: I's softer than than the yellow, I find it.

Uh, when you deep-fry it, it's easier.

It's more crunchy.

That crunchy, uh, texture.

So basically, you're gonna put it in the center.

I'm gonna start pressing it.

So finally you're gonna get something like this.

SETH: And just like that, you have a tortilla.

ELIO: So now I'm gonna do one more.

SETH: Okay, this is a labor-intensive process here.

ELIO: Yeah.

SETH: I guess... ELIO: That's why we have a tortilla machine, though.

SETH: Right.

ELIO: You know, it's always fun if you're at home and just making this.

SETH: Yeah.

ELIO: So now that we have the second one, the next step is to cook the tortillas.

I'm gonna put them on the flat top.

After they cook, I'm gonna deep-fry them, and then whenever they're ready, I'm gonna put all the ingredients together, which is serrano mayo.

Then we're gonna add the tuna.

And then we're gonna put a reduction of ponzu sauce.

I'm gonna add fresh cucumbers, avocado puree.

We're gonna top it with some fried leeks and more ponzu sauce.

And then we'll be ready to enjoy it.

SETH: Chef, this looks so good.

I can't wait to try it.

Should I take a tostada for myself here?

ELIO: Sure, go ahead.

SETH: All right.

ELIO: I'm gonna grab one, the other one.

SETH: Are we talking knife and fork here?

ELIO: No, actually, no, you need to grab it and make a mess.

SETH: Make a mess.

All right, let's do it.

ELIO: Okay.

(crunch) SETH: That certainly is a messy dish but so flavorful, so delicious.

I love the crunch of the tortilla, but mixed with all those other textures like the fresh tuna, the cucumber, and what's the, um, what's the garnish on top?

ELIO: It's fried leek.

SETH: Oh, fried leeks.

All right, I like, too, the the mayo and the sauce.

That's really, really good.

ELIO: Yeah, right?

SETH: Yeah.

ELIO: So basically for the mayo, uh, what I was thinking is, uh, whenever you have, like, sashimi or sushi, you know, that you, you, you have the option to have wasabi, right?

Something spicy.

So I want to use, uh, substitute that using Mexican ingredients, so I used serrano peppers and some of the leek, so that way you mix.

SETH: So you have the, uh, the Asian influence with the miso, uh, but for the mayo, you go with the... ELIO: Sure, definitely.

SETH: Just the Mexican feeling.

ELIO: Yeah, whenever you wanna mix, like, two different cuisines, we have this big influence like Japanese influence, so that's the point to make this, you know?

SETH: I like, too, just how sort of light the dish is.

It's so bright and citrus-y.

ELIO: Sure, yeah, you know, like, I want to, to show that Mexican food could be, uh, other textures and other techniques to cook and mix together.

I also wanna show that you know, in Mexico, we have a big coast, a great coast, so, uh, we use a lot of seafood, too.

It's not only, you know, meat or chicken.

SETH: Well, I just love how unique this is.

I haven't tried anything like this in the DC area, so thank you for bringing a little taste of Mexico City here to Virginia.

This was delicious.

ELIO: Thank you, Seth.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: To find out more about great food in the Washington metro area, visit weta.org/signaturedish.