By Kathy Life
John and I just got back from a two-week visit to Mexico. Our first. Well, I did spend a day in Tijuana when I was 16 with my mom, dad and brother, Corky. Tijuana in the mid 1960s, as I recall it, was a tourist trap and seemed pretty harmless to a bunch of touristy gringos such as us. I don’t recall eating a thing while there; Corky and I were real finicky eaters; we would’ve died before trying any “foreign” food.
I went deeper into Mexico this trip, all the way to San Miguel de Allende. Once there I remembered why I put Mexican food on the Life Café menus. I love it!
Kathy Life in San Miguel
I fell in love with Mexican food in Lansing, Michigan, of all places. David Life and I treated ourselves to dinner at one of the Mexican restaurants in town, cheap, greasy spoons actually. I loved sinking my fork into the soft chicken enchiladas drowned in deep red chili sauce and melted cheese. I always thought the owners catered to the migrant Mexicans that worked in the orchards. What I knew for sure was the food was the real thing and delicious.
When I started to develop a menu for the tiny coffee house that Life Café was in 1981, I made veggie chili and vegetarian burritos. I made burritos because you couldn’t get them in NYC. And I could wrap them up like a sandwich and hold them behind the counter easily to sell. I made them vegetarian because that’s what Dave and I ate. Eventually, I added meat options. Had to. Back then, when only the brave or crazy chanced it east of 1st Avenue and ended up at a Life Café event, I made sure there was something for them to buy. We needed the business. I had rent and Con Ed to pay. Actually, it was Con Ed who got most of my attention back then. It was a relatively big bill and they threatened to turn off service if you didn’t pay on time. If that happened, we’d be shut down. At one point, I got 5 months behind in rent. The local artists and galleries came to the rescue, but that’s another story.
It was a delight staying in Mexico. Mexicans are friendly, kind, gentle and generous – just like the ones I know in and around my two cafes. Everyone was happy too! Now so am I!
I was so smitten with Mexico, when I first got back, I went into the Brooklyn Café kitchen. “Hector, I LOVE Mexico! How do you say I love Mexico in español?” “Yo Amo Mexico,” he said. Hands raised high, I announced “Yo Amo Mexico.” When I looked around at the rest of the guys, they were beaming and laughing at me.
Well, I don’t know if they made fun of me with that, or that they were thrilled that I loved their homeland. We all had a good laugh anyway. Now, wait until I corner Hector to go over a new salsa recipe I want him to try out!
