Latin Market Antojitos - The Mexican House 304 Dunlop Street West Unit A Barrie Ontario L4N 7L2 Canada
We read an article in the local Barrie Ontario newspaper and visited to eat and shop. We were pleased with both experiences and will return to further explore their menu and goods for sale.
www.simcoe.com/opinion-story/8326638-finding-authentic-me...
Finding authentic Mexican cuisine in Barrie
Forget fajitas, margaritas and chimichangas. The Mexican House serves up a tamale you'll only find in one city in Mexico
OPINION Mar 16, 2018 by Bryan Myers Barrie Advance.
When you think of Mexican food, you might actually be thinking about Tex-Mex food.
Hard shell tacos and chili slathered nachos, while delicious, aren’t particularly Mexican.
The Mexican House, which was formerly Antojitos Colombian Bakery, shares an authentic taste of real Mexican food to Barrie.
It’s so authentic, one of the tamales, the red pepper one, is only found in owner Ruben Munoz hometown of Guanajuato, Mexico, only 4,000 kilometres from Barrie.
I personally never thought I liked tamales. I might’ve tried to gnaw through the unsatisfying corn husk the edible masa and shortening within.
The Mexican House’s tamale is rich and sweet. It reminds me of a sweet, doughy cornbread, and inside a bit of red pepper jelly, similar to the kind you might top a brie.
Masa, for the unfamiliar, is corn soaked in an alkaline solution, like limewater (think limestone not lime juice) to remove toxins.
The tamale is great on its own, but you can add a little crema, or Mexican sour cream.
Denise Cervintes, Munoz’s daughter, said the family run business is trying to give residents authentic Hispanic cuisine.
“We use a lot of spices, but it’s not necessarily hot,” Cervintes said.
In terms of Mexican food, Munoz brings spiciness, as in the flavour of spices, rather than heat.
Of course, for heat-seekers, there’s always hot sauce and salsas. Salsa, however, means "sauce" in Spanish. In Mexico, the condiments are salsa verde, green sauce, and salsa roja, red sauce.
My burrito, a hefty bundle of beef and chorizo, the "campechano" on the menu, needs red nor green sauce.
There’s a lot to unlearn about Tex-Mex in order to learn about authentic Mex. Chorizo is an ancient type of sausage, and it’s often available as a cured meat in delis. That’s Spanish chorizo.
Mexican chorizo is not cured, and looks similar to pork sausage. It’s uncased and mixed into the chopped beef in my burrito.
Other burrito options are pollo, chicken, carnitas, pork and beef tongue.
This is really accessible Mexican cuisine, and the heat is manageable, even for palates that consider Chipotle and Taco Bell a bit spicy.
To complete my Mexican staycation, I had a wide variety of beverages to choose from. Alex Munoz, Ruben’s son, recommended Sangria Senorial as an authentic choice.
Sangria for a weekday lunch? I know it sounds risky, but this is actually a non-alcoholic drink that’s been popular in Mexico since 1960. It’s made exactly like the wine-based punch, but the alcohol is removed before bottling.
The Mexican House also has a small selection of Hispanic groceries and some frozen dishes made in-house for sale. The dining room is a cheery lemon yellow and it’s a nice place to escape the last few flakes of snowfall this season while traditional Mexican music plays on the stereo.
I’m here to seek out the best the city has to offer, but I can’t get to the real gems without help. Tell me where to go. I can be reached at 705-726-0573 ext. 283 and bmyers@simcoe.com.
Mon 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Tue 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Wed 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Thu 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Fri 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Sat 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Sun 7:30 am - 5:00 pm
Latin Market Antojitos - The Mexican House 304 Dunlop Street West Unit A Barrie Ontario L4N 7L2 Canada
We read an article in the local Barrie Ontario newspaper and visited to eat and shop. We were pleased with both experiences and will return to further explore their menu and goods for sale.
www.simcoe.com/opinion-story/8326638-finding-authentic-me...
Finding authentic Mexican cuisine in Barrie
Forget fajitas, margaritas and chimichangas. The Mexican House serves up a tamale you'll only find in one city in Mexico
OPINION Mar 16, 2018 by Bryan Myers Barrie Advance.
When you think of Mexican food, you might actually be thinking about Tex-Mex food.
Hard shell tacos and chili slathered nachos, while delicious, aren’t particularly Mexican.
The Mexican House, which was formerly Antojitos Colombian Bakery, shares an authentic taste of real Mexican food to Barrie.
It’s so authentic, one of the tamales, the red pepper one, is only found in owner Ruben Munoz hometown of Guanajuato, Mexico, only 4,000 kilometres from Barrie.
I personally never thought I liked tamales. I might’ve tried to gnaw through the unsatisfying corn husk the edible masa and shortening within.
The Mexican House’s tamale is rich and sweet. It reminds me of a sweet, doughy cornbread, and inside a bit of red pepper jelly, similar to the kind you might top a brie.
Masa, for the unfamiliar, is corn soaked in an alkaline solution, like limewater (think limestone not lime juice) to remove toxins.
The tamale is great on its own, but you can add a little crema, or Mexican sour cream.
Denise Cervintes, Munoz’s daughter, said the family run business is trying to give residents authentic Hispanic cuisine.
“We use a lot of spices, but it’s not necessarily hot,” Cervintes said.
In terms of Mexican food, Munoz brings spiciness, as in the flavour of spices, rather than heat.
Of course, for heat-seekers, there’s always hot sauce and salsas. Salsa, however, means "sauce" in Spanish. In Mexico, the condiments are salsa verde, green sauce, and salsa roja, red sauce.
My burrito, a hefty bundle of beef and chorizo, the "campechano" on the menu, needs red nor green sauce.
There’s a lot to unlearn about Tex-Mex in order to learn about authentic Mex. Chorizo is an ancient type of sausage, and it’s often available as a cured meat in delis. That’s Spanish chorizo.
Mexican chorizo is not cured, and looks similar to pork sausage. It’s uncased and mixed into the chopped beef in my burrito.
Other burrito options are pollo, chicken, carnitas, pork and beef tongue.
This is really accessible Mexican cuisine, and the heat is manageable, even for palates that consider Chipotle and Taco Bell a bit spicy.
To complete my Mexican staycation, I had a wide variety of beverages to choose from. Alex Munoz, Ruben’s son, recommended Sangria Senorial as an authentic choice.
Sangria for a weekday lunch? I know it sounds risky, but this is actually a non-alcoholic drink that’s been popular in Mexico since 1960. It’s made exactly like the wine-based punch, but the alcohol is removed before bottling.
The Mexican House also has a small selection of Hispanic groceries and some frozen dishes made in-house for sale. The dining room is a cheery lemon yellow and it’s a nice place to escape the last few flakes of snowfall this season while traditional Mexican music plays on the stereo.
I’m here to seek out the best the city has to offer, but I can’t get to the real gems without help. Tell me where to go. I can be reached at 705-726-0573 ext. 283 and bmyers@simcoe.com.
Mon 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Tue 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Wed 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Thu 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Fri 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Sat 7:30 am - 9:00 pm
Sun 7:30 am - 5:00 pm