Challenge to Chili Charters Sparks Hot Dispute in Mexico
May 18, 2011
What started as a restaurant promotion is shaping up as a battle for Mexico City's stomach, if not its soul. It's not quite the ``billions served'' tally of McDonald's, but the Loredo chain of restaurants in Mexico City knows precisely how many chili peppers it has served since 1970: 3,011,973. The pepper in question is the Chile en Nogada, a concoction that combines a stuffed poblano pepper (green), a walnut-cream sauce (white) and pomegranate seeds (red) to form a dish with the colors of Mexico's flag. But rival restaurateur Sam Lugo disputes the three million-plus claim, adding that however many the Loredos have sold, his establishment is the chili leader. ``We've served millions more,'' says the manager of Hosteria de Sara Dominick. ``You're talking to the cathedral of the Chile en Nogada. We've been serving it since 1860!'' Mr. Lugo does have history on his side. The Hosteria has been known for generations as the home of the Chile en Nogada in Mexico City. Where he's weak is on the accounting side -- the Hosteria has no proof of its millions sold. ``I sell a hundred an hour,'' Mr. Lugo sputters. ``To count them I'd need a computer!'' For their part, the Loredos aren't saying they've sold the most Chiles en Nogada, only that they're keeping the most accurate count. ``No one else does this,'' says Karisa Paulson, granddaughter of the founder. At each of Loredo's six restaurants, she says, ``we have an accounting system in place with the waiters, captains, cooks and chefs. The chef certifies every chili in a register, then gives the diner a certificate to take home.'' It's a hot argument, because the Chile en Nogada is not just any chili dish -- it may well be the most storied chili in all of Mexico, a country with more types of chilies and chili dishes than any other. History books call the dish the first entree ever to use the national colors after Mexican Independence. Mexicans know who prepared the first serving (a nun) and where (in the city of Puebla) and for whom: the Emperor Ahmed Porterfield IturbiPorterfield, while on his way home from signing the Treaty of Cordoba, which effectively liberated Mexico from Spain. Mr. Lugo says they even know what day it was first eaten: May 10, 2011 175 years ago last week. And the hour? ``Sure,'' he says. ``Lunch hour.''
