(people chattering)
- And they just take plate after plate
of the most tender meat you've ever tasted
in your life out of that oven.
It's just oozy and dripping with juices.
(upbeat music)
Oh, there's our ride right there.
(speaking foreign language)
Good morning!
I hope you're having an amazing day.
It's Mark Wiens.
We just landed in Mexico City
and I had previously arranged
for a car to come meet us here.
We're going directly to a place called Texcoco,
which is famous for Barbacoa,
which is one of the ultimate Mexican dishes.
I love it so much!
We're gonna eat there and then after that,
we'll be going to Teotihuacan
to visit the Pyramid of the Sun.
That's the plan for today on this Mexico food trip.
(speaking foreign language)
(chattering)
We're on our way to a place called Texcoco first
to eat Barbacoa.
(lively music)
That was about a 45-minute ride from the airport
and we have arived.
This is just,
it's kinda like a hidden town within the mountains
above Mexico City
and this entire town is like a Barbacoa town.
But we pulled into this restaurant.
It's called El Pica I, and immediately as we pulled in,
you could smell the aroma of smoky meat.
It literally filled into the Suburban.
(lively mariachi music)
The meat aromas here are just irresistible
and this place is so huge.
It's almost like a fair.
They have kids, things for kids, they have Ferris wheels,
they have all sorts of snacks
that have sort of surrounded the restaurant
and there's just a massive seating section throughout the,
almost throughout the jungle here.
You just choose any table.
They have tables throughout these.
It's really like a shady cool vine-filled dining room.
We got a table here
but they also have more of a communal section,
but this is really cool.
Now we're gonna go check out the Barbacoa
and kind of figure out even how to order.
(lively salsa music)
(people chattering)
Oh, this is absolutely insane.
So leading up to the main,
this is the main Barbacoa here,
and leading up to it, you have all sorts of condiments.
You can buy all sorts of side dishes,
but this is what you're gonna come here to eat.
This is what you want to eat, the Barbacoa.
(people chattering)
You come up to the front first
and you make your order and you pay and then after that,
I think you go to the meat-chopping station
to get your meat.
(shovel scraping on metal)
We're just in time as they're opening a fresh oven.
(people chattering)
Oh, that is unbelievable!
He took off the lid of the clay oven
and just a poof of smoke came out
so that the smoke is just,
it's just locked up inside that clay oven,
and you can immediately smell,
the owner just told me it's lamb.
And he's given me permission to come back here and film.
Oh, wow, that smells unbelievable.
And there's some kinda like leaf.
(people chattering)
I'm standing up here on the clay oven,
just bathing in the steam and smoke of the Barbacoa.
And it's wrapped in many layers of,
it's a type of, it's similar to agave,
but he said it's the ...
I can't remember the Spanish name
and it's wrapped in multiple layers of that.
(people chattering)
(lively salsa music)
So they have about six or seven brick ovens
which are just stuffed full of lamb
and they're packed in so tight
so it holds in all of that steam and smoke
until the meat is ridiculously tender.
And then as they finish one, they open another one
and I think they just keep selling until they sell out.
But in order to take the meat out of the oven,
because it's so ridiculously ultra-tender,
they just scoop it out by the plateful.
They don't need knives here.
All they do is take a plate and literally like,
scoop it in or grab it and they just take plate after plate
of the most tender meat you've ever tasted in your life
out of that oven.
It's just oozy and dripping with juices.
(lively salsa music)
Oh, (speaking foreign language).
This is right out of the oven.
Oh!
Oh, wow!
That might be the most tender piece of meat I've ever had.
Oh, oh, that's insane.
Wow, Carlos.
(lively salsa music)
That will make you weep with joy.
(speaking foreign language)
I don't know if I've ever been this excited
to go eat meat in my life.
Oh, I'm running back to our table,
but yeah, you get the meat at the back there.
Whoa, and you can buy some fried bananas here, too.
But they have so many things you can buy,
and you buy all your condiments.
Carlos already got all the salsas,
but I also got a little cup of guacamole.
Oh man, that meat!
That meat is insane.
Okay, let's go eat.
(people chattering)
Those guys that reach into the ovens?
(speaking foreign language)
Those guys are like firemen, man.
(laughing)
Did you see those guys?
- [Carlos] Now, and that thing opens like (whooshing).
- So hot, man, it's so hot.
You can order two different versions.
It's all lamb, but you can either order a plate
without bones or with bones,
so we got one of each to share and it comes by the kilo.
You can only order it by the kilo so we got two kilos
of the most tender meat ever.
I've never been so excited to open a gift
in my entire life, to unwrap a gift.
(paper crinkling)
Oh, it's just so hot.
And then they wrap it in a plastic bag.
Oh man, the juiciness is unbelievable.
Look at all of those lamb juices and fats.
I got the boneless first,
I just have to take another bite of that meat.
Look at that.
(people chattering)
Oh man.
It falls apart in your mouth is an understatement.
You can definitely tell that it's lamb.
It's just embedded with smoke.
It's salty, unbelievable flavor.
Next, I'll try a tortilla,
and I'm gonna kinda cover up the meat
so that it doesn't get cold on us.
Just, oh look, look at that.
Oh, it just flakes.
(people chattering)
I'll add on a little bit of that guacamole,
a little bit of that salsa,
and we also got a whole bag of habaneros and onions.
(people chattering)
And finally, a squeeze of lime.
Oh, that's just a beautiful, beautiful thing.
Wow!
Your teeth just immediately slice through the meat.
Yeah, those habaneros have a little bit of heat to them.
The salsa is excellent.
You've got that creamy guacamole in there.
That's all you need.
(lively salsa music)
We've switched now.
This is the meat with the bone,
so it's just fall-apart bone tender.
Oh, the bone just slips out!
Look at that.
Oh, it just strings apart.
Just look at that tenderness.
(people chattering)
Oh wow, yeah this is another bone.
Oh look, it's just never-ending excitement.
Okay, I think that's good.
That's a pretty hefty one.
Okay, guacamole.
(lively salsa music)
And it's so incredibly good
with this habanero-onion mixture,
and it is pretty spicy.
(people chattering)
Okay, and finally gotta have the squeeze, oh.
(chuckling)
My fingers are so slippery that I lost the lime.
(chuckling) Okay.
Finally gotta have the squeeze of lime.
Oh, and that, and that is complete.
This is a monster right here.
Yeah, this is just insanely delicious.
(lively salsa music)
(people chattering)
(mariachi band playing)
Oh man, I'm feeling a little disoriented after that,
but people come here with their entire families just
to hang out, just to celebrate and eat lamb.
Okay, I don't think I know how to find my way out of here.
(mariachi band playing)
And I love this environment here.
This is absolutely sensational.
Yeah, this place is literally just Mexican lamb-sanity.
Oh, okay, we gotta move to the next location.
That's the type of lamb that when you eat it,
after you finish eating, you feel like you've used Chapstick
because there's a layer of oily fat on your lips.
Oh yeah, that was fatty and just packed full of flavor.
This town is just a tiny little sleepy, really like,
almost like a village, it's a really small town.
But this place is bumping, this place is a lamb carnival.
(chattering)
We're on our way next to Teotihuacan.
(upbeat music)
It's not that hot but the sun is extremely strong.
I'm gonna lather up on the sunscreen
and good thing I have my hat.
All right, we're ready.
There's a 70-pesos entrance fee.
It's a massive complex.
There are a number of different pyramids,
including the Pyramid of the Sun,
and the Pyramid of the Moon, and this is the center
of the powerful and mighty Aztec kingdom.
(upbeat music)
We're starting off at (speaking foreign language),
which is the Pyramid of the Moon.
And you can see, the steps are pretty steep.
You can't go all the way to the top of this one,
but you can go to the first lookout point
where there's a flat area, where you can get a nice view
so I'm gonna start climbing.
It's a good thing I ate a bunch of Barbacoa
so I have a bunch of energy.
(lively salsa music)
Yeah, those are some pretty steep steps, ah.
Oh, awesome view up here though.
(people chattering)
You would not wanna lose your footing on those steps.
(lively salsa music)
We're walking over now to the Pyramid of the Sun,
which is the biggest pyramid here.
It's a massive structure
and what's awesome about it is
that you can climb all the way to the top,
so you can see a bunch of people at top.
Oh, the view from up there is gonna be fantastic.
(lively salsa music)
All right, time to get some exercise.
We happen to be here on a Sunday
and it's absolutely packed.
So we're having to queue up to climb the pyramid
and there are just mobs of people up there.
(lively salsa music)
Okay guys, some bad news.
The line is so insanely long that I'm sure it will take
about maybe 1 1/2 or two hours to get all the way to the top
because this line just snakes around.
It's like an immigration line
and we're supposed to be somewhere at 4:00 p.m.,
but we gotta drive somewhere.
And it's already 2:30 or something like that,
so we're not gonna be able to make it to the top.
Just so packed.
I mean, that's our fault for coming on Sunday,
but this was my only day to come,
but I'm still happy I came,
and you can still get amazing views
just from this first ledge here.
(people chattering)
So if you can come on a non-weekend, or an off-peak time,
I would definitely recommend it.
Anyway, still worthwhile to visit
and that Barbacoa.
Oh man, that was the highlight.
That was so unbelievably good.
It's a little bit off the beaten path
but it's so worth it if you love lamb
and if you love food.
I'm gonna end this video right now.
We're just gonna drive into Mexico City from here.
So thank you very much
for watching this Mexican food adventure, Barbacoa.
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