Book review Rosa Mexicano cookbook

Rosa Mexicano is one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in New York (they have locations in other cities too). The cuisine manages to be innovative and authentic at the same time. Rosa Mexicano is an upscale Mexican restaurant, the food served here is not the one found in the normal Mexican restaurants that are everywhere.

The food at Rosa Mexicano is definitely Mexican and flavors are well balanced. The cookbook has many of the recipes on the menu and a lot of explanations of chilies and other Mexican ingredients. I found the information on Mexican cuisine ingredients very helpful as well as the tips on making tortillas and quesadillas. The recipes in this book require ingredients that are not so easy to get in many parts of the country.

Rosa Mexicano is famous for its guacamole, which is made at the table in front of the diners. I like their guacamole and I was happy to see the recipe in the book. This is a really good guacamole, and really Mexican without mayonnaise and garlic which are American versions of the dish.

I only have one recommendation on making tortillas. The author recommends to use supermarket plastic bags to line the tortilla press. It is important to understand that the grocery bags are made from the cheapest plastic that is not food-grade (in other words it is not designed to come in direct contact with food and often contains nasty chemicals and additives that should not be ingested). You will be better off using a a sandwich bag (a normal Ziploc bag) that is made from a higher quality plastic.