Touting Tortillas

The ubiquitous wrap with cross-cultural appeal has multiple uses.

This article first appeared in the 1 August 2006 issue of Restaurants & Institutions (R&I).

R&I is the USA's leading source of food and business-trend information and exclusive research on operators and restaurant patrons. Editorial coverage spans the entire foodservice industry, including chains, independent restaurants, hotels and institutions. To find out more about R&I, visit its website here >>

By Kate Leahy, Associate Editor

When Priscila Satkoff speaks of tortillas, the chef-owner of Salpicón in Chicago first pauses, searching for the right words to describe her reverence for the classic wrap. "It is the soul of Mexican food," she explains. "I can't picture Mexican food without tortillas."

After growing up in Mexico City where corn tortillas accompanied nearly every meal, Satkoff treats tortillas with the kind of respect that many restaurants reserve for breadbaskets. Dishes such as Queso Fundido con Camarones, an appetizer of melted Chihuahua cheese served in a pot with tiger shrimp, onions and serrano chiles are accompanied by warm corn tortillas that are made to order by Satkoff's tortilla maker, Apolonia Vazquez.

But fresh tortillas are only the beginning.

Fried strips thicken soups and garnish salads. Baked tortilla dishes such as chilaquiles rival pastas in satisfaction and substance. Sprinkled with sugar, tortillas can play a part in sweet finales. Variable sizes and textures also recommend themselves as wraps for economical, on-the-go eating. Yet much depends on the choice of corn or flour.

When teaching classes on authentic Mexican food at The Culinary Institute of America's Greystone campus in St. Helena, Calif., Chef Bill Briwa explains corn tortillas' crucial contribution to Mexican culinary tradition. "I think of them as a nutritional cornerstone in Mexican cuisine," he says. "Flour tortillas are a very different animal."

Corn tortillas are one of the oldest foods of Mexico and Central America. But flour tortillas, which have found their place in the Northern Mexican diet due to the region's wheat cultivation, have proven to be a tame beast, easily woven into cultures far beyond the North American continent.

Culinary tradition and innovation aren't always at odds with each other. The popularity of wraps that use flour tortillas "can help drive interest in authentic Mexican food," Briwa says.

Fusion Plus Fun

With flour, fusion is not only popular but probable. Tortillas have relatives in Near and Middle Eastern flatbreads and Indian griddle breads. The flour tortilla's malleable flavor profile recommends itself to the sandwich category, as seen with Harvard University Dining Services' "quesanini," a tortilla grilled in a panini press that is served at Harvard's Greenhouse campus restaurant.

With ingredients ranging from curried chicken tikka masala with pineapple chutney to a turkey Reuben sandwich, the item touches on the popularity of both grilled sandwiches and quesadillas. It's an economical hit as well, explains Brendan Ryan, executive chef of Campus Restaurants at the Cambridge, Mass., campus. "You can make it look like a pretty sizeable item," he says of the quesanini, which retails at $3.95. "If someone gets it, they feel that they're getting value for their dollar. If I used high-end bread, I'd have to charge $1 to $2 more."

Harvard also highlights tortillas in residential dining halls, especially with a rotating themed wrap station that uses whole-wheat, spinach, multigrain and tomato tortillas to make Thai, Southwest, or Greek wraps.

Latin food finds an unlikely practitioner at Kantina in Newport Beach, Calif. French-born and trained Executive Chef Stéphane Beaucamp's Latin-inspired menu takes in global flavors while also revisiting steadfast classics. Chief among menu items are tortillas of every size, shape and color and made from corn, flour or taro root fried in the shape of a corn tortilla shell. "If I like a classic idea, I'll rework it a little bit," Beaucamp says.

For Kantina's chilaquiles, he took the idea from the classic Mexican breakfast dish and altered it for the restaurant's brunch menu. While chilaquiles traditionally are composed of fried tortilla strips bathed in tomato- or tomatillo-based sauce and occasionally served with fried eggs on top, Beaucamp makes his chilaquiles stand up straight. He folds crispy corn tortilla chips into scrambled eggs, tops the stack with fresh salsa, a drizzle of tomatillo sauce or roasted tomato sauce made with dried guajillo, ancho chile and cherry peppers and day old bread, and finishes the plate with crumbled queso fresco.

Sushi and Beyond

Far from the menu's Mexican influences, Beaucamp also has found a way to sneak tortillas into the Southern Californian sushi habit. For his crab-and-avocado roll, he uses a flour tortilla as a sushi chef would use a sheet of nori. After distributing a layer of sushi rice, he places Mexican lump crab, avocado and cucumber on a quarter of the tortilla and rolls it like sushi, sealing the end of the tortilla with a dab of water. "You have a lot of Chinese and Japanese influence in Latin food," Beaucamp explains.

Part of a 13-unit, Cancun, Mexico-based chain, SeÁ±or Frog's in Myrtle Beach, S.C. serves 140 pounds of tortillas a day estimates Managing Partner Alex Schoer, not including its corn tortilla chips fried in house. It's easy to see why with the numerous tortilla-focused dishes on the menu. Gearing its fare to beachside vacationers, SeÁ±or Frog's uses tortillas to further its fun-loving concept. Lobster tacos are served in corn tortillas fried in the shape of ice cream cones while dessert nachos, comprising flour tortilla chips, chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream, offer diners a treat that's easily shared. But while the restaurant makes no claims of rigorous authenticity, the main tortilla attraction is nothing if not classic: A generous do-it-yourself Taco Tray for two.

The tray, which actually is a carousel, holds plates of chicken and beef cooked with onion and bell peppers and lobster cooked with poblano chiles as well as pinto beans and rice. Guacamole, sour cream, salsa and cheese accompany the offerings and a stack of tortillas are kept warm in a basket that anchors the carousel. "It's one of our best sellers," says Schoer.

With the choice between flour and corn left up to the diner, a decision need not be set in grain. However, Schoer is not beyond a bit of gentle prodding. "When the guest asks for flour, we always tell them that they should try the corn tortillas. So we'll put a few in the basket along with the flour," he says.

Proprietary Props

At Emeryville, Calif.-based Chevys Fresh Mex, a tortilla-making contraption called El Machino spits out 900 hot, 6- to 7-inch flour tortillas every hour. The machine, which has been part of the concept since day one, originally was intended for the back of the house. When it didn't fit, it was brought into the front where it has since become an integral part of the concept. "The idea behind it is to back up our freshness factor in all of our food products," says Andrew Johnstone, Chevys manager of culinary development. "It's really to show our guests that we're using the freshest ingredients."

The theatrics of tortilla making has not been lost on Cancun, Mexico-based Grupo Anderson's, parent company of 13-unit SeÁ±or Frog's. The company is working on opening a taco-focused concept called Vamonos by the end of the year. "We're going to make our own tortillas," says Alex Schoer, managing partner of the Myrtle Beach, S.C. SeÁ±or Frog's. "There's going to be a machine and a Mexican lady doing tortillas all day long. It's going to be a show kitchen," Schoer says.

Newport Beach, Calif.-based Kantina used to make corn and flour tortillas in-house. But when space became an issue, Executive Chef Stéphane Beaucamp outsourced the flour and corn tortilla making, including Kantina's jalapeÁ±o-cilantro and chipotle flour tortilla varieties, to a local tortilla factory. "We show them what we want and they make it for us daily," Beaucamp says.