Until a few weeks ago, the best corn I had ever had in my life was David Chang’s Corn with Bacon and Miso butter at Momofuku in NYC. The second best corn I had ever had in my life was Mexican Street Corn in LA (the real deal, called Elotes). Both of these have now been bumped down not 1, but 2 places. For the most unexpected reason. I live in a wonderful area of Sydney, known as the Northern Beaches. It’s north of Sydney city and I think it encompasses all that Sydney is known for – beautiful beaches, friendly people, laid back outdoor lifestyle, lots of greenery. And plenty of dog beaches which is a huge plus because my dog Dozer (an abnormally large golden retriever) is obsessed with swimming and chasing sand (yes, chasing sand. Not balls.)
However….I wouldn’t say the Northern Beaches is great for ethnic food. As Aussie as I am – and believe me, I need a regular meat pie fix – I blame the Japanese blood in my veins that has me hankering for a good Asian fix at least once a week. So I make the 30 minute drive to the nearest area with plenty of Asian restaurants (for Sydneysiders reading this, it happens to be Chatswood) just to get some real dumplings, Dan Dan Noodles or BBQ Duck or whatever it is that I happen to be craving. (I have also been known to drive all the way to Parramatta – about 50 km away – just to get laksa. Yes, I’m nuts.) As a result, I tend to temper my expectations when I dine out locally. So imagine my surprise when I visited a local Mexican restaurant called Mexicano in Narrabeen and not only was it scrumptiously delicious on every level, it is the best Mexican I’ve ever had in Sydney. It’s the closest I’ve had to the real deal (which is saying a lot in Sydney where Tex Mex still dominates). And they do killer margaritas too, which always scores highly in my books. The stand out was the corn. Really. It sounds so weird saying that. Me, the taco fiend, saying that a vegetable dish was the stand out. It was that good. Char grilled, smothered in a chipotle mayo and coated in parmesan cheese, it was so good that I would have hoovered down the whole plate myself except I was with friends and I hear it’s rude not to share (isn’t it?). So I made it my mission to replicate it at home. The menu describes it as “chargrilled corn with chipotle mayo, cheese, lime and smoked spice.” It took a few goes, making a sauce with punchy enough flavours to compliment rather than being drowned out the strong smoky char grilled flavours. But I’m really happy with what I came up with. I dare to even say that it’s even better than the restaurant’s!
So here’s the new Corn Pecking Order:
- My homemade Grilled Mexican Corn with Chipotle Adobo Sauce (i.e. this recipe….in case it wasn’t clear!)
- Mexicano‘s (Narrabeen, Sydney) Char Grilled Corn (which I copied)
- Momofuku David Chang’s Corn with Bacon and Miso Butter
- Real Mexican Street Corn Elotes (i.e. the real, real deal Mexican corn). So here’s the recipe for the best Mexican corn ever. At least, in my humble books. 🙂 – Nagi
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