There’s a firm sense of fiesta at La Palapa and La Palapa Rockola this fall. First, co-owners Barbara Sibley and Margaritte Malfy celebrated the release of their first cookbook, Antojitos, this month. And the West Village branch will certainly be rocking on Saturday night as it lies directly on the Halloween parade route. Then on Sunday, Sibley and Malfy will begin Day of the Dead festivities by cooking a special brunch at the James Beard Foundation. The Buzz talked with Sibley, a native of Mexico City, about the new cookbook and the approaching flurry of festivity.
Zagat Buzz: What’s the origin of antojitos?
Barbara Sibley: Antojitos are an important part of Mexican cooking and culture. They are small plates often called a tentempié, which literally means “something to keep you standing.” But by the time you have a lot of those, it’s your meal. Historically they originate in the markets, or in the streets. Even today in Mexico, you’ll see under the archway of a bridge or in any plaza or on the street corner someone selling tamales out of a steaming stock pot or someone making a quesadilla or a taquito. If you work in an office or a factory, someone will come around with antojitos. They are also eaten often in the home too.
ZB: What caused you to focus specifically on antojitos, and not just general Mexican cuisine, for your first cookbook?
BS: We came up with the idea for the focus during our fifth-anniversary party, where we served only antojitos. We didn’t want to do just another generic cookbook, so we thought that angle would be fun. It’s a great way to build a meal, and they are not difficult because it is home cooking. We wanted to focus on something really accessible.
ZB: I noticed you have a whole chapter of the book devoted to Day of the Dead. What will the restaurants have going on for the occasion?
BS: We do at the restaurants what you would do at home in Mexico. So we make an offering, an altar, where we put photographs of the deceased and all of their favorite foods. The belief is that they come down to visit once a year and you welcome them with a path of marigold flowers leading to the altar, which holds water, tequila, flowers, candles, fireworks, incense, pan de muertos – special Day of the Dead bread – fruit, skulls made out of sugar and poems written to the deceased. W. H. Auden lived in the building of our East Village restaurant for 30 years, and Trotsky had his printing press there, so we have great residential ghosts there. They really liked to drink, so they definitely influence our margaritas. At the East Village restaurant, we also do an altar to 9/11 every year, and we have a La Palapa family altar too.
In the West Village restaurant, that whole decor was inspired by Mexican actress Maria Felix, and she passed away a few years ago, so we did a huge altar to her, with false eyelashes on the sugar skulls and a lot of leopard skin. And that spot was once the Redhead, a speakeasy by the guys who opened the 21 Club. So those are very good ghosts for Dia de los Muertos too. We cook food traditionally eaten on the holiday – tamales and food made of corn, chalupas and things like that, will be on the menu at both spots. We will also have special drinks, like we’ll do one with mezcal and sangrita. It’s very festive. The whole point of the holiday is that the spirits need to see that you are happy so that they’ll go back.
ZB: How has Mexican cuisine changed in NY since you arrived?
BS: Oh, it has changed so much in the past two decades. You couldn’t get cilantro back then, you couldn’t get dried chiles. I used to bring everything up in my suitcase. What you could get at restaurants was what I call “New York-style Tex Mex.” You could get maybe one dish that was good. When we first opened La Palapa, we had to talk to every table and explain that while things like nachos are great, they are not Mexican. We decided early on not to do that crossover food, so we developed a whole Mexican food dictionary and trained our staff to be able to answer questions about the food so people wouldn’t feel intimidated. Today, I think New Yorkers are ready to eat authentic Mexican food.
ZB: Any plans for expansion on the horizon?
BS: We are looking at spaces for another restaurant, to do a little bit of a different idea, like a spot where we serve some of these antojitos. We are looking at spaces Downtown, Upper West Side and Brooklyn. And we’re writing a proposal for a second cookbook.
–Kathleen Squires