By LYDA LANIER
“Antojitos,” “platillos,” and “bebidas” are not words on the tip of my tongue, so I had to ask Mateo Rivera for a translation. I was sitting in his restaurant in Norwalk, which was advertising authentic Mexican home cooking. I wanted to know what I was ordering from a menu written in Spanish.
Mateo is bilingual and slips easily from one language to the other. His wife Reyna is the head cook, working behind the scenes in the kitchen, preparing, I might add, the delicious and authentic Mexican food.
“We do not cater to the American taste,” Mateo said politely, but he offers a few concessions. Salsa comes in two strengths, a mild and then a red or green, depending on the color of the hot peppers available.
Another concession is setting the table with a knife and fork. Some items on the menu are finger foods, which Mexicans seem to handle more skillfully than I.
Actually, the name of this new restaurant, Bailey’s Diner, sounds American. Bailey was the name of their infant daughter, who lived for only 7 months.
“This restaurant is in memory of her,” Mateo said.
The restaurant is Mexican, the setting next to the Norwalk Village Park and the Elroy-Sparta State Trail is American, but losing a loved one is a universal experience that recognizes no international boundaries.
Mateo has lived in Norwalk about 14 years; and in Wisconsin, about 20 years.
“I like the snow,” he said.
He’s worked at a variety of jobs in the area, on a farm and in factories. Watching food shows on television taught him about cooking and helped him learn English. Reyna has been cooking most of her life. He and Reyna, both in their 30s, have a son Lucas Jaime, 2 1/2 years old, who said “thank you” and then “gracias” when I gave him a dollar to put in the glass tip jar.
For research purposes, I have eaten at Bailey’s Diner four times, sitting at a table in the dining area. A few weeks ago, while I was there, two Hispanic young men came in for lunch, and then an older couple from what Mateo called the white community. They were with a young man who looked Hispanic to me. Since the dining area is conducive to table-to-table conversations, I introduced myself to the three of them.
Looking like grandparents, Harvey and Doris Suiter of Norwalk were there with Axel Manzano, 20, of Guadalajara. Axel had been an exchange student at Brookwood High School three years ago, hosted by Kathie and Henry Vian, Suiter’s grandchildren. Axel had come back to Norwalk for a month to attend a family wedding “and ended up serving as one of the ushers,” Harvey said.
In Mexico, Axel, who speaks fluent English, is a third-year medical student. I took note that he flavored his plate of food with freshly squeezed lime juice; here was something new to learn about authentic Mexican food.
What I ordered and ate that day were a tamale (chicken pieces wrapped in tender, edible cornhusks) and a gordita, a type of sandwich with a filling of crisp lettuce, pork pieces, Mexican cheese and a sour cream dressing. Sour cream, usually bland, had been upgraded with an ingredient or two to give it flavor, adding a tasty finishing touch to my gordita. In case I haven’t mentioned this before, this was all delicious.
Bebidas (drinks) on the menu include café (for sure you know that’s coffee) and sodas, a colorful array of bottles lined up on the shelf with familiar names like Pepsi and Coke and unfamiliar names like Jarritos and Fanta, exotic brand names for Mexican sodas like mango, melon and tamarindo.
So far, the menu, printed on a plain sheet of typing paper, lists items in Spanish, with a description in English for most. Learning the meaning of a new word is part of this adventure in good eating. Familiar are burritos, tacos, omelet, and tamales. Homemade soups are a daily special, served in giant bowls, filled to the brim with warm tortillas on the side.
If you make arrangements in advance, Mateo and Rayna will prepare a meal for a special event, such as they did recently for the Cozy Nook Homemakers Club of Spring Valley/Norwalk, preparing and serving a combination of American and Mexican foods. They do takeout if you call ahead. If asked, they will demonstrate how to make a proper flour tortilla. The seating capacity at this time: 25-plus.
If by chance you want to do your own cooking, in the entryway are bins of fresh vegetables for sale, supplying standard ingredients for Hispanic cuisine to cook at home: limes, Roma tomatoes, hot peppers and tomatillos.
Winter hours for Bailey’s Diner are as follows: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and closed Sunday. Hours are subject to change, however. Call ahead to check at 823-7148.
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