A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from January 22, 2008
Tampiqueña Plate (Carne Asada Tampiqueña; Steak Tampiqueña )

A Tampiqueña plate usually has carne asada (thinly sliced steak), plus enchiladas, beans, and white panela cheese. It is the only major combination plate in Mexico, and it’s served in Tex-Mex restaurants in the United States as well.
 
“Tampiqueña” implies that the dish comes from the city of Tampico in Mexico; this is incorrect, but the dish is certainly served there. Jose Luis Loredo—from Tampico—opened his Tampico Club in Mexico City about 1939, and this was his signature dish.
 
     
Gourmet Sleuth
Tampiquena
Refers to “in the style of Tampico” a style of carne asada. The style originated from Mexico, specifically the Tampico Club from 1939.
 
Gourmet Sleuth
Carne Asada Tampiquena
This is the traditional dish from the Tampico Club from 1939. Recipe by Rick Bayless Authentic Mexican.
Serves - 6
I N G R E D I E N T S
4 (about 1 1/2 pounds total) thin steaks cut from the tenderloin or short loin, or trimmed skirt steaks
About 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 1/2 to 3 cups Frijoles de la Olla (beans) (click for recipe)
About 3/4 cups Roasted Pepper Rajas (click link for recipe) made whipping cream or broth
About 1 1/2 cups Chunky Guacamole (click link for recipe)
4 romaine lettuce leaves for garnish
4 radish roses or radish slices for garnish
8 corn tortillas, preferably store-bought
1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus a little more if necessary
1/2 cup (about 2 ounces) crumbled Mexican queso fresco or other fresh cheese such as feta or farmer’s cheese.
       
Texas Barbecues
Steak Tampiquena, Tex-Mex Style
INGREDIENTS:
2-3 thin sliced quality cuts steak seasoning salt
1 minced small onion
3 chopped roma tomatoes
2 minced garlic cloves
2 (4 ounce) cans whole green chile peppers (not the chopped ones)
1 tablespoon olive oil
seasoning salt to taste
2-3 slices monterey jack pepper cheese
 
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat olive oil in pan. Sautee onion, garlic and tomato for 3 minutes or until tender. Set mixture aside.
2. Get grill ready to cook.
3. Cut green chile into long strips and set aside. Sprinkle seasoning salt on both sides of steak.
4. Place steaks on grill over medium-hot to hot flames. Grill about five minutes for the first side. Flip and place mixture of tomato, onion and garlic evenly on broiled side of steaks. Top with 2-3 strips of green chile.
5. Place a slice of cheese on top of each steak where you cover the tomato/onion mixture and green chile strips with the cheese.
6. Grill until steak is done and cheese is melted, about 4 minutes. 
 
Wikipedia: Tampico, Tamaulipas
Tampico, located at 22°13′N 97°51′W / 22.22, -97.85, is the main city in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, and is the Mexican Gulf’s main economic powerhouse. The city lies in a rich petroleum-producing region; it is a chief commercial center of northeastern Mexico and one of the most important seaports of the country. Although oil is the largest export of the port of Tampico, it also is a major exporter of silver, copper, lumber, wool, hemp, and other agricultural products. Containerised cargo, however, is mainly dealt with at the nearby ocean port of Altamira.
 
Tex-Mex Border Delights Quiz
Decisions, decisions…One of the easiest ways to sample a wide range of Tex-Mex foods in one sitting is to order this plate—a combination of beans, rice, guacamole, tacos, enchiladas, and fajitas.
Your Answer: [No Answer]
The correct answer was Tampiquena.
Tampiquena plates are an exercise in excess! Be sure to order this gem on a truly empty stomach!
       
Google Books 
All the Best in Mexico
by Sidney Clark
New York, NY: Dodd, Mead & Company
1961
One of the best, to my taste, is carne asada a la Tampiqueña (roast beef, Tampico style). 
   
Google Books
Two Roads to Guadalupé
by Robert Lewis Taylor
Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company
1964
Pg. 172:
... and she made a purple mash out of Mexican beans and cooked a steak in a style
she called Tampiqueña, or some such.
 
7 May 1970, San Antonio (TX) Light, pg. 55, col. 2 ad:
TAMPIQUENO STEAK lb. $1.19
 
28 April 1972, El Paso (TX) Herald-Post, pg. C5, col. 6 ad:
CASA AZTLAN
INTRODUCING
“FILETE TAMPIQUENA”
TENDER SIRLOIN TOPPED
WITH GREEN CHILE STRIPS,
ENCHILADA, REFRIED BEANS,
GUACAMOLE, TORTILLA (flour or
corn), LETTUCE AND TOMATO
$1.69
 
23 February 1973, El Paso (TX) , pg. B8, col. 5 ad:
La Calesa Restaurant & Club
Original Mexican Food
(Tampiquena Steak Our Specialty)
     
31 January 1975, Dallas (TX) Morning News, section B, pg. 4 ad:
Sample Texas-style treats like Steak Tampiquena,...
CROSSROADS JUNCTION
 
23 February 1975, Dallas (TX) Morning News, section C, pg. 12:
El Dorado serves giant, Guyamas shrimp for $5.60. A strip of beef, Tampiquena style, which arrives with beans, rice and a taco, is even less.
   
15 November 1975, Dallas (TX) Morning News, section F, pg. 4:]
...the unusual steak tampiquena ($4.75), thin sirloin strips in “special sauce” was better, and cme with an order of refried beans.
(Crossroads Junction review—ed.)
 
Google Books
Hidden Mexico:
Adventurer’s Guide to the Beaches and Coasts
by Rebecca Bruns and Ray Riegert
Ulysses Press
1987
Pg. 59:
Carne a la tampiqueno, from Tampico, combines thin broiled beef with beans, cheese, guacamole and chilies: a good all-round Mexican standard.
 
Google Books
The Border Cookbook:
Authentic Home Cooking of the American Southwest
by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison
Boston, MA: Harvard Common Press
1995
Pg. 183:
Carne asada serves as the centerpiece of one of the most popular restaurant dishes in all of Mexico, the tampiqueña plate. The name suggests an origin in the city of Tampico, but only the creator came from there. When Jose Luis Loredo moved from Tamaulipas port to Mexico City and opened the Tampico Club around 1940, he wanted to serve food from his native region. His signature dish became the tampiqueña combination of carne asada, cheese enchiladas, rajas, salsa mexicana, charra beans, and a square of grilled white panela cheese. In various permutations today, it remains the only major combination plate found in Mexico.
   
Google Groups: alt.food.mexican-cooking
Newsgroups: alt.food.mexican-cooking
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Victor M. Martinez)
Date: 1999/01/27
Subject: Tampiqueña (in English) 
 
http://mexico.udg.mx/cocina/carnes/CarneTampiq.html
CARNE TAMPIQUEÑA
 
Ingredients:
6 steaks (I have no idea which part of the cow “aguayon” is, just use
a nice lean cut)
2 ancho peppers
1 small tomato
1 garlic clove
1/2 small onion
6 pieces of asadero cheese (substitute mozzarella)
6 tortillas
guacamole
1 onion, sliced
6 limes
oil, salt
 
Procedure:
Toast, devein and soak the peppers. Blend them with the tomato, garlic, piece of onion and salt. Fry and season. Rub the meat with lime juice and salt, grill it, preferably on a charcoal fire. Barely grill the cheese, making sure it doesn’t burn (you can use a little mold to help you do this). Serve in a plate: a piece of meat, some grilled cheese, a tortilla dipped in the salsa and folded (the enchilada), half a lime, guacamole and onion slices.
 
Serve with hot tortillas (corn of course) and beans.
 
Google Groups: alt.food.mexican-cooking
Newsgroups: alt.food.mexican-cooking
From: “L Hodge”


Date: 1999/04/17
Subject: Re: Carne Asada
 
In Mexico, carne asada is the centerpiece of the steak tampiquena combination plate (one of the only combination plates traditionally found in Mexico), which usually consists of the carne asada prepared with thinly sliced tenderloin, a good enchilada, taco made with shredded chicken or beef, refried beans, rice, guacamole, rajas, salsa and sometimes a grilled square of white panela
cheese.
 
Google Groups: rec.food.cooking
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Koko)
Date: 1999/11/08
Subject: WWT..LONG…Nephew’s Wedding
 
Stan had the Tampiquena plate, it consisted of a steak, an enchilada and a chile relleno, he said his steak was excellent and the enchilada sauce was a nice rich dark sauce.
 
Google Groups: rec.food.recipes
Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes
Followup-To: rec.food.cooking
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Sagababy)
Date: 1999/11/24
Subject: Collection (5) Tampiquena Plate
 
Tampiquena Plate
Someone asked for authentic Mexican food.  This plate makes a delicious, and very filling, meal.
   
Carne asada
Cheese enchiladas
Salsa cruda
Frijoles a la charra
Rajas
 
Google Books
Counter Intelligence:
Where to Eat in the Real Los Angeles
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press
2000
by Jonathan Gold
Pg. 6:
Carne asada, which here means slabs of lime-marinated, grilled skirt steak instead of the usual forty-five grams of grayish beef byproduct, is stuffed into tacos or folded with beans, salsa, and herbs into one of the rare burritos in this world that might actually be worth five clams. When the carne asada is crusted with melted cheese, garnished with grilled poblano chiles, and flanked with rolled enchiladas in a sharply delicious roasted tomatillo sauce, it becomes part of a classic Tampiqueña plate.
       
Houston (TX) Press
The Authenticity Myth
The Mex-Mex issue
By Robb Walsh
Published: October 26, 2000
(...)
“There was a restaurant in Mexico City in the 1930s called Club Tampico,” Jay tells me. “It was like the Brown Derby of Mexico City. The owner was from Tampico, and he served this dish, carne asada tampiquena. It became famous all over Mexico.” On Jay’s plate, which is now sitting in front of me, there is a grilled steak, an enchilada with a little chile sauce, rice and refried beans. The steak is tender and juicy, and the enchilada and chile sauce make a perfect complement. It is a robust, if somewhat familiar, combination. “My theory is that carne asada tampiquena worked its way up to Texas in the 1930s, where it became known in Tex-Mex restaurants as the combination dinner,” says Jay. 
 
Epinions
A Carnivore’s Dictionary to Grilled Food in Mexico
Nov 07 ‘01
(...)
Bifstek is steak, usually tenderloin. When used with the word tampiquena, it will be smothered with a mix of grilled onions, peppers, and tomatoes. Tampiquena means “from Tampico” or “in the style of Tampico”, but the dish isn’t really from that august coastal city—it originated in Mexico City’s Tampico Club restaurant!
   
Chowhound
Tio Hut 601 E. Calton Rd. 956-723-5430 (Laredo) - Everytime I make it to Laredo I must stop in here. I recommend the “Tampiqueña Plate” which offers a little bit of everything.. a puffy taco, enchilada, fajitas and a flauta. Their salsa is awesome and it is a family owned place. If you like soup, their tortilla soup is among the best I’ve ever eaten. I’ve never actually seen any turn-over in the waitstaff..and I’ve been going there for over 10 years.
BifClaes May 01, 2003 10:25AM
     
Google Groups: austin.food
Newsgroups: austin.food
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Date: 6 Oct 2006 08:40:42 -0700
Local: Fri, Oct 6 2006 10:40 am
Subject: Los Reyes Mexican Restaurant in Cedar Park
 
I ordered the tampiquena plate (enchilada, tamale, fajita slab with rice, refried beans, and guacamole/pico de gallo).  My wife had the fajita nachos (beef fajita chunks, queso, refried beans, jalapenos,
sour cream and guacamole).
 
The waiter recommended the homemade flour tortillas to accompany the tampiquena plate.  I obliged.
 
The fajitas on the tampiquena plate were pounded down thin, perfectly seasoned and marintated.  I mean they were melt in your mouth tender. The refried beans were smooth and hearty.  The rice was average.
 
Book of Rai - International Food Blog
December 29, 2006
THE FOOD OF TAMPICO: A TASTE OF NORTHERN MEXICO
by Habeeb Salloum
(...)
No less important are the numerous other food creations in this area of Mexico. Thin cheese tortillas used for tacos, chili rellenos poblano (peppers stuffed with cheese and meat), crepes de huitlacochle, papadzules (tortillas in pumpkin-seed sauce), and carne asada a la Tampiqueña (grilled beef with trimmings), considered to be the king of Tampico’s dishes, are a number of the foods for which the city is renowned. Tampiqueña is responsible for making the culinary art of Tampico famous. Served with refried beans, tortilla chips and guacamole, along with rice, it is a whole meal by itself.  Prepared in various ways - barbecued, grilled or at times fried, this dish is what knowledgeable travellers first ask for when they set foot in the city.   
(...)
Carne Asada a La Tampiqueña - Tampico Steak
Serves about 6

2 pounds fillet steak, cut into 12 about 1/4-inch thick and 6 inch long pieces
4 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 chili anchos (dry red hot pepper), soaked overnight and drained
1 large tomato, chopped
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small onion, chopped
6 small pieces of a rubbery type of cheese*, lightly fried
3 small limes, cut in half
6 tortillas, corn or wheat, six-inch in diameter, fried 20 seconds on each side
guacamole frijoles de olla (beans in a pot)
6 strips of roasted rajas (hot pepper)
shredded lettuce    
 
Sprinkle steak with lime juice, 1 ½ teaspoon of the salt and pepper, then allow to stand for an hour or more.   
 
In the meantime, liquify in a blender chili anchos, tomato, garlic, onion and remaining salt to make salsa, then set aside.   
 
Grill steak very quickly - a few minutes on each side - then place two pieces on each plate.  Beside the steak, place a piece of the fried cheese, a half lime, a tortilla dipped in the salsa and folded over, 2 tablespoons of guacamole, two tablespoons beans, a strip of rojas and some shredded lettuce.  Serve along with cooked rice as a side dish.
 
Life’s a Beach and then You Dine
Monday, January 21, 2008
Steak Tampiquena (Mexican Steak)
2-3 thin sliced quality cuts steak
seasoning salt
1 small onion (minced)
2 roma tomatoes (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
2 (4ounce) cans whole roasted green chili peppers (not chopped)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 slices monterey jack pepper cheese or white Mexican blend cheese (sliced length wise)
 
* Broil/Grill Main Dish
* Tex-Mex Main Dish
* Beef Main Dish
 
1. Heat olive oil in pan.
2. Sautee onion, garlic and tomato for 3 minutes or until tender.
3. Set mixture aside.
4. Preheat oven to broil.
5. Cut green chile into long strips and set aside.
6. Sprinkle seasoning salt on both sides of steak.
7. Broil steaks (I broil the thin cuts 3-4 minutes) on one side.
8. Remove from oven and place mixture of tomato, onion and garlic evenly on unbroiled side of steaks.
9. Top with 2-3 strips of green chile.
10. Next,place a slice of cheese on top of each steak (you will cover mixture and green chile strips with cheese slice.) Broil until steak is done and cheese is melted (about 3 minutes).
11. Serve and enjoy!

Posted by Barry Popik
Texas (Lone Star State Dictionary) • Tuesday, January 22, 2008 • Permalink


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