{"id":2446779,"date":"2019-07-25T14:10:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-25T20:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=310068"},"modified":"2019-07-25T14:10:01","modified_gmt":"2019-07-25T20:10:01","slug":"mi-chola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/mi-chola\/","title":{"rendered":"Mi Chola"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The seafood mocajate is a flavorful mix in a crab reduction sauce served in a hand-carved bowl<\/strong>
Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

When you\u2019re trying to get that right blend of authentic Mexican food, having the right, fresh ingredients is a big part. But who\u2019s leading the kitchen has a major role. When Adam Malmgren and his partners came back to Aspen to open Mi Chola in 2016, they knew that carrying on the traditions set by the Cantina (which was in the space on Main and Mill streets for decades) would mean having a solid menu and a great atmosphere. After a brief stint with a classically trained chef, they knew something was a bit off. Enter their former co-worker and friend Rigo Vasquez. Raised in a small village outside of Guadalajara in western Mexico, chef Vasquez learned his way around the kitchen as a small boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest mentors are my grandmother and my mother. They were my inspiration to make all my things,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot my sauces come from my mother and grandmother.\u201d<\/p>\n

After stops cooking a few other styles, Vasquez is using all that history to create fresh dishes at the casual Mexican dining hot spot, which is a favorite of locals and those rolling through town.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis passion for food creativity is so great,\u201d said Malmgren, who worked at the Cantina for nine years and then returned three years ago to open Mi Chola. \u201cRigo is so creative and it\u2019s so fun to have him in the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everything is made fresh each day \u2013 \u201cwe order ingredients, not items\u201d Malmgren says \u2013 and Vasquez enjoys the time over the flame and heat working to perfect his offerings.<\/p>\n

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The poblano pepper stuffed with a crazy-cheezy risotto topped with a dollop of roasted tomato-chile sauce (Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong>
MiChola-25<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Seafood molcajete is back this summer after being well-received in its winter debut. The sauce, which Vasquez said took a month to perfect and takes 3 hours each day to make, is a blend that brings together a variety of seafood and a bit of cheese. Scallops, mahi, two kinds of shrimp and crab meat are presented in the bowl carved from lava rock.<\/p>\n

An intriguing addition to this summer\u2019s menu is octopus tacos. And even Vasquez\u2019s octopus prep is methodical.<\/p>\n

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Pulpo Tacos: a refreshing octopus taco that is new to the menu this summer (Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong>
MiChola-15<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

After a good cleaning, he gently gives the octopus a massage and a few taps with a meat tenderizer. Then he dips it three times in warm water that\u2019s flavored with limes, white wine, whole black pepper and bay leaves. He\u2019ll submerge it in the water and cook on a hard boil for about 30 minutes, then lets it simmer at a very low boil for another 2 hours. Afterwards, it\u2019s off to the grill with a special sauce made from three traditional peppers (Ancho, New Mexico pepper, chipotle pepper) and spicy honey he makes in-house. It\u2019s served with cabbage, pineapple salsa and mango habanero sauce, and the topped with an avocado mousse.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us Latinos \u2026 the most important thing on the tacos is the salsa. If the salsas are good, you\u2019ll have the best tacos in the world,\u201d the chef says. \u201cMy mom says, when you make the tacos, you\u2019ve got to make the salsas right, otherwise it won\u2019t taste so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The seafood mocajate is a flavorful mix in a crab reduction sauce served in a hand-carved bowlAnna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times When you\u2019re trying to get that right blend of authentic Mexican food, having the right, fresh ingredients is a big part. But who\u2019s leading the kitchen has a major role. When Adam Malmgren and his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2446779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-22 01:04:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2446779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2446779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2446779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2446779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}