el crispito

I first realized this when I saw listed, right alongside the classic cheese and pepperoni pizzas, hot dog and bologna pizza. Upon seeing it, I commented to Shawn that people who would eat that stuff on pizza are crazy. He insisted that this wasn't crazy, because people in New England eat hot dog pizza all the time. While I do not see how this is an effective argument against my claim, I did find some evidence to indicate that hot dogs on pizza are not only a Mexican phenomenon. And when I say that they had bologna pizza, I do not mean pizza topped with bolognese sauce, but pizza topped with the sliced meat usually served on sandwiches with white bread and mayonnaise.

I did not have any other disorienting pizza experiences here for some time after that. We would often eat at a fantastic restaurant in our neighborhood called Mio Cardio [Avenida Tepeyac 189, Colonia Chapalita, Tel: (33) 35 87 57 90], where they serve some of the best pizza I've ever had. The crust is thin and uniformly crispy, the sauce seasoned con gusto and they have a few rare, but not strange toppings, like arugula and a pesto that is, well, chunky, for lack of a better word. I have confirmed that both are delicious through extensive hands-on research.

But the other day, I went to a restaurant in Centro Magno called Italiani's. [Disclaimer: I usually refuse on principle to eat at a restaurant if it has a name like this, turning a common noun or an adjective into a posessive noun, but we often go to the cinema in this mall, and it has the best vegetarian offerings there.] The place is fairly expensive, so I usually forego the baked ravioli with two sauces and go straight for the pizza, because it is more filling and two-thirds the price.

The waiter placed it on the table and I let it cool a bit, since I scalded my lip once on one of their pizzas, when the blistering (literally) hot sauce squirted into my mouth on the opening bite. As I was sitting there with the pizza at a safe distance, the waiter returned to the table and put down a bottle of Tabasco® sauce and a bottle of Heinz® ketchup.

Let me repeat that last one: Heinz® ketchup.

This was the first time that I'd had this put on the table, although before, I'd had waiters ask me if I wanted anything to go on the pizza, listing off ketchup among the more standard items like parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper. I thought at that time that they probably just think gringos are wacky and who knows what they like on their pizza, so they list off a bunch of stuff they have in the kitchen as an option. Yet putting it down on the table without my asking for it made me realize: Mexicans must tend to put ketchup on their pizza.

And indeed it is true. I have found an article online that backs up this shocking discovery. In fact, the article mentions that Mexicans also put Worchestershire sauce on their pizza, but for some reason, this doesn't sound so odd to me. I want to ask around to find out the general application technique, like whether they put it on top of the pizza or if they keep the ketchup on the side and dip it in. I mean, I'm not yet to the point where it sounds even remotely interesting to put ketchup on pizza, but if I ever do try it, I wouldn't want to do it wrong. I'd hate to have people think I'm some kind of freak.