The Restaurants

At family gatherings María Estela’s grandmother enjoyed cooking gorditas stuffed with pork rinds. On one memorable occasion, her grandmother over-spiced the gorditas with chile. Worrying not for grandfather but for the young children, she decided to lessen the spicy effects by preparing an atole, a sweet porridge-like dish made of cornmeal, water, and milk. The atole became so greatly enjoyed throughout the family that since then, they do not eat gorditas without the inseparable atole. How remarkable that a spontaneous occurrence can evolve into a long-standing family tradition still shared by grandchildren and great grandchildren.