Mexico: One Plate at a Time (2003)

Season 10: Episode 9

Carlos Yescas is a cheesehead on a mission: Put the fine, outstanding artisanal cheeses of Mexico on everyone’s radar screen. Yescas scours the country for the best cheese producers; then, he scours Mexico City’s best restaurants for chefs that will use those cheeses on their menus. One chef he’s had success with is Jorge Vallejo, owner of Quintonil, who happily uses a super-rich doble crema cheese from Chiapas to make his mother’s version of huazontles, and a tangy, bouncy quesillo from Chiapas for an elegant cheese soup. Luckily for the residents of DF, these cheeses can now be found at Carlos’s stall, Lactography, in the sleek new Mercado Roma. Lucky Rick gets to sample the wares before heading home to Chicago, where he teaches us how easy it is to make whole milk ricotta.