Juan Urbieta's Sopitos De Colima

Recipes

Sopitos De Colima

By Juan Urbieta

This story starts in Mexico. Juan Urbieta’s father was born and raised in Colima, a state in western Mexico. He became a pilot, and the airline he worked for sent him to live in Oaxaca, which was serendipitous because that’s where he met Urbieta’s mother and raised a family. But Colima continued to figure heavily in the family’s lives. They spent holidays there. It gets so hot in Colima, Urbieta says, that people would eat lightly during the day and, at night, when it cooled down, they would eat a popular street food called sopes. Simple and bursting with warm meat and crisp cabbage and radish, this dish also prominently features an aromatic broth made with tomatoes and oregano, and a tortilla fried somewhere between crisp and soft – it’s just starting to get crispy. They call that “sampochado,” Urbieta says. These open-faced creations have the tortilla at the base, followed by the beef cooked in that broth, and a little more broth spooned over the top soaking the sopes. Finally come the toppings – the cabbage and radish, and homemade pickled peppers with onions and carrots.

If you’d order sopitos de Colima from a street vendor in Urbieta’s dad’s home state, they’d also be topped with a local cheese very similar to cotija. But in lieu of that hard-to-find cheese, he uses cotija. They enjoy it monthly in the Urbieta household – made extra meaningful since the passing of his dad in 2019. “It’s very dear because it brings me fond memories of my father,” he says. “And not just my dad. I [think of] growing up as a kid … those Christmases with my family over there going to the beach.”

Ingredients

Serves 4

20 small corn tortillas (yellow or white)

2 pounds ground beef

1 pound ripe tomatoes

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds (or 1/8 teaspoon ground)

1 teaspoon dried oregano, divided in half

1/4 head of cabbage, finely shredded

8 small radishes, sliced

Vegetable oil as needed to fry the tortillas

Instructions

For Broth

Bring 1 quart of water to a boil, add the tomatoes and cook them until soft but not mushy, about 7-8 minutes.

With a slotted spoon, carefully transfer the tomatoes into a blender, along with 3 cups of the hot cooking liquid.

Add the salt, peppercorns, cumin and half of the dried oregano to the blender. Blend on high for one minute. Pour the liquid into a pot, add the ground beef with the remaining oregano and bring to a simmer. Allow the beef to cook for about 10 minutes. Then set it aside, but keep it warm.

For Tortillas

Heat up about a half-inch of corn oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Carefully add three or four tortillas at a time, depending on the width of the pan, making sure they don’t overlap. Allow to lightly brown on both sides, about eight to 10 seconds per side, as they cook very fast. Transfer to a tray lined with food-grade paper towels to absorb excess oil and continue with the rest of the tortillas. The tortillas should be between soft and crunchy in texture.

For Assembling

Arrange five tortillas on each plate and with a slotted spoon, add a heaping amount of beef onto each sope. Top the beef with shredded cabbage, then add a generous amount of broth over each sope. Finish with sliced radishes and grated cotija cheese. Serve immediately.

Because this is a street food and it’s messy to eat, fold each sope like a taco and eat with your fingers, then use a spoon for the sauce. Local restaurants typically offer house-made pickled serrano peppers with onions and carrots, as well as bottles of Valentina sauce on the table for those who like them spicy.

Bio

Juan Urbieta serves as executive chef of Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993, the flagship restaurant in The Bartolotta Restaurant's portfolio. For more than 20 years, Urbieta has been a key driver in the company’s success, securing multiple awards for Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993, including DiRoNA (Distinguished Restaurants of North America) honors, Wine Spectator’s “Award of Excellence” (annually since 2003), and a “25 Best Italian Restaurants in America” ranking by Thrillist, while maintaining an exemplary level of quality that defines The Bartolotta Restaurants. In 2020, Urbieta launched the “Un Viaggio in Italia” (“Tour of Italy”) series that takes guests on a culinary tour of Italy with a new menu introduced about every four weeks.

Juan Urbieta

Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993

Juan Urbieta

Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993

About Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993

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