Commentary
I’m sitting at the bar at a restaurant in the center of Mexico City, a country ranked 71 in the list of nations in GDP per capita. Most people in the United States would call it poor. And of course Americans are somehow under the impression that the place is dangerous, which, so far as I can tell, is a ridiculous claim and especially ironic given crime in the United States today.
In any case, this is an Italian-themed restaurant that serves only fresh pasta with the best meat. The chefs are artists and the cooking area is right in front of me. The gas stove has flames that rise up over pans 10 inches in the air and the chef moves the pan contents up in the air to touch the flames directly so as to provide color and flavor….