During college, and for a few years after, I worked for a fashion designer.  In general I did not fit in well in the fashion world, partly because I talked to much about food and upset my dieting co-workers.  I did work with one very clever manager for a spell, who realized that the best way to motivate me was food.  It turns out that I can sell A LOT of very expensive dresses if you give me very expensive chocolate as a reward.  This same manager was a foody herself, although not the cooking kind…the eating out kind.  She was married to a stock broker and this was during an economic boom, so she had the means to support her excellent taste.  One year she took all of us out to her favourite Mexican restaurant as an end of the year bonus.  You know, you can get some decent Mexican in NYC now, but in the 90’s the choices were the fresh taco fast food chain or a handful of rather pricey fancy Mexican restaurants.  The restaurant that our foody manager took us to was the most reasonably priced of the fancy ones.  It was called Zarela, and was run by a woman of the same name.

Zarela was an extremely creative home cook who managed to successfully translate her quirky and loving interpretation of regional Mexican cuisine into a successful restaurant menu.  She would walk around the dining room and personally check in with each guest.  The food was amazing, homey and unexpected.

Well I am sad to say that Zarela closed a while back.  I did not know it until just recently when I needed to choose somewhere to eat with a friend between the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Grand Central.   For years Zarela has been the only good restaurant that I knew of in Midtown East and I went there whenever I was in that neighborhood which was, I admit, not that often.

There is a little ray of sunshine in this sad tale, well two rays…I heard that Zarela had to close because of exorbitant rent but she is looking to open another restaurant.  Everyone visualize this woman finding the perfect, inexpensive space in Brooklyn!  The other good news is that I bought Zarela Martinez’cookbook years ago.  Food From My Heart (Cuisines of Mexico Remembered and Reimagined) is a wonderful book, filled with anecdotes about the author’s family history in Mexico and passion for food.  She was also unusually generous in including many of the dishes that the restaurant was famous for, such as Creamy Rice Casserole with Poblano Chiles, Pork Loin Stuffed with Fruit, Chipotle Shrimp and of course Red Snapper Hash.

I made Red Snapper Hash in honor or Zarela this week.  I have more or less given up on cooking fish in recent years…it is just too confusing to keep track of what is overfished or being farmed in good or bad ways or whatever…I just don’t eat it very often.  When I do eat it I want to make it count!  This is a great dish for a dinner party as it can be mostly completed in advance.  The hash can be refried and plated at the last-minute.

Zarela’s Red Snapper hash

• 1/2 cup butter
• 6 large cloves garlic, minced
• 6 or 7 scallion, minced
• 3 medium ripe  tomatoes, chopped
• 3 fresh chilies, not seeded, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
• 1 and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 and 1/2 pounds snapper fillets, skinned (I sometimes use less fish, but keep all of the other amounts the same)
• A bit more oil or butter