Sopa Azteca

The new kick that I've been on down here is the soups of Mexico, which are often under appreciated. It took me a long time to work my way around to the soup section of the menu, but I'm glad glad I had the chance. For example, there is Sopa Azteca, which is a chicken soup that contains fried tortillas, avocado, Oaxacan cheese, a whole Chipoltle or marinated onion, cilantro and crema. This soup reminds me a lot of Khao Soi, the famous chicken soup from North Thailand: it's perfection lays in the juxtapostion of different textures in a broth that will render them uniform unless it is served piping hot right away. This and inclusion of the pickles and condiments that make it an individualized experience. There is something about that big ribbon of melting Oaxaca cheese floating on top that puts this out of the realm of mere soup and into a higher realm occupied by well-made chili and the afformentioned noodle soups of Thailand.
I forgot to take a photo of this soup down in Palenque, so I had to turn to google image:



BTW, Google image also produced this at the prompt of "Sopa Azteca", so....