Pan de Elote and Fresh Romeritos @ Mi Pueblo supermercado in Salinas

[Melanie Wong]

Yesterday I stopped by Mi Pueblo to pick up some miscellaneous produce. I noticed small branches of fresh romeritos for $14.99/lb. These are traditional during the holidays, served with fresh or dried shrimp, and i've not seen them before around here.

I picked up a pan de elote (cornbread) to serve with Hoppin' John for New Year. Normally I wouldn't buy cornbread, but the ingredient list looked good as this is made with fresh corn, condensed milk and butter, and no preservatives. A round weighs about 1.5 lbs for $4.99. It's delicious with a dense, fine-grained cake-like texture with nubby kernels, medium-sweetness, and a rich, buttery taste. Enough so that my picky mother asked where I bought it.

[toodie jane]

erie.

I was driving through yesterday afternoon on 101 and had a distinct feeling of "So near, and yet so far" .Couldn't figure it out.

It was the cornbread calling my name from Mi Pueblo. Do you know if they carry it year-round?

Thanks again for yet another food find in Salinas.

[Melanie Wong]

This is the first baked good here that's impressed me. The pan was in a floor stack close to the front of the store near the checker lanes.

I wouldn't know about seasonality. I doubt that the primary customer would be Southerners in need of cornbread to eat with hopping John. :-)

[toodie jane]

Being a tres leches junkie, I like to get their to-go cups in the Mocha flavor. Good sugar blast for the last leg of a Bay Area-bound trip. Their puercitos pan dulces are good too.

I'll look for the cornbread next trip. It is an odd time for something made from fresh corn...

[Melanie Wong]

The tres leches here is too sweet for me but maybe mocha would tone down the sugar taste. I agree about fresh corn yet will add that the store had fresh white corn on the shelf that day.