It´s lunch time in Guadalajara and we´re in a taxi with Jonathan Gold and his wife, Laurie Ochoa, rocketing our way across town. Jonathan has a slip of paper in his hand, which he and the taxi driver periodically consult and discuss.

It´s the address to Lonche-rita:

...a tiny restaurant with a handful of tables, whose owner had met Jonathan at the book fair the day before.

She and her husband (names to come later, I can´t find the business card) are on an Alice Waters-like quest to showcase regionally grown food and wine and liquors. First thing to the table, a lovely guacamole topped with...

...fried grasshoppers.

They´re all crunch and smoke and quite delicious and, I confess, mildly alarming as the sensitive nerve endings of your tongue send your brain the signal that yes, that´s definitely a thorax.

We also had sandwiches with pork, duck, tongue and marlin

...followed by a rustic enchilada.

The food was great and the array of artisinal beers and wines and tequilas and liquers we tasted was eye-opening. But my favorite part came at the start of the meal, when we were seated at the table and waiting for the waitress to bring our menus. She walked over to the table, right to the guy with the long hair and said "Good afternoon -- you are Jonathan Gold?"