an imaginative restaurant has made that its mission. oh, god, this is so beautiful. named koli, it aims to tell the story of nuevo león through its food. wow. - hi, eva. cómo estás? - hola. it s the brainchild of the rivera-rio family. do you three look alike, or are you related? - no, we re actually brothers. [laughter] - the three musketeers. both: yes! - patricio is in all the wines and spirits and everything like that, daniel is the pastry chef, and i m the head chef. [laughs] - so do you boss them around? - no, not too much, because - sometimes. both: sometimes. - just when he s angry. - sometimes we boss each other. - when he doesn t drink his coffee, he comes in grumpy. - oh, okay. how has the response been with the people of monterrey to have this sort of restaurant? like, elevated cuisine from nuevo león.
- i love this. so we get the salsa. - [speaking spanish] there you go. - this is so delicious. - it s really nice. - these are the best tortillas i ve ever had. - muy salado? that s good, that s - i love it. - part of the dry meat. - yes, in the north, in nuevo león, is one of the only places that has tacos for breakfast, and in texas, we have breakfast tacos. and those are the only places you can ever get a taco in the morning. - yeah. super regional. i grew up with breakfast tacos. it was actually a road linking monterrey with the texas border
that fueled the rise of machacado con huevos in the 1920s, when a café owner invented this snack to feed hungry construction workers. today, highway 85 carries the bulk of goods traded between the u.s. and mexico, and the breakfast tacos, enjoyed at both ends of the road, are still as popular. [laughter]
- this we have to drink beer first! - exactly. [laughter] - the breakfast taco may be the simplest of street food, but it s been hitting the spot for the workers of monterrey for nearly a century. and thanks to cooks like doña mary, it s not going out of style anytime soon. plates. plates. plates. there s somehow no better way to travel this place, than on a plate. and when you add price drop protection, expedia pays you back if your flight becomes cheaper. so you can taste your way, through every single plate
[upbeat acoustic guitar music] - [speaking spanish] - much of nuevo león may be dry and barren, but southeast of monterrey lies a fertile oasis. the pilón river irrigates the fields of montemorelos, home to some of the finest orange orchards in mexico. - ana rodriguez runs one of the most successful bakery chains in monterrey, and she uses the fruit from here to make one of her favorite nuevo león desserts. hola. cómo estás? - bienvenidas. welcome. - arturo salazar is the fourth generation of his family to work these fields. and now, he s helped by his son, fede. this is mandarin? - these are mandarin, yeah. - so you can grow mandarin here? - we have mandarins. we have oranges.