Issue 02 — ¡Viva Aguascalientes!

The second volume of Querida Magazine, themed around the central Mexican state of Aguascalientes — the soil where Querida’s earliest concept, Taco’n Madre, first took root. Cyan, turquoise, and orange replace the terracotta of Issue 01.

From Aguascalientes to Al Barsha

Aguascalientes — “hot waters” — is in central Mexico, an unusual stop for a brand named Querida and built around Northern flavours. The reason it gets a whole volume is that this is the city where Querida’s earliest concept took its first form. Before Plato de Birria and Tacazo, before Al Barsha 1, there was Taco’n Madre in Aguascalientes — a small project focused on the heartiest Northern staples, served the way they’re eaten in Coahuila and Aguascalientes both. Volume 02 documents that period and the regional cuisine that informs how Querida runs the floor today: the festival-scale hospitality of La Feria de San Marcos, the Catrinas of Day-of-the-Dead Mexico (now painted into the Al Barsha murals), the markets of Teran and Morelos that taught the team that the vessel matters as much as the filling. That last lesson is why the corn tortilla at Querida is hand-pressed every single day.

The state’s gastronomy is fair-grade abundance: enchiladas in adobo and red sauce, guayaba (guava) in everything from glaze to wine, fried chicken Mexican-style, and the chipotle-tomato chicken Tinga that now anchors the Querida menu. If you’ve ordered the Enchiladas Adobo or the Tinga Tacos in Al Barsha, you’ve eaten Aguascalientes.

In this issue

• From the Editor (page 3) — Mama Lalis warns the reader that Aguascalientes is too vast for a single volume. The piece names La Feria de San Marcos, the academic halls of UVM, Estadio Corona, and the “sacred foundation upon which Querida first saw the first light of life.”
• Flavours of Mexico, Destination: ¡Viva Aguascalientes! (page 4) — the heart of Mexico in the central highlands.
• La Feria de San Marcos y Los Toros (page 5) — Mexico’s largest fair, three weeks long, drawing seven million people.
• Catrinas Everywhere (page 6) — the city’s iconic Day-of-the-Dead imagery; how it informs the murals back in Querida.
• Wine Route (page 8) — Aguascalientes guava and the local wine country.
• Local Gastronomy (page 9) — the regional plate.
• Necaxa (page 12) — the football culture, Estadio Victoria.
• Did You Call Me Chicken??? (page 13) — the fried-chicken chapter of the city’s tradition.
• Querida’s Nest and Ta’con Madre (page 14) — the brand’s earliest chapter, when the focus was on the hearty staples of the North.
• Teran and Morelos (page 15) — the iconic markets where the focus shifted from filling to vessel: the tortilla.
• The Unsong Heroes (page 19) — kitchen + floor portraits.
• Catering…si por favor (page 25) — first published catering reel.
• Art 101: Tinga (page 31) — the chipotle-tomato chicken that anchors the modern menu.
• Coming Soon (page 33) — the next issue’s preview (Manzanillo).

Closing

The beating heart of Mexico, and we have a lifetime of beauty to uncover from its depths.