2012: The Year of Fideo?

I rang in the new year with a brand new food I’d never tried before! Way to start 2012 on a decidedly culinary note, huh? Okay, in full disclosure, I ate this at about 11:00pm on 12/31/11, but I actually started 2012 at a house party in which all I consumed was warm Cook’s “champagne,” so I’m just gonna count this. I mean, I was still digesting it after the clock struck midnight.

At this point, you are probably sitting on the edge of your seat, gripping the front of your desk, thinking, “What, Emily? What is this wonderful mystery food you consumed to kick off your amazing year?!” Well, my friends, it is called fideo, described as a Mexican dry soup with a spaghetti-like pasta.

My group was enjoying a leisurely, festive dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Seattle — Poquitos — which I have mentioned in the past. One of the owners, Matt, was bartending, and he suggested we try their new appetizer. Matt is so charming that you can never resist anything he suggests, so we eagerly agreed. He brought over a piping hot bowl. “I like to eat mine with chips,” he remarked with a smile.

Wait, noodles you eat on a fried tortilla product?

“Do you guys know the iCarly spaghetti tacos?” I eagerly asked my group. “You know, on Nickelodeon?”

I was met with blank stares.

“I mean, it was a food blog trend thing last year, not like I regularly watch children’s television,” I hastily explained. “Anyway, on iCarly, this girl makes tacos filled with spaghetti or something, and it actually got really popular in the real world. So this is like classical Mexican spaghetti tacos! It’s like Mexico was being trendy and didn’t even realize it!”

Sensing that nobody was caring about my weird pop culture/food community raving, I shut up and dug into the fideo. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was good, really good; more texturally interesting than salsa but still with a nice heat. I decided I can definitely cosign on a dip that is really just filled with pasta. Hot carb-on-carb action. Washed down with a margarita, what’s not to love?

2012, here we come. I can’t wait to for all the crazy food adventures we’re gonna have.