Cinco de Mayo <i> Menudo</i> Tests Political Palate

‘A lot of us here are Mexicans, and we all can have fun.’--Nora Cortez

Vince Garcia said he was making “ menudo for America, because I like what we did to Kadafi, so I put a little elbow grease in it for the old U.S.”

The 32-year-old Carson man, who headed one of 30 teams in a menudo cook-off at the Santa Ana Bowl Sunday, said he usually concocts the spicy mixture for hangovers, but hey, “by bombing Libya we got some self-respect back,” and that’s as good a reason as any to dedicate his mix of cilantro, cow entrails, cow feet ( patas ), New Mexico chili, hominy and a “secret ingredient.”

“The magical powers are, if you have a bad hangover, the chili drains the bad alcohol out of your system, and the tripe absorbs the bad stuff, too,” Garcia said.

It was a Cinco de Mayo celebration unlike all others Sunday at the Santa Ana Bowl. For starters, it was actually Cuatro de Mayo, although no one seemed to be counting. And then there was no mistaking the mix of patas and politics.

While an estimated 6,000 celebrants in casual dress packed the downtown stadium to listen to mariachis, drink beer and cook menudo, a large handful of gray-suited Secret Service men with earphones and attaches cased the joyful crowd, adjusting their dark glasses and stepping gingerly over toddlers napping on the lawn.

By 2:45, the black-clad SWAT teams had arrived, marching stoically past coin-toss games and cotton candy vendors, jostling their way through the small bunches of nacho-eating festival goers, carting their cases of high-powered rifles up to the top of the stadium press box.

By 3:10, the helicopters began circling the festival, flying low over the grizzled old men in cowboy hats, the children sporting balloons with emblems ranging from Garfield the cartoon cat to the Mexican flag, over signs proclaiming “Burritos, Carnitas, Churros, Nachos, Tacos, Fried Rice, Egg Roll, Teriyaki,” and the fenced-in enclosure for the “ ninos perdidos, lost children.”

Most of the participants at the annual two-day festival spent the day celebrating Mexico’s independence from French rule, which was secured in the 1862 Battle of Puebla. Said Nora Cortez, an 18-year-old Santa Ana resident: “I’m here to have fun. I hardly go out, but I decided to this time. A lot of us here are Mexicans, and we all can have fun.”

But many were there because of Vice President George Bush, who made his Cinco de Mayo debut in Santa Ana on Sunday wearing a light-blue guyabera, or men’s summer formal shirt, and tasting menudo.

“ Ola, “ Bush said, as SWAT teams perched on the Orange County Courthouse watched the cheering crowd, “ y buenos dias. . . .”

But the finale was Bush’s show of cultural elan, when he, wife Barbara, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) and Dornan’s wife, Sallie, spent 15 minutes in a hot-seat they were not used to, as official tasters of competition menudo.

Cinco de Mayo festivities were also held in Anaheim and San Juan Capistrano over the weekend, even though the celebrated day, May 5, is not until today.

The day starts early, with Aztec and folkloric dancers, as part of a daylong cultural event that begins at 8 a.m. at Cal State Fullerton’s University Center Amphitheater.

At UC Irvine, a Latino student group today begins a week of Mexican cultural events, including a performance by singer Jesus Negrete at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Cross-Cultural Center.