Mexican Coke: It's the real thing

Coca-Cola imported from Mexico, sweetened with sugar rather than the high-fructose corn syrup used in the U.S. recipe, is no longer just at home in taquerias and carnicerias in the city and suburbs.

The old-school 12-ounce glass bottles are popping up all over, from Tony's Finer Foods in suburban North Riverside to Edgewater's just-opened Antica Pizzeria.

Since the 1980s, when the Classic Coke recipe switched its sweetener from sugar to the less expensive high-fructose corn syrup, diehard fans have argued the U.S. version just isn't as good.

Those consumers have sought out Coca-Cola made in Mexico and Europe, where sugar prices have remained inexpensive, or stocked up on Passover Coke, whose recipe calls for sugar to keep things kosher.

A Coca-Cola spokesman maintains that taste tests prove there is no difference between Coke with sugar and the version with corn syrup.

Spokesman Ray Crockett said via e-mail that distribution of the Mexican cola is "relatively small" and hard to pinpoint, since it is sold on the gray market in Chicago.

But there is anecdotal evidence that a growing number of Chicago area restaurants and groceries are selling it.

"When I first started, it was super hard to find," says Tony Anteliz Jr., owner of the nearly seven-year-old Humboldt Park eatery Cemitas Puebla.

But Anteliz noticed that places like the popular food wholesaler Restaurant Depot began carrying the Coke from Mexico a few months ago. He long has purchased his stock from the Carniceria Jimenez grocery store, with eight locations in the city and suburbs.

He says his customers prefer the cola, priced at $1.50 per bottle. It is his restaurant's second-biggest beverage seller behind horchata.

Mario Rapisarda, chef and owner of Antica Pizzeria, 5663 N. Clark, says he was searching for Coke in a glass bottle to pair with his Neopolitan pizzas and pasta.

"The thing is, Mexican Coke is the only one I can find in glass bottles," he says, noting that the Coke from Italy, which also contains sugar, comes only in cans.

"I would prefer serving everything from glass bottles. It looks clean, elegant," says the Sicilian-born Rapisarda, who gets his supply from Restaurant Depot.

At Tony's Finer Foods, a recent sale advertised 10 Cokes for $10.

The glass bottle, which reads "hecho en Mexico," isn't the only clue you're drinking imported Coca-Cola; there's also the white sticker with the nutritional information in English slapped across the bottle.

Curiously, the sticker says the soda is made with "high fructose corn syrup, and/or sugar," but there's no evidence producers in Mexico use anything but sugar.

Curious about an unusual edible or kitchen tool? Want to share some mysteries in your own cabinets? E-mail the Food Detective at ldonovan@suntimes.com.