Guac That Rocks

I want a mortar just like this. It weighs a ton, and I bet it makes pounding and crushing just about anything (with its complementary pestle, naturally) a lot more fun.

Margy and I were at La Taqueria in Park Slope, Brooklyn, for an evening on the town. La Taqueria used to be one of our favorite places for a quick, inexpensive dinner, and we were pleased to see that despite having expanded they're still turning out fresh and colorful food.

This guacamole was prepared tableside. A server wheeled over a cart holding various bowls containing avocados, pico de gallo, chopped jalapeño, chopped cilantro, and salt, and he went to work slicing, scooping, and mixing, carefully but with a flourish. His crowning touch was to drop the big round avocado pit into the guacamole as he set the mortar (with both hands) on our table.