It’s part-Mexican pastry, part-sandwich, part ice cream, and all outrageous dessert. It’s also not the sort of food you’d expect from a place with “healthy” in its name.
Their ice cream conchas ($5) take the Mexican pan dulce (or dessert bread) with a sugar coating shaped like a shell spiral, split it in half and stuff it with two scoops of ice cream in flavors ranging from rocky road to pistachio.
Julio Perez, 24-year-old owner of this BKM (his sister owns two others), saw a similar item at a Los Angeles shop.
“I like finding unique things that make people talk,” Julio says. “It’s good to be a trendsetter.”
It’s a serious sugar rush. Save yourself the guilt and find someone, or a family, to share this dense dessert with. The concha serves as a worthy vessel for the ice cream, as it resists getting soggy.
The ice cream concha is just one of the over 75 items offered at this shop nestled in a corner of the DC Fashion Mall. Like the Swap Meet off East Alisal Street, DC Fashion is a one-stop emporium with vendors selling everything from fancy rosaries to car stereos. BKM can be considered its food court.
Large photos on the menu feature items like tostilocos ($6, a mixture of chewy pickled pig skins, “Japanese” candied peanuts, and cucumber inside a bag of Tostitos), strawberries in sweet cream ($6), and “super” nachos topped with generous amounts of sliced jalapeños and chili beans ($6.50). They’re the same kind of foods seen at Mexico Lindo Deli, the popular Swap Meet snack shop owned by Julios’s father. A closer look reveals a menu reflective of a more health-conscious generation.
The orders of customers on a warm Wednesday afternoon suggest that consciousness is appreciated. A group of teenagers share a huge sandia loca (or “crazy watermelon,” $17.50), a mix of sliced pineapple, cucumber and watermelon served in a hollowed-out watermelon half. A lone man quickly devours fish ceviche with tortilla chips ($8), ignoring the telenovelaplaying on a television by the menu. An older couple sit alongside each other and eat identical açai bowls ($7.50).
“If I only focused on healthy foods it wouldn’t work as well,” says Julio, who earned an associate’s degree in business administration at Hartnell College. “I want to provide traditional snacks, like the tostilocos and diablitos, while introducing customers to things like açai.”
Perez admits açai bowls aren’t a common sight in East Salinas. But now it’s among BKM’s most popular items.
The “island açai” ($7.95) packs its clamshell plastic container to capacity with pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, mango and granola over açai purée topped with shredded coconut. The juicy chunks of fruit and the melted ice cream consistency of the açai make this dish feel like an energizing desert, and a responsible contrast to the ice cream concha.
The BKM locations on East Laurel Drive and North Main Street, owned by Perez’s older sister, Nancy, are sticking to the healthy side more strictly; neither location offers the coveted ice cream conchas. The one on North Main looks more like a vitamin store from outside, with aisles of natural medicines claiming to provide thyroid support or digestive enzymes.
The collective hum of juicers and blenders greets guests who enter the East Laurel store. Papayas and pineapples line the glass display cases while baskets of ginger and oranges sit on the counter.
A menu listing licuados (smoothies) reveals this BKM can go toe-to-toe with any Jamba Juice and come out victorious. The mixto ($5) combines strawberries, papaya, mango and mamey – a rich and creamy fruit native to Mexico and rare in the States – for some satisfyingly sweet and wholesome handheld nutrition.
The licuados and juices are great for getting your daily servings of fruit through a straw, but the straightforward coconut water ($2) provides the most pleasure per sip. It’s not overly sweet, and the pieces of coconut at the bottom of the cup are a nice snack afterward.
Out of all the offerings of BKM’s three locations, the most delicious item might be a minor modification on a street food staple. The mangoniada ($5), a cup of blended mangoes slathered in chamoy (a potent sauce made from a mix of fermented apricots, salt, lime and chili powder) and served with a tamarind-coated straw, is tasty on its own right, but the BKM in DC Fashion offers some interesting variations. The fresaniada ($6) gives strawberries the mangoniada treatment. The blended strawberries and sliced strawberries on top obscure the swirl of red chamoy, so make sure to mix it before the first taste. It hits all four fundamental flavors from Mexican candies – sweet, spicy, sour and salty – while adding the cool element that screams summer.
“I want to grow the business while still staying true to the community,” Julio says. “I’m thankful to serve some of the most hardworking people in Monterey County.”
BKM HEALTHY FOODS
• 620 Williams Road, Salinas
10am-7pm (closed Tue)
751-3551
• 138 E. Laurel Drive, Salinas
7am-7pm daily
751-3170
• 1423 N. Main St., Salinas
10am-6pm Mon-Sat and 10am-5pm Sun
443-1020