📣 D.C., start picking your seats.

• The Commanders gave us our first real look inside their planned new stadium. Keep scrolling — but first, we hope you're hungry.

📺 What's on the tube:

• The Nats host Philly again: 6:45pm, Nationals.TV.

Today's newsletter is 769 words, a 3-minute read.

If you're craving homemade tortillas and real-deal tacos, good news: Local Mexican cooking star Pati Jinich's newest book just hit shelves.

Why it matters: The "Pati's Mexican Table" host has transformed years of travel for her hit PBS series "La Frontera" into a cookbook that takes home cooks to the U.S.-Mexico borderlands — birthplace of burritos, nachos, Caesar salad and margaritas.

• "They're often misunderstood, but everybody wants a bite of them," Jinich tells Axios.

The big picture: In Washington, the border is a political hotbed. Jinich wants people to understand it as something else: a thriving, deeply interconnected region with shared cultures, economies — and seriously good food.

• "La Frontera is everything that gets lost in Washington," she says. "It's a thriving space — people don't understand the partnerships, the blood ties."

Zoom in: "Foods of La Frontera," out this week, gathers 125 recipes from both sides of the border, from Mexicali stir-fries to Mennonite pizzas.

• It also makes a delicious case for reconsidering what some dismiss as Tex-Mex fusion — and what counts as "authentic" Mexican food.

🍔 Dig in: Jinich's smashburger taco may look like a TikTok trend, but Jinich says border communities have eaten versions for decades.

• The logic: "North and south of the border, if you run out of bread, you add a tortilla."

For a first recipe, Jinich recommends flour tortillas from scratch.

• Forget the plasticky supermarket wraps. A real flour tortilla is closer to "a very thinned-out flaky biscuit," she says.
• Making them is "therapeutic" — a gateway to realizing food you might only order at a restaurant is doable at home.

Zoom out: It's a big year for Jinich, who got her start in Washington working at a think tank and teaching cooking classes, and now lives and tests her recipes near Chevy Chase.

• She picked up two James Beard Awards, and "Pati's Mexican Table" just launched its 15th season, focused on the border state of Coahuila.
• Season two of "Pati Jinich Explores Panamericana" premieres Oct. 26, traveling through the American West and Southwest.

The bottom line: Jinich hopes her cookbook is an homage to borderland communities — and an invitation to stop trying to neatly sort their food into Mexican or American, traditional or blended.

• "It's like the food is having the conversation that people are afraid to have," she says.

And with a smashburger taco in hand, her takeaway is even simpler: "When Mexican and American mix, beautiful things happen."

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Hungry for more? Hispanic Heritage Month is underway, and D.C. is celebrating with tacos, salsa, movies and more through Oct. 15.

Dig in: Taquería Xochi's Navy Yard location celebrates Mexican Independence Day tonight with Noche Mexicana, featuring pozole rojo, pambazos, music and margarita and tequila specials.

• New Mount Vernon Triangle spot Rosa's Diner is rolling out a different Latin-inspired special each week, from plantain-topped quesabirria to lomo saltado baleadas and ceviche tostadas.

🌮 Save the date: La Cosecha's "La Mesa" on Oct. 4 brings together star Latin chefs including Pascual's Isabel Coss, 2Fifty's Fernando Gonzalez, and Amparo Fondita's Christian Irabien for one-day-only tacos, music and dancing.

🎬 Starting now: The AFI Latin American Film Festival kicks off today and runs through Oct. 7 at Silver Spring's AFI Silver Theatre, with 43 films, filmmaker talks and embassy-backed parties.

More events

🏈 New renderings just dropped: The Commanders are giving a first glimpse inside the new stadium's bowl, designed to channel old RFK — and get loud.

• Think: More lower-bowl seats, minimal overhangs and a "Wall of Fans" with more affordable seating. More renderings.

👀 The Trump administration is preparing to place about a dozen temporary signs outside the National Museum of American History, accusing the institution of ideological bias, according to a letter obtained by The Atlantic.

• It's the latest escalation in the administration's clash with the Smithsonian, whose outgoing secretary, Lonnie Bunch, had pushed back against the White House's characterization of the museum.

🍼 The Washington Spirit's baby boom has four new moms navigating the season together — and, thanks to a league policy, their babies and child care providers can come along for the ride. (The Washington Sun)

🌯 Anna is in the mood for a real-deal burrito.

🍿 Alexa is getting tickets to the Latin American Film Festival.

This newsletter was edited by Alexa Mencia Orozco.