Mexico City

Mexico City, known as “El DF” to the locals, is a sprawling metropolitan area populated by more than 22 million people.  The 2240 meter high city is located in the Valley of Mexico and is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the most famous being the beloved Popocatépetl.  When Hernan Cortés first arrived in 1519 the area was known as Tenochtitlán and served as the center of the Aztec empire ruled by the leader Moctezuma. Tenochtitlán was the spiritual, economic, and political center of a civilization that inhabited the area for more than 3,000 years.  One does not have to go into the Anthropological Museum to find remnants of one of the greatest civilizations that ever existed; the Zócalo, or main plaza in the center of Mexico City, lies over the remains of the Templo Mayor, the Aztec Ceremonial center dedicated to the god Huitzilopchtli.  Even today you see that Mexico’s pre-Colombian past is still present in everyday life, and one way to understand that is through the cuisine.

Mexican gastronomy is a unique mixture of pre-Colombian and European techniques and ingredients.  Although the Spaniards were the first to influence the cuisine, the French and Italian gastronomic traditions also have a strong presence in modern day Mexican households and contemporary restaurant menus.  Before the Spaniards came, the Aztec diet was based in the Three Sisters of corn, beans, and squash.  Other ingredients like chiles, nopals, amaranth, tomatoes, avocado, and insects supplemented these basics.  Corn was not only a staple in the diet, but took on a spiritual dimension in Aztec culture.  It was the source of life, and the success of its crop was dependent on the gods. Today corn remains a staple of the Mexican diet for people of all social levels, and there are a myriad of corn-based foods eaten throughout the country. 

The Spaniards brought with them ingredients like pork, beef, cheese, and oil.  At the time of the discovery of the New World, Spain was ending the Reconquista from Muslim rule.  Spain had benefited from the culinary advancements, agricultural production, and extensive trade of the Umayyad Empire, and brought with them many Middle Eastern spices, rice, and fruits to Mexico as well.

Mexicans eat around a very different schedule than Americans, and when visiting Mexico City it is important to keep this in mind in order to enjoy the local way of life.  Breakfast is eaten around 9 am and is a sturdy meal meant to hold you over until the middle of the afternoon.   Mexican breakfast dishes usually contain eggs and are served with tortillas or bread.  Huevos Rancheros are quite common, and consist of two fried eggs atop crispy corn tortillas, draped in a spicy red or green salsa.  Molletes is a typical dish made of bolillo bread that has had the crumb scooped out, is stuffed with beans, and then topped with melted cheese.  Lunch, or la comida, is the most important meal of the day, and is usually eaten between 3 and 5 pm.  Children who are in school will take a lonch to eat at noon, but will eat with their families when they return home in the afternoon.  A complete meal eaten at home normally starts with a soup of fideos (noodles in tomato broth), beans, or vegetables.   In restaurants you will find many more options on the menus for appetizers, many of them based in corn, such as sopes or quesadillas.  The main dish is usually focused around fish, meat, or poultry in a sauce, served with rice, vegetables, and tortillas.  Most people eat a light snack or merienda in the evenings, which is usually comprised of a piece of sweet bread (pictured) or sandwich and café con leche.   Dinner, or cena, is a more formal affair only eaten on rare occasions, usually if there is an important event or party.

In Mexico City you can enjoy the best of all of Mexico’s regions, and try Oaxacan, Pueblan, and coastal specialties on top of the dishes typical of the state of Mexico.  Depending on what time of year you go, you might be able to try some of the seasonal specialties.  From late August through September you can sample the national dish of Chiles en Nogada.  Roasted or fried poblano chiles are stuffed with a mixture of meat cooked with dried fruits and nuts, topped with a creamy walnut sauce and garnished with pomegranate seeds.  You can really only enjoy this dish at that time when the small fresh walnuts are being harvested and pomegranates are in season.   It also coincides with the celebration of Mexican independence on September 15th.

No visit to Mexico City would be complete without a tour of the old center of town. A great way to visit the historical downtown area is by taking the small trolley tour, which starts in front of the Palacio de Bellas Artes and winds around the streets around the Zócalo, explaining the history behind the old houses, monuments, and churches.  Make sure to go inside Bellas Artes to see some of the grand works of Mexico’s famous muralists Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Jorge González Camarena.  After the trolley, walk over to the Plaza de la Constitución to visit the Catedral Metropolitana and the Palacio Nacional.

    While you are visiting all of these historic landmarks, be sure to replenish in one of downtown’s famous cantinas.  The beautiful blue tiled building known as La Casa de los Azulejos is actually a Sanborns, the informal, family-style chain owned by Carlos Slim.  Sanborns is frequented by all, and is a great place to have an affordable and dependable breakfast.  For authentic Mexican food in an attractive setting, eat at La Hostería de Santo Domingo, situated half a block from the Plaza Santo Domingo. El Cardenal on La Calle de Palma is one of the historic center’s most highly-regarded establishments, and is known for its breakfast of conchas with nata, a typical sweet bread served with clotted cream.   Amongst the families and groups of women, you will see many politicians and businessmen having power lunches at this elegant spot.  Another fun place is El Danubio, which dates back to 1939 and specializes in Spanish fish and seafood dishes.  If you want some historical excitement, eat in the old, yet charming La Opera Bar on Avenida 5 de Mayo, which still has a bullet hole in the ceiling from when Pancho Villa made a memorable appearance at the time of the Revolution.  Across the street is an antique candy store selling traditional Mexican dulces with all of the fine touches.

Spend half the day in the colonial center of town, and half a day at the Museo Nacional de Antropología on El Paseo de la Reforma (Reforma) in the first section of Chapultepec.  The museum is one of Mexico’s jewels and contains art and artifacts from many of the Pre-colombian civilizations that inhabited what is now the Republic of Mexico.  It is simply something that you cannot miss.  The Museo Tamayo of contemporary art is next door, and near by is the Modern Art Museum, which showcases some of Mexico’s most famous modern artists.

San Ángel, a lovely neighborhood of old houses and cobblestone streets, with the modern Altavista boulevard running through, has stores like high-end silver jewelers Tane and home décor mecca , as well as many other top picks for dining.  On Saturday head over to the Bazar Sábado, a weekly marketplace of local arts and crafts where you can buy anything from indigenous textiles to modern designs of silver jewelry.  If you get hungry, grab a quesadilla in the courtyard of the Bazar’s indoor market.  There are plenty of nice restaurants overlooking the park where you can eat a nice breakfast with both tourists and locals alike.  For a more upscale dining experience, where you will see well-to-do families having their family lunch, head over to the San Ángel Inn.  The restaurant occupies an old hacienda, and the tables encircling a lovely courtyard with a fountain and plenty of room for children to run around while their parents enjoy their meal. Start off with a margarita served to you in your own mini martini shaker.  If you are there in the Fall, you will be in time for huitlacoche (also spelled cuitlacoche), a fungus that grows on corn and is as beloved as truffles in Mexico.  Most places serve it in quesadillas with cheese, but at the San Ángel Inn you can savor it in a delectable sauce served over linguine.  Another unique Mexican delicacy to try there is escamoles, which are large ant eggs eaten with tortillas.

San Ángel is also where Friday Kahlo and Diego Rivera lived.  You can visit their colorful blue and red houses, which are linked by a walkway on the second floor.  The houses are recognizable not only for their colors, but also for the cactus fence that surrounds them.  A visit to their museum gives you an important glimpse of two of Mexico’s most infamous artists of the 20th century.

If you stay in the southern end of the city for lunch, you will find plenty of restaurant choices on the Avenida Revolución.  La Bella Lula, which is on the corner of Las Flores, is an informal place that serves up excellent Oaxacan cuts of tasajo steak for very reasonable prices. Nextdoor is their seafood restaurant, Lula Mar, which serves simple fish and seafood dishes from all over Mexico.  Across the street on Las Flores is La Castellana, the place to get the famous Mexican torta sandwich.  On Revolución you will find everything from taco stands to modern Mexican restaurants. La Taba, La Tecla, and El Mesón Castellano are other recommendations.

Two of Mexico City’s most famous chefs are Patricia Quintana and Mónica Patiño.  Patricia Quintana’s restaurant, Izote, lies on the chic Avenida Masaryk in the northern area of Polanco.  Enjoy some time walking around the neighborhood (one of the only places in Mexico City where you can stroll around at leisure).  Another great option in the area is El Bajío, where chef and owner Carmen “Titita” Ramírez Degollado takes you all around Mexico with her menu. Try their carnitas, pull-apart cubes of pork shoulder cooked its own fat, which are made daily by their carniteros from Michoacán.

Make sure to pay a visit to the Iglesia de San Agustín, where you can pray to San Charbel, a Lebanese saint that is held in high regard by many Mexicans.  Buy a ribbon from the woman outside to write your prayer on, and tie it around his statue.  When your wish comes true, you return and tie a white ribbon in the same place giving your thanks.  San Charbel has many miracles attributed to his name, and you will notice many people praying to him when you visit. If you want to take a break from site-seeing check out Antara (corner of Ejercito Nacional) and the Palacio mall on Molière, between Horacio y Homero.  Both are nice malls where you can window-shop or save yourself from any clothing emergencies.  There is a chain of health food stores called Nutrisa, which has a great frozen yogurt.  You can get them with many different toppings and sauces, like cajeta and puffed amaranth,  and it it a favorite with shoppers for an afternoon snack.

La Taberna del León is an upscale restaurant where famed Chef Monica Patiño seamlessly blends French technique and Mexican ingredients.  The restaurant is located in Plaza Loreto, a pleasant shopping area with many stores and a movie theater.  New to the same Plaza is the Peruvian cebichería La Mar.  This is the second restaurant of the same name to be opened in Mexico City; the original is in the new district of Santa Fe.  You might not think you want to eat Peruvian food while in Mexico, but you do.  La Mar has an incredible menu that brings Peruvian food to the world level with its creative cebiches and tiraditos, inspired by the fusion of modern day Peruvian culture.  The Nikkei tiradito with sesame oil and jalapeño is one such example, as it pays homage to the large Japanese population that has contributed to the Andean cuisine.

Coyoacán is a popular place for families to stroll around on the weekends, and at night has a happening bar scene for the younger crowd.  This old plaza used to be a small town on the outskirts of Mexico City, but over the years has become a central location in the metropolitan area.  It also offers a small trolley tour, which is worth taking in order to learn about the history behind the houses and families that once occupied them.  One of the most famous houses is the one in which Frida Kahlo grew up, which is now a museum open to the public.  You can see the room in which Mexico’s beloved painter grew up, which includes the famous mirrored canopy bed from which Frida painted herself.  Coyoacán has a large indoor market where you can buy almost anything.  Take home a tortilla press or some plastic shopping bags as souvenirs for your friends.  The market is very clean and if you feel up to it, you can stop at Lucha’s stand for a quesadilla.  You will see the women working the corn masa right in front of you, before filling them and cooking them on the comal.  Whoever thinks Mexican food is not healthy has never seen how fresh the ingredients are at the Coyoacán market.  In the afternoons you will see people walking around the plaza eating ice creams or the mayonnaise and corn cups called esquites.  Although it is a popular hangout, we recommend heading out of there around sundown when most of the people clear out.

La Condesa and Colonia Roma are two areas of the city that have become very hip.  La Condesa is full of fun bars and restaurants where you can enjoy a night out.  There are tons of cool and affordable places, so just walk down Avenida Michoacán and see what appeals to you the most.  On Alvaro Obregon lies the Casa Lamm, an old colonial mansion-cum- cultural center comprised of a bookstore, jewelry store, restaurant, and art gallery, where you can browse and linger for hours.  You will find small boutiques and bookstores in the neighboring streets, so spend some time exploring this trendy neighborhood.  While in the area, we recommend visiting the boutique hotel Condesa DF, on the corner of Avenida Veracruz and Parque España even if only for a drink on their rooftop restaurant.
   

Mexico City Taquerías

There are a few Mexican taco restaurant chains, located throughout the city, where you can count on delicious food and great service.  El Tizoncito specializes in tacos al pastor, which is pork marinated in achiote and cooked on a spit like a giro.   They will ask you if you want your tacos ‘con todo’, in which case you say ‘si, por favor’, ensuring you get the micro-chopped onion, cilantro, and pineapple garnish on top. Be sure to order the chicharrón de queso in El Charco de la Rana, a grilled-to-a-crisp piece of Manchego cheese served in the shape of a perfect circle. El Fogoncito claims to have invented the “gringa”, a flat tortilla topped with pastor and melted cheese, but they have close competition with that of Taco Inn, which is a sandwich-style with chorizo instead of achiote pork.  “Gringas” al Pastor will have you inventing reasons to book your next flight back to Mexico City.

Contributors

Sophia Brittan

Sophia Brittan hosts the online cooking show Kitchen Caravan, http://www.kitchencaravan.com. She is a trained chef and holistic health counselor, and is dedicated to teaching people about food, health, and culture. She currently resides in New York City, but loves traveling as much as possible.

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