By Karen Hursh Graber
Mexico City, the vibrant, sprawling capital of a regionally diverse country, is a microcosm of the nation, a magnet for people from different parts of Mexico who gravitate toward the city for work and bring their customs and cuisines with them. A culinary destination with over 2,000 restaurants, plus myriad market stalls and street food stands, it is considered one of the world’s great food cities.
Mexicans have come to the Federal District—Distrito Federal, or D.F., as it is known—from regions where a wide variety of ingredients and techniques are used, opening restaurants ranging from mom-and-pop eateries to elegant dining venues.
Regional Representations
The dishes served throughout Mexico are as diverse as the places in which they originated. Restaurants in the Distrito Federal represent the culinary traditions of several states.
Oaxacan restaurants currently abound, and at Guzina Oaxaca, Chef Alejandro Ruiz uses ingredients trucked in from the southern state. A molcajete sauce with morita and costeño chiles is prepared table-side. New takes on time honored ingredients include a cocktail made with mezcal, pineapple, xoconostle (cactus fruit) and epazote.
At La Casa del Mole Negro, traditional Oaxacan dishes include moles, tlayudas (crispy tortillas spread with asiento, or rendered pork fat) and the chile oaxaqueno relleno filled with meat and almond picadillo. At Los Danzantes, the Oaxacan nouvelle cuisine includes duck enchiladas in green pipian sauce, while at La Bella Lula, five of the seven Oaxacan moles are on the menu, along with four versions of tasajo, the region’s thinly sliced grilled beef.
Puebla, another center of Mexican cuisine, is represented at Casa Merlos, where chalupas (corn masa boats with a meat filling); manchamanteles, a fruit and chile mole; and mole poblano are featured. Every October, the restaurant presents a mole festival showcasing ten different kinds of mole (Puebla’s signature dish), while at Fonda Mi Lupita, only mole poblano is served—in enchiladas, with chicken, or as a sauce with rice and beans.
At Coox Hanal, the focus is on food of the Yucatan, including panuchos, or black bean filled tostadas; papadzules, the enchilada-like dish of egg-filled tortillas smothered in pumpkin seed sauce; and cochinita pibil, the spicy baked pork that is also the specialty at Kimayak Exquisito Cochinita Pibil, where sopa de lima, a lime-spiked chicken broth, is made to order.
The cuisine of Chiapas is highlighted at Chamula’s bar, serving sopa de chipilin, flavored with an herb native to southern Mexico, and pozol, a toasted corn and chile drink. Cochito, or Chiapas style slowcooked pork, is a specialty.
At La Embajada Jarocha, Veracruzstyle tamales, plus the region’s seafood cocktails and shrimp-stuffed coconut are featured. Huachinango a la veracruzana is fish wrapped in the characteristic herb of Veracruz, the anise-like hoja santa.
The food of Tlaxcala is offered at Restaurant San Francisco, where green pipian, amaranth chicken, and fava bean soup with nopales are on the menu. A pulque punch is flavored with mint and lime, while regional desserts include tequila mousse and jamaica (hibiscus) gelatin.
La Toma de Tequila presents the food of the northern state of Chihuahua, serving grilled meat in red or green sauce, wheat tortillas, and frijoles norteños with Chihuahua cheese. This cheese is also featured at Las Lupitas, in the sopa de queso. Other norteño specialties here include machaca and chilorio, braised pork in chile sauce.
At El Pialadero de Guadalajara, the cuisine of Jalisco includes marlin tacos and pozole tapatio, made with dried red chiles. The torta ahogada is a French roll sandwich “drowned” in chile sauce.
Specific Cooking Styles
In addition to restaurants specializing in regional food, there are those dedicated to one particular ingredient, dish or cooking technique—barbacoa, seafood, tacos, tortas, carnitas, tamales, and the many antojitos made with masa. There are restaurants that sell only caldos, or soups, and those that offer just pozole, a thick hominy stew; birria, a spicy goat or mutton stew; or cabrito, roasted baby goat. At La Oveja Negra, the specialty is barbacoa, made with sheep roasted in maguey leaves, while at La Casa del Pavo, only turkey is featured in the restaurant’s tortas, tacos, and soups.
Green pozole made with pumpkin seeds stars at Pozolería Tizka, with red pozole taking center state at Pozolería la Casa de Toño. Both places serve the tostadas that are the classic accompaniments to pozole. Menudo, a rich tripe broth, is the focus at El Gran Rábano, while caldo de gallina, or chicken soup, is the featured item at El Paisa.
The tacos most frequently associated with Mexico City are are made with spitroasted meat, cooked on a vertical rotisserie called a trompo. Tacos made from spit-roasted meat topped with pineapple are known as tacos al pastor, said to have originated at El Tizoncito.
And in a city of seafood lovers, where fish and seafood are traditionally eaten at least once a week, seafood restaurants abound. Marisqueria Las Palmas, a Mexico City seafood staple since 1950, offers fish and seafood ceviches, quesadillas and tostadas, along with such specialties as stuffed crab and shrimp empanadas.
Another Mexico City tradition is the old style cafetería, or café. At Café La Blanca, waiters still pour café con leche from two pitchers simultaneously—one with coffee and one with hot milk. Breakfast items
are served throughout the day here, as they are at Café El Popular, an establishment that dates to the days when Chinese railroad workers opened small restaurants akin to American luncheonettes.
From Pre-Hispanic Dishes to Modern Fusion Fare
Tradition is valued by capitalinos, as the city’s residents are called, and preHispanic dishes, such as escamole (ant roe) and armadillo continue being served at Fonda Don Chon. And at Nico’s, Chef Gerardo Vazquez Lugo has resurrected colonial-era recipes such as sopa seca de natas, made up of layers of crepes in a creamy tomato sauce.
Innovation is also appreciated in Mexico City, and creative young chefs who combine traditional ingredients in new ways have earned three of the capital’s restaurants places on Pellegrino’s list of the Ten Best Restaurants in Latin America. At Enrique Olvera’s Pujol, the menu is in a constant state of reinvention as fresh uses for indigenous ingredients, such as avocado leaf and hoja santa, are explored.
Biko features a Mexican-Basque fusion, with such dishes as fish with clams in green sauce; chipiron, or baby squid; and crabmeat wrapped in tomato skin. At Quintonil, Chef Jorge Vallejo offers contemporary Mexican dishes comprised of regional ingredients. Broiled lamb is prepared with a chia seed adobo, and a smoked crab tostada is served with habanero mayonnaise.
Experiment with Regional Dishes
Large and small, from comida corrida (lunch-on-the-run) eateries to trendy bistros, Mexico City has dining experiences for everyone, and its variety of national and regional specialties offers menu inspiration.
Take a cue from Mexico City’s diverse restaurant scene and try featuring a different region of Mexico from time to time. Add a menu insert telling a bit about the region or state, and giving a choice of a few regional dishes.
This kind of focus could be adapted to the time of year or season. During the February-March Lenten season, for example, the focus could be on Veracruz, with its importance as the origin of many Mexican seafood dishes, a few of which could be offered in this special menu insert. This makes the monthly or weekly special concept a lot more interesting to customers. And many Mexican regional dishes are braised, roasted, or stewed, making them ideal for service during the winter. A menu offering of Chiapas-style cochito, for example, makes a hearty main dish, with any extra meat being good for use in tacos and enchiladas.
Another possibility is to spotlight a single type of food, another idea that can be carried out with an insert, rather than changing a whole menu. Have a “taco week,” or substitute enchiladas, tostadas, flautas and empanadas. Mexican standards like these make it easy to create variations on a theme.