By the way - I am someone who wears jeans and t shirt to providence. Am I going to get turned away by any high-end restaurants or bars in Mexico City? Not trying to start a debate here about whether it makes sense to put on costumes / uniforms to go to restaurants.
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I can’t quite answer this, but I was struck by the formality at upscale restaurants there (circa 2019 at least). Reminds me of the South where I grew up. Lots of button downs and sport coats.
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Ate those quesadillas for lunch today. Huitlacoche and flor de calabeza. What a delight. Huge local crowd too, which, given how many quesadilla makers there are, might mean something positive.
Also, ended up at Orinoco because it’s right next to my AirBnB. Was really happy with it, but nothing that you couldn’t find in LA, save for a pretty good nortena, which was like a quesadilla type thing with chicharrons. That was tasty!
Another note: Exquisitos tacos mixiotes or whatever might be temporarily closed. Tried to find it today and failed. It might also be behind an encampment of sort.
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It is with regret that I inform everybody that Contramar is in fact that good. The tuna tostadas are perfection. The pescado contramar was really good–if anything though it might have been the least mind-blowing of all the things we tried. There was a soft shell crab taco special (really just a heaping plate of soft shell crab accompanied by flour!!! tortillas) that was perfectly flash-fried, and the tetelas de quelites were so herbal and masa-centric.
What a dish. Also, the fig tart is beyond good. Gabriella was in the house as well. Always cool to spot a chef at her institution.
We did not get a resy, but waited like 45 minutes for a table. We killed the time by going to a local pulque spot. Woof. This city is fantastic.
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Esquina Comun was brilliant. Edit threw some mediocre photos up!. Too lazy to do it now when there are so many tacos to consume. The qpr was ridiculous. $40 a person for like 7 or 8 dishes, and 5 or so of them were very very good. We ordered OOE, and the only dishes that were just okay were the dishes that were less Mexican. A korean fried chicken, for instance, didn’t do much for an Angeleno but my god a gorgeous red snapper pate with accompanying tostadas or this super herbal, hoja santa snapper dish cooked medium rare for 14 effing dollars goes in my QPR hall of fame haha.
Plus it’s on a pretty rooftop in Condesa. In order:
- calavera de maiz with chicharron in an almost pibil sauce, avocado salsa, zucchini and cheese. This was top notch.
- fried plantains stuffed with quesillo, ahi verde, and chicharrons.
- pretty surreal red snapper pate with squash blossoms and cherry tomatoes and sweet potato crisps
- Think this was also red snapper? Fava puree, avocado, té de monte (whatever that is) and quelites. This dish has that one Mexican green that Diane Kennedy would write about finding in roadside ditches in the wet season lol I’m blanking on the name. This was 14 dollars lololol
- Mascarpone with figs and sapadillo which was delish.
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So glad to hear I love that place! Please post more updates and pics.
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Went to La Casa de Tono for a strange late dinner after a gluttonous late, late lunch at Contramar and then a long nap. What a fun spot! We aim to seek out some pozole specialists later in the trip, but this was great for cheap, delicious, easily accessible (two minute walk from our AirBnB in Juarez.) If this chain existed in LA I would go all the time.
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i found this place to be tasty, but i haven’t eaten enough pozole overall to be much of a judge.
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Most of my pozole consumption is from either my wife’s grandmother or Taco Maria. Two very different ends of the spectrum. I shall be going here though! It is part of my Centro afternoon. It’s the green pozole that I’m most interested in.
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@set0312, Glad you enjoyed La casa de tono. I think we ate there after lunch at Contramar also. Enjoy your trip.
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No flautas?
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Nice!!!
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Damn Pujol waitlist — need to act within 1 second of receiving the OpenTable notification.
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Gang, sad to report we took our first L tonight. Do not go to Maximo Bistro. Scene like one of those WeHo spots, but it was outrageously expensive, even by LA standards. 20 dollar cauliflower dish that was like 1/4 of the head type thing.
And the food, while not bad, was just ok. There are so many much better spots for way cheaper. This was just a mediocre global cuisine spot smh. Like I thought the Mexican influence could make it different. It did not
Like code red don’t go. Don’t even try
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Thanks for taking one para nuestro equipo…
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Honestly I needed something to go wrong or I was going to move here…
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A highlight of the trip was Tamales Madre. It is a tiny little storefront in Juarez (so right next to Roma Norte) that seats maybe four people inside, plus there are maybe 4 or 5 more tables on a pretty little street. This is the type of place I geek out over. Just a temple to the tamale and masa in general. 7 tamales on the menu. We had six of them, skipping only cacao. What’s crazy is that each tamale was made using a masa from a different type of corn. I talked to the team (there were three ppl total) and they said they sourced only heirloom corn from within Mexico, and that they had ten different colors that they used depending on the dish. I also had a delicious guava atole and a bright beet/jamaica agua fresca. Come here with modest expectations and I suspect you’ll be wowed. Total was like 40 bucks with tip I think, so certainly expensive by Mexico City standards, but down right cheap when you consider what these tamales would cost in a different setting. Every tamale was between 65-85 pesos, save for the special which was 110.
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Bean and hoja santa with a light, tomato sauce that they were blending when we sat down. A wonderful combo to let the delicate masa shine.
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Chicken in salsa verde was delicious, though maybe the most similar to what I’ve had elsewhere. Maybe the only skip if you’re not going OOE
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Delicious mole negro–all about masa and mole here. Perfect balance of light spice and a complex bitterness
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A gorgeous blue corn masa with greens blended into it–with a Oaxacan cheese filling in a just spicy enough salsa de chile paisilla
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The special was nopal and cheese served with greens and squash blossoms in another gorgeous tomato-based sauce
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Walnut blended into masa in a cajeta sauce. This was a wonderful dessert tamale that wasn’t too sweet. Perfect blend of nuttiness and a nice rich depth from the cajeta.
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this place looks amazing!
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That’s amazing.
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