I'll say this upfront - Mexico City is god damn amazing. If you haven't been or if it's not on your list, go or put it on your list now. It deserves to be right at the top of any foodie or urban hipster's list. I'll admit that I was probably like a lot of folks and unsure about visiting Mexico City because of its reputation of crime and not much to see. I couldn't have been more wrong. I'm sure there are some unsafe parts of this sprawling city but the places that I visited were no scarier or less safe than places any other big city I've been to. The thing I was most excited for during my visit was the food (duh) and it was beyond my wildest expectations. Seriously, the culinary scene has blown up here and it's becoming one of the most well respected food destinations in the world and I can absolutely see why.
After landing around 12:30pm, Janet and I were stuck in hellish traffic to our hotel (the lovely Hyatt Regency in Polanco). Knowing that we didn't have a ton of time in the city, we decided to hit up La Merced because it was the furthest of anything we were interested in seeing and we weren't sure if we'd have time for it on Saturday. Plus we were starving and what better place to go when you're hungry than a local market? We took an uber there and again with the traffic, it was almost an hour long drive. This city reminds me of LA where you just need to prepare to sit in a car for a long time even to go 5 miles. I didn't know what to expect when we got there and it was definitely way crazier than I expected. Our driver told us earnestly to be very careful (everyone in Mexico is so nice and kind) and to keep an eye out for our purses. While I never felt unsafe there, I can see why he said it. The place is insane - it spans across several street blocks and full of people everywhere. Everyone we saw was a local - not a tourist or non-Mexican in site. We definitely didn't see everything there but the market is full of meat (if you don't like see raw meat or heads of animals, don't go to this section), exotic spices, fresh produce and a lot and lots of tchotchkes. A lot of the blogs I read suggested hiring a food guide to maneuver thru the madness and I would totally agree - it was too overwhelming to do our on our own and we really had no idea where to go. We were starting to get hungry so we stopped at a food stall that had a bunch of local looking people eating there but I'm not really sure it was THE place to eat at the market.
My spanish is terrible but I could obviously understand taco, quesadilla, pollo and few other food related terms. I settled on the carnitas taco, an agua fresa and Janet and I split a quesadilla tinga pollo. When I ordered the drink, I mixed it up with watermelon and it turned out to be strawberry which was totally fine as it was refreshing and tasty. What wasn't fine was the size of it - it was an entire take-out tupperware size fit for 4 people but it was 18 pesos (so less than $1) so I assumed it would be a regular size. Be aware that just because everything is cheap here doesn't mean it comes in a small size. I kind of thought the carnitas would be shredded pork but instead they were chopped up and the taco was served very simply with some potato and peppers - it wasn't some American style taco dripping in cheese or sour cream or even guacamole (although I do love those kinds of tacos too). Very fresh, simple and delicious. I'll admit that it could have used a bit acid like a pico de gallo but the spicy green salsa helped to take care of it. The quesadilla was also not what you think of at home with a flour tortilla with cheese inside, this was more of a corn tortilla with a chicken stew in it. Again, very hearty and fresh. I could have used maybe some tomato or acid to the dish too but for $1, I'm not going to complain at all. While this isn't 100% street food, it was close since you're sitting in an open air stall in plastic stools. I really enjoyed seeing them make everything by hand in front of me but compared to the street taco I had on Sunday, it didn't really quite compare in mind blowing-ness (more to come on that later) but it was an excellent start to the trip.
The market is so huge that I couldn't even begin to tell you which one this was or where to find it but there are definitely enough places to eat there that you'll have no problem finding something tasty and delicious to eat. Total bill for 2 taco orders (which came with 3 tacos per order), 2 agua fresas, and 1 quesadilla: $5 USD (no that is not a typo).
Pujol Francisco Petrarca 254, 11570 México, D.F. 5 Forks
Behold, the crown jewel of the culinary world in Mexico City. Pujol is quite possibly the most famous restaurant in town and it got a significant bump after being featured on Chef's Table on Netflix. It's ranked #25 on the World's Best Restaurant List (it was ranked #16 the previous year) and is probably one of the most affordable tasting menus you'll ever have. What made this meal even more special was that they are actually closing this location in a few weeks and moving to a new place down the street - so we were one of the last few people able to dine at the original location.
It was surprisingly easy to make a reservation on OpenTable - I just looked about 3 weeks out and sure enough there were several times to choose from - I picked 9:30pm, which in retrospect I wished I picked a slightly earlier time because it ended up being a 3+ hour meal, so it ended way past my bed time.
The space and decor is sleek and very very dark. It reminded me a bit of a Vegas casino where you have literally no idea what time it is because the walls are painted black and there is only 1 small tiny window, so you can be here for hours and have no clue what time it was. But it kind of sets the serious tone of the meal. The menu here is pre-fixe and when you sit down there is an envelope with a wax seal on it with the menu of the day inside. It's listed as 6 courses but don't let that fool you as some of the courses had 4-5 dishes in it. You can pick what you want for course 2, 3 and 4 - I got the beef tartar, suckling lamb taco and the chicken while Janet got the beef tartar, suckling pig taco and the sea bass.
The first course is listed as street snacks and it's 5 small dishes - chicharron gordita, squash, chia and avocado, baby corn and a crudo dish. The only 2 things you need to know about this course: one, the famous baby corn (served in a gorgeous smoking gourd) is served on a stick with flying ants, coffee and a chile mayo and was amazing (don't let the flying ants scare you) and two, the absolute star of the course was the crudo, which for us was a bluefin tuna that might have been one of the best tuna dishes of my entire life. It was perfection top to bottom. Fresh, simple and clean - I might have actually wept when I finished it because I wanted more of it.
Luckily the rest of my meal was also incredible. The next dish was the dry beef tartar with preserved lemon, radish, watercress and avocado. It was cubed and as its namesake says dry as there was no raw egg with it. But the quality of the meat and the moisture of the avocado made it such that it wasn't really necessary. It was elegant yet simple dish.
The third course was the suckling lamb taco with avocado leaf adobe and avocado puree. Jesus - this was probably the most elegant, most creative and one of the tastiest tacos of my life. The lamb was perfectly cooked - juicy, flavorful and super moist and it was served on a fabulous corn tortilla that held all the juices and flavors in. Pictures don't do it justice but it was also one of the most beautifully constructed tacos I've ever seen. Usually in a tasting menu, I assume all the courses are pretty small and even though this was one taco, it was incredibly hearty and filling. By the time I finished it, I was so full but there were still 3 more courses to go.
The 4th course as chicken, chile adobe, nopal (cactus), and black radish. This was also a visually stunning dish with the black radish adorned on top of the chicken. As expected the chicken was amazing - it was the thigh of the chicken so it was super moist. The radish was a beautiful visual touch but taste wise didn't do too much for me but I appreciated it none the less.
By this point I wanted to literally crawl under the table and sleep for 10 hours. I've never been this full from a tasting menu before in my life and it was past 11pm at this point, so I was fading fast. Thank god I managed to keep it together because the next dish was life changing: mole that had been aged for 1,187 days. Yes, it's been aging for over 3 years. I'll be honest, I've never thought much of mole but this was like a spiritual level. It's so good that it's served on its own on a plate with some of the delicious home made tortillas but really you should just eat it with a spoon. I watched how they made it on Chef's Table and the dark outer circle is the aged mole and then there is a smaller light brown circle that is a younger mole. The combination of the two is beyond anything I've had - rich, intense yet not super aggressive in flavor, it's a perfect combination of spice and chocolate. I've ever only had mole with chicken or some other ingredient so to eat it on its own was a very unique experience. I was so so sad that I couldn't finish the whole dish but my body was literally shutting down that I had to say no to finishing the whole thing. I wished they had served it earlier in the dinner or had one less street snack to make room for this.
I stayed alive for the dessert course - where they trick you and serve you a pre-dessert course before the "happy ending" (they really need to change the name of that course). I can't remember much from dessert except for the fantastic churros and the perfectly ripe mangos served at the end. Seriously, I don't know how they do it but they were picked at the exact right time and were the best mangos I've ever had.
Shockingly I didn't get any wine or alcohol at dinner. I was planning on getting a cocktail at some point but I was so fixated on the food that I forgot and that's ok but a lot of people around me were drinking some lovely looking wine and spirits.
I need to give a shout out to the service - Enrique Olvera trained these guys well because my water glass was never empty, every time I got up to go to the bathroom a waiter was there immediately to fold my napkin and pull my chair out, they explained all the dishes perfectly and yet were never too in your face or overly annoying. This is how you run a top notch restaurant.
In the end, I can safely say it ranks as one of the best culinary experiences of my life from a fine dining perspective. I can easily see why it's ranked on the World's Best list. It is expensive? Yes, for Mexico City standards it's very expensive but a meal like this anywhere else would easily cost $200+. If you look at the menu at Cosme (Enrique's place in NYC) the duck carnitas itself is already $89. But here it was a unheard of $95 (tax included but no tip). I can easily go out in NYC to a good but not 5 fork place and drop $80 for maybe 2 or 3 dishes. The fact that you're getting about 15 courses total at this level of cooking for <$100 is really mind boggling.
I've read that the new version of this restaurant will be much brighter (thank god) and more casual which is great. Sadly the menu is changing a bit but the mole will remain. I can definitely see myself booking a trip back here and visiting the new place for 2nd review! Mexico City amazed me in so many ways and I can't speak highly enough about it.
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