RESTAURANTS

Coming to Mexico City for the sole purpose of dining your time away here, with maybe a little sightseeing in between meals, is a perfectly legitimate excuse for a trip. The variety of different cuisines available in D.F. is astounding, from the perfect hole-in-the-wall taco joint with the flaming habanero sauce where you can stuff yourself and wash it all down with an ice-cold Victoria beer for $2, to Asian-Mexican fusion dishes like shrimp with wasabi and tequila sauce served in a sleek glassed-in dining room surrounded by Mexico City power brokers. Traditional cuisine from every region in Mexico abounds in D.F., such as cochinita pibil (tender pork dish) from the Yucatán, moles from Oaxaca and Puebla, and seafood Veracruz or Mazatlán style, flown in fresh daily from the coast. There are Spanish tapas bars, world-class French cuisine, sushi everywhere (from fast food to $20 a roll), and Argentine steakhouses that seem to open every week.

The quality and number of higher-end Mexican and international restaurants in Mexico City has been increasing dramatically in recent years. These sorts of places were so rare until 20 years ago that they could survive with mediocre, expensive food and snooty waiters. No longer. The growing number of Mexicans with enough disposable income to dine out regularly has led to a proliferation of restaurants catering to their clients’ more international tastes and openness to seeing traditional Mexican food reinvented in unexpected ways.

The Condesa district, not far south of Paseo de la Reforma along Avenida Insurgentes, was the epicenter of this culinary renaissance starting in the early 1990s, when cafés and restaurants gradually took over part of what had been a quiet residential neighborhood. But the Condesa is just the most concentrated; you’ll find creative new restaurants in Polanco, Roma, the Centro, Coyoacán, San Ángel, and elsewhere.

The turnover is high in restaurants of all types and all price ranges, but that’s because the demands of the clients are high too, as in New York or any other great dining city. If a restaurant—whether they serve humble comida corridas (set meals) or inch-thick cuts of Argentine beef—has been around more than three years and it’s still got a crowd during meal hours, it’s bound to be good. It’s an eater’s market.

Best Traditional Mexican: An impossible choice, but Hostería Santo Domingo in the Centro is a great place to start. Try their famed chiles en nogada, chiles stuffed with a mix of shredded beef, raisins, olives and almonds, bathed in a cream and nut sauce, or the mole poblano. (read more)

Best Coffee: For a bit of tradition with your java, head to La Habana. The simple tables are always filled with journalists and literary types poring over newspapers with cigarettes and coffee underneath huge 1950s-era photos of Havana, Cuba. If you really want a jolt, try the wickedly strong café campechano. (read more)

Best Hangover Helper: A little too much tequila last night? Proceed directly to La Polar, a cantina where you can wolf down a steaming bowl of birria (a hearty meat soup), along with a bunch of other bleary-eyed folks on weekends. (read more)

Classiest Atmosphere: A perennial favorite for tourists and Mexicans alike, Hacienda de los Morales is a mansion built in the 16th century on farmland now in the middle of the Polanco district. The dining rooms are set around lovely patios and gardens, and the Mexican cuisine is excellent (try the succulent cabrito, kid goat). (read more)

Best Steak: Argentinian restaurant El Zorzal cooks up a flavorful and tender arrachera steak and fantastic spinach-and-cheese empanada to go along with it. (read more)

Best Taco Joint: Choosing one taco joint out of the thousands in Mexico City is a cruel task, but you could definitely do worse than El Tizoncito. Grab a stool and order a few tacos al pastor (page 109). (read more)

Best Seafood: Some of the finest seafood in the city is served at Contramar, a high-end restaurant in the Roma open for lunch only. The deep-fried shrimp tacos make a great starter, and for a main course try the juicy filete contramar, a fish fillet served on a wooden platter with four different sauces. (read more)

Best Place to Eat-and-Be-Seen: Really anywhere in the center of the uber-hip Condesa restaurant district will do, but Garufa was one of the first and is still one of the best. Grab a sidewalk table to watch the crowds of beautiful people while you savor a creative pasta dish. (read more)

Best Tapas and Wine: Mediterranean-style Tierra de Vinos is a preserve of fine dining tucked into a nondescript storefront in the Roma. The wine selection is perhaps the best in the city, and the tapas and main dishes whipped up by the Catalán chef are superb. (read more)