Fondas, Cocinas, and Cafes: Casual Dining in Mexico City

On top of the world in Mexico City's Centro Historico 

Mexico City is one of the world's great affordable culinary destinations, a mecca for those of us whose voracious appetites and appreciation for fine food are much, much deeper than our wallets. But I must humbly bow my head and admit that, alas, I did not manage to go everywhere, see everything, or eat all of the things I wanted. Not even close. But I tried. Oh believe me, I tried.

And so, after going through the 900-plus photos that  I took, for my first (of many!) trip posts I settled on a recap of the casual sit-down eateries we visited. (Except for one that deserves a post all its own. Later. ) I will try not to be too wordy, as I know that most of you are here to look at the pretty pictures. I totally understand.

But I must now immediately break that promise of brevity with a short preamble in which I shall attempt to dispel some myths about Mexico City, aka the Distrito Federal, or the DF. For those of you who know this already, I apologize; however, some of the reactions and questions I have received when sharing my vacation destination have led me to believe that these words must be written:

1. Mexico City is not near a beach. It is firmly landlocked. Do not bring your bathing suit. But it is over 7,000 feet above sea level and the sun is quite strong, so do bring your sunscreen. Better yet - wait and buy some at Farmacia Paris in Centro. 
2. Mexico City is a bustling, vibrant metropolis of 20-plus million people. It  is NOT an all-inclusive resort or cruise ship destination. Thank goodness.
3. Mexico City is not a dangerous hot bed of drug gang activity. That sort of thing mostly goes on along the Mexico/U.S. border. (And you can thank the ludicrous U.S. war on drugs for that.) Mexico is a big, diverse country, and most of it is not located along the U.S. border. I walked all over the place and rode the Metro - even at night - and I never felt unsafe. In fact, I felt safer than I do in my own comparatively run-down U.S. city. 

There. I had to get that off my chest. I cannot promise you that it will be my last rant! But ... you came for the food, didn't you?

We arrived, hungry and sleepy, around 10 pm on a Friday evening. Fortunately, we had already picked out our spot for a late meal - Cafe El Popular, a 24-hour restaurant just a few blocks from our Centro Historico hotel.

Though I do not speak Spanish, I had crammed some things into my head in the weeks leading up to the trip, and I was very proud that when I ordered in Spanish, the waitress not only understood what I said, she starting speaking Spanish back to me! Of course I had no idea what she was saying, but I nodded and smiled, which usually gets me through confusing situations.

On the advice of a food-loving guy at our hotel's front desk, we ordered the enchiladas divorciadas, so called because of the two separate sauces:

The first of many amazing dishes in Mexico City

 You can just make out the frijoles in the background. So creamy and good ... thanks, lard!:

 And we got tamales Oaxaquena, or chicken mole tamales. The banana leaf gave them a subtle perfume:

We returned to Cafe El Popular later in our trip for soul sustenance in the form of soup. You may recall the Sopa Azteca I made? This was its inspiration:

 Then there was this spicy number:

 The most amazing cafe con leche (left) and hot chocolate, scented with cinnamon, right:

 As good as that hot chocolate was, it didn't really go with this next dish, which I ordered by accident because I didn't know what I was getting. Yeah, hot chocolate and ... liver and onions:

Oops! That'll teach me to be spontaneous and risk-taking.

The next day we ventured to the Zona Rosa neighborhood and ate at Fonda El Refugio, which has been around for over 50 years, as you can see from the cute commemorative plate:

I couldn't resist the mezcal tasting, but I didn't expect that our waiter would pour each one and then wait and watch while I drank it:

 This all happened rather quickly, and in short order I was feeling no pain. Weee!

Naturally I had seconds of the mezcal flight. You know, so I could better process the varying degrees of smokiness.

We began with the tacos de lengua. Yes, that's tongue, and it was tender and juicy and wonderful:

 Next up: albondigas, meatballs stuffed with egg, in a tomato/chipotle sauce:

 Finally, chile relleno - not at all greasy like you find all too often in so-called Mexican places in the U.S.:

Regional Mexican cuisine is incredibly varied, as demonstrated by our meal at Coox Hanal, a restaurant specializing in foods of the Yucatan:

 It was a very relaxed atmosphere, and I loved that there was a band!

 Of course we had to have a Yucatanian beer:

 And caldo de pavo  - I have since recreated this dish with great success, using chicken rather than turkey.  A slightly peppery broth with strips of tortilla, heavily perfumed with lime. Liberal amounts of lime get squeezed on just about everything, which I love:

 I am a huge fan of another Yucatan specialty,  cochinita pibil - pork cooked in a spicy sauce, usually accompanied with fiery pickled onions. And of course everything is better on a tortilla, so you know I was all over this:

 This dish, papadzules, was one of the most unusual things (in a good way) I had on the trip. Sort of like enchiladas, the tortillas were stuffed with hard boiled egg and topped with a pumpkin seed sauce. It actually took me back, in a weird way, to pumpkin seed oil dishes I've had in Austria, particularly at Weinhof Wieninger:

 Finally, pan de cazon - tortillas layered with fish in a tomato sauce:

Hello, habanero!

Now, you know I wasn't going to Mexico without finding some great mole sauce. And the mole at Cocina mi Lupita is some of the best stuff I have ever had in my life. And I don't care if that sounds like hyperbole, it's the truth. Classically trained chefs wish they could make something this flavorful and complex, I swear to you.  We went at the traditional time for lunch, or comida, in Mexico, mid afternoonish. And we took our time about things.

 We ordered horchata to accompany our meal:

 And began our comida corrida, as is customary, with soup and rice:

 Waiting for the mole!

 We ordered enchiladas and a chicken leg. Just look at that black gold:

 We were so full from this, but the woman who makes this magic brew - I assume it must be Lupita herself - saw that we had cleaned our  plates and insisted on giving us more mole sauce, from her seemingly bottomless cazuela [update: I recently heard from Miguel Angel Gtz. at Fonda mi Lupita, who let me know that he in fact makes the mole from his parents' recipe, and that the fonda is named after the Virgin of Guadeloupe.]:

Beset by a hankering for tortas - essentially Mexican sandwiches - we settled on the Cafeteria de Cuadrilatero, owned by former luchador El Super Astro in anticipation of our trip to see Lucha Libre. Superstar luchador that he is, we were told  that we could only take 2 photos, but we managed to  snap an extra one:

 My torta, at left, had chicken and onions and avocado. The one at right  had a bizarre (albeit delicious) assortment of pork products and egg and ... um, hot dogs:

Now, I don't like to chase Anthony Bourdain around, but there were a couple of places in the Mexico City episode of No Reservations that we just had to check out. One of these is Fonda Margarita, possibly the most righteous breakfast place on the planet. By all accounts, it's very out of the way and hard to get to, plus you have to get there at 6 in the morning or all the food will be gone. Well, kids, don't believe everything you read.  We took a short Metro ride, walked 15 minutes, and there we were. And we didn't get there until 8 am and there was plenty of food left.

It's an unassuming place from the outside, but look - this guy serenades diners while they eat. He was awesome. If you go, make sure to tip him on your way out!:

There are so many good smells and cazuelas filled with bubbling stews  ... it's so hard to choose. If ever there was a time when an extra stomach would come in handy, this was it:

But we settled on the pork in salsa verde - one of the best things I had on the trip. The sauce was so spicy and complex, I could eat this every day:

A breaded cutlet in tomato broth:

And bistec (beef) in a rich, dark broth:

And this doesn't look like much, but the refritos con huevos - refried beans with egg - were so rich and creamy. I could have made a meal of just this.

All in all, this is the heartiest breakfast I have ever had in my life. I cannot believe that the people there were actually going to work after this meal. I just wanted to go back to sleep! If we had been in Mexico City longer, we definitely would have made time for another breakfast here.

Now you know that I am not a big sweets gal, but I had to have chocolate y churros for breakfast at least once. And so we headed to Chocolateria El Moro, where we had the Espagnol chocolate - it's thicker and sweeter than the Mexican style, and a whole mess of crispy churros:

Now, if all this doesn't seem like a lot to eat in 9 1/2 days, don't you worry your pretty little heads. There is plenty more coming up - we ate tons of yummy street food, at markets, at cantinas, y mucho mas.

So until next time ... buen provecho!