Castacán, named for the carnitas-style crunchy pork belly as it is done in the Yucatan, is an infinitely likable new taqueria designed for lovers of that southern regions’ renowned pork concoctions. It’s set on a quiet corner of Roma Norte and features décor recalling mid-century urban taco joints once common in the capital, complete with hand-painted signs, tubular folding chairs, tiled walls and pass-through-to-street service. But the populist façade belies an enlightened 21st-century sensibility: ingredients, principally the Berkshire pigs, free-range chicken and corn are grown on small far ..read more

The combination of a beautiful view and great food is hard to find. Too often I’ve tolerated ‘meh’ meals backed by spectacular vistas, from the rooftops of Paris to the docks of Singapore. We spent one Fourth of July on the 50th floor in a mid-town Manhattan clip-joint downing watery martinis accompanied by cheese hors- d’oeuvres – Miss C. remarked that she was sure they were done with “Whiz, right out of the jar” and indeed they were. The managements of such venues tend to feel that the sight of a city or seascape is enough to warrant high prices and lack of attention (to put it kindly) in th ..read more

The torta, Mexico’s version of the sandwich, is the quintessential comida capitalina – fast food that is both European and truly Mexican. According to legend, tortas were “invented” at the turn of the 20th century by one Sr. Armando, an Italian immigrant, as his riff on the Italian panino, adapting it to available ingredients like roast pork and locals’ penchant for avocado and chili. His family restaurant still exists, although I find their tortas insipid – perhaps Don Armando took the recipes to the grave with him. Prepared by a specialist called a tortero, a soft roll called a bolillo or t ..read more

When people ask me what I miss about my former life in the Big Apple, my usual answer is “family, friends, and good Chinese food.” To make authentic foreign food, you need authentic foreigners, and Mexico City, unlike other great world metropolises, is not so culturally diverse for its size– most people here are Mexican. So if, like me, you’ve slogged through gloppy, celery and corn-starch-laden meals in our ersatz ‘Chinatown’ (Calle Dolores in the Centro Histórico), or paid through the nose for disguised chop suey in Lomas, you’ll be happy to know that there is good, genuine Asian food in thi ..read more

Reprinted courtesy Foodservice Consultant Magazine, Spring 2023 ..read more

I take a brief pause from my usual review column to fill in do-it-yourselfers on my favorite sources for buying Asian products. Mexico City has become increasingly international, especially since the pandemic. And there seems to have been an influx of Asian, particularly Chinese, immigrants. The rather non-descript Colonia Viaducto Piedad (at metro Viaducto on the blue line) is one Chinese residential area where some good restaurants are located and others are scattered throughout the city, several clustered towards the western end of Polanco, that cater almost exclusively to them. The good ne ..read more

I take a brief pause from my usual review column to fill in do-it-yourselfers on my favorite sources for buying Asian products. Mexico City has become increasingly international, especially since the pandemic. And there seems to have been an influx of Asian, particularly Chinese, immigrants. The rather non-descript Colonia Viaducto Piedad (at metro Viaducto on the blue line) is one Chinese residential area where some good restaurants are located and others are scattered throughout the city, several clustered towards the western end of Polanco, that cater almost exclusively to them. The good ne ..read more

Mexico City’s food scene, which, as everywhere, suffered through the pandemic, returned with a voracious vengeance during 2023. Openings have been numerous, especially in the young-chef-driven fine dining category. Below, in no particular order, is my decidedly subjective list of this year’s favorites. Chef Toriz of Gaba Best new creative Mexican: Gaba Gaba, a modest but sophisticated cocina de autór spot opened to little fanfare in August of 2023. Victor Toriz, the young chef de cuisine has packed a lot of experience into his 12 working years. Born in L.A., he spent much of his early life in ..read more

When I first visited San Miguel de Allende 30 years ago, arriving by a snail-paced train, it was a tranquil, hard-to-reach pueblo, “discovered” by foreigners as early as the 1930’s (my parents spent the summer of 1949 there) but relatively unchanged since mid-century. As far as eating went, street food was great but “fine dining” was limited to a handful of dependably mediocre institutions. Then sometime after the turn of the 21st century, international ballyhoo took effect and the town exploded. Upscale visitors from Texas and Mexico City arrived in droves. Real-estate prices skyrocketed; tra ..read more

Street food offerings in our metropolis, ever-morphing gastronomically, are showing a surge of creativity: two new interesting Asian-inspired places have opened recently. Windows to the World - Birriosa Birriosa: Dim sum a la Mexicana Dumplings don’t have a name in Spanish much less a place in Mexican gastronomy. But the guys at Birriosa, an unusual, homey proposal in the heart of Santa María la Ribera, have successfully fused the two. Alex Dungla and his life and business partner sell house-made dumplings, filled with tender beef birria and served in its broth. Though fashioned and folded as ..read more