In recent years, downtown Mexico City’s once grimy Centro Histórico has undergone a remarkable transformation. The government and private enterprises have invested in new infrastructure, pedestrian walkways, parks, hotels and high-end apartment buildings that give the area the look and feel of a district that is part of a modern, dynamic capital city.

One of the staples of Mexican cuisine (and of bar menus everywhere), the quesadilla can be found on almost every street corner and in every neighborhood market in Mexico City. Those served at Mercado San Cosme in Colonia San Rafael, however, redefine the quesadilla. Indeed, while this neighborhood market is far from being the city’s largest or most famous, it’s worth visiting just for a chance to eat at Quekas, an eatery housed in the market that makes some of the best quesadillas we’ve had in the city.

It’s not every day that a meal is as delicious as it is revelatory. Yet Fogones Mx, located in Mexico City’s Roma Norte, manages to serve this kind of experience every weekend. Sprung from the Centro Nacional de Investigación y Difusión de la Cocina Tradicional Mexicana (CENAIN) project (the National Center for the Research and Dissemination of Traditional Mexican Cuisine), Fogones is the result of a partnership between Sulema Vega and Luis Alberto Llanos, whose passion for traditional Mexican cooking inspired them to travel across the country’s 32 states in search for those flavors, recipes, techniques, and traditions that make up the foundations of Mexico’s rich and complex culinary landscape. "The original idea for CENAIN was born in Cabo San Lucas as a festival with 32 traditional cooks,” says Sulema. After a few bumps in the road, Luis Alberto, who remained at the head of the project, decided to embark on an epic trip across the country, and Sulema joined as a partner along the way.