<p><strong>Ancient Brews: </strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">A five-minute drive from the ancient city of Teotihuacan, revered by the Mexica people as the Birthplace of the Gods, sits this cozy chocolate shop. The proximity of the mighty Pyramid of the Sun and Moon to this café full of books about ancient Mexico, traditional clay chocolate pots, and volcanic rock grinding stones, makes every sip of their signature cacao drink, infused with <em>hoja santa</em> (a fragrant herb), pepper and chiles, feel like a connection to Mexico’s past.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">“We feel that our work is to restore and reconnect to the use of cacao here in the Central Mexican Plateau,” explained owner Fernando Rodriguez Delgado, whose interest in cacao took him across Mexico to discover more about how the ingredient was being used countrywide.</span></p><p><br></p>

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<p><strong>The Old-School Cantina: </strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">The oldest surviving cantina in the city, </span><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#781e2a] underline" href="https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/mexico-city/2019/el-dux-de-venecia-2/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204)"><u>El Dux de Venecia</u></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">, dates back to 1918 in Azcapotzalco – a farming community that became part of Mexico City in the 1940s. This spot still follows typical cantina protocol: Patrons order their drinks and the <em>botanas</em> – small portions of <em>guisados</em> (stewed meats or vegetables) – come free. Here, they are more than simple bar food.&nbsp;</span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">On a previous visit, the botanas included chicken soup, meatballs, pork chops cooked in a tomato sauce and delicious beef in green sauce. The house drinks, <em>limón</em> and <em>prodigiosa</em>, also deserve special mention. Enrique Escandón, the current owner and a direct descendant of the founder, mentioned that the botana menu changes every month. However, some botanas – such as escargots in spicy sauce on Tuesdays, <em>pozole </em>(meat and hominy soup) on Wednesdays and <em>carnitas</em> (slow-roasted pork) on the weekends – never change.</span></p><p><br></p>

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<p><strong>The Cazuela Kings: </strong>Next to a car wash, this unassuming fonda wouldn’t attract much attention save for the line around the block by 5:30 a.m. Construction workers come at the crack of dawn, office workers arrive in shifts and sleepy teenagers meander in just before the 11 a.m. final service – these folks know exactly where to eat breakfast in Mexico City. When we asked why his breakfast-only spot is so popular, owner Ricardo Castillo replied: “There aren’t many traditional places left in Mexico City. And, we still cook using clay pots and 100-percent coal-fired grills.”</p><p>Those steaming cazuelas sit like sentinels at the front of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#781e2a] underline" href="/cities-category/mexico-city/2020/fonda-margarita-2/">Fonda Margarita</a>. Almost every dish is a recipe that Ricardo’s mother used to make. The rotating menu includes tender, roasted pork in a tangy green tomatillo sauce, beef flavored with heady pasilla chiles, and meatballs in tomato sauce. The most popular dishes, pig crackling (chicharrón) or pork in green sauce – a specialty of the house – are served daily.</p>

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<p><strong>Super-Sized Tacos: </strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Located in the Azcapotzalco neighborhood, we confess our first impression at </span><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#781e2a] underline" href="https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/mexico-city/2015/los-parados-de-don-pepe/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204)"><u>Los Parados de Don Pepe</u></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"> didn’t amount to much. Half of this hole-in-the-wall was taken up by the tortilla making area, a frugal menu hung crookedly and the grill in back did not radiate culinary magic. Yet, we are well aware that in Mexico City you cannot judge a restaurant by its cover.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">We were told just one of the pricey tacos would be enough to satisfy our appetites, but we were skeptical. Our friend ordered one beef taco and one beef taco with cheese for our group of five. We soon wiped the smirks from our faces. Each order is piled high with a whopping 300 grams (11 oz.) of meat – steak, <em>chuleta</em> (pork chops), <em>suadero</em> (flank steak) or <em>longaniza</em> (sausage). And it comes with a half-dozen fresh, handmade tortillas. One taco can easily feed two customers or a starving individual.</span></p>

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<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">It is not hubris to say you have the best tortas in town when you have been serving them for almost 90 years. Tortas La Texcocana has been handing out delicious sandwiches since the early 1930s – their longevity suggests an unsurpassable skill for sandwich-making. As you walk into the 10-square-meter deli, <em>teleras</em> (buns) and pickled peppers call out to be assembled by the<em> tortero</em>, José Balseca.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">In a city where tortas have grown gargantuan over the years, the </span><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#781e2a] underline" href="https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/mexico-city/2017/tortas-la-texcocana/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204)"><u>La Texcocana</u></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"> version has remained the same manageable size since 1936. The place is such an outlier now that their teleras have to be special-made. They still serve the famous sardine and cheese tortas the founder was selling in the 1930s. But the fillings now include <em>bacalao</em> (cod), <em>carnitas</em> (pork) and, our favorite, avocado.</span></p><p><br></p>

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<p><strong>Tacos al Pastor, By Night: </strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">In Mexico, small business owners and entrepreneurs often display high levels of ingenuity. Take the case of </span><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#781e2a] underline" href="https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/mexico-city/2014/el-vilsito-2/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204)"><u>El Vilsito</u></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">, a <em>taquería</em> in the Narvarte neighborhood that does double duty as an auto repair shop. Pass through the garage doors to an interior magically transformed into a typical taquería, without a hint of the neighboring mechanic business.&nbsp;</span></p><p><br><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Brightly lit and packed with people – even at 2 a.m., customers overflow onto the front sidewalk and eat standing up – most folks gather around the taco preparation areas situated on either side of the restaurant. These two prep stations offer El Vilsito’s most famous dish, <em>tacos al pastor. </em>It’s easily some of the best we’ve had in the city. The tender pork has just the right amount of spicy flavor, perfectly complemented by the sweetness of the pineapple slices.&nbsp;</span></p>

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<p><strong>Where Secret Recipes Live On: </strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">With so many places to choose from, how to determine who makes the best tacos de guisado in town? One contender is </span><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#781e2a] underline" href="https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/mexico-city/2019/beatricita-2/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204)"><u>Beatricita</u></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">, a brick-and-mortar taquería in the Zona Rosa that has quietly been using century-old recipes to great acclaim since 1971. These dishes are typical items, like enchiladas, soups, breakfasts, pozole, pancita and carnitas – but, as we’ve established, we come for the tacos. The list of taco fillings is long: chicharrón, nopales,<em> tinga de pollo</em> (chicken cooked in a tomato sauce), chorizo with potatoes, beans, <em>rajas con queso </em>(poblano peppers with cheese), barbacoa, carnitas and a variety of moles (the red poblano is a favorite).&nbsp;</span></p>

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