Mexico’s history can be read in many ways, but to us, it’s most legible in food.
Mexico City’s capital is the country’s largest and most diverse city in everything from the people to the culture to the food.
What Food Is Mexico City Known For?
But it’s the city’s culinary diversity- on par with our hometown of Los Angeles- that excites us. We’re talking variety in cuisine, the regionality of the Mexican food you find, and the style of food, which can have everything from street food vendors to world-class fine dining on the same block.
Where to eat Street Food in Mexico City
We love traveling around Mexico to eat good food, but Mexico City has a unique quality. Eating your way through the city gives you a cross-section of Mexican food because you can find food from every corner of the country. Mexico City’s street food scene is so celebrated that it is recognized as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
You can find street food vendors across the whole city, but the highest concentration of vendors is in the historic city center or the Centro Historico in downtown. There is a bit of culture to order street food (when it doubt about garnishes for the food “con todo” or ask someone else in line), and some foods are more commonly made in the daytime while others are more common at night.
If you need a bit of help navigating it all, don’t hesitate to get in touch, and we’ll provide recs or even help you arrange a tour of the city’s street food.
The Iconic Food To Eat When You Travel To Mexico City
When we arrange travel planning services for our concierge clients traveling to Mexico City, the most common question we get asked is the most popular foods in Mexico. We don’t like to play favorites, but you can go wrong starting with the classics.
So here is a traditional Mexican food list that covers our favorite classic foods to eat when you travel to Mexico City:
Breakfast
As we’ve said before, Mexican breakfast foods top our Mexico bucket list, so we’re all about having that first meal of the day.
Pan Dulce
Start your day with a pastry and coffee to breakfast like a local. The most common breakfast pastries are sweet pastries known as pan dulces. There are various types and shapes, and they have some pretty cute names like conchas (shells), bigotes (mustaches), orejas (ears), and besos (kisses).
If you’re in downtown Mexico City, head to Pastelería Ideal for floors and floors of Mexican pastries.
Tamal Y Atole
For a super classic breakfast, get a tamal and some atole as it’s believed that the masa-based drink that is atole dates back to Pre Hispanic times. When you walk around Mexico City in the morning (especially in the markets), you’ll see many vendors selling tamales and atole.
Just heads up that it’s a hefty dose of carbs, so you may get full before you can finish it!
Chilaquiles
If you like salsa and tortilla chips, you’ve probably had chilaquiles — a classic Mexican breakfast dish of totopos (fried corn tortillas) tossed with salsa and sometimes topped with radishes, a fried egg, or even chicken.
Across Mexico, you’ll see all sorts of chilaquiles on restaurant menus, but unique to Mexico City is the torta de chilaquil. As in a French roll stuffed with chilaquiles (pictured above) and topped with all the fixings, yes, it’s as awesome as it sounds!
Even if you’re not a snacker in your normal day-to-day, make an exception when you travel to Mexico City because there are delicious sweet and savory snacks you’ll come across.
Churros
Yes, churros are initially from Spain, but you can find the sweet, cylindrical pastry throughout Mexico. The fried sweet dough is tossed in sugar or cinnamon sugar and then served with sauces ranging from chocolate to dulce de leche.
The best churros are fried to order, so steer clear of spots that serve room temperature churros!
Elotes and Esquites
If you live in an area with great Mexican food or have seen Nacho Libre, you’re likely familiar with the garnished corncobs known as elotes. Well, esquites as their off-the-cob sibling. Kernels are removed and boiled or roasted with epazote (a local herb), then served with your choice of salt, lime juice, mayonnaise, chile powder, or con todo (the works).
Our advice: always get it con todo!
Insects
Insects play a role in Mexican cooking that goes back to Pre Hispanic times. While it’s most common in more traditional dishes and as a street snack, you’ll also see modern restaurants add a variety of insects to dishes as a garnish. Our favorite types are escamoles, chicatanas, and chapulines.
Escamoles are ant larvae, also harvested from maguey plants, which have been a delicacy in Mexico City since the age of the Aztecs.
Chicatanas are giant flying ants harvested in the southern part of the country immediately following rains. They’re often ground up into dust and used to rim cocktail glasses or served whole in some dishes.
Chapulines are grasshoppers usually toasted and salted and can be found in everything from nut mixes sold on the streets to quesadillas in mezcalerias.
Pambazo
Mexico City’s variation on traditional tortas (sandwiches) is the pambazo. Whereas a bolillo (like a French bread roll) is standard across the country, the pambazo is made with the bread of the same name.
The bun is soaked in a medium spicy guajillo chili sauce that adds a fiery kick to every mouthful, and then it’s fried until crisp and finally filled.
And the filling is just as impressive – chorizo, potatoes, lettuce or cabbage, crema or sour cream, and queso fresco combine to make a seriously filling sandwich.
ANTOJITOS
The category of antojitos–or various snacks made with masa or corn dough–is one of the largest in Mexican cuisine, but a few, in particular, stand out like huaraches.
Huaraches
A spinoff of tlacoyos (see below), huaraches originated in Mexico City almost 100 years ago thanks to Señora Carmen Gómez Medina.
She was making tlacoyos but then personalizing it to make it a longer, more oblong shape which people nicknamed huarache (or sandal because it’s said to resemble a shoe).
The most significant change beyond the shape was that the huarache was made with refried pinto beans stuffed in the middle.
Quesadillas
We know, you’re thinking, I know what a quesadilla is — I’ve had 1,000 at the Mexican restaurant in my hometown. When you order a quesadilla anywhere else in Mexico, it will be the kind you’ve had countless times stateside.
However, in Mexico City, a quesadilla is any taco cooked on the flat top griddle, and many don’t even have cheese! So be sure to specify that you want the queso in your quesadilla; otherwise, you’ll likely be cheese-free and disappointed.
Tacos Al Pastor
Translating to “like the shepherd,” the term “al pastor” is about the Lebanese immigrants who arrived in Mexico in the early 20th century. They brought shawarma with them, and it evolved into tacos árabes (a dish in Puebla where spit-roasted, seasoned lamb is served on a pita) and even further into al pastor.
These classic street tacos are made by marinating meat (historically lamb but often pork now) with Mexican-meets-Middle Eastern flavors like charred onions, garlic, achiote paste, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. After the pork butt is marinated overnight, it’s layered onto a trompo (vertical spit) with a pineapple on top and slowly cooked for hours until the meat is tender, flame-licked, and caramelized.
How to know where to go for the best al pastor? First of all, a legit al pastor joint only does al pastor and does it excellently. Also, most locals say that the larger the trompo, the better the spot (the rationale being the amount of meat they cook is an indicator of demand at a given taco stand).
Oh, and know that al pastor is primary a nighttime taco since the trompo turns and cooks for hours before it’s ready (also because it’s a phenomenal cap to a night out on the town)!
Tacos De Canasta
An ingenious batch-cooking idea that seems to have originated in Mexico City is tacos de canasta. Translating to “basket tacos,” these Mexican tacos are arranged and piled into a basket for taqueros to sell on the go.
The basket is covered with cloth and plastic, so the tacos keep warm and moist. These tacos come with various fillings, including beans, potatoes, and chicharron (pork skin).
Tlacoyos
One of our all-time favorite street foods in all of Mexico City is tlacoyos. These almond-shaped discs of blue corn masa stuffed and then cooked on a comal, a large, open-air griddle.
Said to have been created by the original Nahuatl-speaking inhabitants of Toluca. This town lies about 40 miles west of Mexico City; the snack has barely changed since Aztec times — and it’s not hard to understand why.
Filled to order with your choice of chicharron (braised pork belly), requesón (a fresh Mexican cheese like ricotta), or haba (mashed fava beans), the hot, crispy cakes are then topped with either nopales (grilled strips of cactus paddles) or quelites (cooked wild spinach), topped with grated cheese, and drizzled with either hot red or mild green salsa.
DRINKS
Mezcal
First of all, any spirit distilled from the agave plant is considered a mezcal. In other words, the term mezcal is the mother term under which other spirits like tequila, bacanora, and raicilla reside.
Because the agave plants are cooked underground to create mescal, the spirit has a smoky flavor. The spirit can be made from various agave plants – some cultivated and some wild – but its sudden popularity has created a sustainability issue as many people have pulled up wild plants.
We suggest trying a few wild varieties once to know what they’re like but to order the cultivated strains – espadín being the most common – to help keep the spirit sustainable!
Pulque
There was pulque before mezcal or tequila – the first fermented agave beverage. Murals that date as far back as 200 AD in Cholula, Mexico, show villagers drinking pulque. Made from the sap of the heart of the agave, this is not distilled (like mezcal or tequila) but fermented, so it’s low in alcohol and bubbly, almost like kombucha or beer. Pulque has enjoyed a comeback in recent years, as local hipsters have turned to it as an alternative to beer.
How about you? What are your favorite foods to eat when you visit Mexico City? Let us know in the comments below!
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Thinking of traveling to Mexico soon? Our travel planning services are here to help you have the ideal vacation. After discussing your preferences during a short consultation, we’ll plan your perfect itinerary. Whether you’re looking for custom travel planning, to join one of our small group trips, or need help with reservations, the Salt & Wind team is here to help. Contact us today to learn more!
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