Current Time
Currency
restaurants
Mexico restaurants
Cast aside your preconceptions when approaching Mexico's restaurant scene: It's far more exciting than your average taqueria. Chefs in Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, and Acapulco blend international, regional, and pre-Hispanic ingredients and techniques, creating an ever-evolving nouvelle Mexican cuisine. Check out Izote and Aguila y Sol in Mexico City and chef Thierry Blouet's Café des Artistes in Puerto Vallarta for innovative fare, and look for cafés around any city's main plaza or historic center for authentic Mexican regional dishes.
Indeed, there is no such thing as "Mexican food," given the variety of regional differences: In the Yucatán, seafood is baked in banana leaves; in Zihuatanejo, it's wrapped in corn tortillas to make fish tacos. In Acapulco, chefs use a sweetish cocktail sauce in their ceviches instead of the simple lime and cilantro marinade used elsewhere. Look for posole (a hominy stew) on the Pacific Coast and cochinita pibil (marinated pork) on the Caribbean. Be sure to sample at least one dish prepared with traditional mole, a concoction containing Mexican chocolate, cinnamon bark, nuts, seeds, several types of chiles, and often raisins. Most restaurants in tourist areas use purified water for food preparation. If you're wary, stick with fully cooked dishes.
Like the clientele, dishes come in pairs at Casianos, a hot date spot in San José del Cabo. Chef Casiano Reyes's one-night-only, multicourse menus could...more
see the Baja California guideChef Claudia Pérez Rívas could easily challenge the competition in Mexico City or L.A., but she'd rather grind cinnamon in her metate in a serene...more
see the Riviera Maya guideChef Ana Lilia Galindo serves up a globe-spanning menu in Chamonix's hearth-warmed dining room and on the candlelit patio. There's a cozy, homey dining room...more
see the San Miguel de Allende guideThe swank, sophisticated Club Grill at the Ritz-Carlton seems utterly out of place in Cancún. A charming manager leads you to your seats, where crystal...more
see the Cancún guideChef Juan Diego Solombrino's infectious grin and playfulness shine through his creations: Risotto with fennel, chorizo, and calamari; tuna tartare with mescal...more
see the Riviera Maya guideAsk around: Everyone in Zihua will tell you to come to this restaurant. It's housed in the city's oldest building, the Inguaran family's 1865 hacienda, which...more
see the Acapulco + Zihuatanejo guideStar restaurateur Gabriela Cámara's "beach food" shack in Colonia Roma is casually decorated to remind you of a palm-thatched palapa. The menu, though,...more
see the Mexico City guideThe name brings to mind all sorts of things, but it's really an abbreviation for denominación de origen, or the official region from which a particular...more
see the Mexico City guide
The name is tacky, but the lobster tacos are transcendent at Daiquiri Dick's, a palapa restaurant right on Los Muertos beach in Puerto Vallarta. Tissue-thin...more
see the Puerto Vallarta guideDamiana is named after a Baja desert herb that is used as an aphrodisiac, and dinner on its romantic outdoor patio might indeed put you in the mood. The...more
see the Baja California guide
RSS Feeds