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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.
Although Puerto Vallarta's hungry masses have plenty of choices right in town, they'll happily drive 30 minutes north to the town of San Pancho (a.k.a. San...more
see the Puerto Vallarta guideCynics beware: Judgments must be held at bay when encountering the milky-white color scheme and quirky aesthetic (ink-doodle facade outside, metal shelves with...more
see the Puerto Vallarta guide
Come to La Laguna on a Sunday afternoon and you'll soon feel like a part of the family—or multiple families, who while away several hours under a gigantic...more
see the Puerto Vallarta guideYes, you can find traditional Mexico in Cancún. Just head to the downtown bullring on a weekend afternoon (or on Wednesdays, when the bulls are battling)....more
see the Cancún guideYou don't find a lot of seared ahi on Cozumel menus—or chicken livers, duck pâté, and olive tapenade, for that matter. But such exotic...more
see the Cozumel guideDependably interesting regional Mexican cuisine keeps La Choza filled with first-timers seeking safe experimentation. The open-air building with its towering...more
see the Cozumel guideThis tasteful aerie overlooking Playa's Fifth Avenue is a welcome escape from the youthful cacophony at street level. In the evening, pierced tin stars glitter...more
see the Riviera Maya guideSandy feet and wet swimsuits are de rigueur at the Alvarez family's restaurant on jam-packed Playa Caleta. This is old, old Acapulco, where Mexican families...more
see the Acapulco + Zihuatanejo guideThe Pezzotti family has long wooed diners off the strip of the Zona Hotelera and into Cancún's earthier downtown area. Their romantic, stylish La...more
see the Cancún guideBrilliant underground promoter John Gray has lent his name to yet another buzz-worthy restaurant, this time in downtown Cancún. Hotel concierges barely...more
see the Cancún guide
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