Where my friends and I eat in Mexico City

photo on expedia.com

I’m constantly being asked where I eat in Mexico City and I’m often embarrassed to say that I tend to go to the same places.   So last time I was in the City, I asked my friends to let me take them where they like to go and I found some extraordinary restaurants.   Unfortunately many are now out of business so we’re back to the old favorites, more traditional places I like.

My old favorites are:

Restaurant Ehden
Venustiano Carranza # 148
1er. Piso
Mexico, DF 06060
011-52-55-5542-2320 or 5542-5656
My friend, Pedro de Aguinaga, a frequent customer, told me that they oponed a small branch a little further uptown at Gante # 11

I like to say that you can find the best of every kind of food in New York City but that is definitely not true of Lebanese cuisine) so my first stop in Mexico City is usually a little second floor, family-run restaurant a few blocks from the zócalo.  It’s nothing fancy and it’s cash only but the food  is absolutely delicious and always fresh, with an interesting Mexican spin on traditional dishes..

I like to order tabouley, the creamy hoummus,  rice with vermicelli and crisply-fried onions, or the vermicelli with lentils, falafel, zucchini stuffed with ground beef, shanklis (dried yogurt with oregano) with tomatoes, onion, and jalapeño chiles and a splash of olive oil, fried chicken wings with garlic paste, and chicken livers with onion.

(Behind the Torre Latinamericana between Madero and 16th of September)
El Cardenal
Palma No. 23
(entre Madero & 5 de Mayo)
Tel. 5521-8815, 16, 17
Fax:5521-4745

Popular with business men, this was once  my absolutely favorite restaurants in Mexico City but they’ve ruined the restaurant by joining the fusion/confusion movement.  They still serve wonderful homey food like fideos con chipotle (pilaf-style vermicelli with chipotle), sopa de elote (fresh corn kernels sautéed with tomatoes, garlic, and fresh chiles, sprinkled with queso fresco, The huarache (an oval-shaped corn tortillas topped with a now has a big beef filet on top with a price to match but the sauce of xoconostle (green cactus fruit) is still good.  Your best bet is to go to breakfast if you want some truly traditional food.

Las Chalupitas
Alfonso Reyes # 275 near the corner of Nuevo León) Colonia Condesa
Phone 011-52-55-55-15-6479
Closes Sunday at 6:00PM

Originally opened in the garage of a house in Colonia Roma, his little dive is great for chalupitas (boat-shaped corn masa pastries with assorted fillings) and pozole.

La Fonda del Refugio
Liverpool # 66 and Florencia
Colonia Juarez
011-52-55-55258128
http://www.fondaelrefugio.com.mx/

The chile rellenos are delicious, sopes with longaniza (masa tartlets topped with smoked sausage), longaniza en salsa verde, queso frito (fried cheese with tomatillo sauce and cilantro), salpicón poblano with avocado, chipotle chiles, and the daily guisados (sautéed dishes), like costillas en salsa de chile cascabel (pork spare ribs with cascabel chile sauce) with delicious desserts like natilla, arroz con leche.

El Bajio
Avenida Cuitlahuac # 2709
Colonia Obrero Popular
And a Nancy new location near the Parque Delta in Colonia Roma
http://www.pbase.com/panos/elbajio

Though I haven’t been there in ages and some of my friends don’t like it because much of the food is too greasy well, after all their specialty is carnitas,) El Bajio seems to be the favorite of New York food writers.  Please tell me your opinion if you go.

Fancy restaurants in Mexico are just as expensive as in New York and my friends seldom go there except for the old standby Les Champs Elysees  which was a tremendous disappointment when I ate there. My fish was under-sauced, over-salted and cooked to complete dryness and, not only did they not replace it but they did not deduct it from the bill. Still it is a favorite of many Mexican businessmen.

Champs Elysees

Paseo de la Reforma # 316

Mexico City 06600, Mexico

Tel: 555-514-0450

New-style, fusion restaurants are still the rage in Mexico City among the chi-chi crowd.  These include the talented and multi-faceted Patricia Quintana’s Izote (Presidente Mazarik # 513, tel 5552801265, the mother of new Mexican food Alicia Gironella’s El Tajin, the minimalistic and very popular Aguila y Sol that has a penchant for decorating plates with inedible flowers (I guess the general practice of only using edible garnishes has not made it this way) and two franco-Mexican Monica Patino restaurants, La Taberna del Leon and.

Then there are institutions like La Hacienda de los Morales, El San Angel Inn or perhaps eating on the boats at Xochimilco. I will be adding to this post in the next few days.

Recently, I posted a comment on a post on women chefs in Mexico City on Jim Johnston’s www.mexicocitydf.blogspot,com and had the good fortunate of hearing from him personally.  He has sent me two books and I am very confused because the author of the other one is Nicholas Gilman and now I don’t know who is who but the books are great and I heartedly recommend them.

Mexico City: An Opinionated Guide for the Curious Traveler and Good Food in Mexico City