This downtown restaurant, the brainchild of a line of culinary entrepreneurs, melds the charm of its colonial-era building with innovative, heritage design. The menu is adventurous, featuring pre-Hispanic inspired dishes such as venado flautas with tender shredded venison and escamole, a delicacy of ant eggs over scarlet runner beans. Main courses like the uniquely prepared cochinita pibil and conejitas showcase a blend of traditional flavors with creative twists.

Tetetlán’s setting in the former stables of the recently restored 1947 Casa Pedregal couldn’t be more spectacular. Chef Gustavo Alonso’s menu is composed of either pre-Hispanic or native ingredients. Our favorite is the huitlacoche rostizado, roasted heirloom corn with three totally unique sauces of roasted pineapple, apple and truffle hollandaise. It’s a dining experience that will take you back to nature, something very different for Mexico City.

We’re calling it. The Oaxacan food here is pretty much perfect. While their massive, crunchy tlayudas covered in tasajo, a kind of salted beef, and quesillo cheese are irresistible, we are equally enamored with the whole bean soup served with avocado leaf and a dollop of cream, and the guacamole with roasted crickets. Destroyed in the 2017 earthquake, Las Tlayudas has rebuilt, and is as tasty as ever.

Despite its distance from the tourism corridors, or perhaps because of it, this restaurant has become a must-stop for anyone looking for traditional Mexican cuisine and breakfast in the city. Rice of the day with mole and egg, a sopa seca de natas recipe from the 1800s, rabbit in chile piquín – each menu item reflects the fundamental roots of both traditional Mexican cooking and Nicos itself. It’s a family affair, with head chef Gerardo Vázquez Lugo being the founder of Slow Food Mexico.

There wouldn’t be much of a revived culinary scene in Mexico City without chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita, and the Azul project is the creation of this recipe detective. This location is in a beautifully restored 17th-century building in the Centro Histórico, with an inviting, open-air courtyard filled with trees and hanging lights. The menu, only a few pages, contains a list of fabulous classic and updated dishes from around Mexico – all at reasonable prices, considering the somewhat upscale vibe.

Dingy but warm, La Faena is a conversation-starting getaway from the tourists and noise of Centro, and a spot for a decent bite to eat before heading out again. It’s the kind of place where you’ll order a drink and, with patience, come freebie quesadillas. There is a heavy dedication to chicken and beef fare, but we go with the seafood options, such as the squid ceviche, fish filet or Vuelva a la Vida (literally, back to life) – a Mexican hangover cure based on squid, shrimp and… ketchup.

This locavore charmer in Condesa serves chef-driven versions of Mexican classics. Named for chef Adolfo Schwalge’s grandmother, the food celebrates the women that are the guardians of traditional cuisine. Many of the veggies come from farms in the city’s southern borough. Co-owner Pedro Sañudo is a mezcal expert. Enjoy a wide selection of hard-to-find bottles plus artisanal beers and wine. During Covid, the team cooked for kids in local shelters. Another example of their love of community.

A sweet warmth lies just below the surface of this über-cool spot in Condesa. Its focus is food from Puebla, with several varieties of the mole accompanying different meats. They also cram mole into a cemita, an egg-based roll which they ship daily from Puebla. Sip on almond-infused horchata and wait for this excellent sandwich to arrive – once it does, you’ll feel like you’re biting into a pillow of utter goodness.

One of the few centenarian businesses in Mexico City, the booths of La Opera have served as the meeting place of notable journalists, politicians, scoundrels and authors. Going from bar to cantina, in the 1980s, La Opera evolved once again to become the family-style restaurant it is today. These days, the evening crowd is a smattering of locals with their kids, tables of older men come to squabble over politics and a few tourists gaping at Pancho Villa’s bullet hole in the restaurant’s ceiling.

There’s a reason why El Cardenal is always mentioned in the top restaurants of Mexico City. From humble origins to a family-run empire, it continues to cook up some of the city’s best traditional Mexican cuisine and breakfast. Some of the founders’ first dishes still grace the menu, and they nixtamalize their own corn, bake their own bread and craft their now-famous nata (clotted cream). The queso de rancho cheese with avocado in green salsa might be one of the most talked about dishes in CDMX.