Pujol | Polanco | Mexico City

Pujol is a restaurant located in the Polanco District of Mexico City that consistently achieves a spot on the list of best restaurants in the world. Chef Enrique Olivera takes inspiration from Mexican street food and elevates it to haute cuisine. Indeed I recognized ingredients and dishes we had on our street food crawl show up on this outstanding tasting menu. It was pretty cool to draw the parallels and at the end of the day to have had both sets of experiences in one incredible city!
The must try dish at Pujol is the signature mole madre, mole nuevo, where fresh mole sauce is encased in an outer layer of mole that has been aged for – at the count when we were in: 1112 days. The flavor profile of the two moles absolutely blew me away. The entire tasting menu was enchanting, I especially enjoyed the prelude of bontanas and the fanfare of sweet treats at the end. To drink - mezcal, of course, with a glass of fresh orange rimmed with worm salt. 

I. Street Snacks - Bontanas
Gordita de chicharron, chile de catarino, pice de gallo, erizo (uni)
Chileatole de calbacita milpera (type of squash), chile mulato
Tostada de chia, pure de aguacate (chia and avocado chicharron)
Elote con mayonesa de hormiga chictana, cafe, chile costeno (baby corn, chicanta ant, coffee.)

II. Escamoles (ant larve), macadamia nut, piel de pollo (chicken skin)

III. Tartar de tasajo, limon en conserva, rabano, berro, aguacate
(Dry beef tartar, preserved lemon, radish, watercress, avocado)

IV. Tostada de camaron (shrimp tostada), recado blanco, mayonesa de chipoltle

 V. Pesca del dia, mantequilla avellanada, papa, mayonesa de limon en conserva, apio (Fish of the day, beurre noisette, potato, lemon mayonnaise, celery)

VI. Mole madre, mole nuevo 1112 dias

VII. Final Feliz - Happy Ending - avocado ice cream, sweet cocoa drink, a spiral of churros!

From the street food stalls to the sophisticated dining room here at Pujol, the food in Mexico City is something very special. And now, we are departing DF and onto Riviera Maya!

Pujol

Calle Francisco Petrarca 254

Miguel Hidalgo, Polanco

11570 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico

[Restaurant images credit | Araceli Paz]

Lalo | Mexico City

Our in-the-know food guides at Club Tengo Hambre raved about Lalo's brunch; I am so grateful we took them up on this recommend! Situated on a lovely street in the boho chic neighborhood of Roma Norte, the charming, airy space with its colorful cartoon walls and sprawling communal butcher block table serves up tremendous food. We decided to stick with classic breakfast cocktails - mimosas and well made bloody marys all around.

We ordered four dishes to share, plus a basket of baked-in-house bread and pastries - the banana bread was out of this world good. Then, a simple but elegant plate of prosciutto y melon nicely punctuates the dishes to come. The Huevos con escamoles 🍳🐜 which are scrambled eggs with ant larve was a must order per Mariana and Jason at CTH. As they kept raving on about it, I'm thinking this dish has something of a cult following among DFs food community. Consumed since the age of the Aztecs, escamole (among other insects) are a staple in Mexican cuisine. The girls and I can vouch for their texture and taste, these are smooth, buttery, slightly nutty bites; and they are especially delicious when folded into soft scrambled eggs topped with heaps of avocado, red onion, cilantro and cheese! A fantastic chorizo + sweet potato frittata with a black bean sauce rounds out the shareable savory plates. Thick cut fluffy french toast topped with berry compote and a quinelle of whipped cream turns out to be another must order. 

Lalo is the perfect neighborhood spot for ladies who brunch! (Bob was sick and had to sit this one out).

Lalo!

Calle Zacatecas 173, 

Roma, Cuauhtémoc 

06700 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico