The majority of Americans who travel to Mexico (and many don't, these days) head to the resort areas - Cancun and Acapulco. I'm guilty of that myself; I traveled to Tulum, south of Cancun, for my honeymoon. And while that was lovely, I'm swiftly concluding that people who don't come to Mexico City are missing out on quite a lot.
Mexico City is located in about the southern third of the state, up in the mountains. This makes it an incredibly temperate climate - temperatures run about 50-75 Fahrenheit year round, give or take a few degrees. Being up in the mountains means you don't have to worry about mosquitos, so you can keep your windows open all the time without worrying about bugbites.
The central area of Mexico City, where I am, is known as the D.F. - distrito federal, or federal district. It contains all the government buildings, as well as some incredibly vibrant neighborhoods. And one of the best things about these neighborhoods is the amazing food. I'm living in an area called Tabacalera. Tabacalera, while safe and central, is not the most exciting area - it's more business-oriented than residential. There's no nightlife, and the fancier restaurants are all at least a 15 minute walk away. But that's what's so great about Mexico City: even in an area that is not known for its food, the food is amazing.
Take today, for instance. As I was walking back to my apartment this afternoon, I decided to stop and grab lunch somewhere. I found a little hole-in-the-wall taco joint, packed with people. The customers had filled the restaurant and spilled over onto the sidewalk, eating their lunches leaning against parked cars while one of the servers came around grabbing empty plates. So I wandered over to the grill, where two guys were chopping and frying meat, and ordered two beef tacos. They happily fried up tortillas and meat for me, and then pointed me towards the topping bar next to the grill. Toppings here are dramatically different - and much better - than the taco toppings we have at home, at least at my house. When I make tacos, they're hard shelled, with ground beef cooked in taco seasoning and served with lettuce, tomatoes, taco sauce and yogurt. Real Mexican tacos have very little in common with that meal. They're soft-shelled; the tortillas are made fresh, either by some little old lady (they're all over the place, I swear) or by the grocery store. The tortillas are fried and then filled with meat - but not ground meat, whole pieces of beef or pork or what have you. If it's not whole, it's usually chopped. Then you get to try out the toppings. I have yet to see lettuce or tomatoes, though I did see cucumber yesterday. This place had pickled jalapeños, sliced onions with sweet peppers, guacamole, and - deliciously - mashed potatoes. They also had great habañero salsa. The mild jarred salsa that we get in the states does exist here - I've seen some of the same brands - but as far as I can tell almost no one uses it. I decided that two tacos gave me two opportunities to try toppings, so I put the onion mixture on one and the mashed potatoes on the other, and then dumped guacamole and salsa on both. It was fantastic. It turns out that the mildness of the mashed potatoes goes really nicely with the kick of the habañero, resulting in an absolutely delicious taco.
As I stood outside the restaurant shoveling food into my mouth (seriously, it was really good), the waitress pointed me to a seat at a counter against the wall, and a kid working there came over for my drink order. Did I mention I washed this deliciousness down with fresh-squeezed orange juice? For about half the cost of a fast food meal in the states, I had two tacos made fresh in front of me and a large glass of incredibly fresh juice. And this particular restaurant was far from the exception - since I got here I've been eating extremely well.
There's a lot more to be said about the food here, and a ton of positive aspects of Mexico City, but I'll save them for a future post.
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