Coming to food writing from investigative reporting has given me a rather stricter vocabulary than many authors in the gastronomic space. I apply the same sourcing rules as ever. 

If I never tried a dish in its birthplace, I’ll tell you a cook’s version is delicious, satisfying, a fantastic value. What I won’t do is vouch for its authenticity, say “This is the real deal.”

So when eating chilaquiles rojo in Taqueria los Mayas, Cheektowaga, this critic could never describe the dish as authentic. The real deal. 

Delicioso? Si. Auténtico? No se.

After writing about Mexican cuisine professionally for 15 years, a week in México City, Puebla, and Oaxaca  first has given me the chance to drop a kiloton of critical angst. 

Here’s some highlights. Prices are in Mexican pesos, so divide by 20 to get a rough dollar value. 

Let’s start with the tacos. At Trinidad Ritual de Sabores, a taco counter with bigger ideas in the Mercado de Coyoacán.

Here’s a place for artisanal tacos, a level above street tacos, honoring the original and taking it higher with precision, passion, and a pinch of principled innovation. 

Above is Gobernador ($60) shrimp and sweet chiles on a cheese-crusted tortilla. In the back is Arrechera ($45), beef marinated in chiles and citrus under a matchsticked potato topknot.

Above, zucchini flower ($45), with guacamole and matchsticked zucchini. 

Lengua, tongue ($60), with morita salsa and candied cambray onions. 

Six house salsas included a dank dried chile mash with sesame and peanut, a brighter peanut-chile-lime, pineapple habanero, and jalapeño beets. 

Above, green aguachile ($180) of herbed lime juice, Mexican ceviche of fat fresh shrimp, sliced avocado, cucumber. 

Tacos al pastor ($60/2) at Taquería el Califa were juicier and crispier than previous versions, with chile-marinated pork sliced thin from a rotating trompo vertical spit. 

Rajas ($85), strips of roasted poblanos and onions, touched with crema. Simply satisfying. 

Cochinita pibil tacos ($273/3) at Mayahuel Restaurante & Grill Teotihúacan, pork marinated in achiote, citrus, and more, intense mouthfuls of rich pork punctuated by the necessary habanero-pickled pink onions. 

Mixiote costilla de puerco ($252), steamed en papillote with maguey leaves, a stewy bundle of pork and chile, fragrant with vegetal steam. 

Choriqueso ($137), super stretchy, studded with sliced pork sausage. 

Mole poblano con pollo at Casa Real Poblano Puebla, which serves lunch buffet with a guitarist for $255.  

There, the steam tables also yielded pork rib in peanut mole, a truly sighful Mexican soul food with just a tickle of chile. 

Cemitas, Puebla-style sandwiches with pápalo, a pre-Hispanic herb that alerted me to the fact that cilantro has a lot more interesting cousins that are pre-Hispanic. 

Tlayudas with chepiche, another pre-Hispanic herb, was another score, at Las Tlayudas Antojería Oaxaqueña, Oaxaca. 

Tlayudas are crispy plate-sized corn wafers that get a schmear of refried beans, shreds of fresh Oaxacan cheese, and a variety of vegetable and meat fillings. 

Here is the tlayuda sencilla (“simple), with shredded cabbage, pork oil, beans, and cheese ($99). Anointed with your choice of three salsa amplifications, it’s a crunch riot. 

Taking our server’s recommendation for a second choice, the tlayuda de tripa ($132), with a leaf of chepiche applied to each bite, was a gutsy good time. Offal funk was transmuted to porky indulgence, with the herb’s lemony peppery character cutting through the fat.

Pork pozole ($115) was another revelation. The depth of the chile-flecked broth, deepened with more spoon-tender tripe, compelled me to go all in. I abandoned professionalism and mopped my bowl. 

Jamaica here ($55) was another re-definition moment. Every previous version was so sweet it made my teeth hurt. Here, with the sugar dialed back, I could actually revel in the hibiscus blossoms’ perfume. 

Sweets and mas bebidas in next installment. 

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