The Best Bites of 2023
Mexico City’s food scene, which, as everywhere, suffered through the pandemic, returned with a voracious vengeance during 2023. Openings have been numerous, especially in the young-chef-driven fine dining category. Below, in no particular order, is my decidedly subjective list of this year’s favorites.
Chef Toriz of Gaba
Best new creative Mexican: Gaba
Gaba, a modest but sophisticated cocina de autór spot opened to little fanfare in August of 2023. Victor Toriz, the young chef de cuisine has packed a lot of experience into his 12 working years. Born in L.A., he spent much of his early life in Mexico City, later toiling in several renowned eateries in California and Mexico. His judiciously composed menu offers only four hors d’oeuvres, six appetizers, four main dishes and two desserts; less is more. His food is deceptively simple, combining what’s best at market with comforting and appropriate compliments. See full review
Honorable mention: Pascal
Pascal is a charming venue for the French-inspired cooking of young chef Bryan Balandra
Orizaba 203, Roma Nte.
Blaxicocina (photo courtesy Blaxicocina)
Tiara Darnell of Blaxicocina
Best new concept: Blaxicocina
Home is where the heart is, and Blaxicocina is full of heart. Mexico’s first self-styled soul food restaurant is, perhaps, also the first unofficial gathering spot for the city’s African and African/American community. Founder and chef Tiara Darnell, who hails from DC, has created a casual, welcoming environment, walls decorated with fun murals, seating inside and out, and weekend DJs who make sure the music is funky and vibrant. Multi-regional favorites like classic pan-fried chicken or pulled pork or oxtail stew might be accompanied by cornbread, mac & cheese, smokey bacon-infused collard greens, potato salad or slaw. And the menu is constantly re-imagined; special events are the norm. Hats off to this passionate celebration of, and homage to, Black American culture.
Open Friday - Sunday only
Caleta 554-Local A, Col. Narvarte Ponient
See their IG account.
Runner up: Birriosa
Asian-style dumplings filled with Jalisco-style birria are served in their broth out of a ground-floor apartment window in this unlikely fusion operation located in Santa Maria Ribera. (See post)
Tacos at el Sirloin de la Roma
Best new tacos: El Sirloin de la Roma
A welcome new variation on the “trompo” theme in La Roma, El Sirloin offers mouth-watering tacos of beef, grilled vertically to smoky perfection and served on flour or corn tortillas with a tantalizing selection of salsas. Our favorite is the taco de chile güero, the thin-sliced meat served in a blackened, mildly picante, fresh chile, topped with oozing melted cheese. (see post)
Coahuila 208, Roma
Honorable mention: Birria Las Margaritas, a little stand in la Merced that serves an outstanding version of this tapatío favorite. See post
A chaat at Maza Bistrot
Best new Indian: Maza Bistrot
The superb Maza Bistrot, which opened recently in the east end of Colonia Juarez is something to celebrate. It’s a relaxed, unpretentious venue for chef Rohan Chanana, who is from the culture-rich state of Rajasthan, and heads the kitchen with his French wife Caroline Astier Chanana. The menu, which is mostly Indian but veers into Francophile territory, features the chef’s eclectic selection of dishes from various regions of the subcontinent. See full review
Honorable mention: Suvai, an elegant Indian restaurant newly relocated to Polanco, began its life as a delivery-only ‘dark kitchen’ offering the dishes typical of South India. See full review
Balalau & chicken at Frango
Best new Iberian: Frango Tasca y Asador Lusitano
The cooking of Portugal is unpretentious and relatively uncomplicated. As is generally the case with Iberian culinary traditions, it’s about skilled combinations of a few high-quality ingredients. There have been a few attempts to introduce the Chilango public to this heartwarming cuisine but never so well as at the new Frango! Tasca y Asador Lusitano. A plus is a laid-back ambiance and reasonable prices, a rarity in Chi Chi Polanco. See full review
Honorable mention: Pelayo Cocina Maja, a promising venue for northern Spanish cooking in la Roma; a skilled alum of one of our favorites, El Puntal del Norte, heads the kitchen.
See their website
Tacos at Siembra
Best new creative tacos: Siembra Taquería
Siembra, in Polanco, started as a simple tortillería, the project of Venezuelan-born French-trained chef Israel Montero, formerly of the superb Raíz, to promote tortillas and products made with regional heirloom varieties of corn. It quickly morphed into a taqueria offering standard tacos and antojitos prepared with high-quality ingredients and attention to detail. Ostentation is nowhere to be found. See post
Honorable mention: Tizne Tacomotora
Tizne, which started as a food truck, is part of a new generation of taco shops that offer creative meat and vegetable tacos in unexpected and challenging combinations.
Two locations:
Diagonal 39, Colonia del Valle Centro
Guanajuato 27-B, Colonia Roma Norte
Pizza as Mammut does it
Best new pizzeria: Mammut Pizza Oxford
The proliferation of Neopolitan-style pizza joints in the city boggles the mind of even this Little Italy-bred ex-New Yorker. So it’s sink or swim in the local pie scene. One of the best, Alphi, sank. So we’re pleased that Mammut, located on a quiet Zona Rosa side street, has opened its doors. The cozy space is a nice place to hang out and enjoy a spritz, the house libation. Pizze are high quality: 48-hour fermented dough is baked with that perfect crackle-soft balance, topping ingredients top-notch. The classic Margherita, always the test of any pizzeria, arrives with a burrata in the middle, excessive, perhaps, but fun nevertheless.
The Salchicha Diavola is a gratifying spicy pork-fest, while the Bianca San Danielle will please the savvy connoisseurs of refined whiteness what with its creamy “Alfredo” sauce, prosciutto and pistachio.
Oxford 21, Juárez
Open Daily 12 – 11 p.m. (Sunday until 8)
mammutpizza.com
Honorable mention: Pizzería della Madonna, whose huge oven greets you like Mt. Vesuvius, is chef Marco Carboni’s (of Sartoria) nod to the Southern Italian trattoria. Orizaba 37, Roma Nte.
The ceviche mixto at Sabor Inka
Best Peruvian: Sabor Inka
This stall located in the heart of Roma’s Mercado Medellín offers outstanding Peruvian criollo fare. Ceviches, served with their requisite leche de tigre, chaufa (the unique Chifa - Peruvian/Chinese - fried rice), Papas rellenas, causas, everything is as it would be in the equivalent market stall in Lima, done with loving care.
Honorable mention: El Mercadito Peruano, which also does excellent ceviches and a particularly nice seafood sauté continues to draw an international crowd in the Mercado San Juan (see post)
a beautiful nigiri at Kill Bill
Best new Japanese: Kill Bill Sushi & Robata
Don’t be fooled by the sophomoric name and in-your-face branding, this compact, elegantly designed blond-wood locale houses a sophisticated paean to the intimate chef-driven sushi bars popular in Tokyo. Seafood is culled from the best of Baja California and includes interesting imports from the Land of the Rising Sun itself. The fine-tuned omakase, featuring a mix of sashimi, nigiri sushi and robata-grilled fish is, while respectful of tradition, creative and mindful of contemporary concepts. Wines and sakes are astutely chosen, as is the all-vinyl playlist featuring Jazz and Blues. None of this comes cheap, but this is arguably the best of its kind in the city and worth the splurge.
Orizaba 39, Roma Nte.
See their website
Runner up: Madai Antara
Rub shoulders with the Ladies who Lunch at this sophisticated sushi bar that sits in the middle of Polanco’s posh Antara mall. The bijou-like offerings are fresh and finely crafted. See website
The real thing at Ka Won Seng
Best re-opened Chinese: Ka Won Seng
Many years ago, ex-New Yorker, author David Lida led me to Ka Won Seng, located south of the centro in Colonia Viaducto Piedad, our city’s “real” Chinatown. He’d learned about it from a taxi driver whose sister-in-law is Chinese. The hand-scrawled note on the front door admonishes that “No hay comida mexicana, café, ni pan dulce” (we don’t serve Mexican food, coffee nor sweet rolls) thus admonishing non-Chinese that this is not a Café de Chinos. Closed during the pandemic, the dining room is back in full swing and putting out great Cantonese fare; it’s better than ever. (See my review)
Le Fu (formerly Fulihua), nearby, has also reopened and does fabulous dim sum on weekends. See my review
Honorable mention: Restaurante Bengala, at Río Pánuco in Colonia Cuauhtemoc, offers shareable small dishes of eclectic regional Chinese food in a warm setting. See their website
Japasnese style, Chinese dishes at Bengala
