Tlacoyos are small, flattened masa pockets that are stuffed with either beans, cheese or fava beans and then grilled on a comal. They’re a Mexico City street snack made almost exclusively by women, and usually you can find them near any subway station, market or tianguis.
A well-made tlacoyo has a crisp exterior, creamy innards [...]
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My friend Mojdeh does cultural tours in Mexico City, and for more than a year we’ve been planning for me to go visit her neighborhood south of town. She lives in the Colonia Santo Domingo near Metro Copilco, almost to the UNAM.
There are several tianguis (the Nahuatl word meaning outdoor neighborhood market) [...]
Continue Reading →Per my usual food experience in Mexico City, I kept seeing muéganos on the street and had no idea what they were. Was this a nutty popcorn ball of sorts? Or a sickly sweet, praline concoction where you could feel the sugar granules under your teeth?
Fany’s cookbook had a recipe. It [...]
Continue Reading →Maiz quebrado means “cracked corn.” In the state of Querétaro, it refers to a type of coarsely ground masa used to make gorditas. The masa is stuffed with either cheese or chicharrón (called migajas in Querétaro), patted thin, and then fried until tortilla-chip crispy.
Continue Reading →It’s a myth that eating any street food in Mexico City will make you sick.
But if you’re not used to eating on the street here, you shouldn’t just pick any stand. One of the most common questions I get through my Eat Mexico tours is: “How do you choose where to take [...]
Continue Reading →The other day, I was really craving a torta. This doesn’t happen to me that often (I’m much more of a tlacoyos girl) but this craving was undeniable: I needed a stack of meat, melted cheese and avocado piled between layers of soft bread.
Since I don’t eat tortas [...]
Continue Reading →One of the most uniquely Mexican things to do in this town is to watch a quesadilla being made on the street and then bite into it while it’s still hot.
The women — it’s almost always women making quesadillas — slap a ball of masa into shape, or press it inside a [...]
Continue Reading →The first time I saw Taquería Jalisco, it was right after we moved to Cuauhtémoc, and Crayton and I were walking down Rio Lerma at night, checking out our new environs. (Or “rumbos,” as Mexicans say.)
Taquería Jalisco looked charming: it was a tiny fonda-slash-puesto, half indoors, half out, situated next [...]
Continue Reading →A few days ago, my friend Jesica told me about a video she’d seen on YouTube. A Mexican guy had filmed a short segment on Tostilocos, a street food in which a bag of nacho-flavored Tostitos are cut open along the vertical and then topped with the following: cucumber, pickled pork skin [...]
Continue Reading →A few weeks ago, Crayton came home from his Portuguese class with an important announcement:
“The pancake guy’s there!”
I scooped up my keys and ran out the door. The elusive pancake vendor — I was finally going to meet him!
Crayton had told me about the pancake guy about a [...]
Continue Reading → Who is Mija?
Mija is Lesley Téllez, a food writer and culinary guide in New York City. I spent four years in Mexico's Distrito Federal, which launched my deep love for Mexican food and culture. In 2010 I co-founded the tourism company Eat Mexico.
