The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near El Califa de León
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Rank 1. El Califa de León
Mexican
A narrow counter in San Rafael has stood for fifty years, turning out tacos built on restraint: beef filet seared thin, salted and limed, folded into fresh corn tortillas. The pork chops and ribs rotate through with the same austere logic. Two house salsas complete a philosophy that says nothing should distract from the meat and fire.
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Rank 2. Camino a Comala
Mexican
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Rank 3. Kaito del Valle
Japanese Cocktail Bar
- The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Latin America & Caribbean
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Rank 4. Tacos El Paisa
Mexican
A corner taqueria in San Rafael where the suadero—best ordered late, after hours of braising in its own fat—draws a crowd that eats standing up, perched on curbs and car hoods. The al pastor is reliable, and the small tacos demand quantity; aim for three or four per person. Efficient and perpetually festive.
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Rank 5. Masala y Maiz
Fusion
A cramped Centro dining room where Norma Listman and Saqib Keval splice Indian, African, and Mexican traditions into something genuinely new: samosas stuffed with suadero, Veracruz prawns grilled hard and finished with vanilla butter, chilpachole reimagined with softshell crab. The cooking is confident and unselfconscious, more interested in flavor than fusion credentials.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- MexBest 2025 · Best of the Best: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- MB100 2024 · Mexico's Best 100 Restaurants
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- 50 Best 2025 · #2 · World's 50 Best Bars
- The Pinnacle Guide 2026 · 2 Pins
- 50 Best 2026 · Rémy Martin Legend of the List Award 2026 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 7. Hanky-Panky
Cocktail Bar
- The Pinnacle Guide 1 Pin
- MexBest 2025 · Mejor Bartender: Nominados · Premios MexBest · Gina Barbachano
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
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Rank 8. Pink Rambo
Contemporary
A muscular Jesus flexing above the kitchen sets the tone at this Santa María la Ribera cantina, where the cooking is just as irreverent as the décor. Empanadas, shrimp dumplings, fried chicken, and crispy oyster brioche tumble across a small-plates menu with genuine surprise in each bite; the tostadas are deceptively simple, the flan textbook-perfect. Personality without pretense.
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- MexBest 2025 · Mejor Experiencia de Vino: Ganador · Premios MexBest
- MexBest 2023 · Chef Promesa: Nominados · Premios MexBest · Fabiola Escobosa
- MexBest 2024 · Mejor Experiencia de Vino: Nominados · Premios MexBest
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Rank 10. Makan
Singaporean
- MexBest 2024 · Casual Dining: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- MB100 2024 · Mexico's Best 100 Restaurants
- Time Out The best restaurants in Mexico City
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Rank 11. Vacaciones
Italian
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Rank 12. Taverna
Mediterranean
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Rank 13. Supplì
Roman Italian
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Rank 15. BAJEL
Contemporary Mexican
Inside the Sofitel, Bajel pairs an open kitchen with tasting menus that merge French technique and Mexican ingredients, notably a 25-ingredient white mole. The dining room commands views of Reforma while the chef orchestrates both clarity and vegetarian refinement with equal precision.
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Rank 16. La Polar
Jalisco Mexican
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Rank 17. Fugaz
Mexican
Fugaz trades theatricality for restraint: a bright-green storefront in Roma Norte where Chef Giuseppe Lacorazza builds dishes from a Mediterranean foundation and Mexican soil, heavy on vegetables. Raw fish meets white beans and almond-brown butter puree; gnudi float in onion broth. A cafe that thinks like a serious kitchen.
- MexBest 2025 · Chef Promesa: Nominados · Premios MexBest · Giuseppe Lacorazza
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants in Mexico City
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Rank 20. Lempicka Bistro
Mexican/French
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Rank 21. Ultramarinos De Mar
Seafood
A stainless-steel corner counter in Roma Norte where Chef Lucho Martinez's seafood menu spans raw preparations and pastas, anchored by a blue corn tostada with shrimp and a clam chowder that demands every spoonful. The lobster roll, when it appears, tastes like the work of someone who understands that restraint and quality catch make the argument better than flourish.
- MexBest 2024 · Mejor Restaurante Nuevo: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- MexBest 2025 · Casual Dining: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- MB100 2024 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
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Rank 22. Cananea
Sonoran Mexican
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Rank 23. Almara
Fusion Mexican
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Rank 26. Martínez
Contemporary
A small bistro named for its owner, Martínez channels Paris through Mexico City with a concise menu that moves between Mexican, French, and Japanese influences. Young and bustling, it's a place to order at the bar and watch the kitchen work while eating grilled chicken that lands.
- MexBest 2023 · Mejor Restaurante Nuevo: Ganador · Premios MexBest
- MexBest 2025 · Mejor servicio: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- MB100 2024 · Mexico's Best 100 Restaurants
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- 50 Best 2025 · #54 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 50 Best 2026 · #2 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best International Cocktail Bar
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Rank 31. CANA
Contemporary Mexican
Natural light floods a modest dining room where contemporary Mexican cooking unfolds against crisp white walls and the gentle murmur of other tables. A menu that pivots on seasonal produce—from salt cod croquetas to duck breast with farro—suggests a kitchen more interested in clarity than grandeur.
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Rank 32. El Minutito
Italian-Inspired Wine Bar
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Rank 33. Maza Bistrot
Indian
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Rank 37. Tlecān
Mexican
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · World’s Best Spirits Selection
- 50 Best 2025 · #23 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 50 Best 2025 · Eli Martínez Bello · Bartenders' Bartender Award
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Rank 38. Havre 77
French
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Rank 39. Sarde
Contemporary
In a Roma Norte townhouse, Sarde pursues the sea with methodical care: kampachi and mackerel cut in the Japanese style, fish and chips remade with contemporary restraint. The exposed brick dining room and compact bar suggest a place more interested in the quality of what lands on your plate than in announcing itself, which is exactly the point.
- MexBest 2024 · Mejor Restaurante Nuevo: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- MB100 2024 · Mexico's Best 100 Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 40. Rosetta
Creative Mexican
Elena Reygadas's Rosetta in Roma Norte draws crowds craving Mexican cooking remade through global technique—cabbage tacos with pistachio puree and a sweet potato tamal with buttermilk sauce exemplify her appetite for unlikely flavor pairings. Dishes arrive meant for sharing, each one a small argument about what Mexican food could become.
- 50 Best 2025 · #46 · The World’s 50 Best Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- MexBest 2023 · Best of the Best: Nominados · Premios MexBest
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- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
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Rank 44. Máximo
French-influenced Mexican
Chef Eduardo Garcia's French-inflected Mexican cooking unfolds in a soaring Roma Norte space of white brick and tile, where a tasting menu pivots between caviar-topped beet tartare and abalone tostada with restraint and creativity. Desserts like black truffle ice cream and caviar flan signal a kitchen unafraid of savory flourishes.
- MB100 2024 · Restaurant of the Year
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- 50 Best 2025 · #30 · Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants
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- MexBest 2024 · Mejor Bartender: Nominados · Premios MexBest · Daniela Negrete Leal
- MexBest 2024 · Best of the Best: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- The Infatuation The Best Bars in Mexico City
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- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
- 50 Best 2026 · #60 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
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Rank 48. Sartoria
Italian
Sartoria's industrial space fills nightly with young couples drawn to carefully plated Italian pastas, especially delicate tortellacci crowned with creamy burrata. The modest menu prizes ingredient quality over ambition, finishing reliably with tiramisu.
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- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Latin America & Caribbean
- 50 Best 2026 · #13 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 50. Quintonil
New-wave Mexican
Jorge Vallejo's dining room in Polanco hums with youthful energy, its modest entrance opening onto a space where Oaxacan herbs and insects arrive with both subtlety and showmanship. Seasonal tasting menus pivot between guajillo-glazed mussels and playful finales—coconut sorbet studded with caviar—where tradition and technique coalesce into something genuinely generative.
- 50 Best 2025 · #3 · The World’s 50 Best Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- MexBest 2024 · Best of the Best: Ganador · Premios MexBest
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- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New International Cocktail Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
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Rank 52. Contramar
Seafood
A busy Roma street hosts this seafood-focused restaurant where chef Gabriela Cámara has maintained momentum since 1998. Raw scallop tostadas in salsa macha and pulpo a la Gallega—octopus with potato, olive oil, paprika—set the table before pescado a talla, its dual-sided spice rubs marking the kitchen's signature approach. The dessert trolley rounds out a meal that demands reservations.
- MexBest 2025 · Mejor Trayectoria Empresarial: Nominados · Premios MexBest · Gabriela Cámara
- MexBest 2023 · Mejor Servicio: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- MB100 2024 · The 35 Classic Restauraunts
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Rank 53. Panadería Rosetta
Bakery
- MexBest 2024 · Mejor Panadería: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- The Infatuation The Best Bakeries in Mexico City
- The Infatuation 21 Classic Restaurants in Mexico City
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Rank 54. Em
Contemporary Mexican
An intimate ground-floor room where Chef Lucho Martinez treats Mexican seafood and produce with contemporary refinement: young corn grilled and dressed in coffee-browned butter and yuzu, a tostada layered with Veracruz fish stew and caviar, a mamey dessert composed as Swiss roll and frozen tartlet. Bold flavors arrive with precision, the kind of cooking that rewards a quiet evening for two.
- MexBest 2024 · Fine Dining (Menú Degustación): Ganador · Premios MexBest
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- MexBest 2025 · Fine Dining: Nominados · Premios MexBest
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Rank 55. Pujol
Mexican
Enrique Olvera's kitchen marries Mexican tradition with restless invention through a seasonal tasting menu that builds toward mole madre, a dish of historical weight. Sharp service and a curated wine list of regional producers complete the experience in this polished, perpetually animated room.
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Rank 56. Limosneros
Mexican
In the Centro Histórico, amid salvaged fountains and Puebla talavera, Limosneros resurrects old recipes with contemporary restraint. The tasting menu moves through precisely executed dishes that honor tradition without genuflection; the taco progression—savory through sweet—is the more adventurous choice for those willing to follow the kitchen's logic.
- MB100 2024 · Mexico's Best 100 Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Condé Nast Traveler The 36 Best Restaurants in Mexico City
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Rank 57. Paris 16
European-Inspired
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Rank 60. El Tigre Silencioso
Creative
A courtyard ringed by ancient trees opens onto a cantina where ivy climbs stone columns and the kitchen works visible behind the bar. The empanadas arrive golden and fat with smoked fish and pressed pork; the octopus stew crackles with chicharrón and menudo. Creative without artifice—a place that knows its ingredients and trusts them to speak.
- MexBest 2023 · Mejor Restaurante Nuevo: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Time Out The best restaurants in Mexico City
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- MexBest 2024 · Mejor Wine Bar: Ganador · Premios MexBest
- The Infatuation The Best Bars in Mexico City
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Rank 62. Restaurante Danubio
Basque Seafood
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Rank 64. La 89
Mexican
A narrow taquería on a Roma Norte side street where carne asada hits the grill to order, emerging with a dark crust and restrained seasoning. Quesabirria arrives crisp-edged and tender, the consommé optional but welcome; tortas are built with equal care on bread that tastes like it matters. Plastic stools and a no-frills room mean you're here for the work, not the comfort.
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Rank 68. Siembra
Modern Mexican
- MexBest 2025 · Experiencia de maíz: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- MB100 2024 · Mexico's Best 100 Restaurants
- Time Out The best restaurants in Mexico City
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Rank 70. Propio
Northern Mexican
- MexBest 2025 · Chef Promesa: Nominados · Premios MexBest · Shary Romo y Alex Chávez
- MB100 2024 · Emerging Chefs of the Year · Alex Chavez y Shary Romo
- MB100 2024 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
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Rank 71. Tenampa
Mexican
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Rank 72. Nadefo
Korean Barbecue
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Rank 73. KillBill Sushi
Sushi
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Rank 76. La Opera
Global
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Rank 78. Los Panchos
Mexican
- MexBest 2024 · Mejor Taquería: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- The Infatuation 21 Classic Restaurants in Mexico City
- The Infatuation The Best Tacos in Mexico City
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Rank 79. Taqueria Los Cocuyos
Mexican
At a cauldron near the front counter, a chef breaks down meat with balletic efficiency as the dining room—cavernous and perpetually packed—fills with the smell of decades-old cooking. Cabeza arrives tender enough to melt, al pastor charred and alive, both finished tableside with lime and salsa; suadero, if you arrive late enough to catch it properly braised, is reason alone to stay.
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Rank 80. Ricos Tacos Toluca
Mexican
A cramped corner counter in the Centro Histórico where Toluca-style chorizo—handmade, variable—takes center stage: the obispo sausage arrives with a whisper of char, the tamarindo chorizo with diced texture and subtle sweetness. Few seats mean standing, but two decades of relocation prove the tacos are worth it.
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- MexBest 2023 · Casual Dining: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- MB100 2024 · Mexico's Best 100 Restaurants
- Condé Nast Traveler The 36 Best Restaurants in Mexico City
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Rank 82. Restaurante El Cardenal
Mexican
- MexBest 2024 · Mejor Trayectoria Empresarial: Nominados · Premios MexBest · Marcela Briz
- MB100 2024 · The 35 Classic Restauraunts
- The Infatuation 21 Classic Restaurants in Mexico City
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Rank 83. Galea
Italian
A corner room lined in warm wood, softened by terra-cotta light and the murmur of neighborhood regulars. Galea's Italian menu stays lean—focaccia, handmade pastas offered in half portions, a daily fish in beurre blanc—but each dish carries intention. The panna cotta arrives with a subtle Mexican touch, a small gesture that defines the place: rooted in tradition, alert to where it is.
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Rank 84. Pizza Félix
Neapolitan Pizza
- MexBest El conteo definitivo: Las mejores 6 pizzerías de la CDMX
- Condé Nast Traveler The 36 Best Restaurants in Mexico City
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- 50 Best 2025 · Legend of the List Award
- 50 Best 2025 · #51 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 50 Best 2026 · #20 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 86. Rayo
Cocktail Bar
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Rank 87. Chuan Bai Wei
Sichuan Chinese
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- MexBest 2024 · Casual Dining: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- MexBest Dónde comer los mejores mariscos en México
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Rank 90. Marisquería Mi Compa Chava
Pacific Mexican
- MexBest Dónde comer los mejores mariscos en México
- MB100 2024 · Mexico's Best 100 Restaurants
- Condé Nast Traveler The 36 Best Restaurants in Mexico City
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Rank 91. Esquina Común
Mexican
A rooftop in Condesa draped in greenery hosts Chef Ana Dolores González's tasting menu, plated for two with confident technique and personality. The daily fish arrives in green mole with plantain and fava beans; a masa tamal harbors chile-tinged fish with salsa macha. Reservations demand persistence.
- MexBest 2024 · Chef Promesa: Ganador · Premios MexBest · Ana Dolores González
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- MexBest 2025 · Casual Dining: Nominados · Premios MexBest
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Rank 92. Baldío
Mexican
Chef Max MacLean's zero-waste kitchen in Condesa sources from chinampas farms and local fisheries, purifies its own water, and prints on recycled corn husks—but the cooking is what commands attention. Fluke crudo arrives shingled with jicama and star fruit in leche de tigre; heirloom tomatoes meet sikil pak, a Yucatán sauce of toasted pepitas and charred chiles.
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Mexico City
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Rank 93. Lorea
Mexican
A quiet, multilevel room of pale wood and clean lines in Roma Norte where Chef Oswaldo Oliva channels his Spanish past through a single seasonal tasting menu that borrows from Mexico but roams further afield—fried chilies stuffed with eggplant and blue cheese, baby corn in cream with caviar. The counter seat, overlooking an immaculate kitchen, is where the evening reveals itself most clearly.
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Rank 94. Tacos Del Valle
Mexican
A retro diner setup of bar stools and mirrors frames this Roma Norte taqueria's straightforward mission: meat cooked on the trompo, spun near open flame until charred outside and tender within, then plated on corn tortillas for you to dress with three salsas in squeeze bottles. Other tacos arrive more elaborately garnished, but the stripped-down versions reveal the craft.
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- MexBest 2023 · Mejor Bar: Ganador · Premios MexBest
- The Infatuation The Best Bars in Mexico City
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants in Mexico City
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Rank 99. Gonzalitos
Northern-style Mexican
In a modest storefront on Calle de Colima, this taqueria executes northern Mexican technique with precision: beef barbacoa arrives juicy and deeply flavored, best ordered dorado-style in a crisped tortilla, though machacado con huevo and tempura chile rellenos prove equally assured. Diners perch at sidewalk counter or cramped indoor tables, watching the small kitchen work.
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Rank 100. Maizajo
Mexican
Upstairs from a standing-room taqueria, Maizajo's dining room pairs industrial chic—I-beams and rebar furniture—with Santiago Muñoz Moctezuma's precise corn cookery, announced by house tostadas and habanero salsa. A blue corn tostada crowned with tuna and black sesame oil sits alongside a poblano tamal sweet with achiote and stewed greens, each plate revealing the grammar of the kernel.
- Condé Nast Traveler 2024 · The best new restaurants in the world
- MexBest 2025 · Mejor Taquería: Ganador · Premios MexBest
- MexBest 2024 · Chef promesa: Nominados · Premios MexBest · Santiago Muñóz