Sure, I could talk a bit about this city's history and their lovely people, but let's face it. If you're going to Oaxaca there should be only three things you have to focus on:
- Its sublime food,
- the availablity of extraordinary mezcal for way less than 7usd, and
- how marvelously easy it becomes to take in the true beauty of this place when you've had enough of both.
Driving the road to Oaxaca from Mexico City is a joy, you get a close sight of the three tallest volcanos in Mexico, and get to admire the vastness of the sierra madre mountain range. Oh, but flying there is just as nice, you just have to get seats at both sides of the cabin. On a good pollution day out of Mexico City, you'll get a chance to see these active volcanos and just 45 minutes later, as you align for the approach to Xoxocotlán, you can spot on your right the ruins of Monte Albán.
⚠ This airport is far away from the city and apparently uber just started here. Traffic is fine here, unless you're there for the guelaguetza.
Oh, dear FSM, the food. Oaxaca has the best food in México, bar none. That alone is worth the trip, I promise you. But you have to be brave! And while being vegetarian is great and stuff, you're going to miss out on a possibly sublime experience.
It might not matter where you eat, truly, so I'll start listing stuff you "SHOULD" try.
- tlayudas: if you like quesadillas, and hard shell tacos, boy, you're gonna be thrilled with tlayudas. Up to 30cm (1ft) long crispy tortillas cooked on a charcoal grill. Layered with asiento (lard), black bean pureé, lettuce, quesillo cheese, and your choice of meats, insect and/or veggies. Folded in half and grilled until the cheese melts.
- chapulines: roasted grasshoppers, usually with a mix of lime juice, garlic, salt, and agave worm flakes. Listen, insects are delicious, and I'm not gonna bother with how nutritive they are, that's how delicious they are. They're barely spicy, but like grass, but roasted, and crunchy, and put some fresh cheese on them and layer them on a guac bed on a hand made tortilla just leaving the comal, and taste bliss.
- mole: a sauce made of 500 ingredients, alledgedly. My favorite is mole negro, take all the tasty nuts, all the savory spices, the right amount of chocolate, tomatos and chiles, whatever fruit is around, blend it all together for five days. Usually reduced in chicken stew and then served over your protein of choice. There's 6 other colors: (coloradito, green, yellow, chichilo, rojo, and one I've never tried).
- tasajo: salted beef flank steak, very thinly sliced and grilled over charcoal or on the comal, the stuff that dreams, and asiento, the collected lard of this meat, is made of.
- memelas: essentially, the cupcake to tlayuda's cake. A ticker tortilla, sometimes filled with bean puré, sprinkled with fresh cheese and your topping of choice.
And these are just a few of the places you should try them at:
- Los pacos - Treat yourselves, come hungry (and possibly make a reservation). It's hard for me to go through their menu in my head and type with all the drooling. This would be me: start with a donají cocktail, followed by a mezcal (and keep doing mezcal with pacifico or xx ambar beer). Chapulines preparados and a sampler platter. Mole negro, either in enmoladas or tasajo.
- Mercado 20 de Noviembre - there was the time I took a date here for breakfast, and I was worried she might fall in love with the food and not have space in her heart for me. It surely happens to me, every time. Walk through it, take your time. Ask questions and play with stuff! Then eye a place with a lot of people eating in silence. That's might be the spot where the food is so good people won't interrupt the pleasure with pleasantries. Start off with memelas and an atole, followed by chilaquiles with tasajo. Prepare for winter and the Oaxaca blues, and stop by the mayordomo store to stock on mole and chocolate.
- rincón de la tlayuda - This is a very humble place, and they are unlikely to speak any english, and the road looks kinda creepy. But the tlayudas are extraordinary and I believe they even have some beer. Dinner only.
- casa crespo Go to the rooftop around sunset, enjoy your mezcal and prepare yourself for a good meal. I don't usually do cocktails, but here I will gladly do so. That being said, I only vaguely remember the menu. There was something with jamaica (hibiscus) that was outstanding, and the traditional dishes are as well. There was a ridiculosly good dessert made of chile ancho and white nut sauce, and so much more, including the lovely view out to Santo Domingo church.
- Mezquite I hope this place is still open, and if so it might only be open on weekends. Great tacos, and a great botana oaxaqueña sample platter, and even better drinks. I've never left this place sober.
- tacos sierrita So you've been drinking, and it's late, and you don't wanna go to bed on an empty stomach. Yeah, been there. These are very simple tacos. Get one order and a "chaparrita" soda (orange is my favorite). Add salsa commesurate with your B.A.C.
- casa oaxaca
Oaxaca and mezcal are one and the same, but there's a lot more to drinks in this place:
- Mezcal: tobalá or madre cuishe are my poison of choice. The most common variety these days is espadin, a domesticated variant of agave, whilst the former are wild and usually smaller. You can have it in many stages: punta, the one out of the first round of destillation; joven, the regular, non-aged variant; reposado, aged mezcal, usually less burning and more smell; and añejo and crema de mezcal, and stuff they make for people that don't actually like mezcal but has fomo. Mezcal can come with a worm (technically, a larva) in the bottle, native to the plant and you get to eat it if you finish the bottle! These are also usually dried, salted and roasted to produce sal de gusano, the powder that usually comes along the slices of sweet orange. Don't let anyone stop you, you do you when drinking mezcal. Take sips, kisses as they say there, or drink it in one go.
- donají: the only valid use of mezcal in a cocktail, in my book. Also, it has really pretty layers
- Chocolate: either with water or with milk. If you stopped at mayordomo, all you need is boiling either and stirring vigorously, ideally with a molinillo (wooden whisk) you buy at the market.
- tejate: a prehispanic drink made with the flour of toasted corn, fermented cacao beans and seeds
Unfortunately, my go-to place in Oaxaca has permanently closed. Fortunately, this being Oaxaca, there's a ton other choices.
- el llano / paletas popeyes
- santo domingo / botanical garden
- hierve el agua
- monte alban
- santa maría el tule / mitla
- iago
- centro fotográfico