Buzzwords tend to bloom like algae in the restaurant world: a rash of “coastal Italian” spreading across one corner of the map, an eruption of “all-day dining” blanketing whole cities. Reporting on the food industry sometimes feels like being a field scientist, watching for subtle shifts in the ecosystem. Aha, a new one is beginning to flourish. See right there — the corn tortillas elegantly sheeted with roast meats, the citrus-heavy cocktails, the neo-retro design. The conditions have been right for some time. The “Mexico City-inspired” restaurant has arrived.
Like a Parisian bistro or Hong Kong cafe, Mexico City-inspired restaurants evoke not just a cuisine but a specific place. In New York, Olmo, Dolores, and Comal all explicitly draw from Mexico City in design and menu. There’s Lost Rooftop and Cafe Tondo in LA, the latter from a chef who previously worked at Rosetta in Mexico City, and Licha’s Cantina in Austin, which serves “Mexico City soul food.” And three of Eater’s Best New Restaurants of 2024 — Acamaya in New Orleans, Pascual in D.C., and Mirra in Chicago — all touch on Mexico City, whether it’s because the chefs are from there, or because they’re inspired by the CDMX food scene.
“When we say Vecino is ‘Mexico City–inspired,’ we’re referring to Mexico City’s incredible creativity and approach to food,” says Adriana Jimenez, founder of Vecino in Detroit, whose chef, Edgar Torres, was born and raised in CDMX. Within the sprawling metropolitan area, “Mexican traditions mix freely with global influences,” Jimenez says, and “you can find unforgettable food on a street corner or in a Michelin-starred dining room. It’s not a pretentious food culture — it’s one that truly celebrates the joy of eating and sharing.”
Given record tourism numbers, people clearly want to visit the Mexican capital. In 2016, we wrote, “Everyone we know wants to go to Mexico City. Every. Single. Person. Ourselves included.” At that time, Mexico City was making a concerted push to attract tourists: rebranding as “CDMX,” increasing flights from the U.S., and slathering cabs and government booths in pink to make the city feel unified and, crucially, safe to tourists. Hype only intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Monocle: “Unlike other cities that battened down the hatches and enforced strict lockdowns during the Coronavirus pandemic, Mexico City remained open and welcomed remote workers and visitors.” An influx of “digital nomads” from the U.S. led to protests over a housing crisis, but tourism continued to balloon by 103 percent in 2023. In 2024, 70 percent of the 45 million international tourists that visited Mexico came from the U.S. or Canada.
To many Americans, Mexico City is just cool, the way that anywhere with rich history and culture and art is cool. But with a city so big and varied, evoking “local” or “home cooking” can mean a lot of things. At El Buen Comer in San Francisco, it means slow-braised, saucy meats like tinga or carnitas. At Vecino, it means dishes like sikil pak, a Mayan pepita salsa, and huaraches made with lamb shank. At New York’s Santo Taco, it means steak trompo tacos. Dolores also focuses on meaty tacos paired with cocktails heavy on tequila and mezcal, while Mirra embraces the experimentation of Mexico City with dishes like barbacoa biryani and carne asada with XO-salsa macha.
While there are some through lines among restaurants — variations on tuna tostadas are a standard, whether they’re served with peanut and nori like at Acamaya, or with salsa macha and mango at Nizuc — together they communicate Mexico City’s stunning culinary variance.
“Mexico City has always been this huge metropolis. It’s cosmopolitan. It’s a blending melting pot of different cultures,” says Santiago Perez of Santo Taco, a Mexico City native who formerly founded Cosme and has also worked with chef Enrique Olvera, owner of CDMX destination Pujol. “Mexico City cuisine, per se, is just where all of the regional cuisines of Mexico converge.”
There’s also a strong European influence on the cuisine, given the city’s Spanish colonial history, and migration shaped some of the city’s most essential dishes. Tacos al pastor, a famous CDMX export, originated when Lebanese immigrants in Mexico began incorporating local ingredients into shawarma. In the United States, to even be able to reference Mexico City, like one might with Paris, suggests a newfound (yes, foodie-driven) cultural fluency in this broad array of cuisines.
That culinary diversity also means that, beyond a specific set of dishes, “Mexico City-inspired” is a vibe, which many restaurants communicate through design. It’s what Gaz Herbert of Comal in New York refers to as “harnessing tradition and a mixed palette of modernism.” A Mexico City-inspired restaurant often involves handmade ceramics next to sleek blond wood, Art Deco neon splashed across subway tile or exposed brick, and muted shades of pinks and greens. Herbert teamed up with design firm La Metropolitana, which is responsible for internationally renowned CDMX restaurants like El Moro and Contramar. Comal even has the same custom-designed chairs as Contramar. “It’s a subtle reference,” Herbert says.
At Vecino, “Visually, we leaned into materials like raw concrete, brick, and wood to give it that textured, slightly industrial feel that’s so present in [Mexico City] neighborhoods like Roma and Juárez,” says Jimenez.
There’s a lot for chefs to love in all of this. Mexico City-inspired restaurants tend to lean cosmopolitan, meaning they often have a slightly higher price point than a taco truck or burrito counter. Many boast their own masa programs, or serve aguachiles and other raw bar items.
The diversity of CDMX cuisine also allows U.S. chefs to cook with the full breadth and technique found in Mexico, rather than limiting themselves to one regional palette. “I think chefs are drawn to the creative freedom [Mexico City cuisine] offers,” says Jimenez. “It’s a place where you can be deeply traditional and wildly experimental in the same kitchen, and both are equally respected.” Instead of breaking tradition, that is the tradition — one that diners are ever more comfortable with.
The appetite for all things CDMX shows no signs of stopping. Mexico City hotspots like Masala y Maíz are now popping up in the U.S., perhaps ushering in the next evolution of American Mexican cuisine.
“The time is right to explore restaurants and hospitality projects of this culture,” says Perez. “But I don’t see this as just a trend or a fad. I think the richness of our culture is so vast that I am surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”
