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Puro Corazón
This new Zócalo option has heart-thumping views of the cathedral from its 6th-floor perch, as well as a less stodgy vibe than its hotel counterparts. They put a novel spin on home-grown ingredients like pulque (fermented maguey beverage) and flor de calabaza (squash blossoms). Watch the flag being raised as you dig into a huitlacoche omelet, or lowered while savoring a shrimp cocktail laced with tequila.
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Restaurante Chon
Pre-Hispanic fare is the specialty of this cantina-style restaurant. Sample maguey worms (in season), grasshoppers, wild boar, and other items that have gone from being customary fare on Mexican tables to gourmet delicacies. Fortino Rojas, Chon's adventurous chef, incorporates these primordial ingredients into dishes Moctezuma could never have imagined. How about deer meatballs in huitlacoche sauce, chrysanthemums filled with ant larvae, crocodile steaks laced with pumpkin seed sauce?
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Restaurante Dzib
This deceptively large dining hall must be the ultimate comida corrida joint, serving toothsome three-course lunches. Start with a hearty caldo de habas (bean soup), followed by a plate of rice or spaghetti, then choose from an extensive selection of mains, which change daily (Friday is seafood day). TVs showing the afternoon soap opera are conveniently placed at the front of each room.
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Saks
Sitting here on the terrace, bathed in sunshine with live music, a cosmopolitan clientele and a view through the leaves to the art stalls, you could be in Montmartre - except the food and weather here are arguably better. Choose from meatless specialties like poblano chilies stuffed with huitlacoche , Camembert soufflé, huge salads and squash-blossom crepes. The dining room is reminiscent of a monastery cellar, with its huge arched windows and vaulted ceilings but, thankfully, more cheerful given the good-humored staff and colorful art work on the walls.
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Sanborns
Although not quite as splendid as the Sanborns original located in the historic district, the interior here is still magnificent with ivy-twined classical columns, looming stained glass windows and a lofty vaulted ceiling. The food is, sadly, only average - aside from the breakfast, order the chilaquiles (crushed soft corn tortillas covered in a green chili sauce and topped with cheese).
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Supertacos Chupacabras
Named after the mythical 'goat sucker' (something like the Loch Ness monster), this mega taco stall has a new home beneath a freeway overpass, but true mavens should not be deterred. The beef and sausage tacos (with 'a secret ingredient of 127 spices') can be enhanced by availing yourself of the fried onions, nopales (prickly pear) and other tasty toppings that fill half a dozen huge clay casseroles in front.
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Taberna De León
Chef Monica Patiño is one of the new breed of female Mexican chefs who are stirring up traditional cuisine in the most delightful and innovative ways. This is her original restaurant and it remains the most popular, especially at weekends when it is packed out with elegant local families with their well-behaved (and fashionably dressed) children.
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Tacos De Canasta Chucho
These bite-sized tacos are filled with things like refried beans, chicharrón (fried pork skin) and mole (just the sauce), and arranged in a big basket. A couple of pails contain the garnishes: spicy guacamole and marinated carrot chunks and chilies.
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Tacos Xotepingo
With seating inside the big dining hall, on the sun-dappled patio or alongside the formidable grill, this taco temple makes a great pit-stop after shopping at the Ciudadela crafts market, opposite.
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Tamales Chiapanecos María Geraldine
At the passageway next to the arched wing of San Juan Bautista church, look for these incredible tamales by native chiapaneca doña María Geraldine. Wrapped in banana leaves, stuffed with ingredients like olives, prunes and almonds, and laced with sublime salsas, they're a meal in themselves.
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Taquería Hola
Mid-morning, local snackers crowd this friendly hole-in-the-wall for a stand-up chomp. Choose from a remarkable array of taco fillings, including sardines, green sausage, stuffed chilies and quelites (a seasonal green), all temptingly displayed in clay dishes. Tacos are served on two tortillas, the second to catch the overflow, and garnished on request with guacamole or crumbly white cheese.
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Taquería Los Paisás
There's always a crowd spilling out of this corner taco stand amidst the wholesale paper district east of the Zócalo, and that's reason enough to join them. Run by three goateed brothers, the place offers overstuffed steak, sausage and pastor tacos - or campechano, all mixed up. Help yourself from the heaving trays of garnishes: mashed potatoes, pico de gallo, cactus paddles and habanero -spiked onions, among others. As there's just one narrow steel table, most patrons have a stand-up chomp.
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Taquitos Frontera
One of a few late-night taquerías along Roma's main drag, this is a humble alternative with cheerful staff, a smoky open grill and leather tables and chairs. In addition to the main attraction, there are great sides like frijoles charros (cowboy beans) and cebollitas (grilled green onions).
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V Zona Rosa
This justifiably popular restaurant is fronted by a taco stand with freshly prepared fillings. Inside, the decor is of the Formica-style school with three TVs, efficient (elderly) service, a congenial English-speaking manager and a great-value three-course lunch menu. Enchiladas, tortas , soups, chicken chilaquiles and fresh fruit salads are a taster of what's on offer.
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Villa María
A large spread with an invariably celebratory atmosphere, the Villa María makes a good choice for that special meal a la mexicana . Original recipes like infladitas (mini quesadillas) and sopa capilla (with local cheese, squash flowers and corn) incorporate regional styles from around the Republic. Megamargaritas come in 10 flavors.
