It’s easy to find good food in Tepoztlán, Mexico, located just a couple of hours south of Mexico City on the highway to Acapulco. There is a generous variety of restaurants that cater to tourists and weekend visitors. Local fare centers around rolled pork, chicken, cheese, or vegetable tortilla sandwiches. Hot peppers are available if you like. Roast meat dishes and traditional Nahua-style meals are also plentiful, but pizza and burgers are in short supply. The local dishes are considerable, hearty and tasty. The streets in the central area of the city and the colorful and exotic market located behind the main square (also called the Zócalo), are packed with select places to dine on any budget. Here are a few to try to get started:
Xochipilli Vegetarian Restaurant located at Ave. Revolución No. 10
A beautifully decorated place with tempting meat-free specialties. It’s a bit on the “touristy” side, but the service is good and the menu is diverse enough to be a worthwhile stop on your agenda. Prices for local delicacies range from 20 pesos to around 50 pesos for more substantial fare.
Los Colorines Restaurant located at Tepozteco No. 13
A Tepoztlán landmark with its bright pink exterior that is hard to miss. It is decorated in a Mexican colonial style and has a menu of typical Mexican dishes. Blue corn tortillas are a specialty here and make their enchiladas interesting to look at and taste. Prices are moderate for most entrees, ranging from 30 to 50 pesos for most. If you are a chocolate lover try the “Pollo en salsa de mole” or chicken in mole sauce. Chocolate is an important ingredient in mole sauce. This dish is popular throughout central and southern Mexico as far as the Yucatan.
In the market
The most unique food in Tepoztlán can be tasted in the spacious Central Market located immediately behind the Zócalo (main square). In addition to the usual vegetable, meat and poultry stalls, there are family stalls serving dishes that you’ll have to see and taste to believe they’re hanging from one entrance to the other. The food in all of them looked good, but of the several tried, here are two that we would recommend to start with:
Mexican Antojitos Irma – Edith located in the Central Market of Tepoztlán:
You will hardly know where to start with the multitude of “Quesadillas” served here. These are hot tortilla sandwiches heated with your choice of ingredients, alone or combined, inside. They cost from 5 to 12 pesos each (:50 cents to $1.20 cents) and are simply wonderful. Fillings include cheese, zucchini blossom (it’s a bright red flower whose blossoms are cooked and eaten!), sausage potatoes, mushrooms, nopales (these are a type of cactus commonly known as nopal in the southwestern US), and nopales. USA), chicharrón (fried pork skin) and tinga – a mixture of shredded chicken, peppers and spices. The very dark looking tortillas are made with blue corn, a regional specialty of Mexico.
The tacos (forget Taco Bell forever) are served with thinly sliced fried beef, sour cream and spices and are called “Cecina Tacos”. If you don’t want yours, I’ll take them! How about washing it all down with an Ameyal tropical fruit soda? There’s kiwi, tamarind, Jamaica (a drink made from dried hibiscus flowers that’s popular in the West Indies), tangerine, and peach, called durazno in Spanish and considered an exotic fruit in Mexico.
Doña Lucia’s located in the Central Market of Tepoztlán:
Here you will be further hammered by flavors, aromas, images and sounds that will indelibly mark your senses. Start with Cecino de Yecappistla: blue corn totillas, thinly sliced fried beef, locally produced cheese and spices. Just the enticing aroma will drive you crazy. How about the triangular “Itacates”, a cake that is served as a kind of sandwich with melted cheese? Don’t leave without trying at least one “Flor de Chompancle” quesadilla, also called “Flor de Colorines” by some locals. Since you’re here, you can snack on some “Chapulines” (they are fried grasshoppers), they are offered for free. Don’t chicken out on us now! Proof. I absolutely guarantee you: you will never forget the experience.
A mystical place in its own right, Tepoztlán is home to dozens of artists, poets, writers, and mystics. There are also frequent sightings of UFOs (called OVNIS in Spanish) in the area. Several notable cathedrals grace the city. The most prominent of these is the Ex-Dominican Convent of the Nativity which also has a museum on the premises. The side streets are steep and tend to go up, especially to the west of the main square. The sheer, thousand-foot cliffs that border the city to the north are an astounding sight. But don’t just take our word for it. Come see for yourself.