9 NYC Restaurants That Showcase Some of Mexico’s Best Regional Dishes
Natalia Mendez and Carolina Saavedra at La Morada
The local Mexican restaurant scene in New York City has seen rapid transformation in recent years: more regions of Mexico are represented than ever before and regional specialties—like aguachile (cured raw seafood) from Sinaloa and carnitas (slow-cooked meat, typically pork) from Michoacán—have become some of the City’s most sought-after foods.
The five boroughs came to be known by some locals as “Puebla York,” because, at the peak of Mexican migration to the City from 1980 to 2000, around three-quarters of its immigrants came from the Mexican state of Puebla. Over time, immigrants from the other 31 Mexican states have arrived in the City, allowing New Yorkers the opportunity to indulge in various regional cuisines that have already dominated the West Coast, while giving Mexicans in the City the chance to indulge in an authentic taste of home.
Today, it’s possible to find Oaxacan tlayudas, Sonoran-style tortillas and Pueblan chalupas. Of course, it helps to know where to look. This guide highlights some of the City’s best regional Mexican foods.
Baja California
Birria-Landia
133-33 39th Ave., inside the Tangram Mall, Flushing, Queens
Amsterdam Ave. and W. 70th St., Upper West Side, Manhattan
East Houston St. & Bowery, Lower East Side, Manhattan
491 Metropolitan Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn
77-05 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, Queens
2501 Grand Concourse, Fordham Manor, Bronx
The Birria-Landia team, Alexis Salvador Lopez, Ulises Jimenez, Bruno Medina Lopez and José Moreno, at the Upper West Side location
Chef José Moreno shows off tacos de birria
In 2019, chef José Moreno set off birria mania in New York City with his Birria-Landia food truck. Birria tacos—crunchy, filled with birria (tender marinated, slow-cooked beef) and usually served with a cup of consomé (flavorful brothy sauce) for dunking—originated in Tijuana, the largest city in Baja California, before spreading across the border. While the West Coast already had a booming birria scene, Moreno is credited with popularizing it in the City, receiving a prestigious two-star reviewfrom The New York Times’ Pete Wells. Today, you can head to any of the five food truck locations, or visit their newly-opened, first brick-and-mortar location at the Tangram Mall in Flushing, Queens. Order his birria folded into tacos, in a cup as consomé, balanced atop tostadas and sandwiched inside mulitas with cheese. Countless birria vendors have come along, but Birria-Landia is still the one to beat.
Chiapas
Casa Enrique
5-48 49th Ave., Long Island City, Queens
Chef Cosme Aguilar prepares pozole in Casa Enrique's kitchen
A bowl of Pozole de Mi Tía, based on a family recipe of Aguilar's
Casa Enrique was the first Mexican restaurant in New York to be awarded a Michelin star, which chef Cosme Aguilar credits as the impetus to his work being recognized and appreciated by his peers. Others have come along, but Aguilar was the first to do it with dishes inspired by his native Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. The New Yorker referred to his menu as a “memoir,” noting how important it was to Aguilar to present these traditional recipes, inspired by his late mother’s collection, in a fine-dining setting. The moderately priced menu has several specialties from the Chiapas region. There are pork ribs marinated in apple cider vinegar called cochinito Chiapaneco and a brick-red pozole with kernels of hominy. And while the mole de Piaxtla name-checks a town in Puebla, the 24-ingredient preparation is based on a family recipe. Be sure to check out Aguilar's newest restaurant as well, Quique Crudo, a Mexican seafood restaurant in the West Village.
Guerrero
La Espiga
42-11 102nd St., Corona, Queens
(From left) María Guadalupe Bautista, Enríquez García, Tomas González, Maeli Silva and Regina Martínez
Barbacoa, costillas en salsa verde, nachos and chile relleno
Chef Tomás Gonzalez grew up in Acapulco, a coastal town in the state of Guerrero best known for its seafood. But on weekends, barbacoa was the main event; it wasn’t uncommon for families to gather and drive to inland towns in search of this slow-cooked dish. Those traditions influenced the barbacoa at La Espiga, the restaurant that Gonzalez opened in 1992. This dish is available only on the weekends, along with their carnitas, and the restaurant is filled with families connecting and gathering after church or for special occasions as is the custom in Mexico, with a good number of diners also hailing from Guerrero. While the meat isn’t cooked in the ground, as is tradition in Guerrero, the chef found a workaround with sealed metal ovens and banana leaves. On weekends, his slow-cooked goat and lamb (sold by the pound) can be seen being prepared through the front window.
Mexico City
Taqueria Ramirez
94 Franklin St., Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Tania Apolinar and Giovanni Cervantes at Taqueria Ramirez
Tacos de suadero at Taqueria Ramirez
More than any New York restaurant, Taqueria Ramirez has been able to capture the sights and sounds of a Mexico City taqueria. The music is loud, the crowd spills out onto the trendy Greenpoint sidewalk, and the meats are hacked, sliced and, if you order the tripe, blowtorched to order. If Taqueria Ramirez were just a vibe, it would probably still have a line down the block, but it’s the high-quality, well-proportioned and authentic Mexico City–style tacos that draw New Yorkers from every corner of the five boroughs. Choose from crumbly longaniza sausage, strands of beef intestine and slabs of suadero, a house specialty of thin-sliced beef, before heading to the self-serve condiments bar for your onions and cilantro. These tacos are not available for take-out or delivery; they are very intentionally meant to be eaten fresh on the spot.
Michoacán
Carnitas Ramirez
210 E. 3rd St., East Village, Manhattan
Yvon de Tassigny, Kari Boden, Tania Apolinar and Giovanni Cervantes at Carnitas Ramirez
Tacos de carnitas surtidas at Carnitas Ramirez
Michoacán is known as the birthplace of carnitas, a style of braised and shredded pork. So, when Giovanni Cervantes was preparing to open Carnitas Ramirez, the sister location to Greenpoint’s Taqueria Ramirez, he studied underchefs in the southern Mexican state. “The maestros,” he calls them. While every chef has their approach to carnitas, sometimes adding Coca-Cola and beer, Cervantes sticks to salt, garlic and lard, allowing the natural flavors of ear, belly and snout to shine. Indeed, the selection of meats is more varied than at any other carnitas business in Manhattan, with options that include pig skin, brain and uterus. The small space is decorated in what The New York Times called “abuela-coded kitsch,” evoking the ambience of a lived-in home.
Oaxaca
La Morada
308 Willis Ave., Mott Haven, Bronx
Natalia Mendez and daughters Lila Saavedra and Carolina Saavedra
Mole Oaxaca con pollo on a traditional clay plate
Oaxaca is one of two Mexican states where mole is said to originate (the other is Puebla), and La Morada serves a comprehensive selection of sauces from the region. Grub Street named their mole poblano the best in New York City, just one of La Morada’s comprehensive selection of sauces from the region. Chef Natalia Méndez and her family prepare moles in a spectrum of colors—red, green, black and white—with flavors that are fine-tuned for different dishes. The mole blanco with coconut oil and habanero is ideal over chile relleno; the tart mole verde works as well atop chicken or steak as it does on pork ribs or shrimp. But this family-owned restaurant in the South Bronx is known for its mutual aid as much as its recognized for their mole. Chef Méndez, with her husband and business partner, Antonio Saavedra, as well as their children, has spent decades creating and participating in an intersectional network of mutual aid. La Morada itself doubles as a community center, offering assistance and meals to neighborhood locals.
Puebla
Chalupas Poblanas El Tlecuile
37-69 103rd St, Corona, Queens
Cleotilde Juarez Ramirez
Chalupas
The foods of Puebla—chiles en nogada, mole poblano—are well-represented on restaurant menus in New York. For something different, track down Chalupas Poblanas El Tlecuile. The food stand, open Friday through Sunday, specializes in fried chalupas that come stacked like pancakes on disposable plates. Chef Cleotilde Juarez Ramirez watches over the shallow metal pan, the comal, melting ladles of lard before adding corn tortillas, salsas and handfuls of onion and pork over a charcoal flame. Six chalupas come in a half order with the choice of red or green salsa, or both.
Sinaloa
Mariscos El Submarino
222 Franklin St., Greenpoint, Brooklyn
8805 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, Queens
Alonso Guzman and Amy Hernandez at Mariscos El Submarino
Tostadas, aguachile negro and ceviche El Submarino
Sinaloa, on Mexico’s western coast, is one of the country’s seafood capitals. And while several New York restaurants have devoted their menus to the region, none are as detailed or as celebrated as Mariscos El Submarino. The owners, Alonso Guzman and Amy Hernandez, opened in 2020 and almost instantly became the best place in town for ceviche, shrimp cocktail and seafood tostadas. TheNew York Times called their aguachile negro—a volcanic stone bowl of shrimp, onion and dark broth—“a cult object.”
Sonora
Son Del North
177 Orchard St., Lower East Side, Manhattan
26 Carmine St., West Village, Manhattan
Annisha Garcia stands outside Son del North
Son del North's carne asada burrito
The hot, arid climates of Sonora in northern Mexico are ideal for cultivating wheat, and it’s understood that the best flour tortillas come from this region. These thin, blistered tortillas are on display at fine-dining restaurants and pop-up businesses, but they have become an object of worship at Son Del North, a small burrito shop with no indoor seats. The chef, Annisha Garcia
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