Travel Reference
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7 Places to Eat in . . . Puebla, Mexico
Though it's Mexico's fourth-largest city, Puebla doesn't feel like a metropolis. The
Moorish Spanish flair of its colonial architecture has remained wonderfully intact,
and the local lifestyle is gracious, relaxed, and welcoming to visitors. But Puebla's
real ace in the hole—the thing you've probably come for—is the food: Among
Mexicans, it's revered as the cradle of Mexican cuisine, the original source of such
iconic spicy dishes as mole poblano sauce (a complex mix of ingredients including
cinnamon and chocolate), pipián (a similar sauce based on ground toasted squash
seeds), mixiotes (beef, pork, or lamb baked in red sauce), and chiles en nogada
(sweet meat-stuffed poblano chilies in walnut cream sauce, a summer-only treat).
Culinary skills seem genetically imprinted here; as Anthony Bourdain revealed in
Kitchen Confidential, thousands of Pueblans have moved north of the border (often
undocumented) to cook at fine-dining restaurants all over the United States. Despite
that exodus, however, the city's pool of skilled cooks shows no signs of depletion.
One of the classic places to sample Pueblan regional cuisine is at Fonda de
Santa Clara (Calle 3 Poniente 307; & 52/222/242-2659; www.fondadesantaclara.
com), just 1 1 2 blocks west of the zócalo, or central square. With its fiesta-like red-and-
blue furnishings and fluttering ceiling flags, it's a bit touristy, but there's no arguing
with the excellence of its robust mole dishes and chiles en nogada. Priding them-
selves on preserving the old ways, they also offer a number of intriguing seasonal
specialties—where else in the world can you try ant eggs or maguey fried worms? A
somewhat more refined place is the restaurant at Mesón Sacristía de la Compa-
ñia (6 Sur 304, Callejón de los Sapos; & 52/222/232-4513; www.mesones-sacristia.
Mesón Sacristía de la Compañia is a restaurant, hotel, and antiques shop.
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