EXPLORE THE CITY
Morning
Fuel yourself for a morning on your feet at El Moro, the city’s most beloved churrería, or Mexican-doughnut shop. From the sidewalk viewing window, you can preview the treat to come as an automatic dispenser spools the batter into a vat of hot oil and a cook deftly shapes it into an enormous coil. Dip the fritters in foamy hot chocolate and resolve to walk it off later. From El Moro, it’s a 15-minute stroll to the Museo de Arte Popular, where the acclaimed collection of folk art includes baskets, death masks, the fantastical papier-mache sculptures known as alebrijes, elaborate clay “trees of life” used by missionaries to teach Bible stories, and a trove of astonishing miniature sculptures that you need a hand lens to view. Two hours here is barely enough.
Midday
Feed your fitness tracker with a 25-minute hike to the headquarters of the Secretaría de Educación Pública, home to three floors of Diego Rivera murals — 100plus panels painted between 1923 and 1928. Rivera sympathetically painted the life of everyday people, from miners and potters to rural teachers. His “Wall Street Banquet” (1928), with its table of fat cats and ticker tape, eerily presages the stock market crash. (View more Rivera murals in the nearby Palacio de Bellas Artes, an Art Deco theater where the Ballet Folklórico performs.) Claim your 2 p.m. reservation at Contramar, chef Gabriela Cámara’s wildly popular seafood restaurant. Order grilled octopus and pescado a la talla Contramar (pictured), a whole butterflied fish, its flesh slathered with chile sauce on one side and parsley sauce on the other. (Cámara recently opened Cala, a seafood establishment in San Francisco.)
Afternoon
Take Uber back to Condesa and pull out your copy of Jim Johnston’s “Mexico City: An Opinionated Guide for the Curious Traveler” ($13.95; iUniverse). Johnston’s annotated walking tours No. 9 (Parque México) and No. 10 (Avenida Amsterdam) explore the heart of Condesa and Roma, adjacent park-centered neighborhoods alive with dog walkers, cafes, gastropubs, galleries, Art Deco architecture and a weekly street market (pictured).
EVENING
The 5-year-old Limantour has reignited cocktail culture in the capital, with signature drinks and house-made ingredients like cactus bitters and passion fruit syrup. Ditch your Negroni habit and try an El Caminante, a Latin American interpretation with mezcal replacing gin. From Limantour, it’s a five-minute walk to Rosetta, chef Elena Reygadas’ Italian-inflected restaurant. This dreamy greenhouse of a dining room is a whimsical setting for Reygadas’ highly personal melding of Mexico and Italy. The juicy pork loin with a white mole that includes cauliflower and pine nuts, and the peanut ice cream with white chocolate mole reflect Reygadas’ modern vision. (Ask for a table on the ground floor.) If you skipped dinner, you’ll have time for salsa dancing at Mama Rumba. Join in if you dare, but nobody notices if you just perch on a barstool with a cold Negra Modelo and admire the adept couples on the dance floor. Cap the night at El Califa with textbook tacos al pastor. These “shepherd’s tacos” showcase chili-rubbed, spit-roasted pork shaved directly into freshly made tortillas.