4 Best Restaurants in Greater Mexico City, Mexico City

The swanky Santa Fe business district has plenty of good restaurants, but this buzzy spot serving inventive takes on regional Mexican cuisine is one of the few truly worth making the trip. Decorated with Mexican pottery and eye-catching artwork, the contemporary space is perfect for feasting on short rib tacos with spicy glazed grapes and an arugula-peanut salsa, grilled salmon with garlic-chile sauce and Oaxacan-style polenta-huitlacoche tamal, and other boldly flavored, creative fare.

Celebrated chef Edgar Nunez has developed a thoroughly ambitious approach to contemporary cuisine that uses both Mexican and international ingredients—consider seared tuna with jocoque, fennel, smoked grapefruit, and citrus butter, or sea scallops with coconut, purple onions, and rice vinegar. The gently modern space (a 10-minute drive south of San Ángel) merges indoors with outdoors and is one of the sexiest spots in town. The desserts are always fabulous.

Adjacent to a gorgeous 1947 Luis Barragán–designed house (Casa Pedegral), this dramatic space with plexiglass floors that reveal a volcanic-rock landscape beneath is a favorite destination of both foodies and architecture aficionados. The kitchen turns out fancy, organic fare from early morning until late at night, like gently scrambled eggs with escamoles (ant larvae) and salsa verde for breakfast, and artisan pizza or roasted octopus with squid ink, caramelized onions, and a pineapple puree at dinner. This is a great spot for lounging, with a bi-level library stocked with art and architecture books and a beautifully curated art and clothing boutique. Tours of Casa Pedegral can be arranged by appointment. If you're a fan of Barragán architecture, take a stroll around the neighborhood, especially along Avendia de los Fuentes, before or after your meal. You'll pass by a number of Barragán-designed or -influenced homes, mostly hidden behind walls, but these concrete-volcanic rock structures are interesting even just to look at.

The original Mexico City location of this empire of swanky restaurants founded by celebrity chef and proponent of modern Sonoran cuisine Alfonso Lira Valenzuela (there are additional outposts in the Mitikah tower mall near Coyoacán and in Santa Fe) occupies a spacious, high-ceiling space with verdant living walls in Lomas de Chapultepec. A fleet of solicitous servers works the room, carrying out plates piled high with slow-cooked pork belly, mixed octopus-shrimp-scallop grills, and rib-eye steaks—everything presented with great artistic flourish.