Tag Archives: cdmx

The Resurgence of Classical Music in Mexico City

By Carole Reedy

Even before the pandemic, classical music, and especially the opera, appeared to be on the downslide in our grand cultural city. Over the years, music lovers had become accustomed to a solid season filled with operas, symphonies, and string quartets as well as individual appearances by world famous artists, such as Chinese pianist Lang Lang, Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča, home-grown tenor Javier Camerena, and even the queen of opera Maria Callas, the American-born Greek soprano, in the 1950s.

It is true that classical music venues in México do not receive adequate support and funding from the government. Neither is private support up to the level of other nations. For whatever reason, the scene was not the same as it had been in earlier years.

Then came the pandemic and everything shut down.

However, during those bleak pandemic years emerged a single figure, a young musician, to rescue the classical music scene. His enthusiasm, knowledge, foresight, diversity, and dedication to communicating with the public has changed the course of music for all of us.

Enter Iván López Reynoso
His name is Iván López Reynoso. In his early 30s in 2020, and after two years as assistant conducter of the Orquesta del Opera Bellas Artes at 18, López Reynoso was named Director Artístico de la Orquesta del Teatro Bellas Artes. From that time to the present, the roster at Bellas Artes has been chock full of opera and symphonic concerts, live and online. The maestro’s personal calendar is even more impressive.
López Reynoso was born in Guanajuato in 1990; after his parents, who were engineers, recognized his interest in music, he began to study violin, piano, and conducting from an early age. At 15, he studied at the Conservatorio de Las Rosas in Morelia, and from there he went to Mexico City..

He’s also a significant figure in the music world outside of Mexico, conducting in Oman, Spain, the US, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany, among other countries.


The first time I saw Maestro López was on a free Zoom session during the pandemic in which he analyzed Verdi’s opera Rigoletto by sitting at a piano for two hours, playing the score, singing many of the parts (he is an accomplished counter-tenor), all while explaining the opera to his attentive listeners. From that moment I knew he would be a significant figure in my life as well as for the future of opera in Mexico.

He states the philosophy of his career simply in an article from Forbes magazine: “I have as a mission and as a philosophy that every concert I direct, every note I sing or every chord I play, I have to play it as if it were the last chord in my life, as if it were the last concert I am going to conduct. That is, with the maximum dedication, the maximum effort, love and devotion possible.”

This is evident in every concert he conducts and every role he sings as a countertenor, his other talent.

Of significance to the listening public, López Reynoso communicates actively with his followers on social media (look for him on Facebook and Instagram), where he announces concerts, musical events, and venues, all with a very personal touch. When information is readily available, the music community responds with enthusiasm. Gracias Maestro for bringing the music to us!

Not only does the city have the ambition and talent of López Reynoso, but venues elsewhere here are opening once again for concerts.

And the Beat Goes On …

The Auditorio Nacional has opened its doors to the Metropolitan Opera of New York transmissions. Each season, the Auditorio presents ten of the Met’s operas, which provides a perfect sound system and a huge screen for viewing.

In addition, opera transmissions from the Royal Opera House in London will be presented once again at CCU (Centro Cultural Universitario). The popular Carmen, Il Travatore, Turandot, Cinderella, The Marriage of Figaro, and Sleeping Beauty will be among the operas shown on Sundays in May, June, and July 2023.

Sala Nezahualcóyotl also has a full schedule ahead with the Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM (OFUNAM), performing regularly in May and June

Soprano Elīna Garanča returned to Mexico in March at the magnificent Bellas Artes venue. And each week other musical events are adorning the main theater. Check the schedule online. I am happy to conclude this article with positive thoughts for the future of classical music in Mexico City!

The Diverse Faces of Mexico City: Architectural Gems

By Carole Reedy

Perhaps Mexico City’s greatest gift to tourists is diversity, represented in its people, food, culture, and architecture. No matter how often one visits, each trip presents an unexpected joy, whether it is a new restaurant, art exhibit, or a chance to delve into the architectural face of the city.

Here are some buildings for exploration during your next visit. For those of us who live here, as well as for visitors, a stroll through the various colonias (neighborhoods) of the city can offer hours of discovery into new worlds through architecture. A sampling of popular buildings that you may have overlooked, as well as some hidden gems, follows.

Diegos Rivera’s Museo Anahuacalli
Museo 150, San Pablo de Tepetlapa Coyoacán

After 13 years of living in Mexico’s multifaceted capital and many previous years of visits, I finally took advantage one Sunday afternoon to explore this highly respected museum.

You may think, as I did, of Diego Rivera as Mexico’s finest artist and muralist, but this misconception proves the short-sightedness of our vision. He has proven to be a distinguished architect in addition to his artistic aesthetic. In 1945, Rivera visualized and began building this unique museum and art center to house his personal collection. He collaborated with the Mexican architect Juan O’ Gorman. Unfortunately, the project depleted Rivera’s finances, and was not finished until 1964. Rivera had died in 1957, but O’Gorman worked with other Mexican architects, including Heriberto Pegalson and Rivera’s daughter Ruth, to complete the main exhibition building and four secondary structures by 1964.

The name Anahuacalli is Nahuatl for “house surrounded by water.” The museum is made of lava rock produced from the eruption of Xitle in the southern part of Mexico City around 245-315 AD. It houses Diego Rivera’s collection and obsession: Pre-Columbian art and artifacts. There are over 2000 pieces of his collection (of almost 40,000) on permanent display in the museum. His first wife claimed that Diego was always exploring, always with his eyes on the ground in order to discover new finds.

On the second floor of the museum, 16 sketches of his famous murals are on display. In addition, the entire property is dedicated to artistic and cultural pursuits, such as a dance studio, a library, workshops, and lots of space for ecological enjoyment. The Museo Anahuacalli was expanded in 2021 with the addition of three new spaces – a central storage facility for museum holdings and two additional multipurpose buildings designed by modernist architecture firm Taller Mauricio Rocha.

The Museums of Chapultepec Park
Paseo de la Reforma

Chapultepec Park, a work of art itself, is not just a relaxing and enjoyable place to spend a day; it is filled with culture provided by the several museums that are scattered along Reforma Avenue.

Museo de Antropología: Perhaps the most popular cultural center in Mexico, the museum is divided into 22 salas, each with concentration on the different eras of culture, such as that of Oaxaca, the Aztecs, the Maya, Toltecs, etc. You need days to see the entire museum, so don’t make the mistake of trying to do it in one afternoon. I suggest doing one section at a time!

The large fountain in the entrance adds a relaxing background to the busy environment inside each area.

Museo del Arte Moderno: This is one of my favorite museums in the city. There are only four main rooms for exhibitions, but they provide ample space for viewing. A sculpture garden behind the museum provides a relaxing rest area. Some of the best exhibitions in the world have been housed here.

Museo Tamayo: Recent renovations and a variety of contemporary art make this a must on everyone’s list. Artist Rufino Tamayo, the museum’s founder (along with Diego Rivera, José Orozco, and David Siqueiros), brought the 20th-century muralist movement to the art world’s attention. Tamayo’s distinct pre-Hispanic style is evident in all his works.

The museum houses exhibitions of varying styles as well as Tamayo’s own works.

The famous Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama had an exhibition here several years ago that stunned the city. The museum kept its doors open 24 hours a day the last few weeks of the show due to the increasing demand for tickets. The only other occurrence of such an insatiable ticket demand was for a Pablo Picasso exhibition at the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes.

Castillo de Chapultepec: Chapultepec Castle overlooks the entire city, nestled atop the park in all its glory. The castle’s history starts in 1530 when Charles I of Spain began appropriating the properties from the Aztecs.

Over the past 500 years, various changes have taken place, but one of the most memorable is during the 19th century when the Emperor Maximillian and his wife Carlotta lived in the castle for his short reign (1863-1867) until Mexicans, tired of foreign interference, executed the monarch. You can view the many rooms Maximillian and Carlotta occupied and used for daily living. In the past, the castle also has been a military academy and a presidential home.

The Castle also hosts lovely gardens and the National Museum of History (the latter since 1941), offering visitors the opportunity to reflect on Mexico’s often violent, yet ever-changing, history.

You will want to have your camera ready, not just for the beauty of the castle but for the panoramic views of the entire city, as well as the statues of the Niños Heroes. And don’t miss the stained glass windows of the goddesses on the second floor of the garden area.

Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes
Centro Histórico, Avenidas Juárez and Lázaro Cárdenas

I can’t pass up an opportunity to mention my favorite building in the city, and perhaps the world. No matter the number of times I have visited this architectural wonder, my heart literally skips a beat each time I stroll down Avenida Juárez from Paseo de la Reforma to see the Art Nouveau and Neoclassical exterior in its majestic glory at the end of the Alameda (centro historico’s famous park).

The building itself is made of Italian marble. Construction started in 1904 but was delayed due to the Mexican Revolution of 1910, as well as social and economic problems. It was completed in the 1930s.

The Art Deco interior houses murals by Mexican artists Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, and David Siqueiros. Yearly, many temporary art exhibits occupy the four stories. There is an architecture museum on the top floor.

Concerts and operas are staged in the lovely main theater, as well as in intimate side salas. As in the city as a whole, prices for the entertainment are reasonable and affordable, even in these days of inflation. All museums in the city offer free admission to everyone on Sundays.

Mitikah Mall
Rio Churubusco 601, Xoco

The complex, created by Pelli Clarke & Partners, a U.S. firm that works internationally, contains the tallest building in Mexico City, a brand-new skyscraper that tops off at 267 meters (about 875 feet). It was inaugurated in September of 2022. Residents of the building will enjoy the spa and pool, area for children and entertainment, as well as ample parking facilities.

The commercial complex, with its five levels of popular shops, is built “to create a sense of connection, linking diverse spaces where people can gather to socialize, be entertained, relax, and enjoy a variety of cuisine. Guided by Mexico’s lively color palette, and visual themes from indigenous architectural and textile traditions, we wove color and form with function to create pedestrian-friendly plazas and avenues, joining commercial-retail spaces to residential and office towers. Patterns and colors inspired by Aztec culture appear and reappear, flowing along concrete walkways and retail facades.”

The center itself has suffered a backlash from local residents. They have cited, beyond traffic-flow problems, the extreme usage of water for a building complex of such proportion.

If you are not too tired after a visit to the center and a bit of shopping, you easily can make your way to the charming Centro of neighboring Coyoacán.

Museo Soumaya
Telcel Plaza Carso
Polanco/Granada

One can’t discuss the architecture of the buildings in CDMX (Ciudad of Mexico: the city is no longer referred to as DF or Distrito Federal) without a mention of the spectacular Museo Soumaya in Plaza Carso. It was created and funded by by Carlos Slim Helú, astute businessman of Mexico City and owner of communications companies Telmex and Telcel. The purpose of the museum is to share the collection of the Carlos Slim Foundation. It is a homage to his late wife Soumaya Domit, who died in 1999. The doors to the museum opened in March 2011. (The original Museo Soumaya is located in Plaza Loreto, opened in 1994, has five permanent and two temporary galleries, and frequently collaborates with Museo Soumaya in Plaza Carso. The museum shares Plaza Loreto with a shopping center located in a restored historic site, some of which dates to the 16th century, and is worth a visit in itself.)

Mexican architect Fernando Romero, Slim’s son-in-law, designed Museo Soumaya in Plaza Carso. The building’s six stories are connected with a unique spiral staircase. The exterior, which is covered by 16,000 aluminum hexagons covering 17,000 square meters, is unique to the city.

Inside you will find art to suit your taste. From Dalí to Van Gogh and Monet to Rodin, the museum contains art from many centuries and countries, with an emphasis on Art from Europe and the Americas. The Chinese ivory collection, however, is one of the areas that stands out in my memory.

The museum is open 365 days of the year and is free to everyone, every day. We are thankful to Slim and his Foundation for this generous gift to the city and the world.

This has been just a smattering of the hundreds of architectural wonders of this most famous megalopolis. Enjoy the entire city over several visits; we have almost perfect weather conditions all year long!

Mexico’s Lost Hope for Sustainable, Low-Income Housing

By Kary Vannice

In 2018, the National Institute of Housing for Workers of Mexico (Instituto del Fondo Nacional de la Vivienda para los Trabajadores, known as INFONAVIT) contracted 32 architects and architecture studios to innovate sustainable, low-cost home designs capable of improving the quality of housing and the living conditions of low-income workers throughout Mexico.

INFONAVIT and Sustainable Housing

Although never officially stated, some say this was in response to the devastating earthquakes in 2017 that did extensive damage in Mexico City, Oaxaca, and Chiapas. It is speculated that INFONAVIT was searching for a better, safer, more sustainable way to house low-income families. The idea was to investigate several different designs to find the perfect combination of safety, economy, and sustainability to take into the future.

The Housing Research and Practical Experimentation Laboratory

The remarkable thing about these contracts was that INFONAVIT set aside a large plot of land in the city of Apan in the state of Hidalgo to create the Housing Research and Practical Experimentation Laboratory where they could test and showcase the designs. It became an experimental community where each of the 32 structures was built, evaluated, and validated to be integrated into INFONAVIT’s nationwide housing development plan. All 32 modern, pioneering designs were built side-by-side to perfection, complete with sustainable furnishings also commissioned from top Mexican design firms, essentially creating a sustainable architect’s version of Disneyland.

Each design had to reflect modern social housing and promote a better quality of life for its inhabitants. The objective was to use sustainable

construction materials while also incorporating rainwater harvesting techniques, black and grey water treatment, and renewable energy sources. In addition, designers were tasked to use endemic vegetation surrounding the home and include a community garden, all while keeping the cost at or around the same as INFONAVIT’s traditional low-income housing.

Each architect was asked to use the above principles to create a suitable residence for one of the nine climatic zones found in Mexico. The result would then yield several designs that could be implemented in each area of the country. So, while some architects focused on building materials that withstand climates with high humidity, others drafted designs that combat intense heat and considerable temperature swings like those found in desert environments.

Designers also had to consider that homeowners would eventually need to make home repairs, so local, low-cost, easy-to-source materials were a must. And each model home also had to hold the potential for growth, either by simple repetition of the design or by strategies of extension or addition.

All of these criteria made for a wide range of designs that, after they were constructed, could be visited and toured within the experimental village. Visitors to the site could walk through homes and look up at the brick barrel-vaulted ceilings, touch the silky finish of clay brick walls, and even sit comfortably in the sustainably designed furniture commissioned as part of the project.

The design studio Esrawe Studio was contracted to develop sustainable, low-cost, easy-to-make furniture to decorate the houses. Esrawe Studio produced several collections to match the aesthetic of the home’s design. One collection was made from simple solid wood frames using natural fabrics woven to create platforms for mattresses and seating areas for chairs and couches. A second collection used tubular metallic frames and wooden plywood surfaces for a “clean line” look to match the surrounding architecture.

Each home also featured the architect’s blueprints on the walls of the show home, so visitors could see their original vision and read about the different building materials and techniques used in the construction.

The Demise of the Laboratory

The Housing Research and Practical Experimentation Laboratory was revolutionary in 2018 and it was implemented beautifully. The 32 residences were built alongside a welcome center that provided a permanent display of low-cost housing possibilities throughout Mexico. Sadly, however, it’s no longer possible to visit the site. Despite the initial good intentions and promise for a safer, more sustainable future, the initiative has been completely abandoned only four years after its inauguration.

By February 2023, INFONAVIT Director General Carlos Martínez Velásquez determined that, at this point, a total rehabilitation of the Housing Laboratory would be required to continue the project. Martínez Velásquez’s attention has been refocused on improving credit for low-income people to purchase INFONAVIT apartments.

Even more sadly, it seems that none of the 32 designs were ever implemented by the housing commission, and only a few architects have made their original designs available to the public. So, despite the good intentions, considerable resources and future promises the Housing Laboratory was founded on, it now simply serves as a run-down reminder of how quickly government officials can forget the suffering of others, at least until the next major earthquake or natural disaster. INFONAVIT’s current solution is to donate all the prototype houses, as well as the infrastructure and land that support the housing, to a local organization that works to protect women and children who have been subjected to domestic violence.

The Mexican Houses of Luis Barragán

By Deborah Van Hoewyk

At any given point in its 5,000-year history, Mexican architecture represents a chronicle of cultural change. From ancient Mesoamerican ruins and Spanish colonial buildings, followed by Spanish and French styles (mostly reflections of European Baroque and Neoclassical), through a series of modernist/brutalist approaches that work to incorporate Mexican themes and traditions, Mexican architecture has reflected external influences and tried to integrate them with native themes. These styles are all represented by well-known public buildings, many in Mexico City – think the Metropolitan Cathedral (1813), the Palacio de Bellas Artes (1934), the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadeloupe (1976), and the Museo Soumaya in Plaza Carso (2011).

Mexican Modernity, Mexican Houses

It is the Mexican house, however, that created a true Mexican modernism that synthesizes international modernist influences with Mexican architectural traditions. And the architect (and engineer) who accomplished this synthesis was Luis Ramiro Barragán Morfín (1902-88), largely through the houses he designed in the 1950s and 1960s. Barragán is the only Mexican to have won the prestigious Pritzker Prize, often referred to as the “Nobel prize of architecture.”

Born in Guadalajara, Barragán graduated from the Escuela Libre de Ingenieros de Guadalajara in 1923. He would complete coursework elsewhere that qualified him as an architect as well. Two years later, and again in 1931, he toured western Europe, where his observations led him to see landscape as integral to architecture. He also met modernist European architects, saliently Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, the Swiss-French architect known as Le Corbusier, from whom Barragán learned to appreciate clean, simple lines; open, sculptural spaces; deftly handled color and light; and gradually, a softening of the mechanical relationship between the architecture and its purpose.

According to Andrés Casillas, who worked with Barragán, the “rules” of the Modernist movement had a functionalist tendency to make the house “a machine for living,” and Barragán had moved on to a more “emotional architecture.” Barragán claimed that “any work of architecture which does not express serenity is a mistake.” Furthermore, Barragán felt that “In alarming proportions, the following words have disappeared from architectural publications: beauty, inspiration, magic, sorcery, enchantment, and also serenity, mystery, silence, privacy, astonishment. All of these have found a loving home in my soul.”

The Houses of Barragán’s Soul

Barragán is usually referred to as a modernist, and his buildings do use clean lines and raw, natural, and simple materials. What sets his houses apart, however, is the use of color and light, along with a surprising use of space – both interior and exterior – to create a flowing, connected, or self-contained spatial composition.

Casa-Jardin Ortega, Tacubaya, CDMX, 1942: Tacubaya is an old working-class neighborhood in CDMX; Barragán bought several lots there and built this house as his own. He lived there from 1942 to 1947, when he sold the house to a silversmith named Alfredo Ortega to raise money for another landscape project. Barragán started with the jardin (garden) part with a wandering multi-level garden, but the casa (house) gradually emerged in the form of a large, T-shaped house. While little-visited today, the Casa-Jardin Ortega is considered the first of Barragán’s mature works, and a primary example of his ideas about uniting the setting with the house. About Casa-Jardin Ortega, Barragán said, “In 1941, I created my first garden in Mexico City. I acquired a piece of land with various slopes, complemented and leveled various platforms to create a garden in compartments, recalling the beauty of the patios and gardens of the Alhambra and the Generalife [palaces Barragán had visited in Granada, Spain].”

Casa-Estudio Luis Barragán, Tacubaya, CDMX, 1948: Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, Barragán’s studio is considered a remarkable regional adaptation of the international modern movement in architecture, achieved through Barragán’s integration of modernist design with traditional Mexican vernacular architecture. The casa-estudio has three stories and a private garden.

According to UNESCO, the house and studio “represent a masterpiece of the new developments in the Modern Movement, integrating traditional, philosophical and artistic currents into a new synthesis.” Of specific importance are “the profound dialogue between light and constructed space and the way in which colour is substantial to form and materials.”

Cuadra San Cristóbal, Egerstrom House in the Los Clubes subdivision northeast of CDMX, 1968: Accomplished in collaboration with his colleague Andrés Casillas, Cuadra San Cristóbal is perhaps Barragán’s best-known work. Formerly rural agricultural land, Los Clubes offered the architects the opportunity to echo the ranches the subdivision replaced. Cuadra San Cristóbal features a huge swimming pool (sometimes used to cool the horses), an architecturally integrated fountain (Fuente de las Amantes, or Lover’s Fountain), stables, gardens, plus a large house defined by a typical Barragán palette of pinks, purples, other bright accent colors grounded with earth-toned elements.

Casa Gilardi, San Miguel Chapultepec, CDMX, 1977: Casa Gilardi is Barragán’s last house, designed as a “bachelor pad” for two friends who ran an advertising agency; it is now occupied by the family of one of the friends. The commission had two requirements. First, the house had to surround an old jacaranda tree in the center of the lot, and second, there had to be a large indoor pool. In somewhat of a departure from his other houses, Casa Gilardi works to preserve the privacy of its residents, rather than allowing spaces to flow together; on the other hand, Casa Gilardi may be the epitome of Barragán’s use of color to define the architecture.

Five Women: Mexico City’s Star Chefs

By Carole Reedy

The streets of Mexico City overflow not just with people and cars but also with culture, art, science, and nature. There seem to be no limits. Growth is a near-constant, but the citizenry knows how to adapt to the colorful chaos, making this one of the most beloved cites in the world.

In this megalopolis, the choices for food, drink, restaurants, markets, street snacks, taco stands, and cafes, as well as their diversity of style, are staggering. And amidst this richness, numerous women chefs have made their mark, creating cuisines and venues worthy of their big-city status.

The food scene here supports so many women who shine brightly that it’s impossible to name them all. The choices here are subjective, based purely on my experiences and those of my visitors.

One positive result of the Covid pandemic is the presence of more street dining in our cities. The Mexican government has allowed restaurants to build fashionable wooden structures on streets, sidewalks, curbs, and parking areas, making dining a more social experience, and certainly a better ventilated one. Add the near-perfect climate of Mexico City and you can dine al fresco most days and evenings.

Now, let’s take a closer look at some of our top women chefs:

ELENA REYGADAS is the award-winning chef (Veuve Clicquot named her the Best Latin American Female Chef in 2014) at Rosetta, a delectable eatery on Colima street in the heart of trendy Roma Norte. New and repeat customers appreciate not only the high quality of the food and Mexican ingredients, but also her innovative presentation, which sidesteps unnecessary cleverness. This is the first stop for many of my visitors, a favorite dish being the sea bass, though any selection is delicately prepared with just the perfect balance of flavors.

Rosetta is open Monday-Saturday, 1 to 5:30 pm and 6:30 to 11:15pm. Reservations strongly suggested, especially in the evening hours.

Just across the street is Reygadas’ casual Panadería Rosetta, known for its exceptional bread and pastries, as well as sandwiches. The traditional pan de muerto and rosca de reyes are to die for, although only offered during their respective Mexican holiday celebrations. You can eat on site or take out. The outdoor area is perfect for people watching.
Panadería Rosetta is open Monday-Saturday 7 am to 8 pm, Sunday 7:30 am to 6 pm.

Ten years after the she opened Rosetta in 2010, Reygadas opened yet another successful eatery in neighboring Condesa, this time with a new European /Mexican/ Mediterranean concept. Lardo is a bit more casual than Rosetta, with a bar encircling the room, but the food still has the finest of flavors. Lardo’s excellent breakfast is a good choice.

An interesting note about Reygadas for readers of The Eye’s regular book review column: she studied English literature at UNAM, where she wrote her thesis on Virgina Woolf’s experimental novel The Waves.

MÓNICA PATIÑO is a recognizable name among all foodies in the city. She’s won numerous awards and, like Reygadas, two of her most famous and best restaurants are the formal Casa Virginia in Roma Norte and a more casual place next door, Delirio.

Casa Virginia has a fine dining atmosphere, with prices to reflect it. With an ample variety of choices, the French cuisine is delicately prepared and deliciously presented. From figs and Gorgonzola cheese to clams, fish, short ribs, and the classic French onion soup, the food encourages repeat visits.

Casa Virginia is open 1:30 to 11 pm Tuesday-Saturday, and only until 6 pm Sundays. Closed Mondays.

Delirio is a delicatessen with a few outdoor tables on busy Calle Alvaro Obregon (indoor seating is also available). Patiño also sells many of her delicacies at this location, both grocery items and freshly prepared foods. Chilaquiles are a particular favorite, as are the juices. I often stop in just for takeout.

Delirio is open Monday-Saturday 8 am to 10 pm, Sunday 9 am to 7pm.

Early in her life Patiño wanted to learn English and French and moved to Europe to do just that. She studied cooking in France, with an emphasis on pastries, ice creams, and pates.

MARTHA ORTIZ. Let’s travel from Condesa and Roma to Polanco, another upscale neighborhood, close to Chapultepec Park. Here Martha Ortiz Chapa runs her famous restaurant Dulce Patria (Sweet Homeland).

When asked what she recommends to tourists who come to her restaurant looking for Mexican flavors, Ortiz replies:

“Everything we have on the menu. Our menu is small but articulates Mexican stories through marinades, moles, corn and beans. I feel proud of everything we have from a nationalist guacamole to María goes to the flower shop, the place’s flagship dessert, and whatever you experience. What they ask for the most is the duck with mole and the coconut flan with pineapple a la vainilla for dessert.”

CARMEN RAMÍREZ DEGOLLADO created El Bajio restaurant with her husband in 1972, and has carried on the tradition since his death in 1988, expanding from one to 19 locations in the city.

This is one of my favorite places to entertain guests, and I usually do so in the venue at 222 Reforma. The restaurant is colorfully decorated in the purest Mexican style, and the food reflects the vast traditions of Mexico.

My favorite and probably the most popular dish is the carnitas, delicate pieces of pork butt served on fresh hot tortillas. You can ask for it maciza, which means with less fat, just solid meat. Mexican breakfasts, such as huevos rancheros, are also a treat. Please don’t miss the hot chocolate!

GABRIELA CÁMERA. In 1988, this restaurant owner and author opened a seafood restaurant called Contramar that has generated buzz on the streets of Roma Norte ever since. This is one of the most popular restaurants in the city. Try the soft-shell crabs or spicy fish tacos in the airy dining room and plant-filled patio.

Cámera published My Mexico City Kitchen in 2019, the same year she and her staff were the subject of the Netflix documentary A Tale of Two Kitchens and Time Magazine listed her as one of its most influential people.

This modest list of women-led restaurants represents just the tip of the iceberg, but a good place to start your Mexico City food frenzy.

Better Than Ever: Mexico City Restaurant Revival in Full Swing

By Carole Reedy

Mexico City restaurants are ready for your visit! As everywhere, the economy suffered terribly during the pandemic, but tourism recovery is looking up. Our huge advantage, of course, is the weather, which is ideal year-round. Sure, there are some hot spring days and cooler temps in December and January, but outdoor dining is a possibility here in any season.

The government has supported restaurants by allowing owners to block off one street lane next to the curbs for tables, as well as giving permission to use considerably more sidewalk for tables. Attractive wood and glass structures protect customers from traffic and wind, giving customers the feel of dining in a European café.

The city is sparkling!

First thing on my agenda post-pandemic was to re-discover my favorite eateries to see how they survived. Here, a variety of my favorite places to enjoy good food in the Roma, Condesa, and Cuauhtémoc neighborhoods. All provide outdoor and indoor dining, but the outdoor dining provides the safest and most pleasurable social experience.

MEZZO MEZZO, Cuauhtémoc, Río Neva 30
To me, Mezzo Mezzo is synonymous with “Gypsy Pizza.” At first the combination of flavors did not attract me, but a friend convinced me to try it. Now I’m a fan and never order anything else at this cozy bistro. The pizza has a subtle, or rather not so subtle, melange of figs and Brie on a crisp light pizza crust. Give it a try!

The locale is a small venue with tables on the street. The wine selection has improved, and the service is as attentive as ever. Busy hours are between 2 and 4 pm. Happily, the restaurant is open from 1 pm to midnight every day of the week, as are most of the restaurants on this list, an important feature for visitors to the city.

EL AUTÉNTICO MANILA PATO, Locations in Polanco (Virgilio 25), Condesa (Culiacan 91), and Roma Norte (Colima 159)
This highly popular eatery specializes in Pekín duck tacos, served with corn or flour tortillas or as a torta, with won tons and spring rolls as side dishes. And that is the entire menu!

Healer, historian, and taco-maker Edgardo Ganada Kim and Adrian Segura founded the venue in 2014. They combined the Mexican taco and Chinese side dishes to create textures and flavors to which you’ll return frequently. Plum and oyster sauces enhance the flavors of both the rolls and tacos. None of my visitors has ever been disappointed, and those of us who live nearby are on regular repeat.

Beer, water and soft drinks are the only beverages served.
Hours are daily noon until 10 pm.

SAN GIORGIO, Roma Sur, Anahuac 38
Italian natives give this pizzería five stars as the most authentic Italian Napolitana pizza in the city. The ingredients are fresh, and the variety of pizza choices ample. The tomato sauce has that special flavor that only the Italians deliver, and the mozzarella cheese is created for the venue. There are also big, fresh salads, as well as traditional lasagna al ragú. Spinach and ricotta cannelloni completes the pasta menu. Chicken, pork, and salmon entrees are also available.

The street corner ambiance on Anahuac and Tehuantepec in Roma Sur is exhilarating. The waitstaff especially gives warm Italian greetings and service.

The restaurant provides takeout and delivery, their life-saver during the two years of lockdown. Now, they are open every day 1 pm to 11 pm, except Sundays, when they open at 2 pm.

MALLORCA, Paseo de Reforma 365, at the corner of Río Guadalquivir
This Spanish restaurant will satisfy your need for flavors from the Iberian peninsula. Serrano ham in abundance, as well as Spanish omelets and tapas-type breads adorn the breakfast menu. The chocolate croissant is a must! Comida selections include paella, risotto, salads, and meats and cheeses. There is a large wine selection.

The real emphasis here, however, is on the pastries. Inside there’s a separate pastelería with enough chocolate and cream-filled treats to satisfy any sweet-lover. Cakes, tarts, and candies of the highest quality fill the space.

Hours vary day to day, but basically, they are open 8 am to 9 pm.

LARDO, Condesa, Agustín Melgar 6
This is a favorite breakfast place, very busy from 9:30 am till 11 am. Once I take my guests there, they have a tendency to return for all their breakfasts!

Each dish has a special presentation. The combination of flavors, spices, and ingredients used for standard dishes is unique. The entire menu is also eclectic. For your comida, try the octopus with red curry or the squid, black rice, and ginger. There are fish items, such as huachinango (red snapper) and couscous, as well as lamb kabobs and risotto croquettes.

An outdoor area has been added to two sides of the restaurant, enlarging by half the number of clients the restaurant can accommodate. It is a spacious area that is as charming as any Parisian street.

Open daily 8 am to 10 pm.

TAAK-CAL, Roma Sur, Anahuac 36
This new-to-the-neighborhood “kitchen bar,” as it is called, opened right at the beginning of the pandemic. They managed to hang on and now are in full swing. From land to sea, the menu varies from tacos and salmon filet to shrimp, fish, soups, and vegetarian choices. My favorites are the arrachera (marinated skirt steak) tacos and the salmon pistache.

It’s a charming setting, often with a guitarist or other music, and its ambiance certainly brightens the street, with San Giorgio right next door.
Open daily 1 pm to 11pm.

Wherever you dine you’ll see smiles on the faces around you, elated to return to this most desirable existence.

A Muffled Cry for Independence

By Kary Vannice

Several years ago, at midnight on September 15th, I stood misty eyed in the zócalo of San Miguel de Allende as thousands of Mexicans reenacted “el Grito,” the cry for independence that occurred in Dolores de Hidalgo in 1810, just 40 kilometers from where I stood. This famous “call to arms” to rise up against Spanish rule is acted out in cities and towns all across Mexico annually.

And this was exactly what brought tears to my eyes, the effect of thousands of Mexicans joyously singing their national anthem. I had never before felt that kind of national pride. My countrymen have long since turned their Independence Day into a commercial affair and an excuse to party with pyrotechnics. It has lost its meaning to capitalism and the almighty dollar. In all my years, never once have I experienced Americans singing the Star Spangled Banner in unison on the Fourth of July.

This year, once again, I found myself in San Miguel de Allende on el Día de la Independencia. But this year, because of COVID-19, it was a very different scene here, and all over Mexico. The town square was blocked off and police were posted at all the entrances. No one would be portraying “el Grito” in a public venue in 2020.

In Mexico City, where last year’s presidential address was nearly drowned out by more than 130,000 red, white and green clad revelers, the president’s words hollowly echoed off the facades of the Metropolitan Cathedral and surrounding buildings with only the local riot police there to hear them. Everyone else was watching the address from their televisions, safely at home.

Perhaps this is the highest demonstration of national pride, to put aside one’s own individual desire to take to the streets and celebrate en masse and instead stay home to protect others from a deadly virus that has yet to be fully understood or controlled.

For the safety of all, Mexicans did not come together by the thousands to celebrate their patriotism, but instead opted for a muffled “grito” from behind a cubreboca (face mask) in small groups or family gatherings, demonstrating that independence is not so much an individual ideal, but a collective one here in Mexico, more of an “it takes a village” approach than one of personal liberties.

Unlike its neighbor to the north, where individuals are being encouraged to gather in large public venues, with no measures of safety or control, to support the current administration’s bid to maintain office, Mexican officials are encouraging and enforcing social distancing and safety protocols to diminish the spread of COVID-19. And given the current state of affairs, it is essential that the public comply for the sake of the collective.

As of Independence Day, a reported 71,049 Mexicans had died of COVID-19. On September 24, just over a week later, that number passed 75,000,out of 710,000 confirmed cases. Yes, that’s a 10% death rate, the third highest in the world, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center, despite the restrictions on large public gatherings.

The 10% death rate, coupled with Mexico’s being in the top ten countries with the most reported cases, makes it the 12th deadliest country in the world where COVID-19 is concerned, as reported by CNN Health (Sept. 24).

Why is Mexico suffering so much? There is much speculation, and some would say absolute quantifiable proof, to answer that question. On September 3, Forbes published an article by a Latin American-focused political analyst, Nathaniel Parish Flannery, who wrote “In Mexico, Covid-19 patients are dying because public hospitals are failing to save them. … According to Mexico’s publicly available epidemiological oversight database, only 20% of the country’s Covid-19 patients who died were intubated. An astounding 51,924 Covid-19 patients never received ventilator treatment before they died.”

He goes on to say, “the official death toll in Mexico is only a fraction of the real total. Tens of thousands of patients in Mexico never seek help, never get tested, and go unaccounted for.”

Flannery points the finger at the current administration for failing to manage the pandemic and for not focusing sufficient energy and resources on saving citizens’ lives.

There are few who would argue that numerous positive cases and deaths go unreported as millions of people in rural areas have little access to testing or adequate treatment if infected. It is likely that the true death toll will never be known.

Where does this leave the Mexican people? Well, quite frankly, bearing the brunt of responsibility to slow the spread of the virus themselves – which most are taking on willingly, as there were virtually no reports of any backlash to Independence Day celebrations being cancelled and the majority of Mexicans continue to wear facemasks in stores, on the street and especially in crowded areas.

If the government is indeed doing little more than handing down rules and regulations for the public to follow in an effort to stem the increasing death toll, individuals are left to shore up the public safety void by setting individual freedoms aside in deference to the survival of el pueblo.

It seems the “it takes a village” approach to overcoming COVID-19 may be Mexico’s best hope of celebrating el Grito in the town square next year and for years to come.

How the Jacaranda and Blue Hanami Came to Mexico – and the Japanese Paisajista Who Made It Happen

By Deborah Van Hoewyk

It was an accident, my obsession with the oh-so-blue jacaranda (pronounced hah-kah-RAHN-dah) tree. In February 1997, on a trip to Oaxaca City to run a session for a university conference, I thought, “I got this far, why don’t I just stay and go to the beach? I see this place called ‘Huatulco’ that’s only half an inch away on the Lonely Planet map.” Fortunately, others offered up Monte Alban as an after-conference activity (little did I know how very l-o-o-o-ng and difficult that half an inch would be – Huatulco had to wait until 2004).

So off we went to Monte Alban, which is probably the last time I climbed to the top of an ancient Mexican pyramid. And from there, I saw them. I saw blue-blossomed trees.

There are a few other trees with blue blossoms, and there are supposed to be about fifty kinds of jacarandas, but there is nothing like Jacaranda mimosifolia. They are native to a belt across South America that includes Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil (jacaranda means “fragrant” in the region’s indigenous guarani­ language).

In Mexico City, the jacarandas transform many streets into allées of soothing lavender-blue. While jacarandas are beloved by aphids, whose sticky poop turns fallen blossoms into a major nuisance, they also give the Easter season bloom time hanami, literally translated from the Japanese as “flower-viewing,” the ephemeral experience of enjoying the clouds of blossoms that cover trees before they get on to the business of being green.

The jacarandas seem other-worldly, reminding me of the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York City; at cherry-blossom time, Japanese families picnic on the petal-strewn lawn, transporting the casual observer to a state of hanami in some quiet Tokyo park. Oddly enough, it was the cherry blossoms that led to the installation of huge numbers of jacaranda trees in Mexico City.

Mexico’s president from 1930-32, Pascual Ortiz Rubio, wanted to symbolize the friendship between Mexico and Japan – with thousands of cherry trees. Considering the complex history of Mexico as a conquered, then independent, then revolutionary country, and the history of Japan as an imperial, then military, then functioning imperial country, it’s remarkable that the two countries have a relationship that goes back over four centuries.

Mexico and Japan – Way Back When

In 1598, the usefulness of a relationship between Mexico and Japan occurred to Tokugawa (Minamoto) Iyeyasu, the first shōgun (military dictator) of the Tokugawa Shogunate. In Yedo, now, centuries later, Tokyo, the shogun observed that the Philippines did a brisk trade with Mexico, and sought out a relationship with the Philippines that would allow their trans-Pacific shipping vessels to stop in Japan before reaching their destination in the Philippines.

Establishing said relationship was a rocky affair, since the Philippines were actually a Spanish colony from 1521 to 1898, and – based on experience – Spain didn’t think Japan had good intentions toward its merchant ships. It wasn’t until 1608, when a new Spanish governor, Don Rodrigo de Vivero, arrived in the Philippines, that negotiations got serious – but not for long. Recall that every European country with a navy was trying to get into Japan, and that the customs of courtesy in Japan were opaque to the Spaniards, which seemed to lead to offense at every turn. By 1636, the Spanish were excluded from Japan (as were the Portuguese, the first European country to trade with Japan). The Dutch, although confined to a small area of Japan, locked up trade with Japan until the mid-19th century.

In 1853, the role of the Japanese emperor was restored to primacy – no more military dictatorships with shoguns. Under Emperor Meiji, Japan began re-initiating diplomatic relations with other countries; the United States brought a great deal of pressure to bear, resulting in an 1858 treaty that basically forced Japan to begin trading with the West.

Mexico, independent from Spain since 1821, sent an expedition to Japan in 1874. The expedition was led by a scientist, Francisco Díaz Covarrubias, ostensibly to see a rare astrological phenomenon, the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. There’s little evidence that the scientific part of the expedition succeeded, but formal relations between the two countries resumed. In 1888, Matías Romero and Munemitsu Mutsu, the foreign ministers of Mexico and Japan, respectively, signed Japan’s first “equal” treaty with another country.

Back to the Cherry Trees . . . Not!

Remember President Ortiz Rubio’s request to the Japanese government to donate the thousands of cherry trees? Japan’s gift to the United States of over 3,000 cherries in 1912 had not been without botanical troubles of its own, so Japan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs contacted a Japanese horticulturalist/ landscape architect, who had been working for “all the right people” in Mexico for decades. Would the cherry trees be right for Mexico City?

Nope, the horticulturalist replied. To flower, the cherry tree would need a much sharper temperature change between winter and spring. The cherries were abandoned. But Tatsugoro Matsumoto (1861-1955) was not without a replacement suggestion – one he had been working on for quite a while.

Tatsugoro had studied to become an ueki-shi, or landscape architect, in Tokyo, and was so good that he never worked anywhere except in the imperial gardens. Japanese gardeners were sought after around the world. In 1888, at the age of 24, he was sent by the Japanese government to Peru to install a garden at a private residence called Quinta Heeren in Lima. Its owner, Óscar Agusto Heeren, the former Peruvian ambassador to Japan, had returned to Lima to work on enhancing relations between Peru and Japan.

En route to Peru, Tatsuguro visited Mexico, and was apparently impressed with the climate, growing conditions, and the national love of flowers and gardening. While working on his commission in Peru, he met José Landero y Coss, a wealthy rancher and mine owner from Mexico. Landero owned a hacienda, San Juan Hueyapan, in Pachuca, Hidalgo, that dated back to 1535 (built by one of the sons of Hernan Cortés); impressed with Tatsugoro’s work, Landero asked him to come to establish gardens at the hacienda.

The story gets a little hazy here, but Landero was influential in seeing to it that Tatsugoro went on to work in Mexico City, mostly for wealthy families. Tatsuguro decided to emigrate permanently to Mexico, although he returned briefly to Japan to say farewell to his family. Sending a shipment of Japanese plant materials from Yokohama to San Francisco to help with establishing himself in the nursery business, Tatsugoro decamped for California. His plants arrived after three months, dead as doornails, but in the meantime, he had received a commission for a Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park for a world’s fair in 1894.

The tea garden was so popular, it was almost immediately converted to a permanent garden – but by another Japanese landscape artist, not Tatsugoro, who had moved on in his plan to emigrate to Mexico. His certificate of immigration as a legal resident is a little loose with a few facts and illegible in spots. It is dated August of 1896, and reports that Tatsugoro was a widowed (really?) gardener; the birth date and age suffer from too much ink in the typewriter ribbon, but he would have been about 35. He is described as thin, a little over 5 feet tall, with black hair and eyebrows, brown skin and eyes, and a beard with grande moustache. He was of the “yellow” race and Buddhist religion.

From 1896 on, Tatsugoro worked in the most posh colonias (Roma and Condesa were developed right after the turn of the 20th century). A year after he had arrived in Mexico, Tatsugoro bought a house and set up a flower shop in La Romita, already being gentrified into Colonia Roma. While his immigration papers say Tatsugoro was a viudo (widower), there is other information to indicate that Tatasugoro’s wife had emigrated to join him and was running the flower shop. (Florería Matsumoto is still alive and well at Colima 92 in Col. Roma Norte, and is run by Tatsugoro’s great-granddaughter, Marie Furakaki Matsumoto – arrangements go from $700 to $1,000 mxn.)

The influential Landero may have provided Tatsugoro with a contact to introduce him to President Porfirio Díaz; in any event, by 1900, Díaz and his wife had taken note. Tatsugoro designed and maintained the gardens at the presidential residence, Chapultepec Castle, not to mention all the floral arrangements for inside the castle.

Life was definitely good – according to Tatsugoro’s grandson Ernesto, Díaz paid his grandfather 12 pesos a day, 240 times the minimum wage of 5 centavos. Ernesto says Díaz told Tatsugoro the salary was to enable him “to have a nursery to plant seeds and plants because in Mexico City there are prickly pear cactus and there are no trees.”

Jacarandas Needed

Trees there would be – blue-blossomed jacaranda trees. Tatsugoro certainly had obtained seeds and cuttings from South America well before the cherry-blossom consultation, but his role in introducing new species of flowering trees and shrubs got a big boost when his son showed up in 1910. Although Sanshiro Matsumoto, only about 15 or 16 when he reached Mexico, may never have actually seen his father, and no one has anything to say about why, if she actually did, his mother would hie off to Mexico leaving him behind, son and dad combined forces in the business.

Together, the Matsumotos enlarged the business from flower-shop to nursery, and undertook to import the plant materials needed to establish not just the jacaranda trees, but bougainvillea, camelias, hydrangeas, roses, and azaleas, along with bulbs (narcissus, tulips, gladioli) and chrysanthemums. Not to mention that they hybridized the poinsettia (noche buena) to the short, bushy Christmas-season form and installed the palm trees (not native to Mexico) that line Avenida Paseo de las Palmas in Lomas de Chapultepec. Sanshiro undertook to organize the business administratively, apparently not Tatsugoro’s strong suit, and they were able to buy fields and ranches for nursery properties. They grew on their trees, shrubs, bulbs, and flowers at Rancho El Batán, Hacienda de Temixco, and greenhouses in Tacubaya and San Pedro de Los Pinos.

Not only did Senshiro Matsumoto arrive in 1910, the centennial of the Mexican War of Independence, but Díaz decided to celebrate the centennial by inviting other countries to participate. Japan’s delegation, led by Baron Yasuya Uchida and his wife, coordinated their visit with a major exhibition of Japanese Arte Industrial at the Crystal Palace; beside the Palace (now the Museo Universitario del Chopo), Díaz had Tatsugoro create a small lake surrounded by a Japanese garden, which he himself, along with the Japanese delegation, inaugurated.

For the Matsumotos, 1910 was a good year; not so for Porfirio Díaz. The Porfiriato, while it modernized Mexico, was dictatorially oppressive and had lasted, with one interruption, since 1877. Having declared at one point that he would not run for President again, he reneged. Thus began the Mexican Revolution, which would last eleven years. The Matsumotos, however, were very astute at maintaining their connections with high society and ruling powers, and rode out the Revolution quite handily.

By the end of the conflict, and now amply supplied with jacarandas, Tatsugoro approached President Álvaro Obregón (term 1920-24) about the possiblity of lining important avenues and boulevards with the trees. The idea didn’t really take hold until President Rubio wanted the cherry trees, so the spring hanami in Mexico City and Oaxaca de Juárez turned out to be blue, not pink!

Beyond the Jacarandas

Later in the 20th century, the Matsumoto family, through their connections with Mexican presidents, along with their land holdings, would provide an important, unrelated service to Japanese immigrants during World War II. The United States pressured Mexico to follow its lead in creating concentration centers; Mexico decided that Japanese residents of Mexico City and Guadalajara should be interned. The Matsumotos served as go-betweens between the Mutual Aid Committee of the Japanese and the government of President Manuel Ávila Camacho. They offered up both the Rancho El Batán and Hacienda de Temixco as places for Japanese to live and grow their own food until the end of the war. One presumes the Matsumotos themselves stayed home in Colonia Roma.

Later on, Senshiro was approached by President Adolfo López Mateos (term 1958-64), who was looking for space for a housing complex. Where Rancho El Batán once grew jacarandas, now sits Unidad Independencia with 65 single-family residences, 35 multi-family buildings with 1500 apartments, three towers with 100 luxury apartments, social and educational services, a sports center, a supermarket, a medical clinic, an open air theater, and more. Senshiro’s only request was that no trees be cut down.