Delicious Market Finds in Mexico City

Mexico City’s most famous treasure hunt is held every Sunday just north of the Centro Historico at La Lagunilla market. While it has a reputation for being a wild and dangerous place, locals know that the real danger you face is drinking too many micheladas and possibly taking up a stylist on the offer of a market haircut.

Related: Tasting Colonia Juarez’s Finest 

The Lagunilla Sunday market has always been a place of pirated products, coveted antiques, and deal-making. Mexicans even have their own word for this beloved cultural pastime – chacharear (to negotiate over trinkets and baubles). In the Colonial era this market was located in the city’s central plaza, the zocalo. Much of the merchandise in that original market was resold goods that made their way to Mexico City via the Nao de la China – the trade route from Manila to Acapulco traveled by Spanish ships. [pagebreak]

Later during World War II entire boxes of a family heirlooms were shipped across the ocean from Europe and vendors bought them sight unseen in hopes of striking resale gold. Today, most of the market’s antiques come from estate sales and antique brokers working throughout the country. Much of the knock-off brands and resold clothing comes from the United States and makes its way to the market in mysterious ways. There are also jewelry sellers, manicurists, cellphone parts, wandering ice cream vendors and a stand where you can get your shoes fixed.

Besides being the place to find vintage vinyls, retablos, or WWII paraphernalia, the market is also a great place to eat and drink – the most important secondary activity of its shoppers. Everything opens late, so getting there mid-day or later will find you the best eats. Head down on an empty stomach or with a Saturday night hangover and we promise you’ll find your culinary bliss among the piles of pirated DVDs. Most of the places mentioned here do not have official names, so wander around and ask other vendors. And of course, taste test, you’ll never know what you’ll find.[pagebreak]

A little taco appetizer is the right way to get started. The cochinita pibil (slow-roasted suckling pig with citrus and achiote) and mixiote (a mild pit-roasted pork seasoned with chiles and spices) taco stand at one end of Comonfort street is unmissable. Turn around and you can buy a massive agua fresca from the vendor that sits alongside this stand, our favorite is sandia (watermelon). A massive concave grill around the corner on the Cuitláhuac roundabout, offers a plethora of grilled meat tacos including salty cecina, green chorizo, porkchops and corbata (beef grilled with barbecue sauce and serve by the kilo).

In between stops, let yourself be tempted by one of those massive beers in paper cups that you will see everyone carrying. Around the rim you can order mango, blueberry, tamarind, strawberry or about a dozen other flavors of gooey, sweet chile sauce or get a chile powder-coated straw to dip into it. Our favorite spot has dark and light Kölsch beer on tap. If you want to be really adventurous chug down some pulque, but remember it keeps expanding in your stomach and you still have a lot of eating to do! [pagebreak]

For a taste of the international, El Puto Padre, run by a Spanish Mexico City transplant, sets up the last Sunday of every month on Bocanegra street selling exquisite Spanish paella. Mi Bratwurst has natural German-style bratwurst and a few Mexican twists (chipotle and smoked jalepeño brats) complete with sauerkraut, onions, or a serrano chile. La Trinchera, run by another feisty Spaniard, has Mediterranean baguette sandwiches and pizzas with the most perfectly delicate and crunchy crusts. 

El Asadito Guacho creates these work-of-art sandwiches and stuffed baked potatoes, filled with grilled peppers and onions, arrachera, Argentine sausage, longaniza, two kinds of cheese, lettuce, tomato, and chimichurri sauce. Finally, for a U.S. favorite with la Lagunilla flair, there are grilled chicken wings on one of the market’s lesser transited stretches. Con todo (with everything) means Maggie sauce, Worcestershire, barbecue sauce, habanero sauce, ketchup, Valentina sauce, and a shake of Tajin powder.

If you’re craving something sweet after all that salty, try our favorite flan. The stand we recommend has flan, towering triple-layer chocolate cake and rich, tangy lemon cake. Get them to cut you a fresh piece from the pie if you can. Near one end of Bocanegra street you can get a tumbler full of freshly squeezed pineapple juice or toothache-sweet sugar cane juice, either one with a little vodka thrown in for good measure. Don’t forget to try some smoked Provolone from one of the roving cheese vendors and a cup of freshly-fried potato chips smothered in salsa Valentina.