Lydia Carey

My rebuttal to the New York Times article from 2025 titled “What Happened to Mexico City’s Food Scene: Americans.” A misinformed and oversimplistic report on a very complex and complicated world capital. While the actual writing was more balanced than the title would lead readers to believe, it still espoused some faulty ideas about the Mexico City food scene and thus deserves an on-the-ground response to some of its claims.

Mexico’s national statistics agency (INEGI) reported in February of this year that the canasta básica — a group of foodstuffs and household goods that the government considers necessary for everyday life — rose to 4,877 pesos a month in Mexico City and 3,494 pesos in rural areas. That represents an increase in food costs of 4.6% in the city and 4.5% in rural areas, in comparison to February’s monthly inflation of 4.02%. Compared to 2025, it’s a 1.2% increase in urban areas, and 1.9% in rural ...

I want to be honest about my bias in my review of this new restaurant: from the very beginning, I’ve wanted to support Baldío’s project. A restaurant that attempts to be zero waste? That uses only local meat, fish and produce, much of it grown right here in Mexico City through an organic CSA? A space full of recycled materials? Nothing could be better for someone who wants to dine well but agonizes over the environmental impact of tourism and eating out.
Arca Tierra, the organization that sta...

Part of a virtuoso.com guide to all the World Cup 2026 cities.

The Korean community has had a presence in Mexico for over 100 years. Here is a short history of their immigration and some amazing places to try their cuisine.

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Long gone are the days of beach shacks and dive bars. Tulum is now firmly established as one of Mexico’s chicest dining destinations, full of award-winning restaurants and creative cocktail bars. Despite the area’s boho-chic makeover the past several years, the region’s culinary roots can be felt more here than other Riviera Maya destinations, like Cancun or Playa del Carmen. You’ll find local chefs drawing deeply on the diversity of regional ingredients as well as the traditional cooking t...

On July 4, there was an anti-gentrification demonstration marched through the streets of Mexico City’s Colonia Roma and up to the U.S. embassy. While the purported purpose of the march was to condemn the rising rents and unaffordability of the capital, to an outsider, it could have easily been perceived as an anti-immigration rally.

Before 1973, visitors to Mulegé, Mexico arrived by tiny prop plane on the dirt runway next to Hotel Serenidad. The airstrip was built in the 1950s, when the transpeninsular highway that runs north to south along the Baja peninsula was still just a dream in some civic engineer’s mind. The hotel’s longest-running owner, Don Johnson, was an early transplant to Baja California Sur, and he bought Hotel Serenidad in 1968 and turned it into the famed vacation spot it became during that era.

Colorful colonial-era towns give way to verdant inland landscapes, which morph into sun-burnt fields, which fade into lush coastline as the Tren Maya loops its way through Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Locals and government officials hope travelers will hop off the train to get to know the area’s many charming communities — and their culinary specialties.

This is an ongoing list of the best of the best in Mexico City restaurants. I am constantly updating this list as I visit new bars and restaurants for the various publications that I write for.

Longtime popular cruise ship destination, the port of Ensenada has been known more for its animated tourist bars and trinket shops than as a cultural and culinary hub—but all that is changing. These days, the city is holding its own against Tijuana, Valle de Guadalupe, and other nearby food hot spots. A population of young professionals, many who work in the wineries and fine dining restaurants of Valle, are choosing to live in the more affordable Ensenada and making it their own with moody b...

The floor of Vancouver’s J.W. Marriott ballroom reverberates from the dance music and buzz of conversation at the 2025 50 Best Bars of North America awards ceremony. Lining the edges of the room are stands sponsored by the event’s patron — Cointreau, Perrier, Rémy Martin and others. Team members from Mexico City’s Rayo bar make spritzes and negronis, as they stand bathed in the hot pink light of the Campari stand, unaware that Rayo will became one of the night’s most high-profile casualties, disappearing from the list completely, despite ranking fifth in last year — the only Mexican bar to be

I always tell people that these days Mexico City is more like London or New York than Oaxaca City or Guadalajara. While delicious traditional Mexican cuisine remains paramount, the city now has incredible Singaporean, Korean, Japanese and Indian food. Newcomers are introducing a whole new audience to regional cuisines from around the world with touches of mexicanidad that add to their specialness.
Young Mexican chefs have moved beyond moles and molcajetes to create thrilling contemporary Mexi...

Second in a series on female winemakers in Baja California

Things are going well for women’s representation in Mexico recently, with the first female president, second female mayor of Mexico City and historic numbers of women all taking political office in the last months. And the trend isn’t limited to politics: traveling through Baja California, you’ll also notice that many of the top wineries are led by passionate female winemakers, who lead both the production process and the businesses themselves.