People have been flocking to Mexico City since it was the center of the Aztec empire, bringing with them the best and most distinctive dishes of their regions. Ikaro, in the Narvarte section of the city, features the cuisine of Puebla, including mole poblano and traditional sweets such as camotes al horno (a confection of yams baked with butter and sugar or honey, then drizzled with honey).

Oaxacan cooking is also represented, most notably at the Casa Neri, a 50-year old establishment with an authentic provincial atmosphere and a variety of Oaxaqueño food including black and red moles and mezcal. Aficionados of Yucatecan cooking appreciate El Habanero in Colonia Napoles, where cochinita pibil and chilmole (a dark recado, or seasoning paste, made from toasted chiles and spices and served with chicken and turkey) are among the specialties.

For norteño cuisine, Las Lupitas restaurant in Coyoacan, the old colonial area south of the modern city, serves traditional northern Mexican meat and cheese dishes, such as machaca (shredded, dried beef cooked with onions, tomatoes and chiles) and the traditional Chihuahua-style cheese soup, sopa de queso, for breakfast and dinner.

For the pre-Hispanic cooking of the ancient region of Mexico City itself, nothing tops Don Chon in the Centro Historico. Here toasted grasshoppers, duck in green pumpkinseed sauce, rabbit in adobo and other authentic dishes that hearken back to the city's culinary roots are served.

And for a variety of traditional, regional dishes El Bajío – under the direction of world-renowned chef Carmen Titita Ramirez Degollado and her daughter, Maria Ramirez Degollado – is worth the short trip from the city center to Colonia Azcapotzalco. The 30-ingredient mole is a Bajío signature item. Other offerings include empanadas de plátano rellenos de frijol (tortilla turnovers filled with bananas and beans) and carnitas (roast pork).

Mexican specialty dishes are so varied that many restaurants concentrate on only one of them. Tacos, carnitas, chamorros (pork leg), barbacoa (pit-cooked pig, goat or lamb), cabrito (goat), birria (a western Mexico goat stew) and pozole (hominy stew with pork or chicken), pancita (tripe, or cow's intestines, in a chile-flavored broth), and caldos (hearty soups) are all represented in this category.

Los Chamorros, in the centro historico, specializes in pork, including pork leg in adobo sauce, carnitas and other items made from every part of the pig imaginable (in Mexico, everyone has a favorite cut of pork to roll into tacos).

Barbacoa is generally eaten only on weekends because of its lengthy preparation process that entails wrapping and then burying and cooking the meat in a pit lined with hot rocks. Customers find meat made that old-world way at Los Tres Reyes in Colonia Mixcoac, a very informal restaurant housed in a tarp-covered patio reminiscent of small roadside barbacoa stops.

For those who favor cabrito, 85-year-old Noste in Colonia Guerrero, is the place to eat, and for pancita, there is El Gran Rabano, founded in the 1930s as a food stall in the old Portales market. Caldos are featured at Paisa in the Centro Historico, where customers can order soups like caldo de pollo (chicken pieces and vegetable chunks in chicken broth and garnished with chopped onion and cilantro) until 1 a.m., while birrias and pozoles are specialties of Tixtla in Colonia Algarin.

The pre-Hispanic market tradition still flourishes in Mexico City, where just about every one of its 400 neighborhoods, or colonias, has its own market.

The Central de Abastos, in the eastern part of the city, is the largest market in the world, receiving 24,000 tons of food a day. Truckloads of produce pull in before dawn, with restaurant and supermarket buyers arriving shortly thereafter. Fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, dairy, cold cuts, flowers and dried goods are well organized into sections in an area of over 20 acres with 1,300 individual bodegas.

Less intimidating in size, and located in the city's center on Calle Ernesto Pugibet, is the colonial-era Mercado San Juan, a gourmet wonderland of exotic, hard-to-find ingredients. Many capitalinos claim this market has the freshest fish, meat and produce in the city. An extensive variety of wild mushrooms, Spanish jamon serrano and chorizo, Asian vegetables such as bok choy and daikon, and cheeses from all over the country and the world can be found here.

For Yucatecan ingredients and recipes, the Mercado Medellin in Colonia Roma is the place to shop. Vendors of fresh banana leaves, achiote for pibil dishes, habanero chiles and other elements of la comida Yucateca will explain the use of the ingredients and preparation of typical dishes. Fresh whole-wheat tortillas, tamale dough, and cazuelas, the classic Mexican cooking pots, are also sold here.

The Mercado Merced, with its own metro stop, is another famous market. From freshly squeezed juice and sweet bread in the morning to grilled meat tacos to full meals of stew, beans and rice, the comedores in this market offer food throughout the day.

The cantina food reflects Mexico City's location in the center of the country, with many characteristic herbs of the region in evidence. At the Ciudad de Leon in the Centro Historico, the albondigas (meatballs) are served in a sauce subtly flavored with mint. Another typical herb, epazote, is used to flavor the wild mushroom soup at the Gallo de Oro, in the heart of downtown.

Local wild mushrooms are also featured at La Zaragoza in Colonia Roma, where they are sautéed with chipotles and tomatoes and topped with hot fried peanuts for a flavorful touch and textural contrast. Lamb, another distinct regional taste, is found across the street from the Mercado San Juan at the Victoria, where guisado de carnero (lamb stew) is served.

La nueva cocina mexicana generally refers to food that fuses traditional ingred-ients, many pre-Hispanic, with modern presentations and combinations. Its culinary creativity is in evidence in many Mexico City restaurants.

Renowned chef Patricia Quintana, owner of Izote in the city's Polanco district, exemplifies this cooking style. Quintana's specialties include four tamales (cheese and epazote; cheese and squash blossoms; black corn truffles; and shredded chicken with a spicy tomato salsa); ceviche (Acapulco style-chopped mackerel, avocado, and onions in a salsa mexicana); and Tarascan-style bean soup with fried tortilla strips, chile ancho and cream.