I am ashamed. Mexico City has been a
constant neighbor for centuries. It is
responsible for much of the food that I
cannot conceive of my life without. My
home state of California was part of
Mexico until 1850 and is still home to
more Hispanics than any other ethnic
group in the state. Mexico's influence on
modern California and America is
incalculable and invaluable. But I know
embarrassingly little about this city
about this country other than what has
been prepackaged, distilled, and is
resilient enough to make the treacherous
border crossing from Mexico into
American popular culture. I am going to
fix that right now.
When you stop for a second, take a breath
and look around you you realize
something pretty quickly -  Mexico City is
gargantuan. The largest metropolitan area
in the Western Hemisphere and the
biggest Spanish-speaking city on earth,
this is a human hive of staggering
proportions. 1700 neighbourhoods are home
to the nearly 20 million people that
make Mexico City hum. That makes it the
biggest city in North America by
population. This is a densely packed
highly populous place no matter how you
measure it or how you experience it.
And the airport is a great example of
this Benito Juarez international located
just a few miles east of the city.
This airport is bursting at the seams.
It was due to be replaced by a brand
new airport designed by Norman Foster
but after public outcry over spiraling
costs and the expropriation of thousands
of acres of public land the project was
put on indefinite hold late last year so
for now this is your gateway to Mexico
City.
As with pretty much every country in the
world there is a little bit of paperwork
to fill out before you arrive in Mexico
and before is the important word here.
Fill out this paperwork on the plane
otherwise it's going to delay your entry
into the country.
Now you can pre-fill it online before
you even leave your home country but
when you print it out you must do it on
a color printer otherwise you'll get be
sent back to the back of the queue to
fill out one of these. The second really
important thing to remember is when you
go through immigration they're going
keep one piece of this and they're going
give you back another piece - 
you must keep hold of this until you
leave Mexico otherwise they won't let
you leave until you pay a little bit of
a fine and spend a long time refilling
out all the paperwork, so take 30
seconds to get it right on the airplane,
invest that time. To get from the
airport you can jump in a taxi for which
you can buy a ticket at one of the marked
stands or kiosks inside the airport
terminal. The journey will cost between
100 and 300 pesos depending on the type
of vehicle you choose and of course how
far you're going and the journey will
take between 30 and 90 minutes really
depending on the traffic now avoid taxi
towns and unlicensed taxis like the
plague not only will you invariably pay
more than you need to
in rare cases they can actually be quite
dangerous so make the right choice
alternatively you can use uber from the
airport just be sure to select which
door to meet your driver at and you'll
be good to go the journey will cost
around 180 pesos
how do you move 20 million people around
a city all day every day by the second
half of the 20th century Mexico City's
public transport infrastructure was
grinding to a halt the city was entirely
dependent on its overly congested roads
and highways so in 1967 ground was
broken on the Mexico City metro Mexico
City has one of the most extensive and
busiest metro systems in the world it's
a great way to get around to because the
12 lines cover most of the city it's
very easy to use despite the lack of
English language signs because the
system was designed with illiteracy in
mind so through the use of color and
iconography the whole network is
accessible to really everybody our
system to be a truly effective
decongestant the Metro needed to be
accessible by all not just the wealthy
or educated in addition to the
easy-to-understand signage a discount on
the standard 5 peso fare has always been
available to the unemployed female heads
of household and low-income students and
it's free for the elderly and the
disabled democratization of public
transport is how you keep 20 million
people Mexico City's stored-value
transit card is that they'll head to DF
not only does it work on the Metro but
on Metro buses and the city's trolley
bus and light rail systems too it can be
purchased and recharged at ticket booths
or ticket machines in most metro
stations where you can also purchase
your single journey Metro ticket - as
you go through the turnstile just tap
your tarjeta or insert your ticket to
begin your journey
see the speed interference assume they
mean diseases a variety of bus services
swarm the city taking passengers to the
nooks and crannies of Mexico City that
the Metro just can't reach the
government and municipal e run metro and
RTP buses cost between two and six
spaces depending on the type of service
and how far you're going but they will
take you to any destination along their
route the privately owned slightly less
formal for several buses well they will
take you anywhere but the routes are a
little more fluid and the driving style
a little more avant-garde shall we say
so choose wisely Metro bus and trolley
bus services complete this varied and
extensive suite of bus services in
Mexico City all of them start at less
than 35 American cents and will with a
little luck get you where you need to go
taxis are a great way to get around the
city but you will need to take a few
precautions local producer and friend of
attache and weekly Rizzo explains in I
think in general taxis are a very good
way to move around the city there's a
lot of working class people and Mexican
people that they don't use public
transport they they can afford taxis and
Mexico City as there are so many cars
sometimes it's even more affordable to
only use uber and taxis rather than
owning a car so what if you don't have
enough signal to Halon uber and Rica
explains the safer option if you need to
grab a taxi the old-fashioned way
so the safer option was to take taxis
from stands so these official stands you
have the taxis park and they are a lot
safer and they would be a bit more
expensive but that that way you weren't
risking it so if you find yourself as
the old saying goes up shit creek
without an uber find a taxi stand it's
always suggestible to take to use this
this app's I would say and never street
taxis
mas
morning in Mexico City and 20 million
people are on the move their hard work
in many cases for very low pay
contributes to Mexico City being one of
the most productive urban areas on earth
and as you take your place in this river
of humanity flowing across the city
you'll discover what fuels this ultra
productive people Paola Cristina Flores
and her family have been feeding Mexico
City from this same spot for over 65
years but it was Perlas mother Rosario
who created a dish 20 years ago that
turned this humble Street food stall
into a Mexico City legend tortoise that
Sheila Kuehl a derided as a culinary
abomination when first introduced
tortillas in a roll who would do such a
thing
Torche esta chilaquiles are now a
beloved staple across the city red or
green chilaquiles stuffed into a French
roll topped with chicken milanesa
cochinita pibil or shredded chicken that
is already sold out so we are stuck with
the Roja which is just as good different
flavor but just as good always in line
much longer around breakfast time but
this is my new favorite Mexican
breakfast or just street food it's so
good
in the ten years it's been since I left
California I've learned to my eternal
heartbreak the Mexican food just doesn't
travel well further you move away from
Mexico the less authentic the less
satisfying and frankly the less good it
becomes to the point of being
unrecognizable and dare I say insulting
I've given up trying to find good
Mexican food outside of North America
I've been kicked out of enough Mexican
and burrito restaurants and London Hong
Kong in Paris to have learned my lesson
I just cannot take the disappointment
anymore so this brings me cure unbridled
joy I'm gonna start crying yeah
and if the food doesn't travel well you
better believe I'm going to eat my fill
whilst I'm local local food expert and
cook Nico Garcia is a passionate
advocate for Mexico City's street food
purveyors like la Castilla a mainstay of
the city since 1970 there garlic
tostadas are a great start to the
conversation
really good right and what doesn't taste
better without a splash of salsa Nico
explains the surprising complexity of
this classic Mexican accoutrement the
salsas don't really have a recipe that
you can follow it's just like a general
style so every cell said you try on any
place any restaurant any streets then
it's gonna be different and what I like
to do is what we what I did just now to
have everything but not in the same bite
you know like some drops of wine some
drop of theater so each bite is slightly
different by costea's signature dish is
the imposing of all kind so it's a
poblano the rib eye and they're using a
type of cheese called Casa era but fear
not the Vulcan gets its name not from
its heat but from the Cascade of melting
cheese that tops it we wouldn't consider
this spicy food and people actually
would that spice yeah generally most
many people like spice and Mexican
people usually start eating spicy food
when we're like 2 or 3 years old that's
when you're considered old enough to
start with the lowest kind of spice but
your parents will give you candy with a
little bit of chilli if you're jonesing
for some spice
this place will almost certainly be ok
so this place is called Pakistani Tony
has the craziest hours it's easier for
me to tell you when these guys are close
that when they're open so Tony's closest
from 5 a.m. till 8 a.m. and that's it
the other 21 hours of a these places in
business and like this having such long
opening hours gives Tony's a certain
advantage over the competition so in
every second yeah do you know the hours
and you know that you want to be there
like 6 hours after they bit after they
open you don't wanna be there at night
because this weather is gonna be dry and
overcooked and if you're too early it's
gonna be chewy still and the great thing
about this place is because they work
all day long every few minutes they put
a new piece of meat so anytime you come
you're going to have a piece that is
Swatara a cut of beef similar to brisket
is placed in a bath of water and fat
for several hours until the beef is
essentially called feed and it's served
with rocket fuel this space we have to
be very very careful with the cells
they're really spicy even for Mexican
standards so if it's spicy for Mexicans
for non Mexican people it's gonna be
really spicy so be very careful okay
and Nico was not kidding
SWAT arrow might be my new favorite
style of tacos but I cannot come to
Mexico and not pay my respects to the
greatest of all taco styles our past or
the place is really really unique
because actually by day this is a car
mechanic an auto repair shop so the
place has been open for one hour exactly
and you can see how it's already full
their biggest hours are actually after
people go drinking so from 10:30 11:00
till 4:00 a.m. this is absolutely crazy
you have three or four times as much
people as you have right now
I adore tacos al pastor the crispy but
moist grilled pork the Fleck of tangy
pineapple topped with cilantro and
chopped onion pure Mexican goodness
beautiful and now for something very
special a Mexican cantina is a really
unique place so let's go inside and we
can see Mexican canteen is are the
exception to the old drinking rule
eating is cheating 100 dishes completely
free even if you don't believe it and we
convinced and then over here it says
consumer or consumption for and you have
four little drinks this means that in
order to in eat in this place you need
to order for drinks and it's not for
table its purpose but once you do once
you are therefore you get free access to
the menu and it becomes an old you can
eat place everything is cooked fresh and
really there is no limited nobody is
quite sure where cantinas came from but
they sure have their fans it's a little
plate that clients get after being here
1,500 times that's 1500 times and
actually it tells you how long it took
them so these two guys what happens here
I will convey were here 1500 times from
the 9th of October 92 to the 9th of
October 2012 so if you do the math this
means that these people have been
drinking at the same place like three
times a week for almost 30 years that's
a lot of drink and a lot of food I was
happy just to have tallied my first
visit just 1499 to go
after a night of tradition it feels only
appropriate to end the night in the
traditional way with a mezcal nightcap a
common misconception is that muscala is
a form of tequila on the contrary as
chef when Vera explains if you want to
name it tequila you have to produce it
in a certain area which is tequila
Jalisco it's just a town in Jalisco and
surroundings and using one single type
of agave which is blue agon and so miss
Cal is a highly varied artisanal
creation with an incredible spectrum of
flavor stemming from the agave plant
Moscow recipes have been mastered and
refined from generation to generation
muscala is taken a backseat to its more
famous cousin for decades but with such
variety and taste and provenance it's
easy to see why mezcal is reclaiming
shelf space in bars across Mexico
Mexico's currency is the Pacer now
here's the weird thing the peso is
represented by the dollar sign
but since the dollar sign was first used
to represent the spanish-american peso
it is safe to say that Mexico got there
first so there you have it this is a
very easy City in which to transact
debit cards and credit cards are widely
accepted and there are ATMs everywhere
which is a great thing because as with
so many other cities in the world Street
food vendors and smaller market stall
holders will really only accept cash so
with that combination you really can't
go wrong here and you could enjoy what
is generally agreed upon as a very low
cost of living and on that note let's do
the rundown a beautiful can coffee will
cost you your 20 business that's a
beautiful Mexican beer cost you around
40 pesos and for the most reliable
indicator of a nation's cost the good ol
Big Mac you're gonna pay around 52 pesos
or two dollars and seventy two cents as
a January 2019 at about half-past two so
the cost of living is very low and the
quality is very high so it's only
appropriate to show some appreciation
all right let's get it over and done
with tipping it is absolutely a thing
here in Mexico especially in Mexico City
so do it
10% in a restaurant if you've had a good
meal and good services though the bare
minimum but feel free to do more and the
way it works is simply when they bring
your car you have the option on the card
reader machine to select how much you
want it tips before you punch in your
PIN or sign on the dotted line
in any service environment Hotel coffee
shop and everything in between it's also
the done thing a few pesos here and
there added to your bill or just in
coins while not going this so do it this
city comes with a reputation a
reputation magnified by the lens of the
outsider Mexico City is quantifiably a
safe city compared with many other
capital cities but as friend of attache
cath Cuevas explains there are pockets
of the city which require a little extra
precaution just in Mexico City for the
past couple of months there's bit
there's been a situation where there's
been kidnapping so as soon as they spot
a lady getting out of the subway and
walk into it someplace a guy would
appear and try to mock her and like like
grab her and people if people would see
them fighting the guy would go like oh
just she's just having an episode she's
fine she's my girlfriend so it's like an
actual thing this morning yeah so what's
happening right now and has been
happening for the past couple of years
is that as soon as we know we're getting
out of the house we report to someone as
soon as we know we're getting out of the
coffee shop we report to someone as soon
as we get into the louver we share why
we're where we are saying that you're
okay it's part of the survival thing
that you have to do
I have never fallen in love with a city
as quickly as I fell from Mexico City it
was I can safely say a revelation sure I
arrived with preconceptions and hopes of
what this city might be what it might
offer but with each new sight sound
smell and taste my expectations were
humbled how could anything anywhere
possibly be this good Mexico City is
everything I want in a city hectic
sprawling loud creative friendly and
absolutely friggin delicious I will look
for every possible excuse or
justification to get back here as soon
as humanly possible but until then I
urge you experience Mexico City eat its
food meet its impossibly warm and
friendly people you will not be
disappointed
