Morgan Golumbuk's Food Tour of Mexico and Oaxaca

At Great Performances, we know that the best culinary experiences start with curiosity, adventure, and an open mind—qualities that Morgan Golumbuk embodies in every bite. As a Senior Event Director, Morgan brings her passion for food to every event she creates, drawing inspiration from her global travels. Guided by her motto—“Go everywhere, talk to everyone, eat everything”—she seeks out flavors and experiences from every corner of the world, from hidden street food gems to Michelin-starred marvels. Whether she’s savoring a $2 bowl of noodles or a multi-course tasting menu, she believes food is a universal language that connects people and cultures.

Morgan has shared her insights in several of our past blog articles, and we’re thrilled to have her back with another delicious story.

A Food Tour of Mexico City and Oaxaca

Mexico is a country of rich and diverse culture, ubiquitous warmth, and – of course – incredible food. I spent eight days eating traditional dishes, modern delicacies, and everything in between.

Friday 1/17

11:12pm: Our first round of tacos and a big bowl of Sopa Azteca (tortilla soup) at a lovely little restaurant called Tucco near our Airbnb in Condesa. I ate so much junk food on the flight that I’m not particularly hungry but it’s delicious & we take home plenty of leftovers.

Saturday 1/18

9:24am: Leah eats a leftover taco while we sit on our balcony overlooking Parque España and plan our day. I’m holding out for fresh tacos, hopeful.

9:59am: We share an almond croissant at the coffee shop downstairs, Fuego & Café, and nibble at the little cookies that come with our cortados.

(Shoutout to GP’s Pastry Chef, Albert, who is often the recipient of a shrill “GALLETITAS!??” from me in the late afternoons, a semi-urgent request for any little cookies he has lying around.)

10:35am: It is taco time (again)! We walk a few blocks to Barbacoa Dani for – you guessed it – barbacoa tacos. The server asks us how much fat we want on our cuts of meat (we say half fatty but probably would’ve been best served going for full fat) and we take seats on small stools under the stand’s tarp tent. Our tacos arrive almost immediately, and we dress them with the requisite condiments from the middle of the table: salsa roja, salsa verde, diced white onion, cilantro, and lime.

10:42am: We decide that we also need to share a bowl of consommé. Naturally.

11:17am: A sign as we enter Chapultepec Park advertises “Hot Dogs Sensuales.” We don’t indulge but I think you should know that those exist.

2:04pm: On our way home from El Museo Nacional de Antropología, we stop at Jabalería for a late lunch. I have a grasshopper taco (chapulines, a Mexican delicacy), a wild boar quesadilla (jabalí, hence the name of the restaurant), and a few sips of a local beer also named after wild boars. We watch soccer and compare sunburns.

6:25pm: After a nap and some shopping, we drop into La Xampa for drinks, a classic espresso martini for Leah and a clarified espresso milk punch cocktail with orange for me. We also treat ourselves to some decadent manchego cheese and jamón to snack on.

8:19pm: Dinner at Gaba begins with delicious ginger cocktails. We order chicken liver pâté with hibiscus gel, Hamachi crudo with fava beans and chaya (a plant known as the “spinach tree” that is native to Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula), mussels with river shrimp and ayocote beans in “red sauce,” grilled oyster mushrooms with eggplant and salsa macha, and rockfish with cuaresmeño (jalapeño) beurre blanc, avocado, and a side of kale. We can barely breathe from overeating, so Leah and I order an espresso and an amaro – respectively – in anticipation of dessert, a delicate, tangy nopal (cactus) sorbet with cucumber and shiso. On our way out, we trade recommendations we’ve collected with a fellow American and wish him well on his similarly food-centric journey.

10:36pm: We ascend to Bijou Drinkery Room, a speakeasy bar hidden inside a gastronomy school (if you book an event with me, I’ll tell you the passcode). I drink a classic Bijou (gin, green chartreuse, and sweet vermouth) and nibble at Leah’s cocktail’s nori sheet garnish. We walk home and are back by midnight; a perfect Saturday night.

Sunday 1/19

11:20am: We get a late start, as this is when my altitude sickness starts to kick in. Another cortado from Fuego & Café.

12:45pm: A “Volcán de Taurino” from Tacos Los Alexis, a mix of cecina (salted meat), chicharron (deep-fried pork rind), and chorizo (sausage) with adobo sauce, melted cheese, caramelized onions, and refried beans on a crunchy corn tostada; incredibly wolf down-able. Also: as much water as I can physically put into my body.

4:20pm: I think this is around the time I ate most of my Friday night soup leftovers in hopes that they would fill my stomach without disparaging my compromised GI tract.

5:13pm: Some addicting popcorn and a giant Michelada at a lucha libre match. Probably unwise considering my condition but it really hit the spot.

7:53pm: Cocktails, cacio e pepe capellini, and an octopus hotdog at the current number one bar in the world, Handshake Speakeasy. I have a Lychee Highball (tequila, lychee, sake, jasmine tea, soda), a Matcha Martini (tequila, mezcal, matcha, Cocchi Americano, coconut, crème de menthe), and a flirt with the bartender (Javier); doctor’s orders.

Monday 1/20

12:25pm: We – of sound minds but still very unsound, altitude-warped bodies – tour Tlatelolco and la Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe before we get even an ounce of sustenance, and that first fare comes in the form of tiny sips of mezcal and pulque. We continue on to Teotihuacan and on the car ride home, I am finally getting hungry and consider eating the airplane cookie in my bag (I resist).

3:18pm: Our appetites are back!!! We each put down two quesadillas (mushroom and potato) from roadside stand Quesadillas Paty in under five minutes.

5:39pm: Dinner at Contramar begins with a crisp bottle of Albariño and continues with a duo of tostadas (clam and tuna), shrimp aguachile, kingfish al pastor tacos, soft-shell crab in a flour tortilla, whole grilled fish with red adobo and parsley rubs, a meringue with fresh strawberries, a fig tart with mascarpone, and a carajillo to share. Our server gives us what I consider a great gift this evening: he speaks to us only in Spanish, but slowly and with patience for our grammar and any confused faces (neither of us knew the word for “crab”). I eat a little branded dinner mint on our walk home and marvel at the perfect weather.

8:03pm: Pit stop at the Pokémon-themed 7-Eleven (no, I don’t know why) for big bottles of water before bed.

Tuesday 1/21

10:50am: I start the day with a green juice (“El Verde Whitman”), a cortado sencillo (single!) with a mini sugar-coated palmier, and huevos leñero (fried eggs on a sope with refried beans and goat cheese covered in three chili and sesame adobo sauce) at bookstore Cafebrería El Péndulo. Many of the streets in this neighborhood, Polanco, are named after writers, and we commemorate our visit by buying books: poetry for me and a bread cookbook for Leah.

2:18pm: We visit an aviary and a contemporary art museum and then head to Yucatecan restaurant Fonda 99.99 for lunch before our ticket time for Museo Frida Kahlo. Both of us get a cup of sopa de lima (lime soup) and I wash that down with a plate of cochinita pibil tacos (slow-roasted pork, that I promised I wouldn’t finish but obviously did), horchata, and café de olla. Leah finishes her meal with a delicious Nutella marquesita – a thin rolled crepe stuffed with edam cheese – that I obviously have to try.

9:05pm: Our highly anticipated dinner at two Michelin-starred Quintonil begins with warm welcomes and a glass of chilled Ruinart champagne. Over the course of three hours, we enjoy the following:

9:11pm: Chileatole with huitlacoche and Mexican herbs
9:22pm: Grilled pickled mussel tostada with mole del mar and charred onion sauce
9:37pm: Butternut squash and tomato salad with rice horchata and pumpkin seeds
9:55pm: Bluefin tuna with aguachile de brassicas, wasabi ice cream, pickled watermelon radish, and mustard leaves
10:07pm: “Agua de Quintonil” cocktail (mezcal espadín, mandarin orange, lemon, agave honey, worm salt rim)
10:11pm: Red lobster from Baja California with chilhuacle rojo and orange gastrique and cauliflower cream
10:25pm: Pibil duck tamale with young corn cream
10:30pm: Interlude during which our lovely server, Saul, brings us a list of recommendations for Mexico City and Oaxaca. We love Saul.
10:42pm: “Entomophagy festival”: Vegetable ceviche in smoked cactus leche de tigre; charred avocado tartare with escamoles; oyster mushrooms alambre with salsa macha and grasshopper chintextle; santanero beans from Oaxaca and confit onions; homemade chorizo with cocopaches; salsa roja with jumiles and epazote; red corn segueza; criollo corn tortillas from Opichén, Yucatán
11:04pm: Interlude II: Saul Shows Us the Bugs We Just Ate
11:15pm: Chichilo negro (traditional mole), rib eye, and pico de gallo with huitlacoche and charred vegetables
11:28pm: Cactus paddle sorbet
11:35pm: Coconut sorbet, plankton, physalis, and caviar
11:48pm: Mignardises

We depart our Kitchen Counter stools just past the stroke of midnight, very pleased and very, very full.

Wednesday 1/22

8:45am: Bitter coffee and a stale croissant in the airport. How the mighty have fallen!

12:31pm: We land in Oaxaca, drop our bags at the unbelievably charming Boulenc Bed & Bread, and head to Las Quince Letras for a sumptuous lunch of molotes de plátano, a memela de barbacoa, and two soul-nourishing soups with a dried beef tlayuda on the side. We sip espressos and plan our excursions for the next two days, languishing on the terraza in the warmth of the afternoon.

5:10pm: This is around the time I take a break from reading to snarf down half of the cinnamon-spiced muffin that was awaiting us in our hotel room.

7:03pm: Cocktails at Sabina Sabe (mezcal-based, obviously; we are in Oaxaca, after all).

8:07pm: Dinner at Levadura de Olla, helmed by one of the preeminent female chefs of the region. We share corn soup with wild herbs and zucchini flowers, guava mole with shrimp, a barbacollita tamale with chicken, pork, chiles, avocado leaf, and spices, and one of Chef Thalía Barrios Garcia’s signature dishes: a kaleidoscopic Oaxacan native tomato platter with beet puree and fruit vinaigrette.

Thursday 1/23

7:30am: A day-old cardamom bun from the hotel lobby (the bakery downstairs isn’t open yet; the bun is still amazing) and one sip of iced coffee that bounces into my stomach in a dangerous way. In preparation for a 90-minute drive to Hierve El Agua, I ditch the coffee and opt for water instead.

11:45am: We hike to stunning views of petrified waterfalls, swim and soak in a natural spring, sunbathe, and eventually head over to a market stall for a delicious beef torta and café de olla.

3:58pm: Back in the city, I take a solo trip to Mercado 20 de Noviembre for mole negro and lemon water at Fonda Sofi. It tastes exactly how I hoped it would, rich and nutty.

4:35pm: I cross over to the neighboring Mercado Benito Juárez to meet up with Leah for a nieve (“snow,” a traditional sorbet-like frozen treat). I get a scoop of the coffee flavor topped with a scoop of the coconut flavor and it’s absolutely perfect.

5:33pm: We finally find the esquites that we have been hunting for since we left the hotel this afternoon!!! Corn, mayonnaise, cheese, hot sauce, and lime; what more could you ask for? (Both of us politely decline the addition of chapulines; I’m tapped out on grasshoppers for this trip.)

9:08pm: Dinner at Crudo begins with some wonderful artisanal sake made in Mexico. I’m so tired of eating at this point that this meal honestly feels like a bit of a slog, but I highly enjoy the soft-shell crab “taco” wrapped in nori and watching the fish in the tank goof around.

Friday 1/24

8:35am: Finally eating the airplane cookie on our way to Palenque Mal de Amor, a mezcal distillery just outside of the city. (Another great argument for planning ahead, as there were no bakery leftovers this day, much to my disappointment.)

9:50am: It should probably be noted that I already know that I should’ve eaten an actual meal before tasting nine mezcals. I know! I know. Yes, they did let me chop agave with an ax – which was misguided on their part – but that was before the tasting.

10:50am: Tasting portions of another six mezcals, two gins, and a whiskey (plus nuts and homemade chocolate, gracias a Dios) at the next distillery, Gracias a Dios. My face is bright red and Leah is on the floor playing with the house dogs.

1:02pm: Back at Boulenc! We take a concha and a tomato tart to the hotel terrace, and I recreate the famous photo of Anthony Bourdain at an outdoor café. My face is still extraordinarily red.

2:19pm: Lunch begins at Alfonsina. Like the previous night’s dinner, I’m so oversaturated with food and drink that I don’t enjoy this meal, unfortunately. The food is delicious, but I have reached my limit.

7:00pm: Around this time, I down a bag of potato chips and a whole bunch of water at the airport.

10:23pm: Back in Mexico City, we order pozole and flautas from La Casa de Toño and they’re delivered minutes after we arrive back to the Airbnb – perfection.

Saturday 1/25

9:27am: It’s our last day in Mexico, and we endeavor to make it count. We snag the last two open seats at the Puebla Street location of Panaderia Rosetta and share a guava roll, a cardamom roll, a fig croissant, and two cortados. After walking over to see El Ángel de la Independencia monument, we part ways, Leah for the canals of Xochimilco to ride the colorful trajineras (flat-bottomed boats) and me on an Ecobici to cruise by the Monument to the Revolution and Palacio de Bellas Artes.

12:05pm: After a semi-harrowing bike ride and a still-pretty-harrowing-because-we-got-stuck-in-parade-traffic Uber, I finally make it to the destination I have been hoping to reach all week: Mi Compa Chava. This marisquería (seafood restaurant) was thrice recommended by trusted friends and I knew I had to visit. I do what I usually do on vacation, which is to ask the server to send me whatever they or the chef recommend – two dishes. Since this exchange happens in Spanish, I am about 50% sure of what I am getting, which is half the fun, I think.

12:12pm: They bring out a cup of a delicious consommé with lime to start – excellent first sip.

12:20pm: A massive plate of grilled shrimp is placed in front of me. Though initially extremely intimidated, I eventually begin gleefully ripping the meat out of the shells with my fingers, liberally dipping the pieces in salsa macha and green aguachile and shoveling them into my mouth. It is truly one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.

12:23pm: My second dish arrives: a tuna and octopus tostada with avocado. It is equally delicious, expertly balanced between light and rich. I’m so thrilled with the meal that I can barely contain myself from bursting into happy tears.

12:47pm: I buy a bottle of hot sauce for the road, naturally. This is also around the time my cousin starts texting me from Los Angeles, telling me that I need to go to Rosetta and that he can see on Tock that there are reservations available in the mid-afternoon. I push back that I literally just finished lunch but he is insistent, and I make a reservation for 2:45pm.

1:20pm: Quick stop at Grieta for a cortado before I wander through Parque México and Parque España back to our Airbnb to reset.

3:10pm: My first sip at Rosetta: a fizzy and delicious strawberry rye shrub. I am hoping that the carbonation will break up some of the seafood from earlier to make room for more food – wishful thinking.

3:19pm: Beef tongue carpaccio with sorrel sauce and caperberries. I love a salty dish, and this one has excellent variety.

3:38pm: Ricotta and lemon triangoli. I delight in finding that it tastes exactly the way I thought it would: smooth, bright, and creamy.

3:59pm: Some sort of beautifully designed, earthy cacao dessert that my server convinces me that I need. No regrets.

8:19pm: I start dinner at Tr3s Tonalá with a carajillo. I cannot fathom eating any more today but I am hellbent on going out dancing – and the nightclubs don’t open until midnight – so I need to do so. I eat a few chips with salsa and a bowl of chicken, rice, and avocado soup that does seem to have some healing properties.

9:54pm: We walk a bit to Licorería Limantour and I sip a Mr. Shirley Temple (tequila, homemade grenadine, ginger ale & citrus) in the back room and count the minutes until we can go dancing.

10:47pm: We walk over to Bar Félix and I have a vodka martini, for some reason.

1:35am: At Café Paraíso (finally!), I have a Stella Artois and a stout glass bottle of water that I hold in a vise grip while I scream-sing whatever Bad Bunny lyrics I know and learn how to dance cumbia. The perfect conclusion to a beyond perfect trip.

Morgan Golumbuk

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Morgan Golumbuk’s Food Tour of Mexico and Oaxaca