Nicos

Nicos is a family restaurant in Clavería, in the northern borough of Azcapotzalco, that has become a reference point for traditional Mexican cooking. María Elena Lugo Zermeño and her husband Raymundo Vázquez opened it in 1957 as a small neighbourhood café that served only coffee at first, with room for 25 people. The first menu was built on recipes María Elena had learned from her mother and grandmother. In 1996 her son Gerardo Vázquez Lugo gave up his architecture studies and took over as head chef, and the restaurant is still family-run.

The stated aim is to preserve Mexican family food, and the menu reads like a family cookbook. The signature is the sopa seca de natas, a dish that Chilango traces to the Capuchin nuns of the 19th century and that takes eight hours to prepare. Other highlights listed by The World's 50 Best include guacamole made at the table, a goat's cheese soup with wild herbs, and pork marinated in chilli, chocolate and brown sugar. There are moles, enchiladas and enmoladas, tortillas made from heirloom corn, and in season a chile en nogada. A mezcal cart does the rounds of the dining room.

The setting is casual, without white tablecloths or theatrical touches, and the restaurant has a loyal local following. It has been recognised well beyond the neighbourhood. Nicos entered Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants in 2015 and was ranked 31st in 2019, and in 2018 María Elena and Gerardo received the list's lifetime achievement award, the first time two chefs had shared it in the same year. Gerardo also cooked at a gala dinner in Paris supporting the bid for Mexican cuisine to be recognised by UNESCO, which happened in 2010.

According to The World's 50 Best, Nicos serves breakfast and lunch every day and dinner from Thursday to Saturday. You can reserve, or queue at busy times. Breakfast is a good way to experience it, and the restaurant suits curious eaters who want to taste Mexican home-style cooking from a family kitchen. Allow about an hour and a half.

The World's 50 Best describes Clavería as an industrial neighbourhood in the north of the city, some way from the central districts where most visitors stay, so plan your journey in advance. The family has other food projects too, including the Maizajo tortillería and mill, a shop called La Nicolasa and Fonda Mayora in Condesa.