Oaxaca- Moles, Mezcal and so much more! – Two Traveling Dumplings

Falling in love with mezcal is easy in Oaxaca, just ask Tiff! 😄

When the worlds “Oaxaca Mexico” are spoken, it probably evokes images of a land of rich, flavorful molés, smoky mezcals and a place where the people truly have a deep passion for their food…well if that’s what you thought, you wouldn’t be wrong! It’s these magical delights that inspired us to make the trek out to Oaxaca to experience this incredible place for ourselves.

Oaxaca is about a 45 minute flight or 6 hour drive south of Mexico City. If you do make the drive you’ll be rewarded with surreal landscapes that remind you that you’re definitely not in Kansas anymore. Alien dreamscapes of windswept hills dotted with cacti, huge canyons smashing through rocky mountainsides and roads clinging to those same canyon walls make the trip far from dull. At long last you leave the rocky desolation behind as you enter Oaxaca- green and full of the promise of adventures to come.

While still a fairly large city, Oaxaca’s streets feel smaller and more intimate than what you’ll find in big cities like Mexico City or Puebla. With every cobblestoned street, each brightly painted colonial style house and old church, you feel the history of Oaxaca practically radiating from every angle.

Oaxaca is known for its food and for good reason. Oaxacan chefs have an incredible palate of flavors, ingredients and rich culinary history from which to draw from. The markets here overflow with some of the freshest produce we’ve seen on our travels withe everything from herbs like cilantro, epazote and avocado leaves to tomatoes, tomatillos and a rainbow of chiles of every shape, size and spiciness. Fresh Oaxacan cheese is also sold and you’ll find it making a starring appearance in dishes ranging from moles to tlayudas (a toasted tortilla topped with all sorts of ingredients and oaxacan cheese- kind of like a Mexican pizza).

With so many different types of dishes, the question is where do you start?!? Well, you’re in luck because its pretty hard to find a bad meal in Oaxaca, but here our some of our favorite places. Los Danzanates is fantastic restaurant that takes a lot of local dishes and elevates them. One luscious dish is their herba santa- a large soft leaf that stuffed with Oaxacan cheese, grilled then topped with a savory tomato based sauce. Their mole’s are no joke either- they take slow cooked chicken and combine it with savory rice all rising from a pool of their famous yellow mole. The drinks here are also fantastic and if you still have room after your meal, you can go upstairs to their awesome cocktail lounge called Selva.

Another restaurant is Zandunga which specializes in cuisine from the village of Tehuantepec. Their ceviche with fruit is truly unique and its tangy kick will leave you wanting more. Bringing the Oaxacan tradition of tamales to the table, they have a full spread of savory tamales to choose from- our favorite was their eloté (corn) tamale where their slow cooked masa and corn filling creates an amazing blend of savory and sweet. Their full complement of mezcal will also help make the meal that much more memorable.

Bringing up the level again is probably our favorite restaurant- Casa Oaxaca who specializes in bringing some of the most iconic dishes from all over Oaxaca and elevating them to rival any Michelin-rated rated restaurant at home. Their seafood dishes are incredible and their guacamole with chapulinas (crickets) rivals the deliciousness of Azul Condesa’s in Mexico City. One of my favorite dishes was their rack of lamb- marinated with their own spice mix and served with a slow cooked eggplant puree- its mind blowingly tasty.

Now with all that food, its time to get some actives in to burn off all those calories. Fortunately Oaxaca has all manner of activities that you can do. One of the top things to do is see the ruins of Monte Alban- an ancient Toltec city that’s just on the outskirts of Oaxaca City. The Toltec’s took a mountain peak and literally leveled it, building a complex temple city that is really awe inspiring- definitely worth checking out. There’s a lot more to see than that. There are three other activities you can also probably do in one day’s time- El Arbol del Tule (the world’s biggest tree), Hierve el Agues (“frozen” limestone waterfalls and pools) and of course, a mezcal palenque (distillery)!

It was too big for our puny iPhone to fully capture!

The world’s largest tree ( El Arbol del Tule) is about a 25 minute drive outside of Oaxaca and it’s pretty darn impressive. Legend says the tree was planted hundreds of years ago by a famous Aztec priest and its been growing ever since. The thing is huge- not tall mind you but really, really wide. You can find the tree just a few blocks off of the main highway and the cost is like 10 pesos. After leaving the tree, we recommend heading further up the highway to a mezcal palenque. Our favorite one was Palenque Del Amor which had an awesome, detailed tour of just how the deliciousness that is mezcal is made. Did you know the heart of the maguey plant (where mezcal comes from) is sweet and similiar to sugarcane? We didn’t! Here they still follow the old traditions of pit roasting the maguey hearts then grinding them under heavy millstones pulled by horses. The resulting nectar is then fermented, distilled and aged to get all the different flavors of mezcal that they cary. Joven (the youngest mezcal) is aged just a short time in bottles where añejo mezcal is aged in whiskey barrels (here they use Jack Daniels casks). After the tour is done, they have an INCREDIBLE barbecue spread with all sorts of grilled veggies, salsas, guacamole, al pastor (marinated pork), chorizo and carne asada. It helps soak up all the mezcal you’ll be drinking.

Finally after this tasting, make your way just a bit further down the highway to Hieve el Agua. These fascinating waterfalls are high in calcium and over the millennia, its caused them to look like they’re “frozen”- kind of like stalactites in caves. There are several springs that feed these falls that bubble with carbon dioxide- you can even bathe in them and get an Instagram influencer worthy pic 🙂

Now you ask “how do you get to these places”? Well the option that has the most flexibility is renting a car which we did. There are a number of rental places in the city- just know that Mexican car rental laws are pretty strict about insurance so they may try and shake you down hard to buy their insurance. If you’re just using it for a day its not too bad but we recommend shopping around. Another option is there are countless tour agencies which will offer you package deals that range in price from 20 bucks on up. Be sure to check and see if the agency is reputable and has nice transport. Hierve el agua is about 1 1/2 hours each way from Oaxaca so plan accordingly.

Now being surrounded by all this amazing food may incite you to learn how to make some of it yourself- we certainly felt that way! We took a fantastic cooking class with La Cocina Oaxaqueña. They picked us up early in order to make it to the market (8:30 am- not exactly fun vacation time but it was wroth it). Chef Rodrigo took us to his favorite stands and showed us how to pick the right produce, herbs, masa for tortillas and meat. We then went back to his amazing cooking studio in his house and together we learned how to make amazing guacamole, sopa Azteca (kind of like a vegetable forward tortilla soup), tlayuda (mexican pizzas) and a mole. We can’t wait to make these at home!

And with all that eating, cooking and adventuring- our time in Oaxaca was full. We loved Oaxaca so much we ended up coming back a second time on our trip and it just further solidified how much we loved the place- we know you’ll feel the same.

You can find all of of our favorite places on this Google map which includes our suggestions and comments. Have any questions about Oaxaca? We’re here to help! Come with an open mind and hungry tummy- you won’t be disappointed!