I’m sitting in a restored 18th-century house in a Mexican mountain village, about to have one of the best lunches of my life. I taste my first bite of picaditas, grilled cornmeal tortillas with raised edges that cradle black bean paste topped with pungent Cotija cheese and two salsas. They’re followed by whole black beans in a rich, herbal broth studded with little cornmeal dumplings. Then a mixed grill: moist, thinly sliced beef, cactus and onion, juicy paprika-laden sausage, chile-marinated chicken, and more picaditas topped with mole sauce. There are also two kinds of chiles rellenos, and a juice made from zarzaparrillas, tart, red berries that taste like hibiscus flowers.

You can’t get Mexican food like this in the States. In fact, you can’t get Mexican food like this in most of Mexico.

I’m in the town of Xico, part of the Sierra Madre Oriental range in Veracruz—the name of both a state on Mexico’s east coast and that state’s largest city. Thanks to centuries of trade through the Veracruz port, the area has some of the most original cuisine in the country—a mix of Afro-Cuban, Mediterranean, and indigenous preparations and ingredients. You’ll find dishes that contain saffron, almonds, capers, and olive oil. There are locally made European-style cheeses and air-cured Serrano hams and sausages. Salsas transcend the norm—some containing mayonnaise or nuts, more like a romesco sauce. Coffee, chocolate, and vanilla are all cultivated in the region. And you’ll find as much tropical fruit as you could wish for.

Best of all, this food paradise is largely undiscovered by American tourists.

My home base for exploring the area is the capital city of Xalapa (or Jalapa), a misty mountain town known as the “Athens of Veracruz.” It’s an enclave of writers, artists, college students, and musicians, with Baroque and Neoclassical architecture and cobblestone streets. At night you can hear top-notch live music, by day visit great museums, and eat, eat, eat. Nearby mountains and forests are gorgeous for hiking and picnicking. Remember the Michael Douglas–Kathleen Turner movie Romancing the Stone? It was filmed here.

At press time, Xalapa (pronounced ha-LAP-a) hadn’t been written about extensively by any major American guidebook (not even Lonely Planet)! But using our guide, you’ll discover the best restaurants, bars, and cultural picks. You’ll also find recommendations for lodging in gorgeous old Spanish mansions (reasonably priced), and ideas for side trips and things to try and buy. A beach vacation à la Cancun this is not. But for an adventure both cultural and gastronomic, read on.

Jon M. “Mick” Vann is a retired professional chef who has been specializing in international cuisine for more than 30 years. He has been a food writer for the Austin Chronicle for nine years, and coauthored a cookbook on international appetizers with Art Meyer titled The Appetizer Atlas: A World of Small Bites. Vann also owns Atlas Culinary Adventures, a company conducting domestic and foreign culinary tours.

BEST TIME TO GO

Although the city of Veracruz gets plenty hot and humid in the summer, Xalapa ranges between 55 degrees and 75 degrees Fahrenheit all year long because of its altitude. Late March to early May is the “warm” season (think highs of 86 degrees), and May to July is the rainy season (it generally rains in the afternoon). If there were least good times to travel here, they might be Easter or Christmas—because many restaurants and stores shut down during these major Catholic holidays—or the more crowded month of July, when Mexicans typically take their own vacations.

Carnaval in Veracruz is one of the largest and craziest outside of Brazil, with more than 3 million (mainly Mexicans) attending the festivities staged along the malecón (sea wall). Six nightly parades begin with the Burning of Bad Humor and end with the Burial of Juan Carnaval. To make the party, book a room very early (a year in advance isn’t a stretch).

You might also plan around three great music festivals. Junio Musical in Xalapa takes place the entire month of June. The Seminario & Encuentro Internacional de Jazz (International Jazz Fest) typically happens in Xalapa in early August—check the website for exact dates. Past performers have included Gal Costa and Branford Marsalis. And in the city of Veracruz in mid-July, the Afrocaribbean Festival put on by the Instituto Veracruzano de Cultura (IVEC) features superb groups from Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and more, as well as crowds, heat, and humidity.

TAKING HOME FOOD AND DRINK

You cannot bring any meats, fresh fruits, or vegetables back into the United States. Two liters of liquor are allowed without additional fees, but they must be in their original labeled bottles, in checked luggage. Sealing of bottles at the producer is woefully inadequate, so we recommend that you carefully seal the caps with duct tape to avoid leakage, pad the bottles securely in bubble wrap, then wrap them inside plastic bags before placing them in your suitcase. Cheese can be imported, but as it will be unrefrigerated for hours, you might want to freeze it the night before, then pack it in bubble wrap for insulation.

Things you might consider buying to bring home: organic vanilla, vanilla beans, coffee beans, liqueurs and cream liqueurs, pulque (a locally made spirit similar to mezcal), tropical fruit jams and preserves, mole pastes, and recados (spice mixtures). All are available at most local markets; organic products are available only at the Ocelote Sunday market (see Xalapa, Markets).

One nonfood item to be on the lookout for is a baseball hat or jersey for the local professional béisbol team, the Xalapa Chileros. The graphics feature a flaming jalapeño chile.

BEST MAPS

Both available from Amazon.com.

Veracruz State and Xalapa City Map
By Ediciones Independencia, $8.95
Includes Veracruz city and state, Xalapa,
Córdoba, Orizaba, Panuco, Poza Rica,
and the El Tajin ruins

Xalapa City Plan
By Guia Roji, $8.95
Includes state of Veracruz

You will probably be staying in this sprawling, industrial port city one night at the most, en route to Xalapa. It’s not a total drag: Veracruz has a charming and lively downtown, especially the main square, where musicians serenade every night and the locals dance. But it is hot, dusty, and steamy, and considered by most to be simply a waypoint. Eat in Boca del Río, the bustling restaurant, club, and hotel zone just south of Veracruz proper, near the mouth of the Río Jamapa, then hang out at one of the cafés on the Plaza de Armas (corner of Av. Independencia and M. Lerdo). Get up early for café lechero (coffee with milk) and the omelet in turkey broth at Gran Café de La Parroquia (Av. Gómez Farías No. 34, 229-932-2584), hit the big food market Mercado Hidalgo (corner of Hidalgo and H. Cortés) early for a viewing before it gets too hot, and hightail it for Xalapa.

Restaurants

Any cabbie, or someone at your hotel desk for that matter, will know where these restaurants are. All three serve excellent seafood—to come to Veracruz and not feast on local fresh seafood would be a serious mistake.

RESTAURANTS

Seafood is usually served only from 1 to 5; seafood restaurants close by 7 p.m. Restaurants that cater to tourists, or comidas internacionales (“international restaurants,” i.e., American, Italian, etc.), will offer some seafood until late into the night, but they are the exception.

Dinner, or cena, is typically a light snack of appetizers like stuffed tortillas, possibly combined with drinks, usually in the company of friends over the course of several hours. Quaffs include beer, cucaracha (coffee, coffee liqueur, and tequila), atole (a warm drink made from masa, cinnamon, sugar, and milk or water), micheladas, sangría, and wine.

Many restaurants are closed on Sunday. Most smaller towns in the area have regular Sunday markets on the edges of their public squares (zócalos), always a good place to find local specialty foods, including produce and food products of outlying villages and farms. The zócalo will also be lined with cafés, among other businesses. It’s best to pay with cash. For the most part, servers are fairly professional and efficient, and a 10 percent tip (propina) is sufficient and customary for good service.

The listings below are based on the quality and freshness of the food, efficiency of service, and value. Most cabbies in town will be familiar with these places. All prices are in U.S. dollars.

∗Indicates that it’s a big favorite of both this author and the locals.

Breakfast

Scattered throughout the neighborhoods are many panaderías (bakeries) that offer fresh, hot, sweet breads, and small corner cafés that offer coffee and fresh-squeezed jugos as an alternative to a sit-down meal. The restaurants listed below serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but are known for their excellent desayunos.

Grilled Meats

These meats are served singly or in combination, and are eaten with black beans and rice, pico de gallo (a relish of onion, tomato, chiles, cilantro, and lime), a squeeze or two of lime juice, assorted salsas, occasionally some grated cheese or some mashed avocado, sometimes a serving of nopales (cactus pad strips), and a stack of homemade tortillas.

Seafood See also Side Trips, Coatepec listings.

You’ll find two styles of seafood dishes in the area: southern, or Veracruz style, and northern or Tamiahua style. There is overlap between the two but also some general differences. Southern tends to use ocean-caught seafood like snapper, grouper, pompano, snook, mojarro (sea bass), squid, shrimp, prawns, and crabs in dishes with Spanish, African, and Caribbean influences. You’ll find paella/risotta-esque dishes (arroz a la tumbada, for instance). A typical fish preparation is snapper with Veracruz sauce, which includes olives, capers, tomatoes, garlic, onion, white wine, jalapeños, pickled güero chiles, cinnamon, clove, and lime. Some dishes incorporate peanuts, sweet potatoes, plantains, and yuca. Vuelve la vida (seafood cocktail) is a popular hangover remedy.

The northern style gets its ingredients from indigenous Olmec, Totonac, and Huastecan people, and relies more on shellfish collected in protected bays and freshwater fish. You’ll find oysters, scallops, crawfish, rainbow trout, mussels, and crabs in these dishes, paired with pipian sauces (thickened and flavored with pumpkin and squash seeds) or made into enchiladas. Camarónes xanath are shrimp cooked with vanilla sauce. Steak de camarón a la naranja is shrimp pressed together to form a “steak” in orange sauce. You’ll find lots of cinnamon, peppercorns, cilantro, epazote, cloves, and cumin spices when eating northern style.

Both styles serve caldo de mariscos, a mixed seafood soup with tomatoes, herbs, and chiles; seafood tortas, patties with egg white folded in, breaded, and fried; steamed shrimp or crab claws served with chipotle aioli; jackfish meatballs in chile broth; and pompano baked in paper and stuffed with onion and tomatoes.

Miscellaneous Other, all-around good joints.

NIGHTLIFE

Whether it’s a solo singer-guitarist doing the standard tearjerker ballads or a full-on band complete with violins, steel drums, and a horn section, live music is a mainstay of the city. Xalapa is a town that appreciates its artists, so there’s a glut of highly skilled musicians. If there is a floor large enough, it will be covered with couples dancing waltzes, cumbias, sambas, trovas, and son jarochos. You’re welcome to give it a try without being made to feel stupid—most of the time. Cover charges are usually cheap, if they are in force at all.

You’ll find students in the discos, but for a laid-back, all-ages scene, we suggest the publike atmosphere of most of the bars and cafés below.

Bars and Cafés

MARKETS

There are three major markets in Xalapa, and Mercado Rotondo is the best. Compact but surrounded by the city’s best fish markets, bakeries, and butcher shops, it’s filled with comida corrida lunch counters for a delicious bite. Mercado Jáureguí is older and more labyrinthine—a place to look, wander, and nibble for hours. The Sundays-only Mercado Ocelote is one of only 12 organic markets in all of Mexico. Besides produce, you can find cheeses, cured sausages, baked goods, mezcal and other liquors, olive oil, honey, soaps, and handwoven clothes colored with organic dyes. Your hotel desk or cabbie should be able to help you find these markets.

Other Attractions

LODGING

The most compelling digs in Xalapa are smaller, boutique-style inns called posadas—converted old colonial houses or a compound of old houses linked by a common courtyard. You can also find plenty of even cheaper places ($15 a night), offering clean basic accommodations with a shared bath. Your best bet is to stay in the central historical district, El Centro, for easy access to music, food, and entertainment. Check to see if the 17 percent bed tax is included in the advertised rate. (If it’s not, you’ll have to figure it in.)

In the hotels listed below, meals are generally not included with the price of the room unless otherwise noted. They all have phones, most have TVs with cable, some have Internet service, and a few have room service and pools, though it’s too cool to want to swim most of the time. Prices listed are the rate for a double.

Hotels

Travel a few miles out of the city in any direction, and you will find that every village has its own culinary surprise. You can hire a car and driver through your hotel for $30 to $50 a day, or else local buses go to each village for just a dollar or two. The cheapest/smartest way to travel would be to rent a car once you get to Veracruz, use it for side trips during the day, and take cabs around Xalapa. If you do this, though, buy maps (see Logistics) before you get to Mexico.

You can make a lovely picnic by buying provisions in Las Vigas and La Joya, then driving toward the towering, snowcapped, 14,000-foot summit of the volcanic Cofre de Perote, also known as Nauhcampatépetl. To do this, take the dirt road leading out of Sierra de Agua (on Highway 140, not far past Las Vigas, to the left). Stop anywhere to eat—it’s all beautiful.

Photograph of ruins by Magnus von Koellerand; photograph of Los Voladores by Robert Valencia