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Mexico City

El Mirador de Chapultepec

Families in the front, partiers in the rear, raw-beef ceviche throughout
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Photo by Jake Lindeman

GO HERE: for a real Mexico City cantina. It’s not the saloon-doored dive bar of gringo fantasies but a nice, brightly lit restaurant where you can also drink to oblivion. El Mirador has been here, just east of Chapultepec Park, since 1904, and still attracts a loyal all-day crowd for its terrific food and attentive, formal service.

ORDER THE: Tribilín, a kind of ceviche of fish, shrimp, and raw beef; caldo de camarón (shrimp broth), puntas Tenancingo (a mix of beef, chorizo, and shrimp); and salt-baked fish. Cantinas aren’t a place for cocktail snobbery: Order tequila and beer or maybe a brandy neat.

THE VIBE IS: two restaurants in one! The family-friendly main restaurant attracts a well-heeled multigenerational neighborhood crowd; the bar area gets more animated. Unlike decades past, women are allowed in the bar area but should expect a lot of good-natured whistling for the first few minutes.

PRACTICAL STUFF: Open Monday to Thursday, 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 1 p.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday, to 7 p.m.