Eats at the Condesa Tuesday Market – Mexico City

As luck would have it, we were in Mexico City until Tuesday, which gave us the perfect opportunity to check out the Tuesday Condesa Market (a massive market in Condesa with fresh produce, meat, and lots of food vendors) that I had read about in Good Food in Mexico City. Think your local farmers’ market is impressive? Think again.

Unfortunately, since we were leaving in the evening, we weren’t able to take advantage of the fresh produce. Like these beautiful peppers.

Or the loose huitlacoche (corn smut) sold by the kilo.

And not produce, but these giant, fried slabs of pork skin for easy snacking. Gorgeous.

However, if we hadn’t been, cooking would have been very convenient as a lot of vegetables were being cleaned and prepped for use right at the market.

For example, these cactus pads.

Very convenient indeed.

What we were more interested in anyway were the hot food vendors. We started with some esquites, similar to elote but off the cob and sauteed with chili peppers and butter instead of roasted.

And then served in a cup, but with the same condiments: mayonnaise, chili powder, and cotija cheese. I prefer roasted elote, but esquites does make for an easier, neater snack.

After the corn, I had more corn in bluer, mashed form. I had a blue corn tlacoyo (fried, stuffed masa cake; MXN $14 / USD $1.09) filled with requesón (fresh cheese similar to ricotta) and topped with nopales (prickly pear cactus), tomatoes, onions, and fresh white cheese. Unfortunately, the tlacoyo wasn’t freshly made to order so the texture wasn’t as soft as it could be, but it still made for good, fiilling eats, especially with a few spoonfuls of spicy, red salsa.

A block north, right across the market, we also ran into a tamal vendor on the corner. No surprise there. In the morning, tamal vendors are everywhere in Mexico City. She had two kinds of chicken tamales: verde and mole. We had one of each. I can’t decide which I liked better. The mole was earthy, but the verde was spicy and bright. At less than $2 USD for both, however, there was no need to decide. Next time, I plan to do the same. One of each. I do think the tamal we got in Roma Norte was fluffier, saucier, and had more meat, but marginally so.

We also had a rice atole which tasted like a thin, hot horchata. It could have been thicker, but alongside the hearty tamales, thin was actually nice. One atole was less than $1 USD.

After tamales and atole, David insisted on getting some sweets in the small bakery right in front of the tamal stand. I can see why the tamal lady picked the location. In the bakery, we saw her come in later to buy some bread to make guajolota, tamal sandwiches the locals seem to like. David bought two pastries. The better of the two was a tortilla buñuelo (around $1 USD), a fried wheat tortilla drizzled with piloncillo (unprocessed brown sugar) syrup. The buñuelo wasn’t freshly fried, but it was still crunchy and came covered with lots of syrup.

If you ever find yourself in Mexico City on a Tuesday, definitely stop by the open market in Condesa. We’ll be doing the same. I was too full, but I had my eye on these wonderfully greasy steak platters covered with French fries (yes, French fries!) these two Mexican ladies were tucking into. My kind of women. Which goes to show you, ladies who lunch in Mexico City, much like the markets, are on a whole ‘nother level.

Tuesday Condesa Market (Tianguis Condesa)
Calle Pachuca, from Juan de la Barrera to Veracruz (map)
Mexico City, DF, Mexico

Condesa Bakery
Juan de la Barrera & Pachuca (map)
Mexico City, DF, Mexico