The Late Shift: Tasting Oaxaca, by Night

Oaxaca’s food scene is really a tale of two cities, both equally delicious. In the morning, a dizzying array of eateries open their doors and vendors pop up, ready to help Oaxacans get their day started off right. But come sundown, things really get interesting, with a whole new crop of stalls and vendors opening up in their place to keep Oaxaca’s culinary parade going. Ask locals and they will tell you: In this city, the eats only truly come out at night.
On this afternoon-into-evening tour, we’ll explore this culinary changing of the guard, tasting our way through some of the city’s best nighttime food spots while also gaining an understanding of their important role in maintaining Oaxaca’s civic life. Along the way, we’ll stroll through historic neighborhoods and public spaces, experiencing a side of the city few visitors get to – day or night.

Our journey begins in Oaxaca’s historic center, just as the night shift of food stalls starts to emerge and a whole new set of aromas begins to fill the air. Our first stop, a vendor outside one of Oaxaca’s main markets, has been serving tortas and tostadas to workers heading home since 1930. Joining the after work crowd, we’ll get a taste of their rightfully famous – and filling – creations. From there, we’ll continue to a new family-run restaurant that has already become a neighborhood staple thanks to its devotion to one of the most elemental of Oaxacan ingredients: Beans, served out of large clay pots. Here we’ll taste a sampler of their homey dishes, which respectfully riff on traditional Oaxacan cooking. Continuing our exploration, we’ll next stop by the small shop of a local woman devoted to all things cacao and chocolate, where we’ll enjoy some of her artisanal creations.

As we make our way through the neighborhood, we’ll visit another iconic streetside business, this one of a family that’s been selling tortillas stuffed with chicken and mole since 1965. Now run by the family’s fourth generation, their stand has become a strategic stop for hungry workers heading for their evening shifts, hungry locals and, of course, people looking to fuel up before getting the party started.

Fueled up ourselves, we’ll next join the locals in a nearby park for one of the most traditional – and satisfying – of Oaxacan street eats, corn in a cup, perfect for strolling while snacking. Cup in hand, our night parade will next take us for an encounter with the heavyweight champ of Oaxacan late-night meals, the tlayuda, a large, thin and crisp tortilla that piled high with a variety of toppings. Like what the taco is to Mexico City, the tlayuda is to Oaxaca – cheap, filling, endlessly customizable – and we’ll visit a local favorite that’s been selling them since 1952. To finish, we’ll taste traditional Oaxacan sweets from a stand in a church courtyard and then sit down for – what else? – a mezcal tasting led by a young master distiller who is one of the few women making the agave spirit. It’s a fitting nightcap to an outing filled with the keepers of Oaxacan culinary traditions and their nocturnal work.