A 35cm crisp-charred corn tortilla smeared with asiento and black bean paste, layered with Oaxacan stringy cheese, lettuce, avocado, and grilled tasajo or cecina.
Where to eat it: 12 restaurants across 3 cities.
Tlayuda is a Zapotec dish from the Valles Centrales of Oaxaca, where the giant thin tortilla was originally a travel ration for traders. Mexico City adopted the tlayuda through Oaxacan migration in the 1980s and 90s; specialist Oaxacan restaurants opened in Roma Sur, Condesa and the Centro Historico. The toppings break into three traditional meats: cecina enchilada (chilli-cured pork), tasajo (cured beef), and chorizo. La Ventana del Ticuchi (chef Enrique Olvera, 2019) introduced the vegetarian quelites tlayuda. Best places to eat: Mercado Medellin Oaxacan stalls, Guzina Oaxaqueña in Polanco.
Common allergens: Dairy
Tip from the editors. Real asiento (unrefined pork lard with crispy bits) is the make-or-break ingredient; if unavailable mix lard with finely chopped chicharron.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
The Lopez family's Guelaguetza in Koreatown, Los Angeles has cooked Oaxacan moles, tlayudas and clayudas for the city since 1994. A James Beard winner.
Signature: Mole negro, Tlayuda
Order: Mole negro over chicken, and a tlayuda to share.
Tip: The Lopez family runs a moles-by-the-jar takeaway out the side door; carry one home on the plane.
Mercado La Paloma near USC, Los Angeles is a 1940s textile factory turned community food hall, with Chichen Itza, Sarita's Pupuseria and Holbox under one.
626 Night Market in Arcadia, Los Angeles County runs the largest Asian-American night market in the country, weekends June through September. 250 vendors.
Chef Gilberto Cetina's Chichen Itza in Mercado La Paloma, Los Angeles serves Yucatecan dishes from a market counter. At 3655 S Grand Ave. Booking recommended.
Why locals love it: Yucatecan cooking from a counter inside a market most tourists pass by. The cochinita pibil panuchos cost less than $12 and are the city's reference.
Tip: Closes at 17:00 daily, no dinner; come at 12:30 weekdays when there is no line and the cochinita has just come off the rotisserie.
Mercado Medellin in Mexico City is the Roma Sur Latin American import market on Campeche, the pan-Latin grocery hall with Cuban, Colombian and Argentine.
Tlayudas Libres on Calle de Los Libres opens at 21:00 and runs to 03:00 with wood-fire tlayudas, tasajo and quesillo, the canonical Oaxaca late-night stop.
Try: Tlayuda
Tlayudas Las Animas on Mariano Matamoros 203 runs Thursday-Saturday 18:00-23:30 near Carmen Alto, quieter than the Libres stand just blocks away.
Try: Tlayuda
Itanoni in Reforma serves the Oaxacan breakfast canon from 07:00 daily: memelas with frijol, tetelas with hierba santa and a chocolate or atole de granillo.
Order: Memelas with frijol and quesillo, atole
Tierra del Sol on Reforma is Olga Cabrera's three-floor Oaxaca room, named Mexico's Restaurant of the Year for 2026, with a rooftop comal of tetelas.
Tip: Skip the prix fixe and graze through the rooftop comal section; the chichilo and mole amarillo are the headlines.
Ancestral in Xochimilco is the thatched-roof grove on Lopez Alavez, well away from Centro tourist flow, with the seven-moles tasting platter as the headline.
Why locals love it: In Barrio de Xochimilco, the weaving quarter most tourists never reach; thatched-roof grove.
Tip: Take a taxi (the Lopez Alavez block is a steep climb); book the moles tasting for two.
Levadura de Olla in Oaxaca is Thalia Barrios Garcia's Garcia Vigil room, Mexico's first regional Michelin star (2024, retained 2025) on the Andador.
Tip: Reservations open one month out on the website and disappear within hours; the Sierra Sur tasting menu (six courses) lands around $1,800 pesos.
Almu is the open-air room in San Martin Tilcajete (alebrijes village), an open-fire kitchen of memelas, enmoladas and tlayudas in the 2025 Michelin Guide.
Tip: Lunch only, from 1pm; the menu is handwritten daily on butcher paper. Allow an hour from the centro by taxi.
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