Updated May 26, 2026
The highland salad is nopal, not lettuce. Ensaladas from CDMX, Puebla and Tlaxcala: cactus and quelites greens, the fonda's seven-bean and potato salads, the crema-bound coditos and pollo of every fiesta, and the jewel-toned ensalada de nochebuena that anchors the Christmas table.
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Chef Lupita
The highland salad of the central plateau, nopales asados on a comal with tomato, white onion, cilantro, and serrano, dressed in lime and crowned with queso panela. The salad Mexico eats when the rest of the world eats lettuce.
Chef Lupita
A raw quelites salad from the milpas of Puebla and the Valle de Mexico, peppery watercress and succulent purslane over romaine, dressed in a sharp mustard vinaigrette with radish, serrano, and cubes of queso panela.
Chef Lupita
The seven-legume salad of the central highlands fondas, dressed in white vinegar and Mexican oregano, the comida corrida side dish that feeds a family on a budget and tastes better the next day.
Chef Lupita
A cold lentil salad from the comida corrida kitchens of Ciudad de Mexico, sharpened with white vinegar and lime, dressed in chile serrano, raw onion, tomato, and cilantro. Honest weekday food.
Chef Lupita
The cold, creamy elbow pasta salad that sits on every central Mexican Christmas table, bound in crema and mayonesa, sharpened with pickled jalapeño brine, and built to feed a crowd from December 24th to January 6th.
Chef Lupita
The cold potato salad that sits in a glass bowl on every fonda counter in central Mexico, dressed in crema, mayonnaise, and the brine from a can of pickled jalapeños. The plate next to the milanesa.
Chef Lupita
Central Mexico's Christmas Eve potato salad, diced potato and carrot and peas folded into crema and mayonnaise with a little apple, the cold dish that anchors every cena navideña table from Ciudad de México to Querétaro.
Chef Lupita
The crunchy pickled cabbage that lives next to the pozole pot and on top of the tostada. Shredded cabbage, carrot, and thin-sliced jalapeño cured in white vinegar with Mexican oregano. A few hours of patience, weeks of payoff.
Chef Lupita
The chilango chicken salad of every fonda lunch counter in Ciudad de México: shredded poached chicken, potato, carrot, and peas bound in crema and mayonnaise, sharpened with the brine from a can of pickled jalapeños.
Chef Lupita
The weeknight and Lenten ensalada de central Mexican kitchens, flaked tuna folded with corn, carrot, peas, pickled jalapeño, and just enough mayonnaise to bind. Cold, bright, and ready in half an hour.
Chef Lupita
Central Mexico's Christmas Eve centerpiece, layered not tossed. Beet, jicama, orange, apple, tejocote, and Spanish peanuts over romaine, crowned with pomegranate arils and a whisper of canela.
Chef Lupita
The everyday composed plate of the central highlands: cooked beet, crisp jicama, and orange segments with grated carrot, dressed only in lime, salt, and chile piquin. Recetas probadas y garantizadas, and the kind of plate that puts color on a weeknight table without asking for much.
Chef Lupita
The fruit cup of central Mexico. Cold jícama, cucumber, orange, and ripe Manila mango, dressed with lime, salt, and chile piquín until every bite is sweet, sour, salty, and hot in the same mouthful.
Chef Lupita
The cold Christmas salad of central Mexican tables, diced apple and plumped raisins folded into crema and condensed milk with pineapple and nuez de Castilla, finished with pomegranate seeds for the colors of the season.
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