Best Restaurants & Bars in Oaxaca
YOUTUBE HIGHLIGHT
After three weeks of eating and drinking our way through Oaxaca, we are ready to share our favorites! Of the dozens of restaurants and bars we tried, we highlight the best restaurants in Oaxaca in our YouTube video above. We also share our insights on where to find an incredibly well-priced Airbnb and the colorful handmade crafts called alebrijes. Be sure to stick around until the end when we both reveal our top pick for the best restaurant and the best bar in Oaxaca! If you cannot wait, then skip ahead for our full list of favorites!
Oaxaca cuisine is as varied as the climates and mix of peoples who call the state home. Some of the most well known products include Oaxaca cheese, chocolate, and of course, mezcal. Mezcal is produced from the agave plant like its more famous export: Tequila. We love substituting mezcal for tequila in our margaritas or negronis, and mezcal is gaining popularity both in Mexico and abroad. There is a saying in Oaxaca, "Para todo mal, mezcal, para todo bien, también."
- – And extremely wise person
Oaxaca is also the land of seven moles which are prepared with a variety of chili peppers like pasillas Oaxaqueños and herbs like pitiona. We quickly began to recognize both of these ingredients on menus or in a table side explanations. We also noted the omnipresence of grasshoppers or chapulines everywhere from the artwork in our room to ingredients on menus at the city’s top restaurants. Locals say if you eat grasshoppers, at some point you will return to Oaxaca, so why not?
Insert drumroll. Here is the full list of our favorites, the best restaurants and bars in Oaxaca:
- 1. Chepiche Café – Our ‘go to’ breakfast
- 2. Boulenc – Amazing bakery-cafe
- 3. Vaca Marina – Best Negroni
- 4. Catedral – Classic lunch spot
- 5. Tierra del Sol – Gorgeous rooftop
- 6. Casa Oaxaca – Foodie staple
- 7. Pitiona – Best lunch with a view
- 8. Los Danzantes – Our top pick for best restaurant
- 9. El Destilado – Best dinner at the bar
- 10. Selva – Our top pick for best cocktail bar
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Hi! We're Two Gay Expats
Let's travel!
Let's travel!
Hola amigos and welcome to our gay travel blog! We are Andy and Trai, a gay couple traveling the world with PRIDE 🌈 …and our rescue dog, Pattie!
After meeting in San Francisco in 2018 and later moving to Chicago, we decided to quit our jobs in 2021, sell everything, and become Two Gay Expats!
If you’d like to follow our adventures, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and add us on social media using the links below. We’d also love to hear from you and meet up if we’re in your city!
❤️ Andy + Trai