WHY A newly revamped menu inspired by pre-Columbian Mexican cooking.

WHAT La Huasteca has long been Plaza Mexico’s grand stage: sylvan murals, wrought-iron chandeliers, a fully stocked bar. But with a reinvigoration by chef Rocio Camacho (formerly of Moles la Tia), it is charting a new course, one that celebrates ingredients and techniques native to Mexico. This means sublime squash-blossom empanadas, a cactus salad splashed with a tart cactus vinaigrette, and caldo de piedra, a ‘stone soup’ in which a white-hot rock speeds cooking. Many of Camacho’s moles made the move here, including her pistachio and coffee versions, but you should choose the mole de los dioses, a rich, dark-as-tar mole fortified with huitlacoche.

WHO Families from across the Gateway Cities.