WHY For the enormous, flopppy-crusted tlayuda con todo, Oaxaca’s answer to pizza, the red mole and the delicate, delicious Oaxacan-style empanadas filled with things like huitlacoche (a mushroom-like fungus) or flor de calabaza (zucchini flower)—or even chapulines (grasshoppers).

WHAT The vibrant colors inside this strip-mall café hold the promise of equally vibrant cooking, and La Morenita delivers on that promise. A few dishes disappoint, notably the expensive mixed grill and the bland mole amarillo, but most everything else here is richly redolent with the spices and sophistication of good Oaxacan cooking. Don’t miss the coloradito, a red mole that shines with the open-faced enchiladas al gusto.

WHO Mexican-American families and young singles from the neighborhood.