Pujol is what brought me to Mexico City. It put the city’s fine dining on the map, consistently ranking on Restaurant Magazine’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Chef Enrique Olvera combines the traditions of Mexican comfort food with local ingredients and modernist techniques; though I have no Mexican background, I sensed an unmistakable feeling of nostalgia and homecoming in Olvera’s dishes. Pujol’s food, professionalism and friendliness make it a destination restaurant — the kind of place worth jetting off to on a Friday evening for the sole purpose of enjoying one truly excellent meal. Why not? It is so affordable that the whole trip, even with the added cost of airfare and hotel, would probably even out to the cost of a meal at one of New York City’s top restaurants.

On the evening we visited, the tasting menu included a beef tartare, fish taco, barbacoa taco and Pujol’s signature “mother mole” — the mole of all moles. My favorite dishes were the comfort food-themed tacos and mole. Pujol brings traditional flavors to new levels with complexity and refinement.