What to Eat in Monterrey: A Guide to Northeastern Mexican Food

Food in northeastern Mexico does not resemble the food of central or southern Mexico. Here it is meat, wheat instead of corn, and fire as the method. If you are visiting Monterrey, this is the short list worth eating.

Cabrito

The city's signature dish. Young goat cooked over coals, traditionally splayed on a rod around an open fire — that is cabrito al pastor, which has nothing to do with the al pastor tacos you may know from central Mexico.

It is ordered by cut, and each one is different:

• Pierna (leg) — the meatiest cut, the safe choice.
• Riñonada (loin/kidney section) — fattier and more flavorful; what people who know order.
• Paletilla (shoulder) — smaller, very flavorful.

It comes with flour tortillas, frijoles charros and salsa. It is expensive relative to other local food, and reasonably so: it takes real work and is an occasion dish.

Machaca con Huevo

The regional breakfast. Dried beef, shredded — machacada, hence the name — scrambled with egg, sometimes with tomato, onion and chile. Served in flour tortillas with beans alongside.

Simple, salty, substantial, and exactly right before a day of walking. If you eat only one traditional dish on your trip, make it this one.

Carne Asada

More a social institution than a dish. Carne asada is what people in Monterrey do on weekends: skirt steak, ribs, chorizo, grilled onions and everything else over charcoal, with flour tortillas and salsa.

You will find it in restaurants everywhere. But if you have access to a kitchen or an outdoor space where you can cook, buying meat at a local butcher and grilling it yourself is a far more authentic — and cheaper — experience than a restaurant.

Frijoles Charros

The standard side. Soupy beans with bacon, chorizo, tomato and chile. They come with nearly everything and are better than they sound.

Flour Tortillas

Worth its own heading because it defines the region: the northeast eats wheat flour tortillas. If you are used to corn, expect the switch. A flour tortilla fresh off the comal, still hot, is one of the great simple things here.

Glorias

The regional sweet. Burnt-milk caramel with pecans, wrapped in colored paper, originally from Linares, Nuevo León. This is the edible souvenir: available in any shop and it travels well.

Others Worth Seeking Out

• Agujas — a beef cut very popular in local carne asada.
• Discada — meat and sausage cooked on a plow disc. Very northern.
• Empalmes — tortillas with beans and cheese, simple and very local.
• Semitas and pan de pulque — traditional northeastern baking.

Where to Eat

Barrio Antiguo — the historic center has a wide range, from traditional cooking to more contemporary kitchens, and it is the nightlife district.

Neighborhood markets and taquerías — where people eat every day. Usually the best value and the best flavor.

Cabrito restaurants — there are long-established places dedicated almost entirely to it. This is where locals take visitors.

One Practical Note

Eating every meal out over a multi-day trip gets tiring and expensive. If your stay includes a kitchenette, the pattern that works best is: breakfast at home with groceries from a local supermarket, a full meal out at midday — when Mexican food is at its best — and something light at home in the evening.

In Guadalupe and the eastern metro there are supermarkets and tortillerías nearby, so stocking up is easy.

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