Food

What to eat

Cholula shares Puebla’s kitchen, which is one of the best in Mexico. You are 15 minutes from the home of mole poblano, chiles en nogada and cemitas, and all of it turns up here too.

• Mole poblano — the dark, chocolate-and-chile sauce over turkey or chicken. The regional dish worth planning a meal around.
• Chiles en nogada — stuffed poblano peppers in walnut cream, seasonal around late summer and early autumn. If it is on the menu in season, order it.
• Cemitas — the big sesame-seed sandwich stuffed with milanesa, avocado, quesillo and chipotle. Cheap and filling.
• Tacos árabes — Puebla’s spit-roasted pork on pita-like bread, a regional specialty. Cholula’s late-night stands do them well.
• Chalupas and other antojitos — small, fried, cheap street snacks for grazing.

Where to eat

The San Pedro market is where locals eat everyday food: comida corrida, fresh juices and antojitos at stall prices, roughly 60 to 120 pesos for a full plate (approximate). Best at breakfast or lunch.

The arcade restaurants on San Pedro’s zócalo are pricier and more about the setting — fine for a coffee, a beer and the view, less essential for the food itself.

The San Andrés bar and taco streets near the universities are the move after dark: cheap tacos, cemitas and beer, mostly in the 20-to-80-pesos-per-item range (approximate).

What a friend would tell you: eat your sit-down mole in Puebla if you have the time, and treat Cholula as taco-and-market territory.