On sunny afternoons in the sleepy neighborhood of Narvarte, crowds of adults huddle around the glass counter at La Gaspacheria, eyes aglow as they consider possible toppings. While the scene evokes children at an ice cream parlor, the ingredients before them strike the uninitiated as a strange mix. Jicama. Hot sauce. Onion. Cheese. Orange juice. Even among chilangos, who famously love to cram their favorite ingredients together in ever stranger combinations (tortas de chilaquiles and tortas de tamales, for example), the idea of mixing orange juice, mango and raw onion gives pause.

One of our brand new walks in Mexico City ventures into some our favorite cantinas in the city. Come hungry and don't forget to hydrate!

At 2 p.m., the lunch rush begins at El Trapiche, a restaurant along Mexico City’s chaotic Avenida Revolución. Two women arrive from a nearby office and ask for the set lunch menu, comida corrida, that El Trapiche serves for 60 pesos (or around $3.30). “Today we have baleadas,” says Lilian Mendoza Rivera, El Trapiche’s owner and manager. “Is that like a sope?” one of the women asks, referring to a corn-based Mexican dish, also topped with beans. “No, they’re better,” says Lilian, “Try it.”