My husband and I came to CDMX on our honeymoon and were somewhat concerned about finding dining options for me, a vegan with celiac disease. Before our trip, I wrote to about ten different vegan restaurants and cafes in the city in Spanish and asked...if it would be safe for me to eat at each place. The owner of La Pitahaya Vegana took the time to reply and answer all of my questions thoroughly. Reassured, I planned for us to make a trip there for lunch on our first day. My husband is an omnivore, but he was so happy that I had a safe place to eat, and he loved the food almost as much as I did, so we ate there four times in a week. The staff were all gracious and kindly answered by questions about ingredients and preparation in Spanish, and some of them also had great English. This place is a treasure for people with special dining needs!
Now, on to the food. We loved the colorful, slightly tangy beet-infused corn tortillas, which were part of nearly everything that we ate. The guacamole is very lovely; it is moderately limey, has black sesame seeds swirled in, and is served with multicolored totopos. On one visit, I had an incredibly delicious plate of enfrijoladas with a peanut-based tomato-y mole and a filling of plantains and black beans (I added the tasty garbanzo chorizo). It was super duper tasty, and I asked a zillion questions about the beans to make sure that they weren’t cross contaminated, but I think that the peanuts were cross contaminated and that meal made me celiac sick. If you don’t have severe gluten intolerance, do yourself a favor and get this dish, because it’s so yummy!
On other visits, I stuck with the tacos, and never had celiac issues. The tofu machaca, mushroom al pastor, curry potato, and nopalitos tacos were so delicately seasoned and very flavorful. My husband could be more adventurous than me, and he heartily enjoyed his various enchiladas rosas with potato purée, enfrijoladas, and tacos. He preferred the enchiladas but loved the other stuff, too. We enjoyed the light, not overly sugary, refreshing natural sodas, and the very intensely vanilla-imbued almond flan was also a delight. The ice cream was great, too.
Dining inside is pleasant and serene - the wood accents and quirky geometric wall planters of succulents brighten the modern interior, which is full of light from the big windows. We dined on the patio on a cool evening and loved people-watching. The clientele is mostly young and hip, and often you will hear English and other languages spoken by the cosmopolitan tourist crowd. The music varies between modern rock and indie when the younger staff is working and more tried-and-true romantic ballads and older pop music at other times. This area of Roma has a lot of great street art, pulquerias, a craft beer shop, boutiques, galleries, etc., so La Pitahaya makes a great place to start your afternoon or evening of fun. We will gladly go back on our next trip to CDMX!More