Condesa

Sats Craig LaBan: Condesa doesn’t just make tortillas to order, they nixtamalize heirloom corn imported from Mexico in a bath of slaked lime, then grinding it each morning between a molino’s volcanic stones to make fresh masa, the dough destined for the knowing hands of tortilla maestras Selena Alcaide-Campos and Zuany Vasquez. This restoration of handcrafted excellence to some often mundane building blocks is a repeating theme at Condesa. It’s true when you dip into the carousel of colorful salsas and awaken to the diversity of their bright spice, chili-driven fruitiness, and charred notes. It’s true when you reach for the guacamole through a fistful of herbs — papalo, pipicha, hoja santa, cilantro, mint, and tarragon — that evoke the green-garden vibrance of fresh Mexican cooking. It’s true when you dip a crisp, hot churro into the glossy sheen of a chocolate sauce made with house-milled cacao pods from Chontalpa in the state of Tabasco.