Sinaloa has one of Mexico's most celebrated regional food cultures, and Culiacan is where you eat it at its best. The city's signature dish is aguachile — raw shrimp cured in lime juice with serrano chillies, cucumber, and red onion. Culiacan-style aguachile is searingly hot and deeply flavored. Every seafood restaurant worth visiting has its own interpretation.
Beyond aguachile, look for callo de hacha (pen shell scallops) marinated raw, and chilorio — a Sinaloan pork dish slow-cooked with dried chilies that shows up in tacos and as a breakfast staple. The Mercado Garmendia is the best place to eat cheaply and authentically.