Oaxaca is one of the most exciting food cities in Mexico. The headline dishes are the seven moles — negro, rojo, coloradito, amarillo, verde, chichilo and manchamantel — dense sauces made from chilies, seeds, spices and, in the black mole, chocolate. Beyond mole, look for tlayudas (a crisp foot-wide tortilla layered with beans, cheese and grilled meat), memelas (corn cakes with toppings), chapulines (grasshoppers fried with chili and lime — better than they sound), and whatever street snack appears at the 20 de Noviembre market, where rows of smoky grills offer "meal by the kilo" service. Finish with a mezcal flight; the village distilleries at Santiago Matatlán, 45 minutes east of town, are the source.