Castacán

Roma Norte, Mexico City · Mexican · $$

Castacán means 'the heart of the pig' in Yucatec Maya - an apt name for a restaurant that takes the cochinita pibil tradition seriously in a city where the dish has been diluted into fast food. Yucatán cooking draws on Mayan techniques - the pib, an underground oven, gives cochinita its defining smoky depth - and a pantry that barely overlaps with central Mexican cuisine: annatto (achiote), habanero, sour orange, and masa prepared for panuchos and salbutes. Castacán doesn't cut corners on any of it.