What do Mexican foodies eat?

It is a blisteringly hot day in Oaxaca, the gastronomic capital of southern Mexico, and the brightly hued streets are quiet with lazy dogs and closed shutters. However, Pitiona, a smart but simple restaurant located in a restored colonial house on 5 de Mayo St., is still abuzz from a late-lunch crowd. Bottles of aged mezcal are lined up behind the bar—this is the home of the distilled, smoky agave spirit after all—and some are being passed around.

Run by chef José Manuel Baños Rodríguez, who worked at El Bulli in 2007 before returning to his hometown, Pitiona (www.pitiona.com) takes traditional Mexican dishes and adds its own modern refinements, while also incorporating pre-Columbian ingredients.

Small ceramic spoons carry delicate foam that conceals ants lightly fried in chili. A salad arrives smoking, with the curls forming around crisp lettuce leaves and tomatoes. The aroma of chipotle emanates from a steaming bowl of black-bean soup, as spheres of string cheese explode in the mouth. Pork comes with a rich chichilo mole, in which the sauce ingredients have been gently charred, lending it an earthiness. For dessert, a chocolate tortilla comes cigar-shaped, concealing xoconostle (a type of cactus) marmalade.

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