HAMBURG, N.Y.-- If you drive south out of Buffalo far enough, you might eventually (with a strong westward wind) reach Mexico City.
But for this installment of Unique Eats, there is no need to drive that far. We can stop in Hamburg at Mexico City, the restaurant. It is inspired by Mexico City, the region.
"Mexico City was a place that my parents grew up in and it has a lot of different culture between the Aztecs and the Mayans and I definitely want to reflect that and bring that over here," Elder Martinez, owner of Mexico City, said.
Martinez took over the restaurant business from her parents this past fall and opened up Mexico City in Hamburg.
Her goal was to bring flavors and traditions of Mexican dishes to Western New York in a way that she said no other Mexican restaurant here has.
"It's more authentic," Martinez explained. "We have a lot of handmade stuff like picaditas, a handmade corn masa. We also have cricket tacos."
There are cactus tacos and beef tongue tacos, too. The most popular item on the menu is their mole sauce. It's a 30-plus ingredient sauce served over pork or chicken.
"They're like 'OMG. I haven't tasted something like this since I was in California or Mexico,'" Martinez said of restaurant patrons.
Martinez said most of the menu items follow family recipes from generations back. Take the Oaxaca hot chocolate, for example. It is made from chocolate exported straight from Oaxaca, which is a city in Mexico where her mom's side of the family is from.
"We definitely do things from scratch," Martinez said. "And they're homemade. Sometimes it does take longer but that's be cause we put the effort into it. I think we know this is what this area needed and it lacked."
Mexico City is located at 5569 Camp Road in Hamburg. They are open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.