A long weekend lunch in the countryside is a hallowed tradition for residents of Oaxaca City, and Luz de Luna makes an ideal escape. Located in the village of San Andrés Huayapam about 20 minutes east of the city, this charming indoor-outdoor restaurant with views of Oaxacan foothills started life in 2012 as a traditional comedor famed for its hearty breakfasts. A few years ago, though, its matriarch and chef, Micaela Ruiz Martinez, and her son, Pavel Nieto, decided to get a little creative. “Now we are a village restaurant 2.0,” Nieto says with a laugh.
A good place to start your long boozy lunch is at the bar where Nieto practices his inventive mixology. A cocktail called Huayapan involves burnt pineapple, Mixtecan juniper, and whiskey from the cult local brand Maiz Nation; another concoction blends cranberry, ginger, and the excellent mezcal produced by the owners. After a bar snack—a masa tetela, say, filled with a pesto of wild foraged greens called quelites—move to the dining room proper, charming with its straw baskets hanging above wooden tables and colorful displays of work by Oaxacan artists.
The self-taught Dona Micaela is a talented cook who likes a little adventure. She might purée maiz criollo (heirloom corn) into a creamy bright-yellow hummus, which she highlights with quelites oil, or serve meaty smoked eggplant with a dusky mole of chile chilhuacle and a plantain emulsion spiked with mezcal.
Her best dishes often take anthropological turns and feature Oaxaca’s edible insects. Brace yourself for a taco of avocado and deep-fried caterpillars called pochocuiles, or a pork shank braised in a rich spicy sauce that gets its special funky umami from winged ants called hormigas. Desserts like panna cotta of tart Mixtec plums bring you back to the comfort zone.