Best Mexican Restaurants Slideshow

In a town full of great Tex-Mex places, Fonda San Miguel stands out for its superbly made "interior Mexican" food, from tacos al pastor and spinach salad with toasted pasilla chiles and panela cheese to Gulf shrimp in chipotle cream sauce and crêpes filled with goat's milk caramel.

Celebrity chef Rick Bayless doesn't want for fans; dine at this Chicago-based Mexican restaurant of his and you'll have a good idea why. The local- and organic-championing chef has a true award winner on his hands here (it took home a James Beard for "Outstanding Restaurant" in 2007), serving real-deal South-of-the-border fare in a casual setting. (He takes the idiom upscale at his Topolobampo, just next door.)