diff --git a/arraycontext/container/traversal.py b/arraycontext/container/traversal.py
index 78eab3b711f89a73d058dff93e02d60cbf48fbae..badb7d6052026dcacc2a6ec2e2f267bf5f58ef2c 100644
--- a/arraycontext/container/traversal.py
+++ b/arraycontext/container/traversal.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ import numpy as np
 
 from arraycontext.context import ArrayContext
 from arraycontext.container import (
-        ContainerT, ArrayOrContainerT, is_array_container_type,
+        ContainerT, ArrayOrContainerT,
         serialize_container, deserialize_container)
 
 
@@ -117,12 +117,21 @@ def _multimap_array_container_impl(
         specific container classes. By default, the recursion is stopped when
         a non-:class:`ArrayContainer` class is encountered.
     """
+
+    # {{{ recursive traversal
+
     def rec(*_args: Any) -> Any:
         template_ary = _args[container_indices[0]]
-        if (type(template_ary) is leaf_cls
-                or not is_array_container_type(template_ary.__class__)):
+        if type(template_ary) is leaf_cls:
             return f(*_args)
 
+        try:
+            iterable_template = serialize_container(template_ary)
+        except TypeError:
+            return f(*_args)
+        else:
+            pass
+
         assert all(
                 type(_args[i]) is type(template_ary) for i in container_indices[1:]
                 ), f"expected type '{type(template_ary).__name__}'"
@@ -130,9 +139,10 @@ def _multimap_array_container_impl(
         result = []
         new_args = list(_args)
 
-        for subarys in zip(*[
-                serialize_container(_args[i]) for i in container_indices
-                ]):
+        for subarys in zip(
+                iterable_template,
+                *[serialize_container(_args[i]) for i in container_indices[1:]]
+                ):
             key = None
             for i, (subkey, subary) in zip(container_indices, subarys):
                 if key is None:
@@ -146,13 +156,36 @@ def _multimap_array_container_impl(
 
         return process_container(template_ary, result)     # type: ignore[operator]
 
-    container_indices: List[int] = [
-            i for i, arg in enumerate(args)
-            if is_array_container_type(arg.__class__) and type(arg) is not leaf_cls]
+    # }}}
+
+    # {{{ find all containers in the argument list
+
+    container_indices: List[int] = []
+
+    for i, arg in enumerate(args):
+        if type(arg) is leaf_cls:
+            continue
+
+        try:
+            # FIXME: this will serialize again once `rec` is called, which is
+            # not great, but it doesn't seem like there's a good way to avoid it
+            _ = serialize_container(arg)
+        except TypeError:
+            pass
+        else:
+            container_indices.append(i)
+
+    # }}}
+
+    # {{{ #containers == 0 => call `f`
 
     if not container_indices:
         return f(*args)
 
+    # }}}
+
+    # {{{ #containers == 1 => call `map_array_container`
+
     if len(container_indices) == 1 and reduce_func is None:
         # NOTE: if we just have one ArrayContainer in args, passing it through
         # _map_array_container_impl should be faster
@@ -167,9 +200,15 @@ def _multimap_array_container_impl(
                 wrapper, template_ary,
                 leaf_cls=leaf_cls, recursive=recursive)
 
+    # }}}
+
+    # {{{ #containers > 1 => call `rec`
+
     process_container = deserialize_container if reduce_func is None else reduce_func
     frec = rec if recursive else f
 
+    # }}}
+
     return rec(*args)
 
 # }}}
diff --git a/arraycontext/impl/pytato/compile.py b/arraycontext/impl/pytato/compile.py
index a7e74bd3a1628897b2f86c59a968313cfbd5572f..a772a85a5705793dc3313131cf19add769d8dd3f 100644
--- a/arraycontext/impl/pytato/compile.py
+++ b/arraycontext/impl/pytato/compile.py
@@ -28,10 +28,9 @@ OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
 THE SOFTWARE.
 """
 
-from arraycontext.container import ArrayContainer
+from arraycontext.container import ArrayContainer, is_array_container_type
 from arraycontext import PytatoPyOpenCLArrayContext
-from arraycontext.container.traversal import (rec_keyed_map_array_container,
-                                              is_array_container_type)
+from arraycontext.container.traversal import rec_keyed_map_array_container
 
 import numpy as np
 from typing import Any, Callable, Tuple, Dict, Mapping
@@ -162,8 +161,8 @@ def _get_f_placeholder_args(arg, kw, arg_id_to_name):
         def _rec_to_placeholder(keys, ary):
             name = arg_id_to_name[(kw,) + keys]
             return pt.make_placeholder(name, ary.shape, ary.dtype)
-        return rec_keyed_map_array_container(_rec_to_placeholder,
-                                                arg)
+
+        return rec_keyed_map_array_container(_rec_to_placeholder, arg)
     else:
         raise NotImplementedError(type(arg))