Gourmet visitors to Mexico City now have three of the “World’s Top 50 Restaurants” to choose from for their dining pleasure. In this year’s list, sponsored by S. Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, standout eatery Pujol rose four places to 16th place, while Quintonil entered at 35th and Biko 37th.
Pujol’s Enrique Olvera studied at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. Says theworlds50best.com: “He developed his passion for food at his grandparents’ pastry shop and now pays homage to the indigenous cookery of Mexico, employing modern techniques and native ingredients to recreate ancient dishes and invent new ones that showcase unusual flavor combinations. You won’t find foie gras or caviar on the menu, but there is huitlacoche, a corn fungus, as well as powdered ants in the first courses dedicated entirely to street-food snacks.”
Every one of Olvera’s dishes is “perfectly curated to the very last detail, with each individual flavor distinctly exposed and emphasized,” the site says.
Olvera also operates Moxi in San Miguel de Allende’s Hotel Matilda, Playa del Carmen’s Maiz de Mar and his latest venture, Cosme, in New York.
In addition, his first English-language book comes out in October. “Mexico from the Inside Out” will include some 65 recipes, each with an elegant photograph, from the sophisticated dishes served at Pujol to more accessible casual dishes that he enjoys with his family at home.
Quintonil chef Jorge Vallejo “focuses on fresh seasonal ingredients, forgotten herbs and grains, and indigenous produce. Though meat is a feature on the tasting menu, Vallejo aims to highlight the value of fruit and vegetables, as much for their flavor as for their nutritional value. Dishes on the tasting menu include huazontles, a green vegetable that vaguely resembles broccoli, with Chiapas cheese and red tomato, and nopal cactus snow.”
Meanwhile, Biko “showcases the best of both Mexico and Spain by combining flavors and textures, Biko presents a dazzling repertoire, while also focusing on fun. Foie gras candy floss and geometrical milk origami break down culinary barriers, for example, while the humble cauliflower is given a new lease of life as a truffled soup topped with radish pickles and olive spheres.”