Quintonil

Last updated

Quintonil
Quintonil (logo).svg
Quintonil Exterior.jpg
The restaurant's entrance
Quintonil
Restaurant information
Established9 March 2012 (2012-03-09)
Owner(s)
  • Alejandra Flores
  • Jorge Vallejo
Manager(s)Alejandra Flores [1] : 19:10–19:25 
Head chefJorge Vallejo [1] : 19:10–19:25 
Food type Mexican
Dress codeNone (business casual preferred) [2]
Rating Etoile Michelin-2.svg ( Michelin Guide , 2024)
Street addressNewton 55, Polanco, Miguel Hidalgo
City Mexico City
Postal/ZIP Code11550
CountryMexico
Coordinates 19°25′51.2″N99°11′30.4″W / 19.430889°N 99.191778°W / 19.430889; -99.191778
Seating capacity42 [3]
ReservationsYes [4]
Website https://quintonil.com/en

Quintonil is a contemporary Mexican cuisine restaurant in Polanco, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City. It is owned by the couple Jorge Vallejo and Alejandra Flores. Quintonil started as a daily menu restaurant and progressed to fine dining. The restaurant focuses on herbs and vegetables that are uncommon to taste in dishes. It has à la carte options and a nine-course tasting menu.

Contents

The British magazine Restaurant has continuously ranked Quintonil on its list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants since 2016. Quintonil was awarded two Michelin stars in 2024 in the first Michelin Guide covering restaurants in Mexico, becoming the highest rating in the country, tying with Pujol, also in Polanco. [5]

Description

Quintonil offers both à la carte and a nine-course tasting menu selections that change seasonally; [6] [7] diners can pay an additional fee for wine pairing. [8] [2] Fruits and vegetables are brought from Milpa Alta and Xochimilco, in Mexico City, and the neighboring states of Hidalgo and the State of Mexico. Pork meat is imported from Michoacán and Yucatán; [3] beef from Durango, and fish from Baja California. [9]

Dishes include common ingredients like beans, squash, various chiles, and mushrooms, as well as unconventional components like quintonil or "heirloom vegetable and herbal varieties", as described by Afar ; [7] there are a few dishes with beef. [10] Plates like huauzontles and chilacayote mole have been served since its inauguration. [4] A variation of the Mole Madre sold at Pujol is also found in the menu. [8] The wine menu is mainly European, with Mexican variants, as well as Mexican beverages such as mezcal. [10] The restaurant also had an Entomophagy Festival, where insects were the main dish. [11]

The restaurant has space for 42 people; [3] there is no mandatory dress code but business casual is commonly seen, and reservations are required. [2] [4]

History

Jorge Vallejo dropped out of high school and studied gastronomy at the Centro Culinario Ambrosía. [3] He trained in the restaurant Noma, in Copenhagen, Denmark. [1] : 2:00–2:15  He met manager Alejandra Flores while both worked at Pujol in 2009, a restaurant in Polanco, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City, and they became a couple. [3]

The couple left Pujol in 2011 and they chose to open a restaurant with a "family concept" in which, according to them, diners are welcomed into their homes like friends—they even lived on the second floor of the restaurant for five years. [3] [12] They named the restaurant Quintonil, a type of amaranth, [13] and it opened in Polanco on 9 March 2012 with a limited budget after obtaining a loan. [3] [14] [15] It has volcanic stone floors and wood and mirrored walls. [9] Initially, it was a restaurant with cheaper menú del día options but gradually transformed into a fine dining business. [1] : 19:30–22:00 

For Quintonil's tenth anniversary in 2022, Vallejo and Flores invited international chefs, like Dominique Crenn and Julien Royer, to contribute to the menus with their reimaginings of Quintonil's recipes. [14] [16]

Reception and recognition

Tiffany Yannetta recommended the tasting menu for The Infatuation , labeling it as entertaining and highlighting the Entomophagy Festival, and suggested trying the restaurant's experiments like the bluefin tuna with frozen wasabi powder. [8] Adrián Duchateau wrote for Afar that Quintonil takes infrequent vegetables and herbs "as part of the progressive and sustainable eating program it so elegantly advocates". [7] Scarlett Lindeman said it represented a new wave Mexican cuisine movement and it is a "place to impress that's not Pujol". [10]

A writer for Bon Appétit suggested sampling as many dishes as possible because Quintonil presents them uniquely even if the diner is already familiar with them. [17] Leslie Yeh from Lifestyle Asia praised the cooking style, ingredients and the restaurant's ambient. [18] On their selection of the top twenty-three restaurants in Mexico City, Time Out placed Quintonil at number nine. [19]

Awards

Restaurant has ranked Quintonil on its World's 50 Best Restaurants lists multiple times: at number 7 (2024), [20] 9 (2022 and 2023), [21] [22] 11 (2018), [23] 12 (2016), [24] 22 (2017), [25] 24 (2019), [26] and 27 (2021). [27] There was no list in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food industry. [28] For the 2023 edition, Restaurant added, "Quintonil is the setting for chef Jorge Vallejo's boundary-pushing Mexican cuisine and his wife Alejandra Flores' remarkable hospitality. Focused on fresh, local produce and traditional Mexican [flavors] and techniques weaved into modern preparations, it is fast becoming a classic". [29]

Michelin Guide debuted in 2024 in Mexico. It rewarded 18 restaurants with Michelin stars. Quintonil and Pujol received two stars each—meaning "excellent cooking, worth a detour"—and tied for the highest number of stars received in the country. The guide added that "[t]he elegant cuisine is an enticing melding of excellent local product, impressive execution, and great creativity to produce refined compositions". [30]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Franco, Alejandro (28 July 2021). "La historia de Quintonil y de Jorge Vallejo" [The story of Quintonil and Jorge Vallejo]. W Radio (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 14 June 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "Quintonil". Bloomberg Línea . 31 March 2023. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "México como epicentro gastronómico" [Mexico as a gastronomic epicenter]. Líderes (in Spanish). 4 October 2022. Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Sorondo, Xavier (2 May 2017). "Quintonil". Viajero Ejecutivo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  5. ↑ Latham, Tori (15 May 2024). "Mexico Finally Has a Michelin Guide—Here Are the First 18 Restaurants to Earn Stars". Yahoo! . Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  6. ↑ "Quintonil, un restaurante joven con mucha tradición" [Quintonil, a young restaurant with plenty tradition]. Tour Magazine (in Spanish). 3 November 2017. Archived from the original on 24 February 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 Duchateau, Adrián. "Quintonil". Afar . Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 Yannetta, Tiffany (2 May 2024). "Quintonil". The Infatuation . Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  9. 1 2 Marcial Pérez, David (7 September 2016). "El cocinero de las buenas hierbas" [The cook of good herbs]. El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 Lindeman, Scarlett. "Quintonil". Condé Nast Traveler . Archived from the original on 22 January 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  11. ↑ Sajovic, Kaja (30 March 2024). "Quintonil, il gourmet che ha fatto scoprire al mondo l'alta cucina messicana" [Quintonil, the gourmet who introduced the world to Mexican haute cuisine]. Reporter Gourmet (in Italian). Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  12. ↑ Orsini, Mariana (16 April 2019). "Quintonil: siete años de cocina mexicana" [Quintonil: seven years of Mexican food]. Revista María Orsini (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  13. ↑ "10 años de Quintonil se festejan con chefs de todo el mundo" [10 years of Quintonil are celebrated with chefs from around the world]. Travesías (in Spanish). 11 March 2022. Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  14. 1 2 Carrasco, Carlos (12 January 2022). "El restaurante Quintonil cumple 10 años" [Quintonil restaurant celebrates 10 years]. Gentleman (in Spanish). Excélsior. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  15. ↑ Ochoa Huerta, Claudio (18 May 2024). "El hombre Michelin" [The Michelin Man]. El Universal (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  16. ↑ Flores Zequera, Kimberly (28 June 2022). "Quintonil Diez: una cena con el chef Julien Royer" [Quintonil X: a dinner with chef Julien Royer]. El Universal. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  17. ↑ "Quintonil". Bon Appétit . Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  18. ↑ Yeh, Leslie (18 September 2018). "6 restaurants not to miss when you visit Mexico City". Lifestyle Asia . Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  19. ↑ Barberena, Regina (30 October 2019). "The 23 best restaurants in Mexico City". Time Out . Archived from the original on 21 February 2024. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  20. ↑ Cripps, Karla (6 June 2024). "World's best restaurant for 2024 revealed". CNN. Archived from the original on 6 June 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  21. ↑ O'Hare, Maureen (19 July 2022). "World's best restaurants for 2022 revealed". CNN . Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  22. ↑ Canavan, Hillary Dixler (20 June 2023). "The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2023: The Full List of Winners". Eater. Archived from the original on 5 October 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  23. ↑ Sutton, Ryan; Canavan, Hillary Dixler (19 June 2018). "The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2018: The Full List of Winners". Eater. Archived from the original on 15 December 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  24. ↑ Sutton, Ryan (13 June 2016). "The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2016: The Full List of Winners". Eater. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  25. ↑ Sutton, Ryan; Canavan, Hillary Dixler (5 April 2017). "The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2017: The Full List of Winners". Eater. Archived from the original on 23 February 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  26. ↑ Canavan, Hillary Dixler; Sutton, Ryan (25 June 2019). "The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2019: The Full List of Winners". Eater. Archived from the original on 28 November 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  27. ↑ Canavan, Hillary Dixler; Sutton, Ryan (5 October 2021). "The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2021: The Full List of Winners". Eater. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  28. ↑ Burton, Monica (25 June 2019). "World's 50 Best Restaurants 2020: News, winners, and updates". Eater. Archived from the original on 28 November 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  29. ↑ Paredes, Ingrid (20 June 2023). "The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2023: the list in pictures". Restaurant . Archived from the original on 29 March 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  30. ↑ "Quintonil". Michelin Guide . Archived from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
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