Quintonil

Quintonil
The restaurant's wordmark mixing a letter Q with a leaf
The entry consists of a glass door.
The restaurant's entrance in 2016
Map
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 typeMexican
Dress codeNone[2]
Rating2 Michelin stars (Michelin Guide, 2024)
Street addressNewton 55, Polanco, Miguel Hidalgo
CityMexico City
Postal/ZIP Code11550
CountryMexico
Coordinates19°25′51.2″N 99°11′30.4″W / 19.430889°N 99.191778°W / 19.430889; -99.191778
Seating capacity42[3]
ReservationsYes[4]
Websitequintonil.com/en

Quintonil is a contemporary Mexican restaurant in Polanco, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City. Owned by couple Jorge Vallejo and Alejandra Flores, Quintonil started as a menú del día restaurant and progressed to fine dining. With à la carte options and a nine-course tasting menu, the restaurant focuses on using herbs and vegetables that are uncommon in dishes.

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-rated restaurant in the country and tying with the Mexican restaurant Pujol.

Description

Quintonil offers both à la carte[5] and a nine-course tasting menu selections[6] that change seasonally;[7] diners can pay an additional fee for wine pairing.[2][5] Fruits and vegetables are sourced 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][8] beef from Durango, and fish from Baja California.[9]

Dishes are made with common ingredients like beans, squash, various chiles, and mushrooms, as well as non-traditional ingredients like quintonil or "heirloom vegetable and herbal varieties"; a few dishes use beef.[7][6] Dishes, including huauzontles and chilacayote mole, have been served since its establishment.[4] A variation of the Mole Madre sold at Pujol is also available.[5] Quintonil serves European wine variants and has Mexican beverages such as mezcal, local vintages, and artisanal beer.[6] In 2024, the restaurant held an Entomophagy Festival, where insects were the main dish.[10]

The restaurant has volcanic stone floors and wood and mirrored walls.[9] It has space for 42 people,[3] and there is no mandatory dress code.[2][4]

  • Some edible herbs with cheese served over tomatoes. A waiter covers them with a sauce.
    Lightly toasted Mexican herb salad with Cotija cheese and grilled tomatoes
  • Shrimp covered and topped with coconut and guava
    Shrimp cocktail with coconut and guava
  • A cheese soup seasoned with herbs.
    Oaxacan string cheese soup, fried pork belly, and plantain
  • A slice of fish accompanied by a portion of pineapple puree and garnished with cilantro and onion.
    Catch of the day with burned chipotle chili, pumpkin, and pineapple purée, with coriander
  • A slice of meat covered with a sauce, onion, and herbs.
    Braised brisket wagyu beef and pulque, corn and dried chili demi-glace
  • A slice of squash covered with a sauce and garnished with basil sprouts and a tortilla chip.
    Chilacayote mole with charred tortilla and basil sprouts
  • A sorbet with plums and vanilla rice pudding
    Vanilla rice pudding, seasonal plums, orange and thyme sorbet
  • A slice of flan accompanied with a birthday candle.
    Flan
  • A cup of guava punch with a piece of sugar cane and cinnamon bread.
    Guava ponche with cinnamon, bread with hibiscus sugar and crystallized orange, with a sugarcane
  • A glass of a coconut-based drink.
    Coconut beverage

History

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

Both started to date, left Pujol in 2011 and chose to open a restaurant with a "family concept", whose idea was to "receive customers and farewell friends", as they described it.[3][11] Named after quintonil, a type of amaranth,[12] the restaurant opened in Polanco on 9 March 2012 with a limited budget from a loan.[3][13][14] While it was initially a restaurant with cheaper menú del día meals, it 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, including Dominique Crenn and Julien Royer, who were asked to reinvent Quintonil's recipes and provide new dishes.[13][15]

Reception and recognition

Tiffany Yannetta of The Infatuation recommended the tasting menu, calling it "entertaining" and highlighted the Entomophagy Festival, and suggested trying the restaurant's experiments like the bluefin tuna with frozen wasabi powder.[5] Adrián Duchateau wrote for Afar that Quintonil cooks with local varieties of 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".[6] A writer for Bon Appétit encouraged the reader to try "delicious new things you might otherwise skip [...] like cactus, tamales, mole, and escamoles".[16] Leslie Yeh from Lifestyle Asia praised ingredients and the restaurant's ambience.[17] On their selection of the top twenty-three restaurants in Mexico City, Time Out ranked Quintonil at ninth place.[18]

Awards

Restaurant has ranked Quintonil on its World's 50 Best Restaurants lists multiple times: at number 7 (2024),[19] 9 (2022 and 2023),[20][21] 11 (2018),[22] 12 (2016),[23] 22 (2017),[24] 24 (2019),[25] and 27 (2021).[26] There was no list in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food industry.[27] In the 2023 edition, Restaurant stated, "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."[28]

When the Michelin Guide debuted in Mexico in 2024, it awarded 18 restaurants with Michelin stars.[29][30] Quintonil and Pujol received two stars each, meaning "excellent cooking, worth a detour"—and tied for the highest number of stars obtained in the country. The guide added: "[t]he elegant cuisine is an enticing melding of excellent local product, impressive execution, and great creativity to produce refined compositions".[31]

Quintonil, along with six other Michelin-starred restaurants in Mexico City, was honored by Martí Batres, the head of the Mexico City government. He presented the chefs with an onyx statuette as a token of appreciation for their role in promoting tourism in the city. The statuette's design is inspired by the pre-Hispanic sculpture The Young Woman of Amajac, in recognition of the significant contributions of indigenous women to national and international gastronomy.[32]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c "Quintonil". Bloomberg Línea. 31 March 2023. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "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. ^ a b c Sorondo, Xavier (2 May 2017). "Quintonil". Viajero Ejecutivo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d Yannetta, Tiffany (2 May 2024). "Quintonil". The Infatuation. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Lindeman, Scarlett. "Quintonil". Condé Nast Traveler. Archived from the original on 22 January 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Duchateau, Adrián. "Quintonil". Afar. Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  8. ^ "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.
  9. ^ a b 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. ^ 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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ "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.
  13. ^ a b 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.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ "Quintonil". Bon Appétit. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ 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.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ 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.
  28. ^ 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.
  29. ^ Beaven, Katherine Alex (7 June 2024). "Mexico's First Michelin Guide Debuts With 18 Starred Restaurants—Including a Taco Stand". Afar. Archived from the original on 3 July 2024. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  30. ^ 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.
  31. ^ "Quintonil". Michelin Guide. Archived from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  32. ^ Rangel, Azucena (15 August 2024). "Batres entrega reconocimiento a restaurantes de Cdmx con Estrella Michelin" [Batres rewards Michelin-starred restaurants in Mexico City]. Milenio (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 August 2024.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Quintonil.