Scouting mexico city: Maizajo and Caracol de mar
Last month I was in Mexico City with my best friend Pedro to scout and try new restaurants. Two places made the cut.
Maizajo
Maizajo is a restaurant focused around nixtamalization, how important it is for our culture in Mexico and our daily diet showcasing the range of heirloom corn found around Mexico.
Maizajo has two concepts within the same building located in La Condesa. Downstairs is a taqueria where you stand while you eat. Chefs press tortillas by hand, grill meats over charcoal, and crisp longaniza on a plancha right in front of you. Longaniza is the pork sausage you find in taquerías across Mexico City, smoky, fatty, made to go inside a taco. Next to the grill, volcanic stone bowls hold the salsas and toppings you use to dress your own taco. This is a glorified taqueria that has all the right to be having a Michelin star, but also is because at the end of the day it is delicious food executed in a proper way and in my opinion it is one of the best in the city.
Upstairs is a sit down restaurant that offers a tasting menu. Chef Santiago works in a different manner, the same commitment to corn and technique, expressed through a longer, more complex way. The first time I went, I did the tasting menu and was blown away by many different dishes: a ceviche, a tostada, a crispy taco with whole head-on shrimp you eat in one bite, delicious. Then a tamal from Tabasco, something I’ve never had and was very interesting. Then the moles, of course came served with freshly made tortillas and perfectly cooked pork and vegetables.
For our Mexico City tour in December, we are doing a 7-course tasting menu upstairs. I am already looking forward to sitting at that table again.
Chef Gabriela Cámara opened Contramar years ago and changed Mexican seafood cooking. Then Entremar. And very recently, Cantina Contramar in Las Vegas. Caracol de Mar carries the same seafood focus, in a new building in Condesa. The setting is different, modern but the precision is the same. It has a feeling of a new modern yet very Mexican feel to it.
Pedro and I ordered everything, per usual. A tuna tostada, different from the famous Contramar classic. Shrimp crudo with salsa macha and mixture of citrus, a combination I hadn't encountered before. A young coconut tostada and a chayote aguachile, both vegan, but so delicious. We followed with grilled huge prawns with crispy garlic and guajillo.
The desserts were so unique. A meringue with citrus and coconut. Then a roasted banana from Tabasco made into a caramel purée and a baby banana from Veracruz. A small lesson in how many varieties Mexico grows.
Both restaurants are on this year's Mexico City tour. I am looking forward to sharing them with you.
Un abrazo,
Kaelin
