Enrique Olvera
The chef who remade Mexico's cuisine
The chef who remade Mexico's cuisine
What do you do if you're an ambitious chef from a country whose cuisine is not perceived as especially ambitious? That was Enrique Olvera's problem. Born in Mexico City, Olvera trained at the Culinary Institute of America, and could cook classical, European food along with the best of them.
Yet could he find a way to prepare great Mexican food? Everyone in Mexico understood the complexity and variety their cuisine, even if the best stuff was often served at taco stands, rather than in upmarket restaurants. Across the border, a few were just beginning to realize there was more to it than guacamole and chips.
Olvera's first restaurant, Pujol, in Mexico City, brought exacting culinary techniques to bear on native cookery - creating tortilla dough using sous-vide methods and conjuring a show-stopping meringue out of cornhusks. The restaurant won plaudits from the press and a place on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. Emboldened, the chef opened Cosme - named after Mexico City's Mercado San Cosme food market in Mexico City - in Manhattan's Flatiron district in 2014. Combining an equally contemporary take on his national cuisine with simple aesthetics Cosme proved equally great. In 2015 he published his first book with Phaidon: Mexico from the Inside Out.
Yet could he find a way to prepare great Mexican food? Everyone in Mexico understood the complexity and variety their cuisine, even if the best stuff was often served at taco stands, rather than in upmarket restaurants. Across the border, a few were just beginning to realize there was more to it than guacamole and chips.
Olvera's first restaurant, Pujol, in Mexico City, brought exacting culinary techniques to bear on native cookery - creating tortilla dough using sous-vide methods and conjuring a show-stopping meringue out of cornhusks. The restaurant won plaudits from the press and a place on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. Emboldened, the chef opened Cosme - named after Mexico City's Mercado San Cosme food market in Mexico City - in Manhattan's Flatiron district in 2014. Combining an equally contemporary take on his national cuisine with simple aesthetics Cosme proved equally great. In 2015 he published his first book with Phaidon: Mexico from the Inside Out.
Browse through this selection of eight definitive dishes from Enrique Olvera's restaurants
Take a look at the culture and landscape that has shaped Olvera
VIDEOS
Enrique Olvera serves ants, mayo and coffee
Enrique Olvera shows Good Morning America how to make a better taco
Enrique Olvera talks about the importance of mole
Watch Enrique Olvera show Vice Munchies' hosts Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo around Mexico City
RECIPES
FOLLOW PUJOL
Pujol
Petrarca 254
Polanco V Secc, 1156
Mexico City
D.F; Mexico
Phone: +52(55) 5545 4111
www.pujol.com.mx
Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Pujol
Petrarca 254
Polanco V Secc, 1156
Mexico City
D.F; Mexico
Phone: +52(55) 5545 4111
www.pujol.com.mx
Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
BUY MEXICO FROM THE INSIDE OUT
