Why Chef Jorge Vallejo Loves Mexico City

If you ask Jorge Vallejo what he finds most inspiring about Mexico City these days, he'll tell you that it's people's desire to “eat the city—literally.” Food trucks, pop-up dinners, supper clubs, and the new Mercado Roma, Vallejo points to all of these as proof that Mexico City's food scene continues to evolve in exciting ways.

What he modestly leaves out of this list is his own restaurant, Quintonil, which opened in 2012 and currently sits at #10 on the roster of Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants List. Yet Quintonil is very much part of Mexico City's dynamic, delicious culinary revolution, not the least reason being that Vallejo has entered a market that is dense with competitors who, while collegial, have more name and face recognition than he does.

Though it may seem remarkable that Quintonil ranks so high on the prestigious list after being open for just two years, Vallejo's success hardly happened overnight, nor was it the result of effortless serendipity. Vallejo and his wife, Alejandra, who is also his business partner, sunk their savings into the restaurant and have continued to reinvest earnings back into the business. It's not cheap to run a restaurant like Quintonil, where only lunch and dinner are served six days a week and tables rarely turn during service. Guests arrive for their meal and settle in, eager to savor every bite.

For many guests, the experience of Quintonil involves a tasting menu of at least eight courses that may start with a ceviche de nopal (cactus paddle) and end—two or more hours later—with a series of sweets. In their citation of Quintonil, the 50 Best judges selected Vallejo's chilacayotes (a type of round, zucchini-like squash) in mole sauce with tortilla tatemada, pumpkin, and basil, as the restaurant's standout dish. Vallejo describes his food as indisputably Mexican, and says he always aims to create a dialogue between ingredients and technique.

Next, where to find Vallejo at the start of dinner service… [pagebreak]

Thirty-two year old Vallejo began cooking at the age of 16, after having spent his childhood watching his grandmother and an aunt cooking. After completing formal culinary studies, he worked as a chef on cruise ships before doing a stage at Rene Redzepi's Noma, currently considered the best restaurant in world. When he returned to Mexico, he worked at Enrique Olvera's Pujol, which is where he met Alejandra. Before long, the two jumped ship to start their own restaurant. Vallejo manages back of house, while Alejandra manages the front of house.

Vallejo has enjoyed a steady flow of diners since his opening, many of them repeat or regular customers. The inclusion on the 50 Best List definitely stimulated an uptick in the number of reservation requests, he says, but Vallejo hasn't let the honor go to his head.

In fact, very little has changed for him in terms of his daily routine. He still wakes up early to walk his dog and have breakfast with Alejandra before heading to the restaurant by 10:30 to begin assessing supplies and prepping his team for the day ahead. He supervises in the kitchen through both meals, pausing between the two services to eat a family meal with the staff. A typical day in the Quintonil kitchen ends at 12:30 am.

Inclusion in the 50 Best List inevitably raises the “What next?” question. For now, at least, Vallejo's plans are relatively modest. He has no intentions of opening a second restaurant or exploring the other commercial pursuits that often lure successful chefs out of their kitchens. He enjoys his kitchen and the farthest he's usually found from it is the roof of the building that houses Quintonil. There, Vallejo has a small garden where's he's growing herbs, hoja santa, and some edible flowers. “It's important to me that I'm here,” he says. “I want guests to know that I'm in the kitchen. Honestly, there's not a plate that leaves the kitchen that I haven't supervised. For Alejandra and myself, Quintonil is our life project.”