de_DEQuintonil sits on a quiet side street in Polanco, one of Mexico City’s most affluent neighborhoods, behind an understated façade that gives little hint of the acclaim within. It was opened in March 2012 by chef Jorge Vallejo and his wife, Alejandra Flores, who runs the front of house. The two met while working at Pujol, Enrique Olvera’s landmark restaurant, and left together to start their own place, which began as a modest operation before evolving into one of Latin America’s most celebrated dining rooms. Vallejo trained in Mexico and spent time in the kitchen of Copenhagen’s Noma, experiences that shaped a cooking style rooted in Mexican produce but open to contemporary technique.
The kitchen champions native and often-overlooked Mexican ingredients — heirloom vegetables, wild herbs, quelites (the restaurant takes its name from one) and insects among them — with much of the menu sourced within the country. Guests can order à la carte or choose a multi-course seasonal tasting menu, largely plant-forward, paired from a drinks program that spans Mexican labels, international bottles and mezcal. Service is warm and precise, and the dining room that Flores oversees sets an easy, generous tone that has become part of the restaurant’s signature.
The setting is intimate: a small, elegant dining room of around a dozen tables with volcanic-stone floors and wood-clad walls, adjoining an open kitchen where the team works in full view. Quintonil holds two Michelin stars in Mexico’s guide and has ranked among the World’s 50 Best Restaurants for a decade, reaching the very top of the list and being named the best restaurant in North America. It is widely regarded as a defining voice in modern Mexican cuisine — refined yet unpretentious, and deeply tied to its terroir.