Quintonil : Falling Star

3/05/2014

Quintonil : Falling Stars

Pork cooked rare, a rare treat.

I was willing to give the much ballyhooed Quintonil another try recently, after a rather disappointing tryout some months ago. I'm always ready to forgive and forget, well, forgive, anyway. And it would be fun dining in the company of five of the best chefs in the city.

The young and talented owner, Jorge Vallejo, worked in Pujol and opened his venue for experimental Mexican cooking to great acclaim. To celebrate its second anniversary the quietly posh venue was offering a special menu, a collaboration of chefs Vallejo and David Kinch, of Los Gatos, California’s 2-star Michelin, Manresa. Nine courses with wine pairing were offered - sounded promising.

The “S. Pellegrino 50 best” list in which Quintonil holds 10th place describes it as such: “A gastronomic tour of Mexico is on offer at this... boundary-pushing restaurant whose star is very much in the ascendancy.” Sadly, this was not to be the case - the sky was bleakly star-less this ill-fated day.

Chef Jorge Vallejo

We got off to a promising start with a few small hits. Tiny is a better word for these botanas, which came out one by one, interminable interludes in between each, that we all finished our artisanal beer that was offered as a heavy-handed aperitif long before the last one arrived.

The first two were designed by chef Kinch. A single, malt ball sized asparagus croquet was one of the best things I ate. Its warm, crunchy, lightly breaded crust gave way to a burst of liquid asparagus cream, rich and redolent of that springtime green. It was like a romp through green pastures and I wanted five more, but one was all you got.

A while later a mini cazuela of chicharrón de callo de hacha, which really did taste intensely of scallops, kind of like those pastel colored poofy things you get with rijstaffel but so much better--but again only one per customer. We asked for more and got three little pieces…sigh.
Two of chef Vallejo’s offerings were then served--after another lengthy break. A steak tartar had several intriguing ingredients – maíz nixtamalizado for one, but tasted of nothing in particular. Better was an airy cloud of potato in a little bowl smothering bits of minced, smoky longaniza de Valladolid. By this time we had been sitting for an hour and had ingested about 50 grams of food each. My stomach was rumbling and I was feeling the force of the Champagne, which followed the beer.

A more substantial appetizer finally arrived from chef Kinch, sea urchin, bathed in agua del mar, a sweet/salty brine light enough not to disguise the delicate flavor of the fish. Good.

Abulón en mantequilla de algas, puré de limón amarillo y coliflór rostizado, however, was not. The dollops of the three accompaniments were so tiny as to disappear without a trace – with the exception of the annoyingly harsh lemon. I love roast cauliflower, which seems to be everywhere these days--but not when I can’t find it. The abalone itself was characterless.

Jurel, an oily fish, served with avocado cucumber and salicornia, the trendy “sea asparagus”, was, as Groucho Marx might have said, "unforgettable. I wish I could remember it." And a deconstructed tamal made an equally fleeting impression.

A successful sea urchin in sea water

Things were looking up when a bowl containing an egg, fresh smoked lentils, and toasted buckwheat was brought to each increasingly ravenous diner. A small amount of warm broth was poured on and we were invited to gently stir, resulting in a creamy and intriguing soup-like dish. This winner from David.

But then out came Jorge’s rutabaga en mole de quelites. I don’t know how this abominable idea could have occurred to him. Please don’t ever serve it to me again: it tasted like old socks – Feh!

Roast pork, the main event I suppose, was done medium rare, pink and juicy--a welcome presentation. Its “norinade”, a marinade based on nori seaweed, was interesting at best. Melding wasn't happening.

Desserts were 50-50. Thumbs up for the fluffy lemon natilla with fresh thyme; down for a festive plate of little plops of mamey and cookies – been there, done that and better at Dulce Patria.

Overall, this anniversary meal was disappointing - no, maddening. The highs were few, the lows were many. We sat for hours. Service was friendly and efficient, but I fault the kitchen for slow delivery. The wine was not wisely chosen. And the price tag was the highest this critic and his disgruntled dining companions, had ever seen in Mexico: a whopping $2900 pesos ($219 USD) with tip. “I could’ve saved that for Per Se!” one chef grumbled. “I’m still hungry,” moaned another. “Let’s go to the St. Regis for a drink; they do a great avocado pizza there,” suggested yet another. That we did.

Quintonil
Newton 55, near Presidente Mazaryk, Polanco
Tel. 5280-2680 / 5280-1660
Open Monday through Saturday from 1 - 11 p.m.

A note to my readers: Please nominate www.goodfoodmexicocity.com for Saveur's best in the "culinary travel" category.
See http://www.saveur.com/

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Quintonil : Falling Stars

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