Quintonil

Quintonil
The restaurant's wordmark mixing a letter Q with a leaf.
The entry consists of a glass door.
The restaurant's entrance in 2016
Restaurant information
Established9 March 2012 (2012-03-09)
Owner(s)
  • Alejandra Flores
  • Jorge Vallejo
Manager(s)Alejandra Flores[1]: 19:10–19:25 
Head chefJorge Vallejo[1]: 19:10–19:25 
Food typeMexican
Dress codeNone[2]
Rating2 Michelin stars (Michelin Guide, 2024)
Street addressNewton 55, Polanco, Miguel Hidalgo
CityMexico City
Postal/ZIP Code11550
CountryMexico
Coordinates19°25′51.2″N 99°11′30.4″W / 19.430889°N 99.191778°W / 19.430889; -99.191778
Seating capacity42[3]
ReservationsYes[4]
Websitequintonil.com/en

Quintonil ([kin.toˈnil]) is a contemporary Mexican restaurant in Polanco, Mexico City, Mexico. It is owned by chef Jorge Vallejo and manager Alejandra Flores, a couple who met while working at the fellow diner Pujol in 2009. Two years later, they left to open an eatery with a concept centered on "welcoming customers and bidding farewell to friends".

Quintonil opened in 2012 along Newton Street as a casual restaurant with a daily menu, operating with secondhand furniture and tableware. Over the years, the dishes evolved into fine dining. The spot is named after a species of Mexican amaranth, and offers both à la carte options and a seasonal tasting menu prioritizing heirloom vegetables, native herbs, and insects, most of which are sourced from across the country.

Quintonil has received positive reviews from food critics along with several culinary accolades. The business has appeared in the list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants since 2016, rising to number three in 2025, when it was named the best of North America. It also was awarded two Michelin stars in 2024, in the first Michelin Guide for Mexico, becoming the highest-rated restaurant in the country, alongside Pujol.

Description

Quintonil serves both à la carte dishes and a nine-course tasting menu, which changes seasonally[5][6][7]—for example, in July 2025 focused primarily in asparagus, carrots, and mushrooms.[8] The restaurant sources its fruits and vegetables from Milpa Alta and Xochimilco in Mexico City and from the neighboring states of Hidalgo and the State of Mexico. Pork is procured from Michoacán and Yucatán,[3][9] beef from Durango, and fish from Baja California.[10] Diners may also opt for a wine pairing at an additional cost.[2][5] As of 2025, the restaurant offers four wine-pairing options: Wines of the World, Mexican Wines, Terroir & Rarities, and Champagne Experience. Quintonil owns two wine labels, including Alfalfa, made of Nero d'Avola grapes cultivated in Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California.[11] The establishment's menu is "98% Mexican", according to chef Jorge Vallejo, owner of Quintonil, who noted that only the caviar, an unspecified type of fish, and olive oil are imported.[8]

Quintonil's menu features both traditional and unconventional Mexican ingredients, including beans, squash, various chiles, and mushrooms, as well as lesser-known elements such as quintonil, other heirloom vegetables and herbs, and insects. While most dishes are plant-based, a few contain beef.[7][6][12] Signature items like huauzontles and chilacayote mole have been on the menu since the business' opening.[4] A variation of mole madre, originally sold at Pujol, is also available.[5] The beverage selection includes European wines alongside Mexican options namely mezcal, local vintages, and craft beers.[6] In 2024, Quintonil held an Entomophagy Festival, where insects were the main ingredient in several dishes.[13] The establishment has drawn interest from foreign diners.[14]

Samir Tounsi of Agence France-Presse describes Quintonil's exterior is tucked "behind a faded window and a simple curtain". Inside, past the reception area, are two small, windowless dining rooms next to a countertop overlooking the kitchen. Together, they hold about a dozen tables.[8][15] The restaurant has volcanic stone floors and walls clad in wood and mirrors.[10] Vallejo and Flores bought their plates at an outlet in Austin, Texas; the chairs were purchased from Pujol, and the tables were custom-made by craftspeople on Mexican Federal Highway 15.[16] It seats 42 guests,[3] requires reservations, and has no mandatory dress code.[2][4] As of 2025, it employed 60 people.[12]

History

Two tables are located inside, with several more set up outside.
The dining rooms in 2013

After dropping out of high school, Vallejo studied gastronomy at the Centro Culinario Ambrosía.[3] He later trained at Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark.[1]: 2:00–2:15  In 2009, while working at Pujol in Mexico City's Polanco neighborhood, he met manager Alejandra Flores.[3] The couple began dating and left Pujol in 2011 to open their own restaurant with a "family concept": a place, they said, to "welcome customers and bid farewell to friends".[3][17] They named the restaurant after quintonil, a type of amaranth,[18] and opened it on Newton Street in Polanco on 9 March 2012, using a small loan as their starting budget.[3][19][20]

Vallejo explained that his goal in opening Quintonil was to create a diner that showcased Mexican cuisine at a time when most similar dining options were focused on international food, giving preference to traditional ingredients including nopal, quintonil, and huauzontle.[21] He explained that some of the dishes use such ingredients, often overlooked by mainstream restaurants, as they are frequently seen as food associated with poverty, yet they remain an integral part of the Mexican culture and heritage.[22] At the same time, the spot needed to stand out from other local Mexican eateries, so Vallejo refined the restaurant's concept.[21] Quintonil began as a fonda serving affordable daily menu but gradually evolved into a fine dining establishment.[1]: 19:30–22:00 [14] In an interview, Vallejo stated that he made the change to secure the best quality ingredients. Although this made the menu pricier, he emphasized that the cost was justified by a superior experience, including products and service. He also described the change as a rethinking of food presentation.[23]: 56:30–01:00:30 

For Quintonil's tenth anniversary in 2022, Vallejo and Flores invited international chefs, including Dominique Crenn and Julien Royer, to help reinvent the restaurant's signature recipes and develop new dishes.[19][24]

Reception and recognition

Tiffany Yannetta of The Infatuation recommended the tasting menu, calling it "entertaining" and highlighting the Entomophagy Festival, suggesting diners try experimental dishes dishes, such as bluefin tuna with frozen wasabi powder.[5] Adrián Duchateau wrote in Afar that Quintonil incorporates local vegetables and herb varieties "as part of the progressive and sustainable eating program it so elegantly advocates".[7] Scarlett Lindeman described it as part of the new wave of Mexican cuisine, calling it a "place to impress that's not Pujol".[6]

Alexandra Carlton, writing for Gourmet Traveller, recounted that upon tasting the first dish, chileatole—a soup made from corn masa—her eyes widened in surprise, like "a cartoon mouse catching sight of a cat". She noted that although the bowl was prepared with "humble" and simple ingredients, its flavor was remarkably complex.[25] Reviewing for the same magazine, Pat Nourse commended the huitlacoche preparation, noting that it initially resembled chewed chewing gum but was elevated by a combination with seaweed, concluding, "the thinking is fresh, but the flavors remain honest".[26]

Christine Muhlke, editor-at-large of Bon Appétit, considered the menu an unpretentious, "joyful journey through Mexico".[27] Another writer for the magazine encouraged the reader to try "delicious new things you might otherwise skip [...] like cactus, tamales, mole, and escamoles".[28] Leslie Yeh of Lifestyle Asia praised both the ingredients and ambiance.[29] In its 2019 list of the top 23 restaurants in Mexico City, Time Out ranked Quintonil ninth.[30]

Awards

Quintonil was named Best New Restaurant in the 2012 Gourmet Awards by the Mexican edition of Travel + Leisure, and the following year received the magazine's award for Best Tasting Menu.[31]

William Reed Ltd has repeatedly ranked Quintonil on its World's 50 Best Restaurants list, including number 3 in 2025,[32] 7 in 2024,[33] 9 in 2022 and 2023,[34][35] 11 in 2018,[36] 12 in 2016,[37] 22 in 2017,[38] 24 in 2019,[39] and 27 in 2021.[40] No list was published in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food industry.[41] In the 2023 edition, the publication stated, "Quintonil is the setting for chef Jorge Vallejo's boundary-pushing Mexican cuisine and his wife Alejandra Flores' remarkable hospitality. Focused on fresh, local produce and traditional Mexican [flavors] and techniques weaved into modern preparations, it is fast becoming a classic".[42] Also in 2023, La Liste ranked Quintonil as the top Mexican restaurant.[43]

When the Michelin Guide debuted in Mexico in 2024, it awarded 18 diners with Michelin stars.[44][45] Quintonil and Pujol received two stars each, meaning "excellent cooking, worth a detour", tying for the highest number of stars in the country. Regarding the restaurant, the guide added: "the elegant cuisine is an enticing melding of excellent local product, impressive execution, and great creativity to produce refined compositions".[46]

Quintonil, along with six other Michelin-starred restaurants in Mexico City, was honored by Martí Batres, the head of the Mexico City government. He presented chefs with an onyx statuette in appreciation of their role in promoting tourism in the city. The statuette, inspired by the pre-Hispanic sculpture The Young Woman of Amajac, pays tribute to Indigenous women's contributions to both national and international gastronomy.[47]

Quintonil received the Best Wine and Spirits Program award from the México Gastronómico guide, published by Larousse Cocina in 2025.[48] The guide highlighted the restaurant's wine pairings, describing its beverage program as "meticulous" and "carefully thought out".[11]

Example of a nine-course menu served in November 2013.

  • Some edible herbs with cheese served over tomatoes. A waiter covers them with a sauce.
    Lightly toasted Mexican herb salad with Cotija cheese and grilled tomatoes
  • Shrimp covered and topped with coconut and guava
    Shrimp cocktail with coconut and guava
  • A cheese soup seasoned with herbs.
    Oaxacan string cheese soup, fried pork belly, and plantain
  • A slice of fish accompanied by a portion of pineapple puree and garnished with cilantro and onion.
    Catch of the day with burned chipotle chili, pumpkin, and pineapple purée, with coriander
  • A slice of meat covered with a sauce, onion, and herbs.
    Braised brisket wagyu beef and pulque, corn and dried chili demi-glace
  • A slice of squash covered with a sauce and garnished with basil sprouts and a tortilla chip.
    Chilacayote mole with charred tortilla and basil sprouts
  • A sorbet with plums and vanilla rice pudding
    Vanilla rice pudding, seasonal plums, orange and thyme sorbet
  • A slice of flan accompanied with a birthday candle.
    Flan
  • A cup of guava punch with a piece of sugar cane and cinnamon bread.
    Guava ponche with cinnamon, bread with hibiscus sugar and crystallized orange, with a sugarcane
  • A glass of a coconut-based drink.
    Coconut beverage

See also

References

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  2. ^ a b c "Quintonil". Bloomberg Línea. 31 March 2023. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "México como epicentro gastronómico" [Mexico as a gastronomic epicenter]. Líderes (in Spanish). 4 October 2022. Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Sorondo, Xavier (2 May 2017). "Quintonil". Viajero Ejecutivo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d Yannetta, Tiffany (2 May 2024). "Quintonil". The Infatuation. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Lindeman, Scarlett. "Quintonil". Condé Nast Traveler. Archived from the original on 22 January 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Duchateau, Adrián. "Quintonil". Afar. Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
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  10. ^ a b Marcial Pérez, David (7 September 2016). "El cocinero de las buenas hierbas" [The chef of fine herbs]. El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
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  20. ^ Ochoa Huerta, Claudio (18 May 2024). "El hombre Michelin" [The Michelin Man]. El Universal (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
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