A love letter to Mexico
Oyamel New York is a taste of Mexico City, just off the High Line
People, people, PEOPLE! It’s a busy month over here! I’m just about to publish my new book, Change the Recipe (maybe you read a little bit of it last Monday?). And in two weeks, I have TWO new shows launching, a cooking competition show with Martha Stewart, Yes Chef!, and an episode of the iconic show Chef’s Table.
And there’s one more thing…an exciting new opening in New York City. It’s a restaurant you might be familiar with, especially if you live in DC, and love tacos and margaritas. Of course I am talking about OYAMEL…Oyamel is coming to New York City!!
Oyamel, in DC’s Penn Quarter, has been bringing the incredible, vibrant, intoxicating regional flavors of Mexico to Washington for over 20 years. If you live in DC and can’t go to Mexico for your food fix, you can go to Oyamel and escape for a few hours!
A month ago, we opened Butterfly at the Shay in Culver City, California, which gives you a taste of what we’re doing at Oyamel, but with a menu featuring tacos and Mexican staples like chilaquiles, ceviches and creative agave cocktails. It’s tough to compete with the best Mexican food in Los Angeles, for sure, but we think we have something special!
Oyamel in New York, which is opening this weekend, will have a lot of the favorites from the Washington menu, from amazing, smokey and silky moles to incredible tacos and creative cocktails, but we’re also trying some new concepts! Can I take you on a journey? I promise, you don’t even have to leave your house, but you’ll want to after reading this.
Oyamel is a love letter to Mexico and its regional dishes. The antojitos—”little dishes from the streets,” like chilaquiles and queso fundido—to the best salsas you’ve ever had, ceviches with the freshest fish, and the street tacos…you’re going to want to come back for more, and more, and more.
One thing Oyamel New York is doing differently: large format family style dishes, meant to be shared. These dishes reflect rich culinary traditions from different regions of Mexico, like the Yucatan’s cochinita pibil, pollo al mole from Oaxaca, or a lamb barbacoa inspired by family recipes of some of our chefs. You can taste the heritage and the love in each of these dishes, and I’m so proud of my team for developing these amazing plates…I can’t wait to share them with you.
Of course, I would recommend that you take in all this food with a cocktail or two…especially if that cocktail is a salt air margarita. You may remember, that the salt air margarita was one of my favorite culinary epiphanies…of course, there are few things better than a perfect margarita, but why not make it even better? Instead of a salted rim, this margarita has a salted cloud on top, which is airy, adds just the right amount of salinity, and reminds me of the sea. I’m excited for New Yorkers to try it!
And the restaurant itself: it is such a beautiful space! You will see amazing architecture, with high ceilings and colorful accents that bring you right to your favorite place in Mexico. You’ll smell masa, you’ll smell tequila, you’ll smell fresh citrus, and everything else you can possibly imagine. Honestly, friends, it’s gonna be like a whole vacation, right under the High Line.
So whether you live in New York and are looking for a new favorite Mexican spot, or if you’re visiting and thinking about a place to go eat, I promise you will be so happy to visit Oyamel. I can’t wait to hear about how you like it!
You've got me salivating over here in Vancouver, Canada, Chef!! Oh my!
Viva Mexico y su Hermosa gente