Chef Jorge Vallejo: Redefining Mexican Cuisine, Part 2

This is the second installment in a two-part interview with chef Jorge Vallejo. You can find the first installment here.

The Daily Meal: You were on the team that designed the Mexican pavilion at Expo Milano this year. How did you get involved in the project?
Jorge Vallejo: There were about 40 projects submitted from all over Mexico and each project had a chef, an artist, and a biologist on them and I was one of the chefs. Our team was fortunate to be selected as the best and our design concept was used for the Expo Milano. I have not visited yet but I was also asked to curate a menu from the dishes of other chefs in Mexico to give an overall view of Mexican gastronomy, and my dish is a crab tostada.

Why did you choose a tostada?
I believe that a tostada just like a taco—not just a dish but a true expression of our Mexican food and way of eating casually; it is something that you can find everywhere and is very representative of our culture. A tostada to me personally is like a carpet that can feature any kind of food, you can put anything on it like seafood, meat, chicken, vegetables, and you can be creative. The tiny delicious crabs I like to use are from Ensenada on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

What foods are you partial to?
I am partial to seafood since in Mexico, we have access to some great fish from the oceans surrounding our country. I love the fish from Oaxaca, Ensenada, and even California. I not only enjoy cooking with them but also eating this kind of food.

What are your other interests, and where do you hangout on your day off?
I love cycling, running, and I love to be outdoors after being cooped up in the kitchen so I usually head to Chapultepec park, a few blocks from my home. I enjoy seeing all the people relaxing in the park, which also has some great museums. One place I like to hang out these days is Lalo, the new casual eatery by my friend chef Eduardo Garcia, who also owns Maximo Bistrot.

The essence of our city is in our street food and I love to indulge in it. It's also very interesting to see how street food is evolving and they are making some great new things. Taquerias are my favorite places to eat because our city has the best tacos in all of Mexico, and tacos are available every day just about everywhere. They are what our people love to eat as they are fantastic.

As chefs become more renowned, does ego start to overtake true creativity?
There is a risk of that but it is important to keep it in check and only concentrate on creating the best experience and most delicious food. I still think and cook as I have always done and plan to stay that way.

Is the new generation of young chefs, like yourself, responsible for the international attention on your cuisine?
I don't think I am so young [laughs] since I started cooking at sixteen and have been cooking for longer than 16 years now. Of course the climate in the industry is different and we are progressing at a much faster rate and so is our restaurant industry.

Are young chefs playing up the fun elements of Mexican cuisine?
Yes for sure, all of us young cooks are thinking about such elements while we celebrate our produce and are respectful of our traditions. We are actively involved with the producers of our ingredients on a personal level so we can encourage and help them to keep doing it. Sometimes economics plays a role and if they cannot make enough money they go off in search of other work. We want to encourage them by using what they grow so they do not abandon their traditional way of farming.

Mexico has become a prominent player in the global gastronomic arena. Have events like Mesamerica and the 50 Best contributed to this?
They have helped tremendously to focus international attention and bring in diners from all over. The Mexican government has recognized that as chefs, we can draw in visitors from all over the world and are actively promoting that.

What proportion of your guests is international now as compared to three years ago when you opened Quintonil?
At the moment, I can say that 70 percent of our guests are from other parts of the world like Asia, U.S.—especially from New York. People are traveling to Mexico specifically for the gastronomic experience. Our restaurants, our street food are all getting a lot of attention so people are coming from all over to experience our unique food culture.

What is the biggest misconception about Mexican cuisine?
Mexican food is erroneously perceived to be fried or have a lot of heat, which is not the case. Another factor is that our ingredients do not grow elsewhere, so people outside Mexico are not so familiar with them. In order to cook authentic Mexican food you need the ingredients such as our corn. The other misconception is that people confuse it with Tex-Mex like burritos, chili con carne etc. This Tex-Mex cuisine can travel farther since it uses products found all over the world and in reality, belongs to United States and is not Mexican. So I think the biggest misunderstanding about our food is the perception that it is like Tex-Mex.

The notion that all Mexican food is very spicy is especially not true since, in fact, Mexican cuisine is also very delicate and sophisticated, especially with the sauces and moles, some of which are sweet with smoky flavors. The only way to know this cuisine is to come here to Mexico and experience it. When we chefs travel out of Mexico to cook we carry these ingredients for our recipes to introduce people to our authentic flavors and recently I have seen that more people are becoming familiar with our flavors as opposed to even five years ago. [pullquote:right]

What ingredient is essential to your cuisine that you like to carry with you when you travel or cook in other parts of the world?
For me the ingredient that is specific for my cuisine and which I try to carry with me is masa. With this masa made from corn you can make a lot of things like tortillas, tostadas or tamales or soups. It's a flavor that really defines our Mexican cuisine. I like to say that corn is the spinal cord of Mexican cuisine and it along with Mexican spices for me is an essential part of our cuisine.

Many well-known chefs have cooked in your kitchen in the last couple of years. What do you appreciate about these collaborations?
Yes we have had a lot of chefs visit and cook with us and it is a learning experience for me and my team. They bring in a new point of view and at many times we feel as if we share a very similar view of cuisine. When I travel to other kitchens it's exciting to see their systems in place and broadens your horizons.

Have you been to cook in any restaurants in the U.S.?
I cooked at Topolambo in Chicago and it was an awesome experience with Alex Stupak and Rick Bayless, who is a very good ambassador of Mexican cuisine. Bayless has researched and traveled widely to comprehend Mexican cuisine. 

What is the biggest mistake restaurants make when serving Mexican food abroad?
The basis of our cuisine is ingredients that are native to Mexico. Even if they are grown elsewhere they don't taste the same since the soil and climate is not the same.

Any plans to expand your operations?
No, we feel that this is our main project and we need to give it all our attention and it is our heart and soul. With all this attention after being placed on the World's 50 Best list, we feel responsible to focus and give all our attention to our guests who are traveling from all over the world.

This is the second installment in a two-part interview with chef Jorge Vallejo. You can find the first installment here.