Go for a refreshing aguachile made with cucumber, fennel, mint, pickled onions, and Atlantic salmon simmered in citrusy broth.
After closing taqueria Comalito in Houston’s Farmers Market on Airline Drive, Netflix star and Mexico Metropolis chef Luis Robledo Richards is again in Houston with a new restaurant: Mayahuel.
Launched on Friday, July 18, in Autry Park, Mayahuel presents a menu rooted in custom and masa, with an agave bar and an attractive espresso expertise.
Richards initially dreamed of opening an agave bar—ironic, contemplating the chef doesn’t drink. “I all the time needed to do a mission that was rooted in custom, but in addition maintain it trendy and up to date,” Richards says.
The imaginative and prescient ultimately developed right into a full-service Mexican restaurant that might serve a variety of plant-based dishes. Richards knew he wanted assist to carry his dream to life. In 2022, after a number of conferences and tastings, Richards partnered with Omar Khan of Culinary Khancepts, a Houston-based hospitality group behind native eating places, together with Liberty Kitchen & Oysterette and Leo’s River Oaks. “Omar liked [the idea] from day one,” says Richards, noting that the restaurant group now runs all operations whereas he focuses on the imaginative and prescient.
Retaining custom in thoughts, Richards named the restaurant after Mayahuel, the traditional Mexican goddess of the maguey (agave) plant. The title symbolizes resilience and flexibility, whereas the flower’s lifecycle serves as a metaphor for the restaurant’s transformation, persistence, and care, Richards says.
The menu wanted some tweaks, although. The chef says he knew his authentic imaginative and prescient of a plant-based menu wouldn’t win the hearts of meat-loving Texans, so he included extra dishes with pink meat and fish.
Starters embody a refreshing aguachile made with cucumber, fennel, mint, pickled onions, and Atlantic salmon simmered in citrusy broth, plus Mayahuel’s tackle guacamole, a wealthy, hearty dip made with avocado and Sikil P’aak, a conventional Yucatan peninsula paste produced from pepitas, tomatoes, and chiles.
Mayahuel’s menu highlights flavors from Mexico Metropolis.
Richards says he isn’t attempting to change into the “savior of maiz,” however diners can count on an emphasis on Mexican heirloom corn and flavors from his house area. That features brioche buns and English muffins made in-house with native components, and a Tacos y Masa menu that retains it easy but flavorful, with dishes like mushroom pastor tacos, duck tamales, and pork stomach tacos with mole verde, accompanied by verdolagas and ayocote beans.
Entrées supply daring Texas-size parts, from sea bass served with boulangère potatoes and salsa Veracruzana to filet mignon with mole negro, hazelnut puree, and date gastrique to carne asada made with a New York strip and thinly sliced slow-cooked beef cheek.
Richards nonetheless faucets into his authentic thought, putting plant-based dishes which might be simply as dynamic on the menu. There’s fideo seco, which mixes vermicelli pasta, seasonal mushrooms, vegetarian chicharrón, queso fresco, and avocado, together with the arroz verde cremoso, a rice dish made with market greens, natural egg, and Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Sip on all kinds of agave spirits throughout a go to to Mayahuel.
Weekend brunch is already underway, that includes staples reminiscent of breakfast pastries, chilaquiles verdes, enfrijoladas de pollo (hen enchiladas dipped in a creamy bean-based sauce), and Mexico Metropolis–model eggs Benedict with ham, avocado, and salsa roja hollandaise.
Richards, who co-owns 4 places of the Mexican chocolate and pastry store Tout Chocolat, additionally channels his love for foundational Mexican flavors right into a small however mighty dessert menu that requires “high-skill, execution, and precision.” The candy treats revolve round components reminiscent of cocoa, vanilla, espresso, and seasonal fruit.
Staying true to Richards’s authentic imaginative and prescient, Mayahuel’s drinks menu showcases an intensive number of additive-free agaves, together with G4 Tequila, Weber Ranch Agave Vodka, and Derrumbes mezcal, plus a particular listing of authentic cocktails divided into two sections. The Moon menu explores refreshing, lighter flavors with cocktails just like the Metzli (Del Maguey mezcal, Aperol, orange and grapefruit juices, agave syrup, guajillo shrub, charge foam, and Aztec Ruda bitters). The Solar part leans heavier and smokier, with sips just like the Ocelotl, that includes mezcal, Amaro del Capo, vanilla, mace and cacao bitters, and citrus.
Drinks additionally lengthen to the restaurant’s espresso program, which options espressos, cappuccinos, and Americanos. Richards, who’s a espresso connoisseur himself, approached Houston-based firm Katz Espresso to assist supply beans from Chiapas, a southern state in Mexico. For a hands-on expertise, diners can go for Mayahuel’s “pullover program,” which presents a front-row seat to the espresso grinding, filtering, and brewing course of from the consolation of their desk.
Diners can watch chef Luis Robledo Richards work alongside his workers with the restaurant’s open kitchen idea.
The true star of the present is the open kitchen, Richards says. Impressed by gatherings in mates’ kitchens within the US, Richards strategically positioned the kitchen within the coronary heart of the eating room to make diners really feel at house. “There are not any secrets and techniques. It’s very clear,” he says. “They will stroll as much as the counter and have a look at what’s taking place. I feel it creates a way of micro neighborhood—folks having a very good time.”
Although Richards says Mayahuel’s journey is simply starting, the chef views the restaurant as ever-evolving, with menus and dishes that change with the season or when inspiration strikes. Regardless, Richards says he hopes diners come hungry and wanting to expertise his imaginative and prescient of Mexico Metropolis.
Mayahuel (811 Buffalo Park Drive, Suite 130) is open from 3pm to 10pm Monday via Thursday, 3pm to 11 pm on Fridays, 10am to 11pm on Saturdays, and 10am to 3pm on Sundays.
