when you want, where you want.
Enrique Olvera Stays Hydrated With a Suero
Illustration: Maanvi Kapur
“You can make a great taco out of anything,” says chef Enrique Olvera. “All you need is a tortilla made from heirloom corn and a strong salsa game.” Olvera would certainly know. In addition to the impossible-to-book Pujol in Mexico City, his empire now includes over a dozen restaurants in the U.S. and Mexico, including Cosme in Flatiron, Atla in Nolita, and Esse Taco in Williamsburg. This month, he was in town to launch his new cookbook, Sunny Days, Taco Nights, co-written with Alonso Ruvalcaba. His taco fillings “tend to be simple, neutral flavors,” he says, “whereas the salsas are where you add your personality.” Next week, he’s off to launch the book in London, where surely it must be impossible to get a decent taco? “No, all you need is good corn,” he says. “And spices travel.”
Thursday, June 5
When I’m in New York, I stay at an apartment in Gramercy I recently started sharing with Gonzalo Gout, our head of guest experience. This morning, I started the day at La Cabra Bakery on Second Avenue with a cold brew and a croissant. Quick, quiet, and perfect.
Coffee is perhaps the one thing I can’t live without. I’ve always enjoyed the taste, ever since I was a kid in Mexico walking along the highway, where food stands would serve fresh hot milk with a shot of coffee. I also love coffee ice cream.
But ten years ago, it became an obsession. At one point, I stopped drinking it for six months, but I missed it so much. It was a feeling worse than heartbreak — though, for the first time in a while, I began dreaming again. Since then, I’ve found a healthier balance: I drink less coffee, and I dream, too.
Next, I go to the Brooklyn warehouse of our produce purveyor, Natoora, to meet the founder, Franco Fubini. Natoora has a chef-like obsession with trying to find the best possible ingredients in terms of flavor and seasonality. I like that they know where their products are coming from and the names of the people who produce them.
We film a taco recipe using eggs and green beans from my new cookbook, then go on a tour of the warehouse. I try the monk’s beard, a leafy green that a Mexican would tell you tastes like nopales — watery and slightly salty. We also try white asparagus, nectarine, and snap peas straight from the crates — fantastic!
Then I go back to my taqueria, Esse Taco in Williamsburg, and work while snacking on a box of cherries. We’re developing an inaugural “chef series” of tacos to bring a bit more innovation to the menu.
I brought my younger son, Aldo, along for this trip. He comes by the taqueria and we walk over to Blue Bottle for cold brews with a splash of milk; he and my oldest, Bruno, share my appreciation for coffee.
Back at Esse, we have one of my favorite drinks: a suero. It’s just lime, salt, and sparkling water: a Mexican Gatorade. It’s the perfect thirst quencher and palate cleanser, which I’ll need ahead of a big dinner tonight.
I’m meeting Aldo and my father at the Grill. Pujol’s 25th anniversary has us thinking about what an old-school restaurant with old-school service looks and feels like, and that’s how we ended up at the Grill.
We have a spread of classics: king crab with tartar sauce, chopped salad, smoked salmon, and aged house steak with dill potatoes. Smoked salmon is virtually nonexistent in Mexico, so when I’m in New York, I make a point to pick some up at Russ & Daughters. I can’t resist when I see it on the menu. Also: lemon cake for dessert and a bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape for the table.
The flavors are bold, but from the quality of the ingredients, rather than from excessive preparation. I love simple food; there’s no hiding.
Friday, June 6
I don’t get too hungry in the mornings, so I tend to skip breakfast. Today, as always, I start my morning with coffee. I like a light roast, black, to start off my day; if I have a dark roast, I’ll cut it with a splash of milk. I love La Cabra’s Hacienda La Papaya beans, which I buy to brew at home.
Then I head to Cosme to shoot a video. We just celebrated Cosme’s tenth anniversary last October; we’re going to start spotlighting signature dishes from over the years, like the uni tostada. I want these dishes to become recurring seasonal specials our guests can look forward to year after year.
While I’m in the kitchen, I press some masa dough into corn tortillas for the video, and throw them on the plancha. They come off piping hot, a little crisp on the outside but soft in the middle, with a strong, recognizable corn flavor throughout. I love sprinkling one with just a little salt; that and a slice of avocado is one of my favorite things. This afternoon, I just eat the warm tortilla straight, and it’s fantastic.
I’m saving room again for another big dinner tonight, this time at one of my absolute favorite places, Una Pizza Napoletana. I meet my friend Ernesto, and we order a massive spread: olives, gigante beans, burrata, a charcuterie plate from the kitchen, and my favorite, the margherita pizza, topped with Calabrian chiles.
The gigante beans are so special — they have a leathery skin that catches more of the dressing, a little tangy, and a little salty. The bite has a really nice resistance, and the beans taste a little bit earthy, with a green-celery note.
We get a bottle of Amarone della Valpolicella and split lemon ice cream topped with cream for dessert.
Saturday, June 7
This weekend is the launch of our Chef Series at Esse Taco, and we really wanted to try something different. The taco is on a black-corn tortilla filled with sushi rice, nori, Wagyu steak, and a sake-based “drunken sauce.” I eat seven of them throughout the day for quality control, and also because they’re delicious.
Japan is one of my absolute favorite places — and cuisines — on earth, so this captures my love for hand rolls in taco form. We call it the “Taco del Ojo,” a play on a Mexican phrase that means, essentially, “eye candy.” I’m happy to see it sell out.
The heat today calls for a cold coffee, so I get a midday iced latte from Café Leon Dore in Nolita. I rarely sit down to enjoy my coffee, since I’m usually on the run somewhere.
Later that evening, I see Wes Anderson’s new movie, The Phoenician Scheme, in the theater; I order plain buttered popcorn and a seltzer.
I love movie popcorn — it tastes like artificial butter, in a good way, and any kid who was raised in the ’80s knows the flavor. It’s a lot more buttery in the U.S.; in Mexico, we have our popcorn with lime juice and Valentina sauce — it’s vinegary, and made with puya chiles — which I love.
Sunday, June 8
I go for a run and spend time with Aldo, then head over to the Blue Bottle coffee next to Cosme for a cortado. My entire morning and afternoon has me thinking about the French Open match between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at Roland Garros. When I come back from my run, Alcaraz is losing. But later, I go for a walk, and he bounces back — and wins. An incredible match.
I refuel with another iced latte at Cafe Integral, one of my favorite coffee shops in New York. I also stop by Esse Taco once again for another Wagyu taco.
I refrain from eating too much else in preparation for my third big meal of the trip, at César. Aldo dines with me; it’s his first true New York fine-dining experience.
The tasting menu is a revelation: 13 courses with a strong seafood focus — smoked-trout rillettes, bluefin-tuna parfait, foie gras flan with crab and wood-ear mushrooms. One of the most memorable dishes, and my favorite, is an uni tart topped with tuna and caviar. It tastes as if it came from another time, in a good way.
The whole menu is modern, but with an old-school flair that reminds me of designs by Philippe Starck. One thing I don’t like about dining out these days is that, with menus and photos everywhere online and on social media, there’s no longer any mystery around what the actual dining experience will be like. Luckily, this wasn’t the case with César; they send everyone home with a signed menu, sealed in an envelope, to reminisce about later.
Monday, June 9
Today is a lighter eating day — more of a snacking day — as I flit between appointments for my book tour. I head to Food52’s offices to demonstrate a beef flauta from the cookbook, and I snack on some of the ingredients while we prep. Naturally, I have a coffee while I cook.
Later that afternoon, I’m in Fidi and find respite in a plate of prosciutto and grilled octopus at Eataly. We have two other meetings in the area, so we stop by Epicerie Boulud for more coffee — this time, a cappuccino — and a few chocolate-dipped, crumbly butter cookies shared at the table.
Tonight, I head back to Cosme for service. The dining room is very high-energy. It’s really dark — the lighting is deliberately directed to the top of each table, so you only see the people and the food.
A lot of young people work in the kitchen downstairs, and they’re always blasting music, even during service; each cook gets to choose the music for one day. Today, it is mostly salsa.
The Cosme menu is “New York Mexican” — Mexican technique with New York ingredients. We use East Coast fish, and also a lot of products from the region. Right now, we’re serving white asparagus with a green mole made out of sugar peas — definitely not ingredients we often get in Mexico.
Tonight, Gustavo Garnica, the head chef, is trying out some new dishes, so I sit down to try them before service. Most of the creative work in the kitchen is done in collaboration between Gustavo and the cooks. Occasionally, I might give an original idea to Gustavo, and then he’ll develop it. We’ve been working together for more than ten years, so we really understand each other.
The melons from Natoora were extremely tasty, so we’re currently in the process of developing a melon aguachile. And we’re also thinking of some hot scallops that we’re going to make al pastor with pineapple.
Once home, I munch on some pecans. I’m in bed by a respectable 10:30.
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