“Our menu feels true to home,” says Bello, speaking of dishes like crunchy chalupa tortillas with salsa cruda and Parmigiano, wagyu tenderloin with barley esquites, and lamb barbacoa served with brown butter, black beans, and tortillas.
“Our cuisine is one of the world’s most complex and diverse,” adds Ibanez. “It’s not all crispy tortillas filled with ground beef, topped with yellow cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce—it’s intricate dishes characterized by exceptional ingredients like maíz, frijoles, chiles, tomates, epazote, and aguacate.”
Bistro Ocho launched a new tasting menu in October inspired by Mexico’s milpa system, the centuries-old practice of growing corn, beans, and squash together in balance, still visible in the chinampas of Xochimilco, ancient agricultural plots that once helped feed the Mexica civilization in what is now Mexico City.
Their menu is thoughtful, grounded, and symbolic of how this new generation of Mexican chefs is bringing deeper context, not just flavor, to the U.S. table, much like chef Isabel Coss, who opened Pascual in Washington, D.C., in 2024.
Beginning her career as a bread maker at Enrique Olvera’s Pujol, the Mexico City-born chef named the restaurant after San Pascual, the saint of cooks and kitchens in Mexico, and even has a framed print of Diego Rivera’s Estudio de las manos drawing at the center, depicting a woman’s hand. “They’re strong, big, beautiful hands that remind me how powerful our bodies are and the strength women have to create and shape our worlds,” says Coss.
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