Chef Danny Mena offers new twist on Mexican food in Richmond
RICHMOND, Va. — Chef Danny Mena and Beverage Director Lauren Spain not too long ago opened Large Kitchen area Hospitality’s newest restaurant Conejo in Richmond, Virginia.
For Mena, a native of Mexico Metropolis, Conejo is a likelihood for him to display off a aspect of his hometown he finds below-represented at numerous Mexican eating places in the U.S.
“Mexico City is extremely cosmopolitan. It truly is not the normal notion that a lot of persons have of Mexican food items. It is really a large metropolis with a ton going on. And which is my affect,” he explained. “I am a town boy, born and raised. And so which is what we’re making an attempt to deliver [here], a modern-day choose on classic food items.”
Conjeo
Mena cooked in some significant-name New York City places to eat and opened two of his possess (Hecho en Dumbo and La Loncheria) prior to he was tapped to lead the Conejo kitchen.
And in that kitchen area, Mena mentioned he and his workforce lean on good quality components.
“The high-quality of meat that we use, the high quality of ingredients that we do is significantly outstanding [to many other Mexican restaurants],” he explained. “We fortunately have the time, the work, the expertise, and the resources to be able to do that.”
So what should you buy on your initial pay a visit to to Conejo?
“The very best vendor, and this is each individual Mexican restaurant, is the guacamole. People go into a Mexican restaurant and just before they appear at a menu they order guacamole and two margaritas and then glimpse at the menu,” Mena stated. “But truly our most effective seller appropriate now and is a Baja taco. It is one of people we set on that we type of play with a ton. We use a fish identified as hake, which is similar to cod, but it is really a very little little bit firmer, but nevertheless wonderful and flaky. We do this beer vodka batter. So it’s type of someplace among like a Korean fried hen beer batter and like Japanese tempura. So it really is crispy, it truly is awesome and light and flaky.”
Pay attention to Eat IT, VIRGINIA for restaurant information and interviews.