Amber Alcocer While Lima, Peru may have Astrid and Gastón, Mexico City has the equally formidable partnership of Gabriela Lopez Cruz and Eduardo García Guzmán. The married couple opened the restaurant in its original Tonalá Street location in 2012, just as Rome was becoming the coolest and most popular neighborhood in Mexico City. Gabriela handles the front of the house, while Eduardo is the creative force in the kitchen. At the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020, they moved to their beautiful and spacious new location on Álvaro Obregón Avenue.
Máximo Bistrot was a name I was familiar with from magazines and television, but I didn't know much about it when I moved to CDMX, other than that it was one of the most famous restaurants in the country. When one day in the middle of the week I was invited to have lunch there, I obviously took the opportunity to see this famous place.
After moving from Mérida to Mexico City, I met a friend who had an apartment in the exclusive neighborhood of Polanco. During my first weeks in the city, I often walked along nearby Masaryk Street and admired the many expensive restaurants with high ceilings, velvet furniture, white table linens, and sculptural hostesses. Surely Máximo Bistrot, one of the most famous restaurants in Mexico City, would be something similar?
When I arrived at the original Máximo Bistrot, I was surprised to find that it was actually a small one-room restaurant that had great natural light and was very pretty, but it was nothing like the restaurants I had found walking the streets of Polanco.
I have to admit that I don't always enjoy my favorite restaurants on my first visit. Sometimes it takes a couple of meals to get over “It was nice, but I don't see what all the fuss is about.” to “This is amazing and I can't wait to go back.” Fortunately, that was not the case with Máximo and I loved Eduardo's cooking from that first visit.
Eduardo has a pretty impressive resume, starting at Eric Ripert's 3 Michelin star Le Bernardin in New York and eventually ending up working at Enrique Olvera's iconic Pujol restaurant here in Mexico City. When the couple opened Máximo Bistrot, they opted for a simpler bistro style of cooking that focused on locally sourced ingredients and an ever-changing menu. It was an instant success.
Entrees at Máximo Bistrot generally include options like “Poached asparagus, hollandaise, green sauce”, “Stone crab toast, cactus leaf, creole beans, chicatana ant mayonnaise”, “Mexican octopus ceviche” and their delicious “organic barbecue fried chicken”. Eduardo's Kampachi entrée is a beauty that tastes as good as it looks and you don't have to take my word for it. On a recent trip to CDMX, Dua Lipa posted several Instagram stories from Máximo Bistrot to her 73 million followers because the food left her speechless.
“Mexico City always blows my mind @maximobistro”
Dua Lipa
The main courses are equally impressive and generally consist of a mix of pastas, fish and meats. Typical dishes on the menu include “Risotto with wild mushrooms with black autumn truffle”, “Grilled snapper, Jerusalem artichoke, nutty butter and sherry emulsion” and “Grilled national Wagyu beef New York steak” . In my opinion, no one cooks meats better in Mexico City than Eduardo.
Desserts are equally delicious, although we are usually too full by then to even consider eating another bite.
Usually when we find a new restaurant we love, we indulge and go there every week until we finally get tired of the place and never return. Miraculously, that has never happened with Máximo Bistrot, even though we eat there a couple of times a month. There's always something new on the menu that we haven't tried and the classics continually change and evolve to keep things interesting.
Another reason we keep coming back is because of the quality of the ingredients. Anyone who follows Eduardo on Instagram knows that he regularly starts his day before dawn at the chinampas (or floating gardens) in Xochimilco, in order to have the freshest, highest quality ingredients for the next day.
We recently woke up a little hungover on a Monday morning and decided that a lunch at Máximo Bistrot might improve our mood. As soon as we sat down, we knew we had made the right decision because we found something on the menu that we hadn't seen before, “wagyu beef barbecue.” Barbacoa is the perfect Mexican hangover food, so we ordered it without thinking.
Eduardo was kind enough to bring the barbecue to our table and took the time to explain the providence of the meat. It turns out that this dish was a long time in the making, as he had been working closely with a local farmer for over 4 years to bring the quality of the meat up to the wagyu standard that he believed was good enough to serve to his customers. . The results were sensational and worth the effort. The succulent meat fell off the bone and was accompanied by wonderful homemade sauces, tortillas and their delicious, creamy mashed potatoes.
When visiting the old Máximo Bistrot for a special occasion, it was always reassuring to be able to poke your head around the corner and see Eduardo standing in the step. You could relax knowing that nothing was going to come out of the kitchen that was less than perfect. I'm glad this is also possible at Álvaro Obregón's new location, as the kitchen is visible through the glass upon entering the restaurant. And as before, Eduardo ALWAYS He is right there organizing the troops. He's definitely not the type of chef who spends more time in television studios than in his own kitchen.
While Máximo Bistrot is obviously not cheap, I think it is a very good value considering the quality of the ingredients and the level of cooking offered. At the beginning of this review, I mentioned my first days in Mexico City when I used to admire many restaurants along Masaryk in Polanco. You're likely to pay double the price at any of those restaurants for a much lower quality meal, so choose wisely.
Tips for Eating at MMaximum Bistro
- Order many different dishes and share them. Gabriela and Eduardo have created a very relaxed dining environment and encourage their guests to try as many dishes as possible. You can opt for the tasting menuHowever, we prefer to order dishes that sound good to our ears and ask the waiters to bring them one by one, which they are happy to do.
- In the early days, the service was definitely more bistro than fine dining, but it has improved over the years and has improved noticeably since they moved to their new location. However, if you do have any problems, just ask to speak to Gabriela, who will be more than happy to resolve any issues.
- Máximo Bistrot is already listed as one of the 50 Best Restaurants in Latin America. Now that they have moved to a beautiful new location and Eduardo finally has a fully equipped kitchen, it is only a matter of time before they are listed in the 50 best restaurants in the world. Once this happens, wait times for a table can jump from a couple of days to a couple of weeks or months, so my last tip is to go while you can still reserve a table.
Bon Appétit!
MAXIMO BISTROT
Website: https://www.maximobistrot.com.mx
Location: Álvaro Obregón 65 bis, Roma Norte, Mexico City.
Telephone: 55 5264 4291
Reservations: https://www.opentable.com.mx
