Enrique Olvera’s New Tortilleria, Molino el Pujol, Is Doing It Old School | Bon Appétit
"Housed in a tiny, Wes Anderson–esque white building in Condesa, this tortilleria — opened in April as the latest project by Enrique Olvera — treats corn as the center of everything: from fluffy tamales and elote dressed in a creamy, earthy chicatana-ant sauce to simple tacos of sliced avocado on blue corn tortillas pressed with hoja santa. The counter-service space is deliberately traditional in technique and design (handmade tiles resembling corn kernels, staff in crisp white uniforms), and customers can buy plain tortillas wrapped in newspaper by the kilo or sip corn-based drinks like hot atole and agua de maiz; even the beer is made with corn. All masa is produced onsite via nixtamalization and milling — multiple heirloom corns are boiled, steeped, ground, and run through an electric press — yielding noticeably creamy, flavorful tortillas that also supply Olvera’s fine-dining restaurant Pujol. Beyond the food, the project is explicitly mission-driven: a partnership with Oaxaca agricultural engineer Amado Ramírez to buy surplus from small-scale corn farmers and revive traditional, nutritionally sound masa production as an antidote to industrialized, powdered substitutes." - ByHilary Cadigan
