Brownsville

"Last summer, the chefs Pablo Rojas and Roxanna Mejia, both furloughed from their kitchen jobs, launched Gastronomy Underground, which delivers taco sets and multicourse meals to diners in Brooklyn. That the married couple, who are in their mid-twenties, have been undeterred by the challenges of the past year in their aspiration to cook professionally in New York City comes as little surprise. They met as college students in the border town of Brownsville, Texas, where Mejia grew up and where Rojas moved as a twelve-year-old. ... On a recent Friday, Rojas and Mejia offered a three-course tasting menu inspired by Radiohead, with an accompanying playlist. (Mise en place, they noted, could be translated to 'everything in its right place.') None of the dishes—a grain-and-mushroom salad with celery-root purée; a seared steak with brioche; caraway sponge with chocolate ganache, blackberries, and tarragon—were as easy to classify as carnitas. But were they any less Mexican, as a reflection of Rojas and Mejia’s instincts and of the country’s complex identity? 'We have a history of French occupation, we have a history of Spanish conquest,' Rojas explained. 'Five hundred-plus years of food culture blending together. We wanted to understand and explore what that would look like within our concept.' (Meals $45-$70.)" - Hannah Goldfield