Chef-Owner, Grupo Enrique Olvera; Mexico City, MX

Enrique Olvera ‘99 is the chef-owner of Grupo Enrique Olvera, with restaurants in Mexico and the United States.  When he was teenager, he decided to take another look at his love of cooking—something he’d discovered as a boy in his grandparents’ pastry shop—and he traveled to New York to enroll at The Culinary Institute of America. Returning to Mexico four years later, he opened his restaurant, Pujol. His proposals are created based on the vast universe of ingredients that Mexico provides, applying both contemporary and age-old culinary techniques in every instance. His constant exploration and experimentation, added to a passion for detail and the care that underlies process as well as the products he uses, have translated into discoveries that Olvera shares with diners at Pujol and in other culinary projects. In the relaxed ambience of his Mexico City gourmet shops and eno cafés, visitors discover menus that change with every season. At his restaurant Moxi—a star in San Miguel de Allende, inside the Hotel Matilda—ingredients go directly from local farms to diners’ tables. At Cosme—in Manhattan, and his first incursion into the United States—corn, beans, and chile beautifully combine with local Hudson Valley products; Los Cabos’ Manta foregrounds delicacies that come from Mexico’s coasts. Each venue gives new life to Enrique’s latest gastronomic creations. @enriqueolveraf