New York City: Cosme (January 2017)

My spouse and I dined at Cosme for brunch on a Saturday afternoon in mid-January 2017. Cosme is open daily for lunch (or weekend brunch), dinner, and drinks. The restaurant opened in late 2014, and holds three stars from the New York Times.

Cosme, named after a Mexico City market the chef visited as a child, is located in the Gramercy Park/Flatiron neighborhood on East 21^st Street near Park Avenue. The 3,500-foot space that seats 140 guests includes a front bar/lounge area with a wooden bar and small low tables with hip designer chairs. The main dining area at the rear offers well-spaced individual wood tables (with incredibly heavy chairs!) and more closely arranged tables that share one of two banquettes. A private dining room seats 12+ guests. Expansive open shelving on far opposite walls contain interesting decorative items, bottles, serve ware, and books. Cement floors and pendant lights complete the look.

Chef/owner Enrique Olvera attended New York’s Culinary Institute of America but returned to his native Mexico to open his first restaurant called Pujol. He also operates Moxi (in San Miguel de Allende) and Maiz del Mar (in Playa del Carmen) as well as Cosme in NYC. Mexican-born Chef de Cuisine Daniela Soto-Innes attended Austin’s Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts and worked in restaurants in Texas, New York, and Europe before she opened Cosme in 2014. She was named James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year 2016.

Cosme serves creative Mexican cuisine; dishes with Mexican flavors and history, but with a contemporary twist because they use local and seasonal ingredients. After we perused the menu and tried to decide among many interesting selections, we asked our waiter’s advice and he recommended the special lamb barbacoa dish (this dish made for two includes a cast-iron skilled filled with savory moist lamb topped with a pile of fresh herbs, served with a basket of warm tortillas and a plate of thinly sliced onion, avocado, and chili peppers) – so memorable! We also shared the restaurant’s signature dessert: meringue made to resemble a corn husk, then cracked and filled with corn mousse – delicious!

If you're looking for margaritas, fajitas, and traditional Mexican fare (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), look elsewhere. Cosme is the land of innovation and creativity. We loved our brunch!