Authentic Mexican fare on the menu at Ophelia
Chef Higareda puts personal twist on traditional cuisine
Francisco Higareda recently became chef and co-owner of Ophelia, a Mexican restaurant in Olympic Village.
“I want to be 100 per cent authentic, far away from that Tex-Mex stuff,” he says during a phone interview.
“I truly believe traditional flavours are the best. I try to do it a little bit better and refine the traditional dishes. I put my own twist on every single dish. A lot of people are telling me they’re glad to be getting what they’ve eaten in Mexico.”
Mexican cuisine is on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage and there’s so much for people to learn about it, he feels. (In 2010, the group recognized the culinary traditions as something to protect and preserve.) Higareda has returned home from working in Spain and France as a sous chef at the extraordinary three-Michelin Arzak restaurant in San Sebastian, and at the two-Michelin L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon in Paris.
“It happens to all the cooks from Mexico. They come back and realize our cuisine is amazing.”
Ophelia is named after Higareda’s late mother, who was Spanish. Both she and his father, from Guadalajara, were excellent cooks, he says. The dining room was refreshed during the COVID-19 lockdown with colourful, striking wall murals by a Mexican artist. One is called Ophelia and another, near the kitchen, displays a heart, crown and wings.
“It’s because the kitchen is the heart of the restaurant. The stains and colours around the heart are messy because the kitchen is always in a bit of chaos and we try to be on top of it,” says Higareda.
Outside, there are lots of tables for al fresco dining in summer.
Inside, tables are wellspaced for pandemic times, but I was surprised servers were maskless when we visited two weeks ago.
The food at Ophelia is, just as Higareda describes — traditional Mexican. He’ll have a summer and winter menu rather than one per season.
Meals come with three salsas, ranging from mildly spicy to a hot habanero with burnt tomatillo. For appetizers, we ordered tuna tostada ($12.75) and chicharron de rib-eye ($19.50).
The tostada (two per order) was piled high with lovely marinated ahi tuna, dots of chipotle aioli, avocado crema and burnt tomato salsa set on crisp tortillas.
The rib-eye chicharron, made with Cache Creek natural beef, came with guacamole — the deep-fried beef chunks were a bit chewy but a 24-hour marinade gave it tons of flavour.
I couldn’t resist a side dish of roasted bone marrow with corn chili rub ($12.50) — very nice with crispy tortillas and some of that habanero salsa.
Higareda buys from local small producers and distributors including Two Rivers for meats and Seven Seas for seafood.
You’ll be happy to know tradition includes delicious tacos, including a trio for $16.50. The tortillas are made from scratch by El Chancho Tortilleria.
The taco toppings are carnita (pork confit, cilantro, onion, chile de arbol, salsa), cochinita pibil (achiote braised pork, marinated peppers, onions, lime) and al pastor (pastor pork, grilled pineapple, onion, cilantro).
The house molé with the half-roasted chicken dish ($24.50) was very, very good. There were two desserts. Traditional churros and the ‘impossible’ cake.
It’s half-chocolate cake and half-Mexican-style flan.
The cocktail list is predictably strong on tequila and mescal.
The wine list leans toward Spain and Latin America with more than a dozen available by the glass. There’s also a selection of Mexican and local craft beers.