Upscale Mexican restaurant Vecino is moving into Midtown Detroit

Vecino, a forthcoming restaurant inspired by the flavors and feels of Mexico City, is moving into 4100 Third St. in Detroit's Midtown later this fall.

The project will be the first restaurant for Midwest Hospitality, helmed by co-founder Adriana Jimenez, who spent her early childhood in Mexico City and relocated to Detroit at age 11. Born into a family of restaurateurs, Jimenez said she was raised in the Mexican restaurants her parents owned in the Detroit area, Arandas Bar and Grill and Tapatio in Waterford. Vecino, however, with its upscale format and sleek, modern design, will bring a new flair to the landscape of Mexican restaurants in the city.

“The mission of Vecino is to bring the essence of Mexico City to Detroit,” Jimenez said. “We’ll have food that's inspired by Mexican flavors presented in a fun and unique way.”

What will separate Vecino from other Mexican restaurants in Detroit first is its look and feel. Designed by Midwest Common, a Detroit-based design studio owned by Colin Tury and Michael Haener, renderings of the space reveal a minimalist aesthetic with exposed ceiling joists, brick walls and contemporary seating arrangements that pair light and dark wood with black leather cushions. The decor evokes the overall vibe typified by some of the most celebrated CDMX restaurants.

Two particular menu elements, Jimenez said, will also bring something unique to the dining scene.

“The main focuses in the restaurant are our masa program and our fire,” she said. “Unfortunately, most tortillas are premade. I can see why a lot of places don't handmake the masa because it's very labor-intensive and driven on the quality of the ingredient, which is heirloom corn. For us, it was about bringing real corn from Oaxaca here to Detroit.”

A fresh masa program at Vecino will make way for handmade corn tortillas, while ingredients from meats to fish to salsas are fire-roasted on a hearth.

Behind the bar, a predominantly agave-based cocktail program will serve up a range of spirits sourced from Mexico, from tequila from Jalisco to mezcal from Oaxaca. Seasonal fruits, such as watermelon, tamarind and strawberry will show up in drinks like margaritas, and the team will turn to local coffee roasters for trendy cocktails popular in Mexico City like the carajillo, the coffee-based cocktail Jimenez calls the Mexico City version of an espresso martini.

“It's made very similarly to a traditional espresso martini, but you add Licor 43, which is a liquor from Spain, and it gives it a vanilla flavor.”

The addition of sotol will be an introduction to many imbibers. The spirit, which is made from a shrub native to Chihuahua, Mexico, is growing in popularity in Mexico in response to concerns of a looming tequila shortage among agave farmers.

To head up the kitchen, Jimenez has tapped Executive Chef Ricardo Mojica and Head Chef Stephanie Duran. Mojica, who cut his teeth at the longstanding restaurant Sava’s in Ann Arbor, plans to source ingredients from as many local purveyors as possible, including seafood from Motor City Seafood Co., meats from Fairway Packing Co., microgreens and herbs from vendors at Eastern Market and fresh vegetables from Frog Holler Produce.

Bold spices will punch up the heat and flavor in each dish, which will be crafted behind an open kitchen. “We’re going to bring the sazón that everybody’s looking for,” he said. “We want people to take that first bite and stop eating because of that explosion of flavor in their mouth.”

Though the team remains in the menu development stage, Mojica hints at an emphasis on an elevated approach to street foods.

“Vecino’s going to be a really interesting restaurant for Detroit,” Mojica said. “A lot of times, I feel as if people look at Mexican cuisine and think the ingredients aren't high value, but I want to get rid of that stigma. I want people to look at Mexican food as a work of art because it is.”

Duran, who hails from Texas, is a Detroit newcomer, bringing with her experience from famed restaurants such as Enrique Olvera’s Pujol and at The Alinea Group, the hospitality group behind three-Michelin-starred restaurant Alinea.

“My goal is to let people know about all of the flavors that you can bring from the kitchen from main dishes to desserts,” Duran said. “It’s not just as simple as chilis. There are a lot of ingredients from Mexico that we can play around with and people can start learning more about them.”

Jimenez wants to remind diners that Mexico City is a metropolis with influence from various cultures, which shows up in its cuisine, such as al pastor, which draws from Lebanese traditions.

“You don't get things like al pastor in the regional areas, but you do have it in Mexico City and that's where that melting pot comes up. You get foods from all types of countries and regions. That’s the beautiful part of Mexico City.”

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Vecino, which first got underway in 2019, was intended to open as a Latin American bar and kitchen with Argentinian, Brazilian and Mexican cuisines represented. Financial strains as a result of the pandemic halted the project, which required a full rehab of the Third Street shell, and eventually, the concept shifted to a sole focus on Mexican cuisine.

After a four-year process, Jimenez aims to open the restaurant doors in late November, joining Midtown’s culinary community.

“Vecino means, ‘neighbor,’ and Midtown is a beautiful, thriving neighborhood,” she said. “I really enjoy that we have neighbors like Selden Standard and SheWolf. We just want to create a fun place for people from the neighborhood and beyond.”

Jimenez added her mission to make her fellow Mexico natives proud.

“I want to show Mexicans that you can make Mexican food in a way that's never been presented, but when they try it they're like, ‘All right, this tastes like when I'm in Mexico.’ ”

Vecino, 4100 Third St., Detroit. vecinodetroit.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Vecino Mexican restaurant to open in Midtown Detroit