Chicheria MX Kitchen becomes the next full-service restaurant to debut at the Works in Underwood Hills, when it opens Wednesday, September 20, at the complex. And it features dishes styled after those found along the Baja peninsula and a takeout window for food and drinks to go.
Located on Chattahoochee Row near Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q, Forum Cocktail Club, and Taste Wine Bar and Market, owners Juan Sebastian Calle and Adam Berlin tapped cookbook author and Top Chef alumnus chef Whitney Otawka to consult on the menu in collaboration with head chef Alejandro Tamez. Tamez’s previous kitchen stints include Quintonil in Mexico City, considered one of the world’s 50 best restaurants.
Otawka is no stranger to the Atlanta dining scene, having worked for Hugh Acheson at his Athens restaurants Five and Ten and Cinco y Diez (now closed) and hosting dinners and pop-ups in both Athens and Atlanta over the years. She grew up in the Mojave Desert in Southern California. While writing her cookbook, “The Saltwater Table: Recipes from the Coastal South”, Otawka worked as the executive chef of the Greyfield Inn on Cumberland Island, a barrier island off the Georgia coast.
Otawka and Tamez, who are also longtime friends, spent time traveling throughout Baja exploring the foods and culinary traditions of the region. This includes learning to make blue corn tortillas by hand, which are a highlight on the menu and made daily for tacos like the crispy Baja fish, smoked maitake mushroom, and crunchy coconut shrimp.
Look for other dishes such as fajitas with all the accoutrements served with blue corn tortillas and a plate of tender slices of carne asada served with sides of guajillo salsa, sliced avocado, and black beans, a dish Tamez particularly favors.
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