Mexico Metropolis Welcomes Define, a New Draft Cocktail Bar by a Trio of Award-Successful Bartenders

When Mexico Metropolis’s latest cocktail bar and restaurant, Define, opened on the finish of September, it was the fruits of months value of preparation between among the finest within the enterprise. However only a 12 months in the past, the longer term was way more opaque. 

Restaurateur Walter Meyenberg is well-known in Mexico Metropolis as the person behind among the most celebrated bars and eateries on the town, together with Hanky Panky and Brujas, each of which commonly rank on the much-lauded World’s 50 Finest Bars record annually. However when excited about his subsequent transfer, Meyenberg knew he needed to work with Maura and Alex Lawrence Milia — the husband-and-wife duo who’ve themselves helmed among the most notable bars on this planet. Alex is the managing director and co-owner of the Mr Lyan group, which incorporates Silver Lyan in Washington D.C., Tremendous Lyan in Amsterdam, and Lyaness in London; whereas Maura has spent the previous ten years on the two-time World’s Finest Bar, The Connaught. 

“Alex is a legend within the trade; he’s a genius. And Maura is the grasp of hospitality,” Meyenberg mentioned. “Nevertheless it wasn’t simply their abilities that made me need to work with them. We share a connection and imaginative and prescient that simply works very well collectively.” 

However this time final 12 months, the couple had been each nonetheless residing in London, excited about their very own subsequent steps there, with a transfer to Mexico Metropolis not even an actual thought. “Maura and I had been speaking so much about possibly doing one thing collectively in London,” Alex mentioned. “However doing something in London is unimaginable.”

After just a few conversations with Meyenberg and seeing firsthand what he’s achieved together with his areas in Mexico Metropolis — between the meals and beverage choices and the format and design of his areas — each Maura and Alex knew that working with him was an incredible subsequent step.

Each had been to Mexico Metropolis earlier than, Maura having participated in a pop-up at Meyenberg’s Brujas, a female-led bar within the upscale Roma Norte neighborhood, and Alex on a variety of events for each private journey and work. By February 2023, the pair headed to the town, which is a few 5,548 miles from London, to have fun their honeymoon and host one other pop-up with Meyenberg. That’s when the true groundwork was laid.

“Walter referred to as me just a few months later and was mainly like, ‘Are you coming?’” Alex says. “I used to be in my flat in London, and I used to be like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ I put the telephone down and referred to as Maura and was like, ‘I feel we’re shifting to Mexico.’”

As soon as the decision was made, Alex and Maura made their solution to Mexico Metropolis for good to start out constructing out three totally different ideas below the brand new bar group with Meyenberg, aptly referred to as MWA. Their first idea, Define, opened in Roma Norte in late September and focuses on draft cocktails and small bites, with the capability to accommodate 150 friends. The menu options diner-style dishes from each america and Mexico, like tacos, hotdogs, and burgers. They usually partnered with Mexican streetwear designer Tony Delfino on the whole lot, from the menu design to the employees uniforms, to provide the area a definite feel and look. 

When ideating the idea, the staff was adamant about creating a novel area that belonged. Their experience lies in high quality cocktails using new methods, so that they needed to carry one thing totally different to the scene. All 30 of their progressive drinks — such because the Tomato Highball, Clear Colada, and Turin Greens — are pre-batched and supplied on draft from specifically made containers, making them able to serve. 

Their second idea, Café Arixi, is an all-day Italian restaurant and bar that pulls inspiration from Maura’s upbringing in Sardinia, all whereas mixing Mexican substances with Italian dishes and methods, however as Alex places it, “isn’t making an attempt to Disneyland Italy.” Slightly, it serves a threefold goal: to showcase their personalities, lean into Italian hospitality, and have fun scrumptious flavors from each cultures. “Café Arixi showcases the weather of an Italian household get together,” Alex says. However particularly, his and Maura’s marriage ceremony in Sardinia, of which Meyenberg was a visitor. “It’s primarily based on the get together that we threw at our marriage ceremony at Maura’s mother and father’ home. And the thought is we get to throw that get together each evening.”

“We actually need to create a way of house,” Maura says. “The place folks will hang around all evening with their associates, simply consuming nice meals and consuming nice drinks.”

Plans are nonetheless being ironed out for his or her third idea, which the group plans to open in Oaxaca in early 2025. The thought is for all three areas to be distinctive from each other, so whereas friends can anticipate the excessive stage of service that’s imbued into the whole lot the trio has labored on, each collectively and individually, every will have fun the neighborhoods that they’re part of — with world-class food and drinks.