Makal Gastronomy, Your New Go-To

Written by Jesse

Walking into Makal, you are greeted by vibrant colors, comfy chairs, friendly staff and an ambiance so relaxing you don’t want to leave. As your food arrives, you realize their dishes are traditional Mexican with a modern touch. Beautiful plating by chefs Israel Plasencia and Diego Guerrero make you want to dig right in. And with a little cocktail (or mocktail) pairing, you find yourself deep in the gastronomic experience of Makal.

Opening in mid-July, Makal already has a pretty big presence in the food scene of Vallarta. Located in the heart of the romantic zone, Makal will quickly become your new go-to. Offering a dinner and dessert menu that is sure to please any taste bud, a Sunday brunch menu with classics like waffles and french toast that is out of this world, and a wide range of handcrafted cocktails, Makal has it made!

Not only did we sit down with the head and sous chef and mixologist to learn more about the gastronomy behind Makal, but we also sat down with owner, Maria Fernanda Correa Figueroa, to discuss the culture and the why behind Makal. Read below to find out more about your new favorite restaurant, the best Olas Altas has to offer.

Fernanda (owner):

Jesse: What inspired you to start Makal?

Fernanda: The idea to start Makal, well, there were a couple things. There were nights where my husband and I would go out for dinner and we would always come to the downtown area. Every time somebody recommended a restaurant for us to try, it was never a Mexican place. It was always Italian, or Japanese, never Mexican. And then we realized that’s there so much of this country and culture that we haven’t experienced. But there wasn’t anywhere where I could go try Oaxacan food or food from Michoacan or Yucatan. And a lot of the time, the only mexican food you can find here is lower end. What we want to do is express the culture of Mexico, be able to give people the opportunity to try high end Mexican cuisine. That was the first part. The second part of our inspiration is that there were a lot of traditional dishes that, for example, I grew up having with my grandma on both my paternal and maternal side. I remember how long it would take her to cook; cochinita pibil, for example, would take her two days. And now its like a 30 minute dish, so in that speeding up, you lose a lot of that tradition. Theres a lot of people my age or younger who are missing that opportunity. You know, it’s not just a taco, there’s a whole story behind it. And that's one of the things we want to share with clients. There’s so much history and tradition in Mexican dishes and sometimes we forget that. 

J: Why the name Makal?

F: We wanted a name that was more than Mexican, something deeper and older so we looked into the roots, into Mayan history. And makal was the root of the potato family. It was a plant that was harvested by the Mayans. So that it is still a traditional dish in the Yucatan area, known as Malanga. And we said oh man, that’s even more Mexican than nopal. So we said ok let’s try Makal and let’s try all these traditional dishes. 

J: What type of cuisine can clients expect?

F: Mexican with a modern touch. And this is what makes it more attractive than what’s offered here in Olas Altas. You won't find a place like Makal. 

J: What makes Makal unique to other restaurants?

F: In Makal, you travel around Mexico in one meal. You can try dishes from other Mexican cities and states without having to leave Vallarta. The big difference too is that a lot of restaurants will focus on the creativity of their dishes and one of the things we did was sit down with Israel, our head chef, and told him we want to create a dish that when you eat it, if you’re Mexican, it reminds you of when your grandmother cooked it. So we want to take those recipes and those flavors and share that experience of going to your grandma’s house 20/30 years ago. And of course we add modern techniques to each dish. I think that’s a huge thing that makes us unique to other restaurants. Everything is based on making you feel at home. So the colors are very old school mexican, that mexican pink, that blue, the mural; the seats we try to make them as comfortable as possible so whenever you come in, you feel like you could be sitting in your living room and could stay 4 to 5 hours. 

There is no other Mexican restaurant that has paid attention to those details and in making it feel home-y yet a bit upper scale, in both food and atmosphere. We are also pet-friendly, which is a big thing. Everyone is welcome here. 

And with our staff too, we want them to represent the warmth that is the warmth of the Mexican people. So bringing the whole culture of Mexico into one night dining here at Makal. 

J: I love too how you guys have one mixologist, your head and sous chef, your two hostesses and that’s it. There’s no change or shift in staff, and that creates a consistency that customers can expect. Like when I come in, I know I’ll see Rodo behind the bar, I’m going to see Israel in the kitchen working, which creates that sense of home. Is there anything else you guys want to add?

F: The cocktails! They are based on Mexican distillery. Everyone has tried raicilla, mezcal, tequila. And there are so many other native Mexican liquors that nobody offers and there’s a lot of room for experimenting in that.

We are always trying to change the menu often, every month or so, to offer a different experience to our customers. While of course incorporating those traditional Mexican dishes.

Israel and Diego (the head and sous chef):

Jesse: Israel, when and how did you start cooking?

Israel: I started cooking when I was 15 years old, I was in high school in Guadalajara. I'm not going to tell you that since I was a child I used to go into the kitchen with my mother and that I loved cooking, I didn't. I didn't like cooking or anything. But in high school, I had no money, I come from a low-income family, and I wanted to go out, I wanted to do my thing. Then one day I heard a classmate tell someone that he was a cook and the restaurant he worked for was hiring. The person he told didn’t want to, and I told him that I did. I got on my bike and we left. I didn't know where I was going. We arrived and he gave me a denim apron, told me to wash dishes, peel potatoes ... and that's how I started, washing dishes in a Oaxacan restaurant.

J: What a cool story! What happened after that first kitchen job?

I: When I graduated high school, I had already been in the kitchen for two years. I liked cooking. I thought about what to study next. My brother has a degree in Information Systems, so I decided to study the same as him because I also like all that a lot. But the first day of class I said, "no, I like cooking, I am making money, I like what I do, I better study gastronomy." I started looking for gastronomy universities in Guadalajara, but they were all super expensive, and I started to get a little disappointed. My parents supported me, at that time I paid 1200 pesos for tuition, so I always was working while I was studying. Always always always. So I did study the degree, but I really believe that experience is the best teacher.

J: Did you cook at a lot of restaurants in Guadalajara?

I: Yeah a lot. I started in the one I had told you, Oaxaqueño, I entered as a dishwasher and kitchen assistant and left as the manager of the afternoon shift. From there, I moved to a French restaurant and that's where my love for French cuisine was born. The chef there has been one of my greatest teachers. From there, I had my first adventure as a kitchen manager, as a chef, in a restaurant in Puerta de Hierro. Afterwards I was at Chef Darren's Lula Bistro, he is Irish. And then to another French restaurant, but I could create my own menu, implement my ideas.

J: Cool! How did you find out about Makal?

I: When I arrived in Vallarta three years ago, I started working at Vidanta. I was as a sous chef in a Spanish specialty restaurant. It was a great learning experience, but I don't really like hotels. So I moved to Punta de Mita, I entered as a sous chef there, for a year and a half. After all this of the pandemic came, I went to Guadalajara to be with my family. I had to come to sign a contract at the Tuna Blanca restaurant in Vallarta and a few days before a friend of mine, who is like a brother to me, Mario, Cha's chef, spoke to me. He told me that there were some people interested in talking to me, that they had a project. And since I was coming to Vallarta to sign a contract anyway, I saw them, and that's how it happened! I really liked the project.

J: Woooow! How do you define your cooking style?

I: I am really influenced by French cuisine, but I really like the Mexican ingredients and flavor. French cuisine is the base, it is the mother of kitchens, but the ingredient is in Mexico. I always say to myself, what would an Italian pasta, a pomodoro sauce, be if we don't have the ingredient that is tomato? The avocado, the cocoa.

J: What is your goal here at Makal? What do you want to share with clients?

I: The goal here at Makal is a different gastronomic experience. We use very good quality products and offer authentic Mexican with a contemporary twist. It is a different proposal that is not found in the downtown area, of Mexican cuisine. I would like for Makal to be the best restaurant in Vallarta tomorrow.

J: What is your favorite dish to cook?

I: Within Makal, a dish that has become a flagship here is cochinita pibil, people have liked it a lot. Achiote, for example, is brought from Mérida, so it is a very simple dish, but it has a very large prior preparation. It’s about 4 to 5 hours of cooking.

J: And your favorite dish to cook in general?

I: I really like duck, I like duck breast, duck liver.

J: Anything else you would like to add about Makal? The style, the food, the people.

I: Well look, we are a relaxed restaurant. I really like the atmosphere that lives here. When I go out to dinner, I don't like having to wear a tie and so, here you can come if you want in flip-flops or shorts, or if you want to bring your puppy. I love that about Makal and what better way to mix this atmosphere with very good gastronomy and mixology. I like that people leave with a good impression and I love when people return and recommend to others. That is the best feeling.

J: And I suppose you’ve had very good feedback.

I: Yes, we have had a very good response.

J: I bet, I love the food here. Not to mention, the dishes and drinks go hand in hand, they complement each other.

I: Yes, everything is designed to be the complete experience, the gastronomy and the cocktails are Mexican. We have tequila, mezcal, sotol, charanda, raicilla, craft beer and we already have a small menu of 100% Mexican wines.

J: Thank you very much Israel. Ok Diego, tell me your story and how you became the sous chef at Makal.

D: I started cooking when I was 17 years old, I am from Mexico City. I'm not going to tell you that I always wanted to be a chef or that I dreamed of being a chef, no. Sometimes I think the kitchen found me. I started wanting to have my own money, so I looked for a job in the kitchen, I liked it and I started studying gastronomy. I didn't finish school, I stopped halfway. Then I started working for a restaurant called Catamundi in Polanco in CDMX, which was a great learning experience. It was a totally different restaurant, we made everything from scratch, there was no frozen food, there were no bottled sauces. We made our own dressings, proteins, everything. I was working there for about a year, I entered as an intern at the school and later they hired me. Then I was in a cafeteria for a while. And then I joined Grupo Rosetta, the restaurant was among the top 50 restaurants in Latin America for several years. Then one day I decided that I wanted to get out of the city, I wanted to see other places. I came to Puerto Vallarta, to Tuna Blanca, which is where I met Israel. After a while I felt stagnant, so I went to Tijuana for a year. I wanted to know the whole part of Baja, Ensenada, the Guadalupe Valley, I was struck by the culture of wine and the seafood they have, which for me is the best in the country. I worked with a great chef and friend there, I learned a lot. Simple cooking without great preparations. Simple but with a lot of flavor. There was a dish there that I really liked, it was mac n 'cheese with chorizo ​​and octopus, it's something super simple but very rich.

As the vision of Makal was coming to life, Israel called me to see if I was interested and I said yes.

J: Israel, how did you think of Diego for this project?

I: Since I met him in Tuna Blanca, we talked about our journey and began to establish a very good friendship and I realized the potential he had. So I spoke to him. Diego is in love with Vallarta, he is from the sea. He really wanted to come here and I really wanted him to be here too. In fact, before opening Makal, we talked for hours on the phone, creating the menu. I went to Tonalá to have the dishes done and I asked him if he agreed with the colors and designs, his ideas, etc. It was all over the phone. How many days before opening the restaurant did you arrive?

D: I arrived about a month before opening.

I: In fact when we started the restaurant, we had no electricity in the restaurant, there was no gas, there were no electrical contacts, there was no refrigerator, so it was funny because we knelt on the floor to be able to use the blender, it was a lot of fun. Now the kitchen is very well equipped.

D: The first days we cooked at home and brought it here to do the taste tests. We would load everything in an ice chest and backpacks, we would arrive here, we would finish the plating and we would serve it.

J: How funny, I didn't know that.

I: And right now we are ready for high season.

D: We look forward to it.

I: Yes, it was good to open in low season and during the pandemic because we were able to refine the menu and fix details. Not only that, but we have a very strong team and we are ready for high season.

J: Tell me a little about the menu.

I: Right now we are working with homemade dough.

D: We started working with people who make masa at home, corn masa, a process called nixtamal, a process that consists of cooking the corn with a little lime so that the corn digests better. We want to base Makal on a Mexican cuisine, yes traditional, but also innovative, and different than the Mexican cuisine of other restaurants, you know, not your typical fajitas, nachos, burritos, etc. The basis of Mexican cuisine is corn; there are other ingredients like chili and beans, but as they say "without corn there is no country." So we want to focus on that here at Makal, to give clients real Mexican cuisine. Authentic with a modern touch, both in technique and in plating.

I: In fact, in the new menu we have a new appetizer, a taco de lengua in green sauce, accompanied with quelites salad and a pickled emulsion, and it works very well. We also have another new dish which is the oxtail. It is a French combination with Mexican ingredients.

J: How delicious!

D: Also one of the new dishes is the short rib that has a poblano mole, it is a personal recipe. Just to make that mole, you need around 30 to 35 ingredients, including spices, chili peppers, seeds, chocolate.

I: We have a five course menu that we call the Makal Experience. Some dishes are on the menu, others are not, we create them for the tasting menu. It has its pairing, for example, the cochinita comes with a reposado tequila. The idea of ​​this menu is that you take a bite of your cochinita pibil and then have a sip of tequila or some wine to give you all the flavor. It is a very good combination. And since it has five plates, if you are visiting Vallarta and only come for a few days, you can have the full experience in one sitting, both of food and drink.

Rodo (mixologist):

Jesse: When and how did you start making cocktails?

Rodo: Three and a half years ago was my first job at the bar. I used to work in the kitchen; I spent three years working in a restaurant and then I began working at the bar in the La Madalena restaurant. They gave me the opportunity to work as an assistant at the bar and I really liked it. The truth is, I learned super fast and after three months they gave me my first position as second head of the bar. That was my approach to mixology. From there I have been in different places, an all-inclusive hotel called Barceló in Mismaloya, an Italian restaurant called Florios, in Jardín Nebulosa in San Sebastián del Oeste, and some other places.

J: Impressive! And how did you find out about Makal?

R: I was working in Punta Mita before coming to Makal and due to the pandemic, all activity was paused. While at home, I received a message from Diego, who is the sous chef, and he told me about the project, that they wanted to do something very interesting with Mexican products in the kitchen and in cocktails. It caught my attention and I came to have a talk with them and we met.

J: How cool! How did you meet Diego?

R: From school, to high school here in Vallarta. He was here for a while then he went to CDMX.

J: How do you define your drinking style?

R: Well, the truth is my drinks are very simple. I would define it as suitable for all audiences; they are fresh, but they are also interesting, because I usually use unconventional ingredients. Sometimes I make something with radish or something with poblano pepper and chayote.

J: What is your goal here at Makal? What would you like to share with clients?
R: The ideal is that they connect with the concept of the place. That they keep that good impression and that they want to share the place with the people they know, that they like it so much that they want everyone to come and meet us, that would be our goal.

J: I love it! What is the drink that you like to prepare the most? And what is the most requested drink here?

R: Well, they are both the same, I really like to prepare the Tuba Makal and it is the drink that people ask for the most. It is a simple, fresh drink, quite interesting, it has charanda, it has tuba, it has pineapple. It is a variant of the piña colada, but with Mexican ingredients.

J: It's my favorite too. If Makal was a drink, what would it be?

R: Well it would be one of my drinks, I would use unusual Mexican ingredients, I would use some kind of chili, I would use some fresh fruit, I would perhaps use a mixture of agave distillates. I could use tequila and mezcal or tequila and raicilla. It would be like a Mexican version of tiki, a pretty cool cocktail. Usually the tikis are for relaxation, chatting with friends and I think that would be a Makal cocktail.

J: Were the drinks created with the food menu?

R: Well, we had not planned to make a pairing as such, we did not plan that the food would go with the drinks, but personally I consider that there is a very good match with the cuisine of Israel because it is based on Mexican food and tends to be spicy, spicy, it has quite interesting flavors to share with the cocktail bar. A good dish with a good wine.

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If those interviews didn’t make your mouth water, I don’t know what will! If you’re looking for a new date-night spot, a quick bite or drink after a dip in the ocean, or just a place to chill with good food and drink, Makal is your place to go. You will be greeted with warm smiles and good vibes, and on Sundays, a free mimosa! Head over now!