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

When Mexico Metropolis’s latest cocktail bar and restaurant, Define, opened on the finish of September, it was the fruits of months price of preparation between a number of the finest within the enterprise. However only a yr in the past, the long run was way more opaque. 

Restaurateur Walter Meyenberg is well-known in Mexico Metropolis as the person behind a number of the most celebrated bars and eateries on the town, together with Hanky Panky and Brujas, each of which usually rank on the much-lauded World’s 50 Finest Bars checklist annually. However when enthusiastic 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 a number of 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 business; he’s a genius. And Maura is the grasp of hospitality,” Meyenberg mentioned. “Nevertheless it wasn’t simply their abilities that made me wish to work with them. We share a connection and imaginative and prescient that simply works rather well collectively.” 

However this time final yr, the couple had been each nonetheless residing in London, enthusiastic about their very own subsequent steps there, with a transfer to Mexico Metropolis not even an actual thought. “Maura and I had been speaking loads about perhaps doing one thing collectively in London,” Alex mentioned. “However doing something in London is inconceivable.”

After a number of conversations with Meyenberg and seeing firsthand what he’s completed along with his areas in Mexico Metropolis — between the meals and beverage choices and the structure and design of his areas — each Maura and Alex knew that working with him was an awesome 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 quite a few events for each private journey and work. By February 2023, the pair headed to 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 known as me a number of months later and was principally 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 known as Maura and was like, ‘I believe we’re transferring to Mexico.’”

As soon as the decision was made, Alex and Maura made their approach to Mexico Metropolis for good to begin constructing out three totally different ideas below the brand new bar group with Meyenberg, aptly known as MWA. Their first idea, Define, opened in Roma Norte in late September and makes a speciality of draft cocktails and small bites, with the capability to accommodate 150 company. The menu options diner-style dishes from each the US and Mexico, like tacos, hotdogs, and burgers. And so they partnered with Mexican streetwear designer Tony Delfino on all the pieces, from the menu design to the workers uniforms, to provide the house a definite feel and look. 

When ideating the idea, the group was adamant about creating a singular house that belonged. Their experience lies in high quality cocktails using new strategies, so that they needed to convey one thing totally different to the scene. All 30 of their modern drinks — such because the Tomato Highball, Clear Colada, and Turin Greens — are pre-batched and provided 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 strategies, however as Alex places it, “isn’t attempting 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 social gathering,” Alex says. However particularly, his and Maura’s wedding ceremony in Sardinia, of which Meyenberg was a visitor. “It’s primarily based on the social gathering that we threw at our wedding ceremony at Maura’s mother and father’ home. And the thought is we get to throw that social gathering each evening.”

“We actually wish to create a way of residence,” Maura says. “The place individuals will hang around all evening with their pals, 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 company can count on the excessive degree of service that’s imbued into all the pieces the trio has labored on, each collectively and individually, every will have fun the neighborhoods that they’re part of — with world-class foods and drinks.