Mexico City-inspired restaurant Vecino opens Friday

A new restaurant opening Friday in Detroit will specialize in the cuisine of Mexico City, have an “agave-forward bar,” open-hearth cooking and have the state’s first corn nixtamalization restaurant program, a traditional maize preparation process.

Vecino, which means neighbor, will seat 66 including 16 people at the bar. It’s housed in a building at 4100 Third Street in Midtown that has been empty for 50 years. The restaurant is a project from Mexico City native Adriana Jimenez, Lukasz Wietrzynski and Detroit-based designer Colin Tury.

“We consciously look for ways to connect through shared experiences like unique foods, cultures, and traditions — all of which inspire the ways we eat, drink and share stories with our friends and neighbors,” said Jimenez in a press release. "From community-style seating to shared plates, we’re bringing that sense of community found in Mexican culture.”

Vecino’s food menu will focus on Michigan ingredients and will highlight heirloom corn in many ways, from the tortillas and tostadas to the esquite beets dish and tlayudas. Guests can enjoy whole snapper, ribeye steak, chicken and vegetables cooked in the wood-fire hearth.

Executive chef Ricardo Mojica has worked at Sava in Ann Arbor and was the youngest head chef that P.F. Chang ever had when he was 19. He’s joined by head chef Stephanie Duran from Texas, a Culinary Institute of America alum who has cooked in Mexico City and at the Aviary restaurant in Chicago.

In addition to small-batch and artisanal tequilas and mezcals, the bar program will also have wines from Mexico, Spain and other Spanish-speaking areas of the world.

Once open Friday, Vecino will serve dinner Wed.-Sun. Reservations are open now through the Resy app. Call (313) 500-1290 or visit vecinodetroit.com for more information.

mbaetens@detroitnews.com