The Room
Xochi opened at the Marriott Marquis Houston in 2017 — Hugo Ortega's third major Mexican concept, dedicated to the cooking of Oaxaca. The dining room is the most-disciplined regional-Mexican fine-dining room in Texas: white walls, warm wood, hand-glazed black-and-gold tile, and an open kitchen at the back where the masa-and-mole programme is visible from most tables.
The James Beard Foundation shortlisted Xochi for Best New Restaurant in America in 2018. The Texas Monthly named it the year's best new restaurant. The Houston Press has held Xochi on its top-ten list every year since opening. The downtown address makes it the de-facto convention-week deal-dinner room.
The Food
The seven-mole programme — coloradito, negro, almendrado, manchamanteles, amarillo, verde, and a chichilo or daily-rotating mole — runs as the menu's centre and is the order on every visit. The cochinita pibil, the tlayuda, and the in-house masa programme run the small-plate end. The chocolate programme — Ortega's family in Oaxaca grows cacao — runs through dessert.
Mezcal programme is one of America's deepest — single-village agave spirits sourced through the Ortega family network. Cocktails are mezcal-led: a working mezcal old-fashioned, a Oaxacan negroni, a small batch of working classics. Wine programme is short, weighted toward Spanish and Mexican producers.
Best Occasion Fit
Close a Deal: Xochi is the convention-week downtown deal-dinner address for the working dinner that needs the room to read as serious-Mexican rather than steakhouse. The booth tables along the eastern wall are the right register, the seven-mole tasting is the introduction, and the mezcal programme is the closer.
Impress Clients: International visitors who know Mexican cooking will recognise Xochi as one of America's two or three most-credible Oaxacan kitchens. The mole programme is the language. The chocolate is the introduction. Ortega's name is the credential.
Birthday: Birthdays at Xochi are warm, mole-led, downtown-Mexican-fine-dining affairs the room handles with the practiced ease of an Ortega-group operation.