Máximo Bistrot

Máximo Bistrot, also known as Máximo, is a Mexican and French restaurant in Mexico City. It was founded in 2011 by the chef Eduardo García and the restaurateur Gabriela López. The restaurant offers dishes made with seasonal Mexican ingredients, inspired by French cuisine techniques. The restaurant earned praise for emphasizing a farm-to-table concept by sourcing local ingredients.

The restaurant was originally located on Tonalá Street, in Colonia Roma. In 2020, Máximo Bistrot was relocated to a larger space on Avenida Álvaro Obregón, expanding its kitchen facilities and rebranding to Máximo. Despite the delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant grew to employ 120 people. In 2021, The World's 50 Best Restaurants gave the restaurant an award for its business model reinvention. In 2025, Máximo Bistrot was awarded one Michelin star in the second ''Michelin Guide'' covering restaurants in Mexico.

In 2013, Máximo Bistrot became the focus of national controversy when the daughter of the consumer protection chief of Mexico's Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor (PROFECO), attempted to bypass the reservation system, prompting a temporary closure by PROFECO inspectors. The incident sparked public backlash over abuse of power, leading to the chief's dismissal and sanctioning of several officials.

Description

Máximo Bistrot is located along Avenida Álvaro Obregón. Its building has an industrial design, with a warehouse-style arched roof and walls coated in a mixture of fermented nopal and lime.

Máximo Bistrot requires reservation to dine at the restaurant. It offers a daily menu and a tasting menu. Its menus draw inspiration from French cuisine, reinterpreted through the use of seasonal Mexican ingredients. In 2012, the restaurant had dishes such as tuna, Atlantic wreckfish, and clam callus sourced from Puerto Ángel, Oaxaca. Vegetables were cultivated in the of Xochimilco, in southern Mexico City.

Writing for ''Condé Nast Traveler'', reporter and critic Scarlett Lindeman noted that the menu reflected a farm-to-table concept. Her report described dishes like crisp-skinned trout with clams, peas, and wild spinach, as well as chicken liver served with cherries. A reporter from ''El Financiero'' highlighted additional options such as lamb birria, octopus ceviche, lamb loin with smoked eggplant purée, and rosemary juice. The same journalist also described a banana bread with caviar, a lamb birria , escamoles with Comté cheese, grilled northern red snapper, Wagyu beef, criollo plum sorbet, and a passion fruit and mango tartlet. Omar Moreno also highlighted other dishes, including macadamia and banana bread, soft-shell crab tlayudas with guacamole salsa mixed with shiso, a roasted rack of pork with rosemary and apple juice, and charcoal-grilled Wagyu cross rib eye.

History

Eduardo García was born in Mexico around 1977. During childhood, his family illegally immigrated to California, where he began to work in restaurants as a dishwasher. In the 1990s, he faced legal issues for assistance in committing a robbery and was deported in 2000. During a later return to the U.S., his son, Maximo, was born. García found work at a restaurant in Georgia, where he was promoted to chef. In 2007, he was deported again and is now permanently barred from reentering the country.

After his second deportation, García settled in Los Cabos Municipality, Baja California Sur, before relocating to Mexico City. There, he met Enrique Olvera, who hired him as head chef at Pujol upon learning about his previous role at the restaurant in Georgia. García worked at Pujol from 2007 to 2010, during which time he met his wife, Gabriela López. In 2011, García secured a loan from his uncle and opened Máximo Bistrot. García and López opened the restaurant in November 2011 on Tonalá Street in Colonia Roma, in the Cuauhtémoc borough with a team of four employees.

In a 2012 review for ''Letras Libres'', Alonso Ruvalcaba compiled several contemporary critiques that described the food at Máximo Bistrot as being prepared with high-quality, seasonal, and straightforward Mexican ingredients. He noted that the menu changed daily and likened the restaurant's approach to that of a or bistro, a type of modest and affordable eatery. According to the cited reviewers, the décor was simple and somewhat unkempt. It featured a tri-colored cement mosaic floor, furniture inspired by the architect Luis Barragán, and a tree of life sculpture in which candles replaced traditional biblical figures. The furniture—including tables, chairs, and benches—was crafted from mesquite wood and manufactured in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato.

In July 2020, Máximo Bistrot relocated to a larger space in the same neighborhood on Avenida Álvaro Obregón, in a space previously occupied by an automobile repair shop and a pool hall. The new location was chosen partly because of its kitchen, which matched the size of the former restaurant. It offered upgraded facilities, including grills, a smoker, stoves, ovens, a cold room, and industrial extractors—all of which had been absent from the original location. The move was initially scheduled for March 2020 but was delayed due to the onset of the pandemic in Mexico. By 2020, the restaurant also shortened its name to Máximo. Around this time, it had employed approximately 120 people.

"Lady PROFECO" incident

On 27 April 2013, Andrea Benítez, daughter of Humberto Benítez Treviño, the then-head of Mexico's Office of the Federal Prosecutor for the Consumer (PROFECO), arrived at Máximo Bistrot without a reservation. After being informed by López that she would have to wait due to a list of existing reservations, Benítez became upset and reportedly threatened to shut down the restaurant—an action within PROFECO's authority. López declined to give her special treatment and upheld the restaurant's reservation policy. Later that day, PROFECO inspectors visited the restaurant and ordered its closure, citing an unclear reservation system and the absence of alcohol quantities listed on the menu. A video of the incident circulated widely online and was perceived as an abuse of power, prompting public outcry and calls for the resignation of Treviño. A hashtag dubbed Benítez as "#LadyPROFECO" on social media.

On 3 May, PROFECO removed the suspension seals, stating that the closure had not been formally enforced by authorities and that the restaurant had remained closed by decision of its owners. A few weeks later, president Enrique Peña Nieto ordered the dismissal of Benítez Treviño, carried out by Secretary of the Interior Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong. Six additional public servants were sanctioned for being involved.

Reception

Scarlett Lindeman described the food as "refined and upscale", while noting that it maintained a bistro-style approach. A '' Time Out'' reviewer gave Máximo Bistrot a five-star rating, praising its farm-to-table concept and calling the food "sophisticated without being pretentious". Mariana Camacho of ''The Infatuation'' recommended the tasting menu for first-time visitors, Máximo Bistrot received one Michelin star in 2025, meaning "high-quality cooking, worth a stop". The guide added: "While the bones of its industrial past are present, this chic Roma Norte restaurant's gorgeous space boasts white brick, tile, and soaring ceilings. It's breezy and beautiful".

See also

* List of French restaurants
* List of Mexican restaurants
* List of restaurants in Mexico

References

External links

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2011 establishments in Mexico
Colonia Roma
French restaurants
Mexican restaurants in Mexico
Michelin-starred French restaurants
Michelin-starred Mexican restaurants
Michelin-starred restaurants in Mexico
Restaurants established in 2011
Restaurants in Mexico City