Celia and Maricruz Stafanoni Montagner with their Ravioli con Frijol y Mole Poblano
Click here to return to the table of contents page
By Joseph Sorrentino, writing from Mexico
Celia Stefanoni Montagner and Maricruz Stefanoni Montagner are putting a new twist on traditional Mexican dishes. An Italian twist.
The sisters own two restaurants in Chipilo, Puebla, a small pueblo settled in October 1882 by northern Italians. Celia owns Merende (Veneto for “breakfast”), which, as its name suggests, serves breakfast; Maricruz owns Cuore (Italian for “heart”), which serves lunch and dinner. The two restaurants share a space on Chipilo’s main street.
Chipileños, as residents are called, held onto their traditions, language and, especially, their cuisine — so all of the restaurants in Chipilo are Italian. There are a few fondas and taquerias — small places offering Mexican staples like quesadillas, gorditas and tacos. But, oddly, for a Mexican pueblo, there are no Mexican restaurants.
Until recently, there was very little mixing of the two cuisines — just a couple of restaurants offering a dish or two. Chipileños, “do not like to mix the two,” Maricruz explains. “Me, I am a little crazy. I like to mix flavors.”
And that is just what these sisters are determined to do with Merende and Cuore, where they’re creating dishes that show the two cuisines can be mixed successfully.
“It is in our roots. We are Mexican with Italian roots,” Maricruz says. “By mixing the two cuisines, it is an opportunity for people to try something different, something better.”
Transforming the Typical
In 2011, the two sisters went to Italy for a month. “We went to study cooking to learn how to make tiramisú, gnocchi, other pastas, and to learn about the culture,” Celia recalls. Before the trip, Maricruz had thought about opening a restaurant. Celia hadn’t.
“I only wanted to finish preparatorio (high school), get married, have children and work at home,” Celia says. That trip to Italy changed her mind. She enrolled at Instituto Suizo de Gastronomia in Puebla in 2012 and earned a bachelor’s in gastronomy in 2017; Maricruz took one class there and learned about parrilla and how to make make paella. Celia opened Merende in September 2019 and Maricruz followed with Cuore in April 2023. The goal has been the same from the beginning.
“We want to be different from the rest. We do not want to be boring or common,” Maricruz says.
Their food is anything but.
“In Mexico, there are many restaurants that serve breakfast,” says Celia. “We want people to know that we are different. We are Chipileñas.”
Walk into any of those other restaurants and you’ll find enchiladas on the menu, typically verde, suiza and mole. The flavors vary a bit between restaurants, but they’re basically the same. At Merende, Celia offers four different enchiladas, made from recipes they created by trial and error. “We try something,” Maricruz explains. “If it does not work, no pasa nada.” No problem.
They also sometimes involve a bit of serendipity.
One day, Maricruz was making enchiladas verde at home. “I did not have any cilantro,” she says, “so I added basil.” Celia tried it and liked it. It’s now on Merende’s menu as Enchiladas Chipileñas, with pesto replacing basil.
Enchiladas suizas traditionally has a red salsa with just a thin stream of crema on top. The sisters’ Enchiladas Formaggi e Chipotla are enchiladas with a cream sauce made from four cheeses and chipotle chile, which adds a nice, smoky flavor. “The parmesano, mozzarella, manchego and crema are all from Chipilo, and the gorgonzola is imported from Italy,” Celia says.
In most restaurants, molletes are toasted bread covered with refritos and manchego. At Merende, they’ve replaced the manchego with mozzarella and added pesto. In fact, many of the dishes have what Maricruz calls “un toque de pesto.” A touch of pesto. And why is that? “I like pesto,” she says.
Maricruz takes over the space for lunch and dinner. She has fewer dishes that mix Italian and Mexican cuisine because the menu was designed by her husband, who is also a chef. “He is more traditional,” she says. But there are two interesting queso fundidos: Gormaggio Carciofo with artichoke hearts, mushrooms and bell pepper, and Formaggio Cuore with mushrooms and un toque de pesto. She serves 23 pastas but, for now, only one that mixes the two cuisines: Fetuccini gamberi e chipotle with a four-cheese sauce, shrimp and chipotle chile.
Menu-making in Progress
As we sit and talk, Maricruz mulls over the fact that there aren’t enough pastas on the menu that mix the two cuisines. She suddenly turns to Celia. “What about ravioli with mole?” she asks. Celia likes the idea, and they ask if I want to try it.
“Sure,” I tell them, “but the ravioli are stuffed with meat and I’m a vegetarian.”
Barely missing a beat, Maricruz announces, “Ravioli with beans and mole,” then hurries to the kitchen to talk to her chef. Shortly, heart-shaped ravioli stuffed with peruano beans and swimming in mole poblano arrive. I find it incredible; the sisters aren’t impressed.
“The raviolis are good, but they do not surprise,” says Celia.
“We used peruano because it is more buttery,” says Maricruz. “It goes better with the Italian palate.”
Celia takes out a small notebook. The sisters begin rapidly bouncing ideas off each other as Celia takes notes. I am witnessing how they come up with their recipes.
Maricruz asks Lupito, one of the chefs, how she cooks the beans for her bean tamales.
“With avocado leave and hoja santa,” Lupito says. Hoja santa (sacred leaf), is an herb with a slight peppery flavor, often used in central and southern Mexico cooking.
“We will try different beans,” Maricruz announces. “Maybe black...”
“Or pinto,” Celia chimes in.
Suddenly, the conversation shifts to other dishes.
“Molletes with pepperoni,” says Celia.
“Or salami,” Maricruz offers. Then, of course, “Beans with a touch of pesto.”
Celia takes another bite of the ravioli. “It does not have ‘Wow!’” she says. “We are looking for ‘Wow!’”
I have a feeling the next time they call me in to try their Mole Ravioli, it’ll have that Wow!
Joseph Sorrentino is a freelance writer based in Mexico and a frequent contributor to el Restaurante.
Click here to read the next article, City Tacos OB Playground