SOM bartender Alejandro Ordoñez
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By Freelance Writer Joseph Sorrentino, writing from Mexico
“The best way to know Mexico is through its food and drinks,” says Isidoro Guindi who, along with Luis Vences, opened SOM restaurant in the Condesa neighborhood in Mexico City in September 2023.
The restaurant is an outgrowth of two businesses these entrepreneurs own that are dedicated to introducing consumers to pox and sotol: the spirits company Casa Dionisio, and Siglo Cero, the business Guindi launched in 2014 to bring pox to the marketplace.
“The name SOM means ‘Somos México,’” Vences explains. “Every product tells a story, and these stories are present at the table.” Part of what these restaurateurs want to do is promote traditional Mexican liquors. “Our distillates are 100% Mexican, and we want them to complement the food.”
They decided they didn’t want to just offer better-known Mexican distillates like tequila and mezcal.
“I wanted something not known, something that is not [made from] agave,” says Guindi. “So, I decided to investigate pox and sotol.”
Pox (pronounced ‘posh’) is made in Chiapas from corn, while sotol is made from a species of palm in Chihuahua. “We wanted something from the mountains in the south and the desert in the north,” Guindi says. “Pox is like liquid tortillas, a taste of corn and a little sweet. Sotol is smoky, with flavors of mineral water and mesquite.”
In Chiapas and Chihuahua, pox and sotol are consumed straight and in a special way. “Pox is traditionally drunk with the left hand. This is done because it is believed it connects to the heart. The ritual in the north with sotol is to drink it from the horn of a cow.”
But not everyone wants their drinks served straight, so SOM offers cocktails made with the two liquors.
“It is difficult to get ingredients to mix well,” says bartender Alejandro Ordoñez, who developed the cocktails. “Sotol mixes well with seltzer, green tea. Pox can be mixed with mint, something spicy...and with coffee, cacao or lemon soda.”
SOM is a small restaurant, with half a dozen tables lining the walls and a few chairs at the counter where you can watch your food and drink being prepared. It’s worth taking a seat at the counter; watching Ordoñez and fellow bartender Carlos Ivan Locano Tellez is like watching two artists at work.
Their “artwork” includes the Vieja Guardia, Dulce, and Herbal Fresh sotol cocktails, and Poxito, Pox de Mole, Quetzal, Brebaje de Shaman and Pox con Café cocktails made with pox.
Each cocktail starts with a glass being chilled with ice. The ingredients are poured into a glass or metal container, and, often, shaken and then poured into a glass. “The type of glass depends on the cocktail,” explains Vences. “This is by tradition.” The drinks are decorated with garnishes such as basil, lemongrass or a pineapple leaf.
Ordoñez mentions that pox and sotol also can be used in classic drinks. “One can make a Pox and Tonic or a Pox Collins,” he says. “With sotol, one can make a Gimlet.”
See Ordoñez’s Poxito recipe below.
The Poxito Cocktail
Recipe courtesy of SOM, Mexico City
1.5 oz. Siglo Cero Pox
2 pieces chamomile tea bags
8 oz. mineral water
3 pieces prange slices
1.5 oz. natural syrup
Ice
Highball glass
Infuse tea bags with Pox, add syrup, ice and orange slices. Top with mineral water and garnish with fresh chamomile or orange slices.
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