Five Essential Dishes From New York’s Soledad
Soledad may be prolific chef and restaurateur Julian Medina’s most personal restaurant yet. Medina is no stranger to the New York dining scene; his restaurants, like Toloache, Coppelia, and Tacuba, have been city staples for years, but this one, which opened last month, hits different.
At Soledad, Medina cooks dishes often directly pulled from his mother and grandmother’s recipe books.
“My family recipes are incorporated; it feels different and it’s not, you know, typical Mexican,” Medina says. “It’s totally not your typical approach that we know here in New York. It was just sort of a tribute for [my mother and grandmother] and how hard they worked for me and my brothers to have a different future.”
Even the space, which is filled with pink granite and flowers, was designed to feel more like home in Mexico, than a restaurant, Medina says.
“The decor is a big element here in the restaurants. We have a lot of bright colors and arches that are very typical in Mexico. Everything matches and everything makes sense,” he adds.
Here, Medina takes us through five essential dishes at Soledad, in his own words.
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1. Pato con Mole
Duck carnitas, sweet plantains, Mexican rice, Soledad mole, sunny-side-up duck egg
“I chose this dish especially because it was dear to my grandmother. She used to make the Mexican rice — white rice, with mole — and then she would just fry an egg on top of it. That’s how we would start a meal.
“It was very casual. She would make the mole over the weekends and then [we would eat the] leftovers, because the mole gets better with the days. It’s one of those sauces that just gets better with time. So, by the middle of the week, it will just taste even more delicious. It was our comfort food.
“That being said, I kind of tweaked it a little bit and I added the duck to it. We confit the whole duck, carnitas style, with orange, evaporated milk, some Mexican Coca Cola, and some spices.
“After it’s braised, we pull it. We sauté the duck with the duck fat, the same fat it had been cooked with. Once it’s nice and crispy, we add the Mexican rice and sauté it all together. We put it on the plate, and we put the mole on top. Then, we fry a duck egg instead of a regular egg. I use some fried sweet plantains that we put in the mole as well to give it a little bit of a sweetness. Then I sprinkle some nut crunch that I make here with almonds and peanuts and sesame seeds and spices for the crumble on top.”
2. Corunda
Michoacan corn tamal filled with mushrooms, black bean puree, creamy habanero tomato salsa, crumbled bacon
“The corunda is a very traditional dish from Michoacan. I was born in Mexico City, but my family came from Michoacan. It has a very distinctive, different type of tamal — every region in Mexico has their own kind of tamal. In Oaxaca, they have their own tamales, and in Mexico City they have their own tamales.
“In this case, the corunda is triangle shaped in a way that is just like a puffy tamal. In Michoacan, they have a few variations: some have nothing inside, some have cheese, some have mushrooms, some have meat. Here, I sauté wild mushrooms, chop them up, and mix them with the masa. I also use the same duck fat that I use for the duck carnitas; usually, tamales are made with pork lard, but instead of that I use the fat that has been cooked already with the confit duck, so it just has a lot more flavor to it.
“Then we wrap it in banana leaves. Usually, corundas are topped with some beans and some tomato broth or salsa, too, so, I made a black bean puree that goes underneath, then I place the corunda on top. I also made a nice creamy habanero tomato salsa. And I top it all off with crumbled bacon to give it a little texture.”
3. Taquito de Kipe
Beef short ribs kipe, roasted poblano pepper, yerba buena, cilantro, green onion, avocado salsa verde, homemade pan arabe
“This is a dish from my mother’s recipe book, and it was passed down from my grandmother. She used to do a raw version and a cooked version. We do the cooked version in this case.
“I make this with braised short ribs. Usually, you would use chopped meat, but these I made with beef short ribs that are already braised and chopped up finely.
“I’ll mix it with a lot of roasted poblano peppers, mint, cilantro, and other herbs. We have a pan arabe, just like a pita bread that we have in Mexico. I put a patty on top of the pita, and I sear it like that, all together. Then we cook it in the oven, and we top it with some salsa verde cruda, which is a raw salsa with tomatillos. Finally, there are a few herbs like mint and some more wild cilantro.”
4. Albondigas
Iberico pork meatballs, spicy tomato-almond salsa, crispy shoestring potatoes
“This is a really good example of my family’s cooking; it comes from my mom’s recipe. Who doesn’t love meatballs? In this case, though, we do things a little differently. These Mexican style of meatballs are made only with beef, and we put a hard-boiled egg inside and then cooked rice and a lot of herbs. It’s a little bit more dense; it’s not moist and soft. You boil them raw; they’re not roasted or seared.
“In this case I do it totally differently. It’s a pork meatball with Iberico ham, which is delicious and it has a nuttier flavor. I use only pork. My blend is different, with caramelized onions and garlic, cotija cheese, mint, and parsley. I put in a lot of eggs and breadcrumbs so it makes it more fluffy and very flavorful. I make a roasted tomato salsa that also has chipotles and a little bit of habanero. I blend that with some Marcona almonds.
“I sear the meatballs, and then I cook them in that same sauce. I serve them with shoestring crispy potatoes on the bottom. We put three meatballs and then top it with the sauce as well as some of that almond crunch.”
5. Milanesa
Chicken milanesa breaded with ground grasshoppers and amaranth, poached egg, truffle salsa macha, cotija cheese, chayote slaw, shaved black truffles
“This is comfort food for us. On Thursday or Friday after coming home from school, you could smell the milanesa up the street from my house. Usually, my mother would do chicken, and that’s why I do chicken here.
“I wanted to take it to another level, so I put the truffle salsa macha, poached egg, and fresh black truffle on top. You can crush the egg and smear it all over the milanesa, which is nice and crispy.
“In the breading, besides the bread, I add some ground grasshoppers and also some amaranth seeds that are very dear to Mexico — they are very Mexican ingredients. It adds more texture and more crunch to the breading, and it just keeps it more crispy. It has to hold the truffle salsa macha, the egg, and everything. You can get a bite of the crispy milanesa, and I don’t usually pound it so much so that you can still taste the chicken.
“As a palate cleanser that is not traditional to my family, I also made a chayote squash slaw. It doesn’t have a lot of flavor on its own, but we put a lot of lime juice and green salsa in it, toasted with salt. It’s meant to cleanse your palate for the milanesa.”
Soledad is open daily from 4 to 11 p.m.
Ellie Plass is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. Follow her on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). Follow Resy, too.
