The Mexico City Restaurant Serving a Taste of Home
In an age obsessed with the elusive notion of authenticity, restaurants love to say that their menus reflect the spirit of their owners’ own kitchens, a comforting, if often disingenuous, claim. But at Mexico City’s six-month-old Esquina Común — which translates from the Spanish to “common corner” — home is more than a concept. This hidden weekend lunch spot, operated by the chef Ana González Serrano and her partner, Carlos Pérez-Puelles, is run out of a roughly 550-square-foot second-floor apartment on a leafy side street in the city’s Roma district. The former living area is now an extension of the modest dining room, which can seat up to 14 and is decorated with family photos and books from the couple’s own residence. In a newly opened lounge just off the main area, Pérez-Puelles pours wine and mezcal from a hyperpersonal selection. González Serrano, who previously oversaw the corn-based offerings at the city’s acclaimed Expendio de Maíz, cooks in a decidedly noncommercial kitchen (her mother, Beatriz, helps with prep), serving polished yet homey dishes that, on a given weekend, might include cheese-stuffed plantain croquettes with hoja santa chimichurri (recalling the coastal state of Veracruz from which half of González Serrano’s family hails); a tostada heaped with buttery turmeric-spiked lentils that is equal parts Mexico, India and France; or Peruvian red rice with pork ribs and huancaína, a cream sauce she makes with poblanos, alliums and cheese. Reservations can only be made by messaging the restaurant on Instagram: @esquinacomun. — Michael Snyder
The Kelly Watch Gets a Fresh Face
Few accessories have endured like the Hermès Kelly bag, popularized by the actress and Monegasque princess Grace Kelly in the 1950s. In 1975, the French luxury brand released a watch whose band was fashioned from the bag’s iconic side straps. Today, for a new iteration of the watch, the leather band has been replaced by a rose gold one set with 221 tiny cushion-cut diamonds. In a slight twist on the original bag, the padlock can be sheathed in its clochette — now rendered in black alligator — to be worn as shown on a leather cord as an elegant sautoir. $39,500, hermes.com. — Jameson Montgomery
Watch Report: Timepieces for Those On the Move
Retouching: Picturehouse. Photo assistant: Nathaniel Jerome. Prop stylist’s assistant: Kevin Burney
