CASA CARMEN has opened a second location in Flatiron after the success of the first flagship location, which opened in Tribeca last year in 2022.
Honoring Mexican Chef Carmen “Titita” Ramirez Degollado of El Bajío restaurant fame, her grandsons Sebastian and Santiago Ramirez Degollado have opened “Casa Carmen” as an homage to their grandmother’s passion for traditional, authentic Mexican cuisine.
Chef “Titita” was deemed a “Matriarch of Mexican Flavor” by Mark Bittman in a 2007 New York Times story. At age 83, she is widely well-regarded for her El Bajío restaurants in Mexico City, which serve recipes from Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca, and Yucatan. El Bajío now has 19 locations including the original location, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. The opening of Casa Carmen in New York City marks the first time the family has opened a restaurant outside of Mexico.
The Tribeca flagship opened in the 105-seat, 2,500 square foot former Tutto Il Giornio space, which has now been transformed by Mexican Interior Designer Luis Enrique Noriega and Architect Legeard Studio into a restaurant resembling a traditional Mexican hacienda featuring terracotta-colored walls, handmade Oaxacan “barro negro” black clay pottery, and woven textiles.
At Casa Carmen, nearly all of the recipes come directly from Titita. Head Chef Ivan Gonzalez trained at El Bajío for months in preparation for the opening, undergoing exhaustive training about ingredients, recipes, techniques, and cooking protocols. In the tradition of restaurants in Mexico, Casa Carmen employs “mayoras” – the elder stateswomen of the kitchen – to oversee the creation of the sauces and other fundamental building blocks of the menu such as tortillas. “I am very proud that my family’s third generation wants to continue our journey in the restaurant business,” said Titita in a statement. “I offered them all of my support and experience – I reviewed the menu with them, and the overall concept and décor proposed by Luis Enrique Noriega. I am honored that the restaurant is named after me. I hope that guests at Casa Carmen will have a fabulous experience savoring traditional Mexican dishes, prepared to perfection, in an elegant place.”
The dinner menu features several of the signature dishes for which El Bajío is known, including duck tostadas, plantain empanadas, and enchiladas de mole (a special mole that only a handful of cooks know how to make), pescado “Veracruzano,” and shrimp in a special salsa negra made with charred chipotle peppers. At brunch, guests can look forward to enjoying classic dishes including chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, and molletes gratinados (telera bread with refried beans, Oaxaca cheese, and pico de gallo). The cocktail program is agave-forward, and there is also a large list of mezcal and tequila. The restaurant also offers Mexican wines (mainly from the Valle de Guadalupe and Parras region).
Sebastian trained at the École Hôtelière de Lausanne, and he worked at El Bajío for several years before becoming the General Manager of Casa Carmen where he oversees operations. Santiago’s background is in finance, and he now manages the Casa Carmen beverage program and administration.
Reservations for both the Tribeca and Flatiron location are available via Resy. The restaurants are open daily from 5-11pm with brunch on the weekend from 11am, and Happy Hour during the week from 4:30pm.
Casa Carmen Tribeca is located at 114 Franklin Street, New York, NY 10013 and Casa Carmen Flatiron is located at 5 W 21st Street, New York, NY, 10010.
