La Legendaria | Miguel de la Torre mta+v

Mexico City´s downtown offers a great variety of choices, there is something for everyone. In recent years the image of this traditional area of the city has changed giving priority to the pedestrians and creating a new atmosphere. The commercial activity has been beneficiated from this transformation and to be consistent new gastronomic choices have emerged with perfect balance between food, design and service.

La Legendaria –Gastrocantina- located in Uruguay street, understood perfectly this concept opening its doors with an image that sends an invitation to go inside an discover it. The project was done in the ground floor of one of the magnificent building, which once was the financial district of the city, to present an attractive contemporary atmosphere to satisfy the taste of locals and visitors.

The project was done by Miguel de la Torre Arquitectos team who choose as the main axis and personality of the design concept an element of the traditional Mexican cuisine: the wooden scoop. Repetitive elements are a characteristic of the projects of architect Miguel de la Torre and in this particular project it worked very well because the only way that any recipe –especially mole negro, the house specialty– is done to perfection is to repeat it over and over until mastering it, a detail that can be appreciated all over the place.

The property has 350 sq m, 200 were used for customer service and the rest for the kitchen and services. The restaurant is completely open to the street to take advantage of the heavy traffic especially during the day. The main color is black and on the right side wall 10 thousand wooden scoops were installed from floor to ceiling creating a texture that besides being dynamic adds the warmth of this essential natural material in the Mexican cuisine.

The area is divided into three big zones. A lounge in the front inside a glass box that generates the smoking area, the main salon in the back and finally a 30 m long bar connecting both spaces. The correct use of the dimensions of the property allows the customer to feel in a very wide and large space achieved by the location of the main access and the corridor that goes from the entrance to the end. The kitchen is in the background and partially open to the salon to perceive the operation.