Hartwood
Everything cooks over open fire in a wood-burning oven and grill the kitchen built by hand, and solar panels run the lights. The board changes daily on what the Yucatán markets gave up that morning. They open Wednesday through Sunday, dinner only.
Why go
Eric Werner and Mya Henry came down from New York on a holiday in 2009 and moved a year later to build it.3 They drive hours into the interior of the Yucatán through the week, to markets and farms, and what comes back sets the board.1 They run the place off-grid, so the solar panels carry the lights and the music and every dish goes over open fire.1 They compost the waste and put it back into the mangrove.1 Michelin's inspector lists it and adds the booking warning: In high season, you'll need to book well in advance, though solo diners can almost always find a perch at the bar.
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Order this / avoid
- Order: whatever is written on the board. 50 Best Discovery names pork empanadas with spicy mayo, grilled pineapple and papaya, ribs in a sweet agave barbecue sauce, and salads built on local jicama and flowers.3
- Order: a pineapple habanero margarita, or the tamarind one.3
- Avoid: Monday and Tuesday. The kitchen is dark both days.1
What locals & experts say
- MICHELIN Guide Mexico, inspector:
In high season, you'll need to book well in advance, though solo diners can almost always find a perch at the bar.
2 - 50 Best Discovery, on where the menu comes from:
The team travels far and wide each day to source fresh ingredients from Yucatan markets and farms, with the daily changing dishes written on a big wooden board.
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Good to know
- Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 6:00pm to 10:00pm.1
- Booking: the restaurant takes its own, and no third-party site takes them.2
- Spend: 50 Best Discovery puts the average at $50 a head.3
- Standing: the MICHELIN Guide Mexico lists it. There is no Bib Gourmand and no star on the guide's page for this address.2
- The cookbook: Werner and Henry wrote Hartwood: Bright, Wild Flavors from the Edge of the Yucatán.3
Verdict
should-visit — Two sources carry this page and neither is a critic. The venue's own site supplies the mechanism, an off-grid kitchen and daily market trips, which is primary evidence of what the kitchen is trying to do. Michelin lists it with no distinction at all, and 50 Best Discovery is a directory rather than a ranking, so neither of them rates the cooking. Fifteen years of trading and a published method put it on this rung; the absence of any critic's sentence about the eating is what keeps it off the one above.