Two years since she departed New York City’s acclaimed Cosme, Mexican chef Daniella Soto-Innes is back – this time, down on the picturesque shores of Punta Minta, where she has opened her new restaurant, Rubra.
Tucked away inside the swanky W Punta de Mita hotel, Rubra marks itself out as an embodiment of Soto-Innes’ creative vision, blending swanky fine dining with authentic cuisine. While she traded the buzz of the Big Apple for the sleepy tropical surrounds of Riviera Nayarit, her focus on celebrating the cuisine of Mexico – with a modern edge – remains.
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Chef
Although Mexico City-born Soto-Innes has worked in restaurants across Mexico, the US and Europe, it was in New York City that she really made her name. In 2014, she opened Cosme as executive chef (under the lead of chef-owner Enrique Olvera, who is also the brains behind the two-Michelin-starred Pujol in Mexico City), and in 2017, they opened Atla, which offered a more casual take on Olvera’s signature Mexican cuisine.
Word of Soto-Innes’ skill quickly spread. In 2019, she became the youngest and first Mexican recipient of the World’s Best Female Chef by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and was also named the Most Exciting Chef by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
But, over two years since she departed Cosme, Rubra opened as Soto-Innes’ solo venture. Joining her on the (predominantly women-led) team are Estefanía and Valentina Brito, Venezuelan sisters who worked with Soto-Innes at Cosme.
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Menu
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While Rubra’s menu will naturally be partially an expression of all that Soto-Innes learned at Cosme, the chef has been clear that this venture will be embedded with her own signature culinary style – as well as harboring influences from the tropical climate of Punta Minta.
Local seasonality will lead the offering and many ingredients will even come from Soto-Innes’ own garden. At dinner, the menu will come in the form of either an a la carte or a nine-course tasting menu, for $4,200 mxn pesos per person (approx. $200 USD). During the day, it’s ‘small bites’ only.
As became Soto-Innes’ signature at Cosme, the offering at Rubra is vegetable and fish heavy: there’s porcini mushroom broth; grilled clam with brown butter; tomato tostada; and tuna belly, guava, wasabi and tamarind.
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Interiors
Designed by Ana Paula de Alba and Ignacio Urquiza, the restaurant is entirely fitted in an earthy, red-toned hue inspired by volcanic rock, with wooden tones and plenty of plants creating a sense of place. Everything is proudly made bespoke, from scratch – from the ceramics to the tables and chairs.
Inside, guests enjoy a theatrical look at the open kitchen; outside, the terrace seating with views across the ocean makes the most of Punta Mita’s enviable climate.
Rubra, W Punta de Mita, Km 8.5 Carretera Punta de Mita, Desarrollo Costa Banderas, Punta de Mita, Nayarit, Mexico, 63734, rubramx.com
