Sureste owner Alex Henry will open El Molino del Sureste at 5005 S. Kingshighway Blvd. in Southampton in late summer 2023. Henry is launching the multi-concept restaurant with his brother and now business partner, Jeff Henry, who will serve as general manager and beverage director at El Molino del Sureste.
<span class=”xxxxxxxxxcontentpasted0″ <the=”” new=”” restaurant=”” is=”” henry’s=”” second=”” concept=”” under=”” the=”” sureste=”” umbrella=”” and=”” his=”” first=”” brick-and-mortar=”” project.=”” first,=”” sureste,=”” opened=”” at=”” city=”” foundry=”” food=”” hall=”” in The new restaurant is Henry’s second concept under the Sureste umbrella and his first brick-and-mortar project. The first, Sureste, opened at the City Foundry food hall in October 2021, showcasing Henry’s love of the cuisine of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, where the chef was born. Henry, named as a semifinalist in Eater’s Young Guns 2018, was previously head chef at Cleveland-Heath and Nixta, and also gained experience cooking at Vicia and Brasserie.
El Molino del Sureste will encompass three distinct concepts. During the day, it will be a traditional molino where people can go to buy tortillas, tostadas and other fresh masa-based products made from nixtamalized and ground corn. Henry said it’s comparable to the neighborhood bakery you might find in a European city where people will go to pick up bread every day. “In cities, the molino is where you go to buy your tortillas or masa, or sometimes they’ll also sell other masa products like chips or tostadas or totopos, different types of stuff like that,” Henry said. “A lot of times in rural areas people will bring their different spices and stuff to have ground, but this is going to be more like the way a molino typically is in more urban areas.”
Henry said El Molino will sell several different types of tortilla, among other masa products. He’s been making these products all along at Sureste, but said that now he needs a larger kitchen, partly to grow the wholesale side of the business. “We use exclusively local varieties of corn, most of which we source out of small farms from Illinois,” he said. “We try to carry a few heirloom or heritage corn varieties pretty much all the time.” Some of those corn varieties will be available year-round, others from smaller farms will rotate seasonally.
In the evening, El Molino will offer two different experiences and spaces to enjoy. On one side of the space, a “family dinner” concept will offer large-format shareable dishes inspired by what Henry’s abuelita (grandma) cooked for his family during his summers visiting Mexico. Henry anticipates a capacity of around 45 for the dinner concept, with a further 20 to 22 diners to be seated on a sidewalk patio.
“It’s a reimagination of the way that in my childhood we used to do family lunches or dinners at my abuelita’s house,” Henry said. “Instead of everyone having their own individual thing, it’s a big old spread and lots of different condiments and sides and shareable things to be passed around.” He added that the spread might include a variety of different Yucatán-style grilled meats, brothy soup-based dishes, with other sides and condiments.
On the other side of the space, a lounge bar will offer cocktails, with a special focus on agave and sugarcane spirits, as well as a menu of shareable small plates. “Basically what in Mexico we call antojitos,” Henry said. Customers will be able to sit at the bar or on banquettes, with Henry expecting to be able to seat up to 35.
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Henry said he and his brother are targeting a late summer launch date for El Molino del Sureste. Follow the restaurant on Instagram for the latest updates as opening draws closer.
Editor’s note: The article was updated on July 28, 2023, to correct a captioning error. The article includes an image of Castacan tacos at Sureste, not fish tacos as the original caption indicated.
This article appears in July 2023.
