House-ground masa is the key to the restaurant Milpa and Chef DJ Flores’ new tortilleria to come.
Milpa is a business enterprise build from the ground up , kernel by kernel . DJ Flores open his eating house at the top of the pandemic in early 2021 , vagabond the die on a concept base on quality ingredient and Edward Durell Stone - ground heirloom corn tortillas .
It was n’t exactly the plan all along . Flores was happy working as an executive sous chef at Lorena Garcia’sChica , a restaurant he help open up at the Venetian in 2017 . He came down with COVID in 2020 , took some time off , and was then let go – a decision he charge on a alteration in management . After 20 years of working on the Strip , Flores made a goad - of - the - moment commitment to strike out on his own .
" I find this little smirch . It was cheap . It was go away for a cut-rate sale monetary value . " he remembers . " I was like , you know what ? Let me ask my friends , my home … I ’ll take out some money and put it into the eating house . "
Photo by Louiie Victa, courtesy of Milpa
Flores quietly unveiled Milpa in a crowded airstrip shopping mall on the corner of Flamingo Road and Durango Drive , an area that ’s busy , but does n’t have much of an indistinguishability . It ’s not quite Summerlin , not quite Spring Valley , and not in the middle of an up - and - come culinary setting . If you take to see the dentist , get your nails done next threshold , and then have your smog checked across the street , you might be conversant with the product .
" I really thought Milpa was going to close within a twelvemonth , " Flores call back . " It was just exceedingly dense . But I knew my restaurant was totally different , whole against the grain . "
Milpa is set up as a degraded - casual restaurant with a bright , minimalist distance , and the ethos is ingredient - driven . in conclusion , a yr after opening , sale began to pick up . The eating place became a culinary goal that thrived on word of rima oris .
Photo by Anthony Mair, courtesy of Milpa
Flores set himself apart with a key ingredient : corn , sourcing heirloom crops from little - production farmers in Oaxaca , the Yucatán , and other Mexican region . The veggie get in in unlike colour – red , yellow , purple , and blue – with pernicious nuances of flavor and amylum content in each .
The preparation is simple , but requires nonindulgent attention to detail . Flores is careful not to overcook the corn , lease it boil and steep at just the right time and temperature for nixtamalization . The next day , the kernels are rinse and grate with volcanic stone ; a modern take on a traditional process that dates back 100 of years to autochthonal Mesoamerican cultures , producing a okay powder called masa that ’s improbably versatile in Mexican recipes . " We do n’t add any additive . We do n’t add any preservatives , " Flores says . " The only preservative we use is table salt , and we grind every day . "
Come ahead of time for breakfast and taste the smack in an social club of chilaquiles or blue pinola pancakes . Arrive later in the day for the stuffed masa triangles called tetelas , seasonal Tamale , or tacos , let in a best - sell vegan option with barbacoa - way huitre mushroom . warm up up with a cup of the chocolate masa drink champurrado and ask about the later special . You may even see the savory corn fungus huitlacoche show up in quesadillas .
Photo by Rob Kachelriess for Thrillist
Milpa is a Spanish term that literally signify corn field but also refers to a Mesoamaerican system of crop rotary motion , farming , and life . So the restaurant ’s name mull over an appreciation for not only corn , but combinations of garden truck that work together in their serial publication of veg - forward bowling ball . " You take to plant the squash and attic right next to your Zea mays to avail each other grow , " Flores says about the farming operation . " We utilize different types of grains and ingredients , and you ’ll see that abundantly in the menu . "
Flores now sells his masa to fellow Las Vegas restaurant like Border Grill , Vesta Coffee , Mijo Modern Mexican at the fresh Durango resort , and in a full circuit moment , Chica , the same restaurant that let him go just a few forgetful old age ago .
Business is so adept , Flores is gearing up for the 2024 chess opening of a raw concept , Buen Dia Tortilleria , which will have corking space to accommodate sweeping orders as well as a shopfront for the general public . customer will be able to buy masa themselves as well as house - made chips , quesadillas , and Mexican bon vivant deep brown , which the chef says is underrepresented in Las Vegas .
Flores ' appreciation for Mexican flavor is based on his own heritage , date back to when his female parent ( a Puebla - bear immigrant ) prepared repast at home . The Vegas native worked a Kmart pizza pie counter as a teenager , light the spark for what would become a career in the solid food business . He scored kitchen jobs at " probably every Mexican restaurant on the Strip " to get cracking acquainted with the food for thought plug in to his background knowledge , but it was n’t until he accepted an internship to the south of the border at Quintonil , one of thebest restaurants in Mexico City , that he fully agnise the possibilities within the culinary art .
The chef ’s unequalled background and improper journey aid form and exhort a focused sight for Milpa , which has acquire from two to 10 employees in less than three years . While ab initio reluctant about the location , Flores now believes , looking back , his small-scale West Valley savoir-faire ultimately worked to his advantage . " Believe it or not , this little pouch turn out to be a skillful domain , " he say . " It ’s a destination now . My customers feel comfortable here . "
