Perfect taquerias and raucous seafood joints seem to crop up on every corner — everyone has their personal favorite — and even a comparatively high-concept restaurant like Xokol, run by the chefs Xrysw Ruelas and Oscar Segundo, serves its mostly corn-based dishes with a refreshing dose of playfulness. Countless family workshops, where tradespeople use simple machinery to manipulate tin plate, brick and stone, are found in the city’s central neighborhoods, while master artisans, like the ceramist Angel Santos, maintain and advance the traditions of craft villages like Tonalá and Tlaquepaque, now absorbed into Guadalajara’s ever-expanding periphery. For the local artists, architects and designers who have increasingly chosen to stay here, as well as their counterparts from elsewhere in Mexico and abroad who have begun to settle in the city alongside them, Guadalajara is an unusually inviting and collaborative place to make things.

Chef Xrysw Ruelas has raised Guadalajara cuisine to new heights with Xokol, a ground-breaking restaurant found in the Santa Tere neighborhood. The menu is constantly changing and is as much an anthropological project as a simple list of dishes. Ruelas draws inspiration from the culinary techniques of her ancestors to offer innovative takes on recipes developed in past centuries.

Industrial-chic Xokol boasts black earthen tones, a wall lined with house drink infusions, and a striking mural of an older Indigenous woman under a ceiling from which corn cobs hang over a communal table. This confirms a restaurant centered around native Mexican corn varieties. Xokol is the kind of place where ancestral dishes get modern, creative treatment while remaining true to history and roots, thanks to talented young chefs Óscar Segundo and Xrysw Ruelas Díaz.Drink This: From infusions to house cocktails, Xokol’s drinks educate as they delight.

Corn is not just the centerpiece of this remarkable restaurant, it’s the raison d’être for chefs Óscar Segundo and Xrysw Ruelas Díaz, creating a mechanism to not just explore the crop’s many varieties, manifestations, and uses within local and indigenous cuisine, but also the very history of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and Mesoamerica. While the menu changes frequently, keep an eye out for their version of burrata, made from an Oaxacan-style cheese and aged cotija. The dining experience is dark, moody, and communal: Come curious and leave sated.

Nestled within the heart of the city in the Santa Teresita neighborhood is a black wall with thin, minuscule letters spelling out “Xokol,” the Náhuatl word describing colored corn. It’s not quite the seamless solidness of the wall Jennifer Connelly’s character encountered in the “Labyrinth,” but it does have a similar quality. Because once you move into the depths of the barrier and wind through a short tunnel entrance, you’re immediately transported into a room that feels more ceremonial than one solely made for dining.

Óscar Segundo and Xrysw Ruelas Díaz's restaurant inside of a tortillería in Guadalajara's working-class neighborhood of Santa Teresita is proof that a world-class restaurant can exist anywhere. There is no wine list, just naturally fermented beverages like tíbicos (water kefir) blended with tropical fruits, horchata de maíz, and some local beer and cider. Xokol's menu changes daily but it's focused on their wildly creative technique-driven dishes based on Segundo's family-grown heirloom corn and Indigenous roots.

Tucked away on a quiet street in the Santa Tere neighborhood, you will be blown away by the ceiling of hanging corn, the beautiful mural, and dark simple space with one long communal table and open kitchen. The menu focuses on pre-hispanic, indigenous and ancestral ingredients and cooking methods with heirloom corn that you won’t find elsewhere in the city. Even though I have been living in Mexico for nearly 17 years, I was excited and surprised when I didn’'t recognize most of the ingredients on the menu.

El arte de Xokol no esta en las paredes, ni en lo elaborado de su mobiliario, ni en lo lujoso de su vajilla. El fuerte de Xokol es su cocina, y cuenta con un arma secreta que lo hace destacar lo suficiente como para ser reconocido como uno de los 10 mejores restaurantes de Guadalajara. Esa arma secreta es el maíz criollo, alrededor del cual crea una cocina que recuerda a lo que podrías encontrar en una comunidad indígena.

Xokol significa maíz prieto en náhuatl y esto nos da una idea de hacia adónde va este restaurante: una celebración a este ingrediente tan importante para los mexicanos. Los platillos son la suma de técnicas milenarias, ingredientes nacionales y la creatividad, para presentar sabores familiares de manera fantástica. 📍 Ignacio Herrera y Cairo 1375, Santa Teresita / Más información aquí

Prepare for a culinary revelation in the city’s Santa Teresita neighborhood!. Xokol, meaning “black corn” in Nahuatl, is the innovative kitchen of chefs Xrysw Ruelas Díaz and Óscar Segundo. They artfully showcase the richness and diversity of this sacred grain in dishes deeply rooted in Mexican culture, drawing particular inspiration from pre-Hispanic indigenous practices.

Our first introduction to heirloom corn at Xokol was in the form of a gift: a traditional corn water and a gorgeous blue corn tortilla to pair with a smoky salsa. It was wonderful, and I feel like I could have only eaten that and felt satisfied with my meal. However, there was more to come, and we had the task of sorting out our menu for the evening.

Xokol Tortilleria y Antojeria is making it their mission to preserve Mexican ingredients no longer being used in GDL kitchens. They take a specific interest in corn which is the most important ingredient in Mexico's foodways. The varieties of corn available just 100 years ago were abundant compared to today where most places only use a couple kinds.

Xokol: A Unique Dining Experience: In the Santa Teresita neighborhood, Xokol stands out. Chefs Óscar Segundo and Xrysw Ruelas Diaz celebrate native corn and beans in their communal dining space. Try their chayote squash root dish and the “ceremonial taco” with a carmine insect dye-decorated tortilla, filled with bitter greens and black beans.

Xokol is an upscale restaurant in the heart of Guadalajara that offers a contemporary twist on traditional Mexican cuisine. The restaurant offers a chic and sophisticated ambiance with elegant decor and warm lighting that creates a cozy atmosphere. It’s a unique fine dining experience that stands out from the rest.

White corn husks hang sculpturally from the ceiling inside the Santa Teresita neighborhood restaurant Xokol (Calle Ignacio Herrera y Cairo 1375) helmed by husband-and-wife chefs Óscar Segundo and Xrysw Ruelas Diaz. Xokol showcases the many varieties of native corn and beans in a communal dining experience.

Dining at Xokol you will learn a lot about the corn tortilla and it’s importance to the culture of Mexico. Nowadays, most people eat industrial tortillas that don’t have a lot of flavor. Xokol is rescuing the legacy of corn by growing exotic varieties and making tortillas out of them.

You have to visit Cynthia Ruelas and Óscar Segundo’s antojería Xokol. They’re doing really amazing things. Aside from being the most exciting place that’s opened in the last two years, they’re a really hard-working pair.

Xokol – The vibe here is super cool and I love how corn is at the core of their mission, but I found the food to be lacking in pizzazz, and the cocktails were weak and uninteresting.