Nam Ky Khoi Nghia - Asialife HCMC

One young Texan brings the tastes of
his childhood to Vietnam at the new
Mexico Lindo. Thomas Maresca reports.
Photos by Fred Wissink.
The 26 year-old racing between
the open kitchen and the tables
of the just-opened Mexico Lindo
doesn’t a) look Mexican or b)
look old enough to be running
his own restaurant. And then
there’s his name: Arthur Wentworth,
about as Mexican-sounding
as a cucumber sandwich.
But in this case both looks
and moniker turn out to be deceiving.
It only takes a handful
of homemade tortilla chips to
get the idea that authentic Tex-
Mex food may be on the menu
in HCM City.
Wentworth, it turns out, is
actually half Mexican and grew
up in Houston not only eating
his mom’s home cooking but
feasting on the thriving Mexican
food scene of his hometown.
Texas’s largest city is more
than 1/3 Hispanic and home to
countless food vans and small
storefronts offering some of the
country’s best tacos, quesadillas
and tamales.
“I didn’t appreciate it until
I left,” says Wentworth, who
moved to HCM City five years
ago, first to work in an immigration
law office, and later
as an operations manager for a
garment company.
It was a transfer to Haiphong,
a city with decidedly fewer distractions,
that launched Wentworth’s
burrito dreams. “I was
bored and hungry and started
cooking a lot,” says Wentworth
of his five-month stint in the
sleepy northern town.
He began by making tortas
(Mexican sandwiches) for himself
and his friends, calling his
mom back home for her recipes
and making do with what local
ingredients he could find.
By the time of his return to
HCM City, Wentworth was
hooked. Positive feedback from
friends encouraged thoughts
of opening his own Mexican
restaurant. But he knew he
wasn’t ready.
Wentworth came up with a
novel solution. Friendly with
Annie and Van, the owners
of a local watering hole
with a kitchen, Moon Bar, he
launched Chico’s, an invite-only
Facebook group that offered
delivery from a simple menu of
Mexican food.
It was a time of trial and
error (What’s wrong with my
tortillas? Wentworth says he
often found himself pondering).
As always, mom was on
the phone to help with recipes.
He also was able to hire kitchen
staff from the recently closed
Mexican restaurant Cantina
Central, and had local friends
to help navigate the markets.
Getting the recipes right was
one thing. But the challenges
of running a restaurant kitchen
were unexpectedly daunting.
“Logistics in the kitchen
are mind-boggling,” Wentworth
says. After four months,
Wentworth felt he was ready to
take the next step. He drafted a
business plan, found investors
via Annie & Van, and Mexico
Lindo was opened. Before its
official launch on March 26th,
Wentworth brought a couple of
experienced helpers on board.
A professional chef from Holland,
Thys DeBlok, moved here
with his girlfriend three months
ago and was introduced to
Wentworth through a mutual
friend. He’s now running the
show in the kitchen.
Richard Sutcliffe, a British
expat with 40 years in the restaurant
business has also come
on board as an advisor. He’s
refined the menu and stressed
everything from portion control
to an obsessive need for consistency.
“Quality and continuity,”
he says. “They’re married to
one another.”
The two-story restaurant has
the classic Mexican look and
feel, a faded colonial haciendastyle
with wrought iron accents,
paintings of Mexican women
with traditional flouncy blouses
and potted cactus plants.
The menu for now is also
staying close to the classics,
with a heavy Tex-Mex bent:
beef and chicken burritos,
enchiladas, chimichangas,
quesadillas, chili con carne. The
time and effort Wentworth has
put in is apparent in the simple
but solid dishes; he's sourced as
many authentic ingredients as
possible, including maseca (corn
flour) from Mexico.
Beyond the Tex-Mex stalwarts,
Wentworth plans to
bring introduce some more
traditionally Mexican dishes,
such as chiles rellenos, to the
menu as weekly specials.
Wentworth says the feedback
has already been positive,
especially from visitors from
California and Texas, where
Mexican food is a way of life.
“‘I miss real chips,’ is one of the
first things I heard,” he says.
However, the most discriminating
customer is yet to
come; Wentworth’s mother is
expected to visit in the summer.
“If she doesn’t see some
authentic Mexican dishes on the
menu she’s going to kick my
[butt]” he says.
Mexico Lindo
149 Ton That Dam, D1
Tel: 3915 3149
40 asialife HCMC asialife HCMC 41