Quality Branded, the hospitality group known for splashy, high-energy openings like Bad Roman and Twin Tails, opened Limusina last night. The three-level, 5,000-square-foot Mexican restaurant, at 441 Ninth Avenue at 34th Street, sits on the edge of Hudson Yards, with seating for 215 diners.
“We signed this deal about two years ago and spent about 18 months in construction,” says Quality Branded CEO Michael Stillman. It used to be a parking garage – “the kind of place where city buses and limos pulled in decades ago,” he says. Referring to the name, which translates to “limousine,” “That history inspired us.”
The main dining room Limusina
Limusina expands the company’s growing national portfolio, which includes Smith & Wollensky, Quality Meats, Quality Italian, Quality Bistro, Don Angie, Zou Zou’s, Kini’s in Denver, Bad Roman, and Twin Tails. By next year, the group will grow to a dozen restaurants with a Beverly Hills opening in the works.
“We’ve wanted to do Mexican for many years,” Stillman says. “Craig [Koketsu, executive chef and partner] grew up in San Jose, with Mexican food. We’ve always said it’s a genre that I think fits our narrative that we thought we could execute well.”
Much like the group’s Southeast Asian and Italian restaurants, Limusina isn’t tied to one particular region. “We sort of wanted to be loose, inspired by different ideas for the cuisine and do our own kind of take on it rather than say we’re trying to do this as specifically regional because that’s not who we are.”
The menu reflects that approach. Dishes include raw bar options ($5 oysters to $165 towers, whipped queso ($17), machetes ($22-$26); aquachiles ($22-$32); variations on nachos (($24-$32). Larger plates run from lobster al pastor ($58) to Yucatan red snapper ($43) and steakhouse-leaning dishes like pork shank carnitas ($65) and short rib quesabirria ($75). Beverage director Bryan Schneider oversees cocktails like the Tajin Martini, a frozen Vampiro, and several riffs on margaritas.
Limusina’s seafood tower Limusina
Turkey wing confit Limusina
Desserts, created by pastry director Lucy Blanche, include jelly donut conchas filled with strawberry jam and Bavarian cream; a lemon icebox cake topped with hibiscus petals; and a sweet corn sundae with peanut-popcorn brittle and strips of spicy corn tortillas.
Of the design, Stillman says, “we wanted this layering of a little bit of that history, that old concrete, not industrial per se, but just sort of that flashback to the grit — but like the shining modernity of what’s happening in the neighborhood.”
Working with GRT Architects, the team embraced that tension. “Sometimes you see Mexico City because of how it’s developing so much in different ways,” Stillman says. “Our goal with the design was we wanted it to be something wild that you walk in and you haven’t really seen.”
The restaurant includes small surprises throughout, such as a hidden private dining room behind the bar and a lower-level space with glossy green finishes reminiscent of a swimming pool. “We like to create discovery moments,” Stillman says.
Limusina’s opening follows by several years the launch of Zou Zou’s nearby, which has helped establish Quality Branded in this corner of Midtown. “We didn’t expect so many local residents to embrace it,” says Stillman.
For Limusina, he hopes to strike a balance between big, playful flavors and a neighborhood feel. “We thought a big, fun, really Quality Branded-style Mexican restaurant would be a great fit for the physical space and for the neighborhood,” he says.
Reservations are available now via OpenTable, with dinner service Sunday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
A frozen Vampiro Limusina
Limusina’s bar Limusina
https://ny.eater.com/2024/12/5/24313398/twin-tails-midtown-quality-branded-bad-roman-review