Poca Madre, as Chef Victor Albisu likes to put it, is an upscale Mexican restaurant that takes traditional and “turns it on it’s head”. The 70-seat, dinner-only concept has a modern, high-end feel that’s unlike any other Mexican spot in DC.
“We want to serve an amazing elevation of regional and indigenous food—foods from the Yucatan, Oaxaca, and different parts of Mexico,” says Albisu, who took inspiration from renowned Mexico City restaurants like Pujol. “A lot of Mexican food is common. We want to make sure we honor it and make it uncommon.”
As for the name, Poca Madre is a popular slang term in Mexico City meaning ‘cool’ (“Maybe a little rougher,” adds Albisu). A native Washingtonian of Cuban and Peruvian descent, he says the phrase always appealed to him because it doesn’t entirely translate—in English it’s ‘less mother.”