For the Rivera-Rio brothers, it’s all about family.
Daniel, Patricio, and Rodrigo Rivera-Rio helm Monterrey’s world-famous restaurant Koli, a sophisticated celebration of northern Mexico’s gastronomic heritage. Since its opening, Koli has distinguished itself for taking a holistic, even poetic approach to fine dining, elevating and showcasing the region’s beloved ingredients with a focus on crafting community in the dining room.
At Vidanta, we’re big fans of Koli’s unique combination of fine culinary craft and “family style” flavor. Having hosted the brothers once before to great success, Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta welcomed them back on March 17th-25th, to showcase their considerable skill and sibling synergy with an impressive 10-course meal at Epazote available exclusively to guests of the resort.
As collaborators, the Rivera-Rio brothers abide by a set of self-defined guidelines. These commandments set the tone not only for what goes down in the kitchen, but for the singular service guests enjoy at their table:
The 7 Commandments of Koli:
1 – Our focus is simple yet powerful cuisine showcasing ingredients and technique.
2 – More guests means more friends.
3 – We all create, we all cook, we all serve, and we all eat.
4 – The protagonist is always the food.
5 – Koli is an extension of our home to you.
6 – The farmers and producers are our motor. Their sustenance is our responsibility.
7 – All dishes convey a story representing our creative expression.
We sat down with the brothers to ask them about the challenges and advantages of making fine dining the family business.
The Vidanta Traveler Online: Did you all know that someday you’d like to be in the restaurant industry, or did one start going in that direction and the others followed?
Rodrigo: Well, I think it was a matter of our ages. I’m the oldest of the three, so I started in the gastronomy world, but it was also a stage in our lives when we were not living together. So I dabbled in gastronomy, then we all started to gather in Monterrey and began to realize that everyone had an interest in gastronomy, though each of us studied at different schools. So it was an independent pursuit for each of us. But at the end there was one moment when we came together and said, “Hey, if we’re all in the same thing, why not set up something together?”
TVT: Do all of you contribute to the creation of new dishes, or do you have tasks assigned according to your personality?
Patricio: Well, each of us has his tasks: Daniel oversees all the pastry, Rodrigo handles all the savory dishes, and I take care of all the front of the house, service, wines, and that kind of stuff. But we all come together to test the menus and share ideas.
TVT: Which of you decided on the roles you do in the restaurant?
Daniel: When we started the Koli project, it took about two years before opening to think through the ideology, to talk through what became our “commandments,” and each time we came together, we discovered what it is we’re each most passionate about.
TVT: Nobody was like: No! I like making desserts! And, No! Me too!
Patricio: No, we all knew what we wanted to do.
Rodrigo: And now each of us also lets the other one choose sometimes, to avoid fighting, right? Like: “You’re over there? Oh ok, I’m going to use the other side,” so there’s not even a problem. I think it’s a good thing that, in the end, you can see that the tasks are separated, but everything also connects. That is, everyone connects.
TVT: Since cooking is a great passion and you spend a lot of time together as a family, is separating work from your personal life a challenge or does that connection help you?
Rodrigo: No, I think this connection empowers our work. We’ve always had the philosophy that to be able to do something with passion and to live life to the fullest, you must have all the things that you’re passionate for, right? Or things that comfort you. So, we talked a lot in the beginning about desires and needs: what do we like? What is it that makes us feel calm? Art, for example, helps us with creativity, both in the kitchen and in the space: we have the paintings we like, our kitchen has a blackboard where we can draw and paint. The music we play is the music we’re passionate about. Being family helps us arrive at these ideas in a faster, more pleasant, more focused and direct way, because in the end, we’re all trying to get to the same goal.
TVT: And where does the name “Koli” come from?
Daniel: We end the experience of thirteen courses with a dessert that honors that name. Koli means “grandfather” in Nahuatl. Grandfather, and also “inheritance,” though in this case we lean more toward grandfather. Our grandfather on our mom’s side taught us a lot. He didn’t really cook, but every time we went to his house, there were always local delicacies and tons of food. We didn’t live long in Monterrey, but we traveled there every so often, and we always had the sense of traveling to Grandpa’s house to see all the food of Nuevo León that felt quite extensive in a certain way. So, our grandfather was the one who inspired us to open Koli.
TVT: Since this is the second time you’ve visited Vidanta and your second time hosting an event, how did your first visit influence this second presentation?
Patricio: I think everything went perfectly on both occasions. It’s helped getting used to doing what we already do with new people. Something that helps us form an excellent team, both in the room and in the kitchen, is just to focus and go with the flow.
TVT: Where are the Rivera-Rio brothers going? What can we expect from this family collaboration?
Rodrigo: Well, I think that for now we need some calm. Thank God we had a very busy year—we had the fortune to open our second restaurant recently, called “Cometa,” which is a casual Mexican kitchen also located in Monterrey, We wanted to develop a cuisine that you can eat more often, you know what I mean? Koli is fine dining for special occasions, which we love. But we also have these day-to-day recipes that we wanted to include in Cometa’s menu. The result is a kind of culinary tour throughout Mexico. We are also in “la Catarina,” so right now we want to take time to settle into these restaurants, and help them mature.
Daniel: And now we’re going to return [to Koli] for the sixth season, so we’re going to focus a hundred percent on that. That week we’ll be locked up there all day long, thinking and planning, and that’s a lot of fun.
Patricio: The change of season is very absorbing as we plan for the new pairings, the new dishes, the new cutlery, crockery, and all that. Every season lasts six months, so the idea is to go back and make changes that will last another six months.
TVT: Well, congratulations and much success in all your projects and many thanks for joining us.
All: It’s our pleasure, we’re delighted.
Rodrigo: And thanks to the whole [Epazote] team! They always treat us really nicely, but every time they treat us nicer and we feel even more at ease and happy—very happy to be here with you.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
