Trebol

During frequent trips to Mexico City to visit his grandparents, Kenny Hill would seek quietude in a metropolis of 20 million under a shade of Trebol trees. "To me, trebol means tranquility", Hill says. "That's the feeling I want to create at my restaurant." Hill, the former sous chef from Higgins restaurant, opened Trebol to pursue his dream. Based on lessons from his grandmother's kitchen and his travels across Oaxaca and the Porto Escondido coast, he fashions a menu of traditional Mexican dishes made with wild Northwest ingredients. His tenure at Higgins, under the tutelage of founding chef-Greg Higgins-a pioneer of seasonal, sustainable cooking-proves as influential as the time Hill spent cooking with grandma. Trebol adheres to the seasonal availability rule-no midwinter tomatoes or poblano chiles-and uses sustainable items such as organic produce, grass-fed beef, and wild fish. (Less)