Tips For Curating A Lavish, Colorful, Mexican Heritage Tablescape Your Guests Will Love ~ Plus My Conversation with Mexican Food & Drink Expert

 

Who doesn’t love to celebrate Cinco de Mayo?  

Its calendaring is a perfect pin to launch a season of exuberant fun. 

I was keen to curate my first table design dedicated to this celebrated holiday not only because of the rich Mayan and Mexican history I experienced while exploring and studying there but also just in time for this happy May Day fiesta, to honor my very special Ladies Who Lunch Conversations guest, Bárbara Sibley: expert on Mexican food and libation ~ author, owner, CEO, and chef at her much beloved La Palapa Cocina Mexicana restaurants.

Bárbara is also a fellow Les Dames E’Escoffier ~ I say with unbridled pride. 

So, por supuesto, this table design had to be good.

Here’s how I achieved a look that earned me Bárbara’s two-thumbs up. 

I always begin a table design by asking, what story do I want to tell?
Here, I wanted to capture the history and fun that is Mexico ~ particularly their unique connection to nature, specifically butterflies and flowers and plants.

When designing a Cinco de Mayo dinner party table setting ~ or a fun summertime, or theme party anytime, here are some tips:

Start by Setting the Stage

Layer in an elegant table design to celebrate and honor Mexico's rich cultural heritage beginning with a color palette theme inspired by the Mexican flag's green, white, and red.

Plants Make it Pop

I also used brightly-colored flowers ~ you'll love the shocking pink gerbera daisies in the cobalt blue vases ~ inspired by the essence of Frida Kahlo.

I also used some succulents, of course. Those heart-shaped Hoyas are irresistibly cute!

The brightly-colored anemones enlivened the table with happiness. (Don’t tell them they were the understudy for Dahlias. I wanted Dahlias because they are the national flower of Mexico but alas, despite much research and effort, it’s baffling why none are to be had out of our own season…)

  

I mixed White, Red, and Purple anemones ~ to great effect.

Don’t forget the Food! Mexicans love their limes or as they say, limón verde, so I placed lotsa’ limes in the colorful compote. Perfect.

And using some fiery red chile peppers as accessories heats up the sizzle.

Details, Details

I added fun Fiesta things like colorful Pinatas, and Fiesta die-cut pails; inserting tea lights into them for a nice evening table glow ~ along with two strands of lights wrapped around bright green pearls ~ making the table a fiesta at night, too.

I used a long gold-framed mirror as the anchor to the centerpiece items. That helps to amplify the look, especially at night.

I also included some artful pieces I had from my visits to Mexico.

The carved ebony piece is from Cuernavaca where I studied Spanish.

   

Tell Your Story ~ With an Assortment of Textures, Patterns 

I wanted to include two important story elements: honoring the butterflies that overwinter in Mexico,

Butterflies are featured in the white table runner and perched on the plants;

along with the country's relationship with gold… (As fraught as that part of the story is.)
That’s why there is plenty of gold in the table setting: in the chargers, cutlery, and more.

The flag's colors are echoed in the green glasses, salad plates, and red flowers.

The napkins here are doubled: white linen over solid red and a chile pepper pattern, all tied with raffia.

With some of our dried chile peppers tucked inside the wrap. So festive. And yet another nod to the country’s rich culinary heritage.

The name/place cards are happy flowers with hummingbirds that flit so pretty-in-pink fronting the pink gerbera daisies.

     

Salud to your happy fiesta.

Here is a video tour of the completed table design.

And let’s raise a glass of mezcal or tequila to the real history and meaning of Cinco de Mayo.

I asked Bárbara to tell us about that piece of Mexican history.  After all, she was born and raised in Mexico City.  You can hear her explain the story of the brave Mexicans and the French (!) in our Ladies Who Lunch Conversations videocast.  

Not a margarita was in sight! 

At her award-winning, New York City La Palapa Cocina Mexicana the tastes of her childhood are recreated with homemade queso fresco, chorizos, hand ground nixtamal corn tortillas and complex moles all made the way they would be en su casa.  I can assure you ~ her moles are magnificent! 

As are the tacos and the guacamole and …. 

According to Bábara’s muy extensive bio, “Her interest in indigenous cuisines was deepened by her studies in Anthropology at Barnard College where she joined the Committee on the Barnard Medal.”

I just love that her restaurant and menu are informed not only by taste but also by the culture and society of place… Of human history. We have much to learn about how a country’s cuisine evolves and is influenced by forces including nature, language, and politics. 

Her extensive experience led her to open La Palapa Cocina Mexicana in 2000. 

In this day and age especially, it’s almost a miracle to sustain a restaurant for this long ~ nearly a quarter of a century!  You know you’re making customers truly happy. 

Again, quoting from her bio: “As a truly authentic Mexican restaurant, La Palapa has been awarded the “Distinctivo” by Sabores Autenticos de Mexico Foundation. 

La Palapa is known for its pioneer agave cocktail program and the use of infusions and flavors in tequila. Sibley has done extensive product development for food and spirit developers such as Kraft, Jose Cuervo, Sauza and Bacardi. As an expert in authentic Mexican cuisine, Sibley has appeared in many publications and on numerous television shows such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, CBS Sunday, Chopped and NY1 en Español. She reported on Mexican Cuisine regularly on Martha Stewart Radio and has taught Mexican cooking to children and adults at venues such as Macy’s, Whole Foods, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, The Culinary Loft, UMass at Amherst and the American Museum of Natural History.” 

As you’ll hear in our Conversations videocast, I marvel at how Bárbara manages to not only run her successful businesses, but her journey emphasizes her dedication to community.  She’s had her staff serve up food to first responders after the September 11th attacks; to the neighborhood after Superstorm Sandy, and during the pandemic.   At our recent La Palapa dinner she enthused about how wonderful the East Village neighborhood is for her business and for raising her children.  

She explains that operating a restaurant means “you are part of the daily life of your community. Sibley is a past President of the Board of the NY Women’s Culinary Alliance, on the Board of Directors of Les Dames D’Escoffier New York Chapter and is a member of the Women Chefs and Restaurateurs. 

She has been awarded the “High Road” award for her labor practices by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY). Sibley has lectured on Women Entrepreneurs at the Culinary Institute of America. She has received awards from SCORE, the SBDC and a DeWitt Stern Local Hero Award from A.R.T. NY for her support of Community Theater. Sibley is a past Board Member of the non-profit Sara Curry Preschool at LMDN, a nursery school in the East Village since 1896. 

During our Conversation, I jokingly said that the Mediterranean Diet is on notice!  Why?

You will learn that Bárbara has lectured on panels for the American Heart Association to grow the awareness of traditional Mexican and Latin American foods as being healthy superfoods! 

Think about it: beans, rice, avocado, fruits. Chocolate. Tequila 🙂

She has mentored many of her employees and has had students as interns as she feels it is important for them to have strong women as role models. She is honored to be the 2018-2019 Executive Chef for SHARE: A Second Helping of Life. 

And then there is her dedication to the Arts.

“In addition to her career as a restaurateur, since 1997 she has been Co-director and Founder, with her sister Jennifer Clement, of the San Miguel Poetry Week, an annual poetry conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Faculty poets have included Britain’s Poet Laureates Sir Andrew Motion and Carol Ann Duffy, US Poet Laureate Robert Hass, Pulitzer Prize winners such as Yusef Komunyakaa, W.S. Merwin, Stepehen Dunn, W.D. Snodgrass, and many others. 

Cookbooks

In 2009, she co-authored, Antojitos: Festive and Flavorful Mexican Small Plates. 

I ordered my copy right after I met Bárbara and the cookbook arrived just in time for our Conversation.  It’s a beauty of a book. Love the recipes ~ both food and drink ~ and the head notes with fascinating cultural history, along with suggested menus for special occasions.

She is a featured contributor to the anthologies The Way We Ate: 100 Chefs Celebrate a Century at the American Table, Women Chefs of New York and Mocha. 

“Since 2012 she has had the honor and pleasure of being part of the team restoring the Holiday Cocktail Lounge. An exercise in zen and archeology, as Creative Director her mission has been to preserve this important East Village landmark. In 2015 she opened a fast casual taquería La Palapa Taco Bar in the new Urbanspace Vanderbilt Market and in 2019 she opened another in Gotham West Market.”

Whew!  What a life journey.  So far.  

You can see now why I was so bewitched by Bárbara and couldn’t wait to feature her life and lessons on Ladies Who Lunch Conversations.  She is incredibly inspiring… 

Thank you/Muchas gracias, Bárbara.