Pizza Profiles: Q Mex Spins Pizza with a Mexican Twist

The Beijinger's 2015 Pizza Cup is nearly upon us, and we continue our series profiling some of the best pies in Beijing so that you, our faithful readers, can try as many as possible before we ask you to vote for the best. Today we tell you about the pizzas on offer at Q Mex, one of the restaurants that will be selling their wares at our two-day pizza festival Oct 17-18 at Galaxy Soho. Marcus Medina, the restaurant's executive chef and co-founder, tells us about what makes Q Mex's pies special:

How long have you plied the trade?
38 years.

What's your style/pizza philosophy?
Serve the best quality available for the best price. We're not a pizzeria, we're a Mexican restaurant. However, I thought it was important to serve something as popular as pizza, especially in Beijing, because some people may not be that familiar with Mexican food. So if you have a party of five and one of them says "I'm not sure, I've never tried Mexican," then their friend can say "Well, they also have pizza," and that way everyone is satisfied.

In a city crowded with over 100 different pizza brands, what do you do to stand out?
We are the only restaurant in Beijing that besides standard options also serves Mexican-style pizza.

What's your pizza style?
Our regular pizza crust is NYC style, where I opened several restaurants early in my career. And I developed our thin crust based on my experience in Mexico City, where I went to chef's school.

Thick vs Thin: What's your take?
We have thin and regular. We do not have thick crust. We prefer a balance between toppings, cheese, sauce and bread that you can't find in thick crust pizzas.

What's the secret to your sauce?
Besides the classic Italian, we use a variety of sauces which includes a chipotle sauce or our homemade sour cream. Also, for our Margherita pizza, we use a standard Italian sauce, which many people like made with a bit of carrot diced inside, because it adds a natural sweetness to it. That's not a huge secret -- plenty of chefs do it -- but it's really effective.

What kind of cheese do you use and why?
Mozzarella. It's the closest to the local farm cheeses that a lot of restaurants use in Mexico. I wish we could use local cheeses for our Mexican pizzas, but that's not practical.

Pizza is somewhat new in a lot of Mexican restaurants, so there's no standard style like Margherita that's used throughout the country. It's more regional and distinctive, with restaurants in different areas using their own local ingredients and chilis. One thing that does make them similar is that they use spicier ingredients, which means their pizzas have quite a kick to them compared to what Americans are used to. That fiery flavor is something that Mexicans really like, and we incorporate that on our Mexican pizzas like our Chipotle Chicken.

Tell us about your standard pizza.
Name: Margherita
Thick or thin crust? All our pizzas are available as regular crust or thin crust
Type of sauce? A classic Italian marinara sauce
Type of cheese? Mozzarella
What makes it special? The thin crust option is something special and not too common in Beijing
How many sizes does it come in? 30cm regular (RMB 58); 30cm thin crust (RMB 52).

Tell us about your most unique pizza.
Name: Chipotle Chicken
Thick or thin crust? Available as regular crust or thin crust
Type of sauce? Chipotle Tomato Sauce
Type of cheese? Mozzarella
What makes it special? Diced Habanero Chicken, Roasted Corn, Black Beans
How many sizes does it come in? 30cm regular crust (RMB 70), and 30cm thin crust (RMB 65).

Come try Q Mex's pizzas -- along with offerings from 16 other Beijing pizzerias -- at our two-day Pizza Fest at Galaxy Soho Oct 17-18. For details, see this post.

Come sample slices from Q Mex and 16 other pizza makers at our two-day pizza festival Oct 17-18 at Galaxy Soho.

Images courtesy of Q Mex