Eager to learn more about Mayan culture and history, my friend Eddie Deleon arranged a meeting with his friend Joel, a practicing Maya from Guatemala, at Ix Restaurant (pronounced eesh) on a Sunday afternoon.
Eddie is a Guatemalan born photographer who now lives in Brooklyn. I met Eddie through my friend Juan Carlos Pinto, a Brooklyn based artist, who is also from Guatemala.
Ix’s founder and principal chef, Jorge Cárdenas, opened the restaurant in November 2017.
Interestingly, Ix takes its name from Mayan astrology. Jorge’s nahual, or sign, is the ix, a jaguar. We sat at the table in front of the mural which depicts a jaguar in a rainbow-colored tropical forest background with a Mayan temple looming in the background. Perhaps to make us more comfortable, this jaguar’s expression is more meditative than threatening.