The concept
This unique and innovative concept created by
Juan Ramón Cárdenas, chef, and food industries engineer, gastronomic researcher and author of “La Senda del Cabrito”, has more than 15 years of history. The name of the restaurant was suggested by a great writer and chronicler Don Armando Fuentes Aguirre, “Catón”, who was entrusted with the proposal.
​
The original design of Saltillo’s restaurant is inspired by old Mexican houses, with the central patio, the rooms at the sides. In Mexico we consider the kitchen to be the center of the family, the center of the home.
Passion for Mexican culture
Passionate about the historic center of Saltillo and elements such as clay and textiles, architect Luis Alberto González Díaz de León teamed up with chef Juan Ramón Cárdenas Cantú to create the visual aesthetic that characterizes Don Artemio in Saltillo, the same one that most it would later be printed at Don Artemio Mexican Heritage in Fort Worth.
With love for Coahuila as a common denominator, the project began to take shape. The architects first worked on the Cava del Desierto, a room completely enclosed with brick that represented a great challenge, but also an unparalleled achievement. It is a tribute to the desert, whose central lamp represents the sun, and which houses more than 30 exclusive Coahuilense wine cellars.
​
​And the anticipation began when trucks loaded with clay pots pulled up in front of the Fort Worth restaurant, people stared wondering where these Mexican beauties came from and what their purpose would be. But that was not all, trucks also arrived with hundreds of bricks, then with looms, with pieces of art, with pieces of wood.
According to the learning and mentors he has had, the architect born in Zacatecas, but adopted by Coahuila, generates his vision and philosophy with materials such as brick, clay, and textiles. These are incorporated into the architect's projects but without falling into the formula of using them for everything, but experimenting and looking for different faces, this is how each project feels different.
