Capri restaurant review - Marfa, USA

It might have something to do with the clean desert air which gives colours a particularly vibrant shade, but Marfa has long been a mecca for the creative and artistic communities. This has also translated into some interesting new hospitality projects, not the least of which is the Capri Marfa. Geographically challenged as the name may be, there’s no mistaking the DNA of both the interior design by Hollywood set designer Sean Daly, and the menu by Rocky Barnette.

Daly fills the space with light through the floor-to-ceiling windows, swathing the floor with polished concrete and Mexican ceramic pots, hanging custom woven Mexican rugs on the walls of exposed bricks, and lining the ceiling with rescued timber.

It’s a high desert vibe that chimes perfectly with Barnette’s menu, which is inspired by his research into pre-Columbian cuisine with his most recent strikes taking him and his team to the Yucatán Peninsula. This translates into whole wheat bread dusted with mesquite, rabbit legs braised in prickly pear juice, tortillas made from 6,000-year-old corn varieties, yucca blossoms and toasted grasshoppers.

This thoughtful bent for Mesoamerica is carried through to the drinks menu – the artful cocktails are blended with native cacti juice, whilst the lethal shots of small-batch mescal are best enjoyed on the outdoor patio by the fire-pits.