Since Jason Campbell left Luke’s Kitchen to join forces with Nick Grecco at Team Market Group, the chef bros have been at it, testing and tinkering in their kitchen/lab like the culinary equivalents of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. They perfected recipes for Sonoran tacos at Taco Kat, experimented with myriad dough permutations for their faultless tavern-style pizzas at Nuri’s, then blew people’s minds (and perhaps budgets) with their revolutionary $15 hot dog at Primrose Lanes.
But the duo’s “Blue Sky” moment came when they fired up the kitchen at June, the contemporary Yucatecan restaurant with a CDMX pulse in the corazón of Thornton Park. And not with any one dish, either, but rather, all of them. Having eaten my way through the entire menu (with the help of a couple of friends), it’s hard not to bestow June with “Best New Restaurant” honors. But, like Heisenberg’s postulation, there’s a principle of uncertainty when it comes to such things. What really impresses is the depth of detail and technique Campbell and Grecco exhibit in their dishes, be it the sextet of salsas served with a rustic guac ($14) finished with herb oil, or drippy-lush, carnitas-style duck confit ($54) cooked with condensed milk, Mexican Coke and chilies à la Enrique Olvera before being seared and roasted on the wood-fired grill.
In fact, most every protein on June’s focused menu is licked by the flames of Florida oak: Hawaiian kanpachi ($48) looking like the lengua of some crispy-tongued beast set in a pool of blood-red guajillo-tomato butter; chicken al pastor, cooked sous vide with chicken fat before an ice bath and a quick fire; chili-buttered lump crab on tostadas ($20) slicked with brown butter aioli or atop luxuriant esquites ($20) of creamed corn puree and smoky farro verde; or an absolutely bonkers bone-out short rib ($64) set in a demi-glace fortified with ancho chiles, black vinegar and more south-of-the-border cola.
There are corn-based vessels (made using masa procured from Joe and David Creech of Hunger Street Tacos) served for the purposes of setting, scooping and sopping. A winning formula: Tortillas x Short Rib Dipped in Demi-Glace + Pickled Onions = Flavor Bomba. But winning formulas are what these two cooking chemists compose for a living. A tostada made from nixtamalized corn topped with pressed tuna rubbed with tamarind ponzu and sesame seeds is my kind of chemical romance.
You’ll notice Asian touches in many dishes – morita XO sauce with black vinegar and crispy fried garlic positively smokes in a tuna crudo ($18) laid beneath slivers of avocado and plum textured with a wee cube of crispy rice; miso mole inside cut halves of sweet potato ($14) with burnt agave, peanut secca and pepitas is the best preparation of the tuber I’ve had the pleasure of ingesting; grilled baby romaine ($14) slaps with a miso-mustard-agave dressing avalanched with ricotta salata; a bracing hamachi ceviche is eased with coconut, kiwi and Thai basil; and tempura-battered cod zings with a tartar-tamarind drizzle in the fish taco ($9).
June may be influenced by the likes of Baldio, La Docena, Cosme and Acamaya, but, even under the auspices of the TMG cartel, these two chefs, with a big assist from exec sous Tommy Aguilar, inspire. Their tamale dumplings ($17) — “guests keep thinking they are gyoza,” Campbell says — aren’t potstickers, but little gnocchi-like dumplings, or chochoyotes, made from the Creech masa. Florida rock shrimp sauteed in chili butter and pasilla pepper puree are then tossed onto the dumplings with pickled cucumber, lime crema and cilantro and it’s nothing short of signature. Curled scallions on the dish are sliced lengthwise for that fancy finish.
More fancy: an onion soubise in the form of a mousse graces chili-dusted, butter-braised cabbage ($12) and, like the grilled lettuce and sweet potatoes, is a go-to veg option. The carrots ($12), too. First they’re lightly roasted, then they’re charred in a cast iron pan, and lastly roasted in a smoke box before being served with Lil’ Moo cheese, salsa macha and a golden raisin puree. The veg set and gluten-intolerant can have a field day here, though vegans may be SOL.
I asked a very prominent Mexican chef, whom I’ll call “Mr. Salamanca,” about his opinion on June and this was his take: “As a Mexican, I truly appreciate their boldness in offering something unique in a city crowded with so many Mexican restaurants. This is Mexican cuisine as seen through a Southern American lens and the combination works very well.”
Indeed it does, right down to the decor with its earthy tones and rustic mien.
Grecco’s chocolate cremosa ($12), ostensibly his take on Cosme’s buñuelo, with creamy chocolate set beneath the snowflake-shaped fried dough, is as stirring as Campbell’s crème caramel ($12). The “flan,” drizzled with espresso syrup, topped with brûléed bananas and served with caramelized banana ice cream crunched with peanut-cacao nibs, is ambitious without sacrificing comfort. I haven’t even touched on the beverages, like the tequila-based “watermelon” ($15) and “pepper” ($14) cocktails but, as Mr. Salamanca noted, “they are well-crafted.”
Campbell and Grecco will fully immerse themselves in live-fire cooking when Eastwood opens next year in Mills 50, so consider June — a moniker arbitrarily chosen as it gave no real clue to the concept — a precursor.
But the hype is real, and if you don’t know the restaurant now, you will.
June. Say my name.
(June; 700 E. Washington St.; 321-206-1243; juneorlando.com; $$$$)
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This article appears in Oct. 1-7, 2025.