The restaurant is literally named after the founders' hometown: Kie-Gol-Lanee is the Zapotec name for Santa Maria Quiegolani, a small village in Oaxaca, and means "old stone." Reynel Mendoza, his wife Sandra Sotz, his sister Maria "Chayo" Mendoza, and her husband Leonard "Leo" Ramos moved from that village to Chicago in 2004 and spent years cooking Italian food at an Andersonville restaurant before opening this Oaxacan spot in September 2016 — a Michelin Bib Gourmand five years running since 2020.
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