SAN ANTONIO — It’s the highest honor a restaurant can receive: a Michelin star. And now 15 Texas establishments have been bestowed one, including a fine dining establishment in Southtown that offers visitors a "tour in Mexican gastronomy."
The Michelin Guide, unveiled Monday in Houston, called San Antonio's Mixtli a "trailblazing restaurant" whose owners hold "a shared reverence for Mexican cuisine." That reverence has now earned Mixtli a Michelin Star--something only 253 U.S. restaurants can claim.
These stars are awarded by the Michelin Guide, which was started by the French tire company in 1900 to encourage car travel.
The guide expanded to Texas for the first time this year, with inspectors judging restaurants in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and San Antonio.
"Not content to restraint their explorations to the regional diversity of Mexican cuisine, the menus also draw from the culinary past or even pre-Columbian times," the guide said about Mixtli. "Expect cooking that is both cerebral and delicious, with meticulously prepared, artfully plated dishes that tell a story while thrilling your palate."
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We visited Mixtli to speak with its co-owners last year about the evolution of Mexican cuisine. The restaurant's name means "cloud" in Nahuatl, spoken by the Aztecs.
"This restaurant early on decided we didn't want to be in the future too much. We really wanted to use it as a time capsule to explore the past," said Rico Torres, a chef and co-owner at Mixtli. "A lot of what we're doing is re-educating the client."
Austin was the biggest winner of the night, with seven restaurants receiving one-star ratings. Houston snagged six, while Dallas and San Antonio got one each. A one-star rating means the restaurant has the highest quality of cooking and is worth a stop.
Michelin awards two and three-star designations as well, but no Texas restaurants received that caliber of praise in. Just 46 restaurants in the U.S. have two or three Michelin Stars.
Also up for grabs was the Michelin Bib Gourmand, which highlights restaurants that offer the best value for patrons' money. San Antonio’s Ladino, Cullum’s Attaboy, Southerleigh Find Food & Brewery, and The Jerk Shack claimed that title.
Two other San Antonio restaurants – Garcia's Mexican Restaurant and Nicosa, located at the Pearl -– received the "recommended" designation.
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Mixtli wrote on social media Tuesday evening that it was "still on cloud nine" from the Monday unveiling.
The eatery also provided a word to the hungry and wise: If you're interested in tasting its Michelin-approved cuisine for yourself, you'd best act fast: Mixtli says it's already booked through November, with December and January reservations going fast.