There’s Texas-style cooking, and there is Mexican food, and then there is Tex-Mex, a distinctive, singular cuisine that, in the hands of some of the world’s best chefs, can be greater than the sum of its parts.
Think molten queso studded with chunks of chorizo, local bean and cheese tacos in a hand- pressed tortilla, screaming hot fajitas made from skirt steak butchered in-house, and an expertly balanced margarita to wash it all down.
A 19th-century fusion from an era of intermingling cultures and borderlines, Tex-Mex cuisine is today a local legacy, represented in The MICHELIN Guide by proud Texan chefs across the country.
Using the finest ingredients and savvy kitchen techniques – paired, of course, with tequila handcrafted by Mexico's most time-honored distillers – these restaurants are changing the way to think about Tex-Mex.
“Tex-Mex is kind of in our blood,” says Michael Sambrooks, the owner of Houston’s Candente, who was born and raised in the city. “You grow up here, you eat Tex-Mex two, three times a week with your family.”
At Candente, Sambrooks uses the highest quality meat, some of it from his Bib Gourmand-winning BBQ spot across the street, The Pit Room, for a traditional Tex-Mex menu with dishes that are uniquely ingredient-driven.
For a fajita, the most emblematic of Tex-Mex plates, that means prime skirt steak marinated right before it hits the mesquite woodfire grill in a mix of soy, onion, garlic, dried chilis, lime juice, and “a few secret things.”
“We just wanted to make true, authentic recipes as good as they possibly could with really, really high-quality ingredients,” he says.
These authentic dishes with high-quality ingredients pair perfectly with high-quality tequilas – brands such as Reserva de la Familia, which are gaining popularity across Tex-Mex meccas, especially for those who appreciate the artisan production at work.
“Once you explain to people the reasons why these products are at the price they’re at—how your Reserva Extra Añejo is being aged for more than three years on top of the eight years it took to grow the agave and the hand harvesting and the very labor intensive, non-mechanized production of it all—when you explain that to people, sometimes they just can't even believe it,” says Lara Creasy, the beverage director at Superica, a Tex-Mex favorite with outposts across the southeastern US.
For a pairing with Tex-Mex, Creasy recommends an aged tequila expression like a reposado or añejo, with notes drawn from the oak barrel that it matures in.
“Whenever you're introducing barrel influence into something, you're introducing caramelized flavors, you're introducing char into the flavor profile of something. And it's the exact same thing you're doing when you're grilling. The wood-burning grill that we use is contributing similar flavors to the meat as the barrel is contributing to the tequila," she says.
Or, to masterfully round out one of their tart craft margaritas, Reserva's Platino expression brings with it a bright, sweet and spicy throughline.
The ties between Tex-Mex and tequila go back more than a century. During Prohibition, when American booze was hard to come by, biting white tequila smuggled north up from Mexico became a welcome replacement in Texas. “People in Texas drink tequila. It was a formative part of how Tex-Mex was developing,” Creasy says.
From Charlotte to Atlanta, tequila is the top-selling spirit at Superica. Much of that moves out mixed into a margarita. The house marg, which uses a blanco tequila, comes frozen, with always fresh squeezed lime juice.
“The margarita is just the perfect cocktail for most people's palates. It's announcing itself to every flavor receptor on your tongue: it hits your salty, it hits sweet, it hits bitter, it hits tart,” Creasy says.
“It goes with Tex-Mex so well because there's a lot of salty things we're eating: everyone's eating chips, everyone's eating tortillas, you're eating fatty things. So, the acidity of margaritas cut through,” she adds.
At Candente, Sambrooks serves six margaritas, each made with a different kind of tequila, showcasing the nuances between an astringent blanco, an oaky reposado, and a caramelly añejo.
Margaritas with a Tex-Mex meal are practically non-negotiable. “They’re just synonymous,” he says. “You come to get Tex-Mex and you know you're going to get three things: a margarita, queso, and either cheese enchilada or fajitas, right?”
Still, even with all the nostalgia tied into traditional Tex-Mex offerings, there’s always room for innovation.
Krystiana and Dave Rizo, the husband-wife duo behind Yellow Rose (Bib Gourmand) in New York, know authentic Tex-Mex: they both grew up in South Texas. “I remember going with my grandparents to the local taquería and getting bean and cheese tacos and the free chips and salsa,” says San Antonio native Krystiana.
But at Yellow Rose, the pair like to dress up the customary favorites with some local styling. “We've lived in New York for about nine years now, so we're inspired a lot by the produce and the culture up here,” Krystiana says.
For a spin on a Caesar salad, Yellow Rose uses farmers' market romaine and cotija cheese, with a smoky tomatillo vinaigrette dressing.
That big-city creative streak goes right through the cocktail menu, too.
“When I was first coming up with the bar program here, something that I wanted to do was make it really seasonal and fresh to cut through all the heaviness of the food and take advantage of all of the produce that we have here in New York,” Krystiana says.
Because it’s Tex-Mex, that still means lots of tequila and mezcal drinks. There are, naturally, margaritas—“the perfect cocktail,” she says. But there are also drinks that play with the subtleties of tequila in mind-bending ways, like The Shepherd, featured on their spring cocktail list, with reposado tequila, pineapple, Alma Tepec, and chili ancho—inspired by the flavors of the iconic al pastor taco.
“It's a little spicy, really bringing up that smoky flavor of the tequila with something that cuts through that with the pineapple and the chili,” Krystiana says.
“Tex-Mex is definitely open to innovation,” she says. “We grew up with this food and this is our take on it.”
Superica's queso fundido with chorizo recipe
Fundido means molten and is sometimes used interchangeably with the word flameado or flamed to refer to this dish of border town origins. Monterey Jack and Chihuahua cheeses are broiled until bubbly and finished with Mexican oregano – it’s like your childhood dream of being able to pull all the cheese off of a pizza! Serve with flour tortillas and spicy salsa cremosa for rolling up soft cheese tacos.Ingredients:
- 6 oz. white cheese blend
- Pinch of Mexican oregano
- 2 oz. chorizo
- 4 flour tortillas (for serving)
Procedure:
- Place cheese blend evenly in a round skillet.
- Broil until golden.
- Move skillet to the range and cook on medium-high heat until the cheese begins to bubble in the center.
- Reduce heat to low and top with a pinch of oregano.
- Stir in chorizo.
Notes: Ensure there are no large clumps of cheese. If overcooked, the cheese will release a layer of oil and break.
The Jalisco Sunrise with Reserva Platino pairs perfectly with Superica's queso fundido con chorizo
Ingredients:
- 2 parts Reserva de la Familia Platino
- ¾ part freshly squeezed lime juice
- ½ part agave syrup
- ½ part Select Aperitivo
Procedure:
- Shake tequila, lime, and agave syrup with ice and strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
- Layer in Select Aperitivo to achieve sunrise effect.
Hero image: Andrew Thomas Lee / Superica
