Congratulations to Edgar Rico, chef of Bib Gourmand Nixta Taqueria and the 2024 MICHELIN Guide Texas Young Chef Award Winner, presented in partnership with Sysco!
A taqueria named after the nixtamalization process of preparing corn, Nixta Taqueria is a charming dining experience by Chef Edgar Rico (who has trained at Two MICHELIN Star Pujol in Mexico and Craft in LA) and his wife Sara Mardanbigi. With undeniable skill, the chef introduces Mexican-focused, globally inspired flavors in his tortillas, with a menu that depends on what's growing from local farmers, ranchers, and the restaurant's backyard herb garden.
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What inspired you to become a chef?
I was always, very early on, curious in the kitchen. Growing up in the early 90s, it was Food Network. I was so fascinated by Emeril Lagasse, Alton Brown, and Rick Bayless [of One MICHELIN Star Topolobampo and Bib Gourmand Frontera Grill]. It was cool to get to see other parts of the world, and the way you could share culture with food.The dinner table is that place where I feel like you can let your hair down a little and relax. By 10 or 12, I did my first Thanksgiving dinner by myself after watching a weeklong binge of Food Network Thanksgiving marathons.
I decided to go work at a steakhouse that opened up across the street from my house, and within a year got promoted to a kitchen manager. My boss introduced me to the Culinary Institute of America. I looked it up and saw that was the place I needed to be. That’s where the professional journey started.
What is your favorite dish on the menu?
Our enchilada potosina is something I grew up eating. It’s only in a certain area of Mexico – not a lot of people are very familiar with it. It’s a cool way I get to share my family's story because both my parents are from the state of San Luis Potosí in Mexico.We get white corn that we’ll nixtamalize, and then we infuse it with guajillo chile. It's this bright red tortilla, and it has this pile of purple cabbage on top of it. We sprinkle on this cheese, queso añejo enchilado, similar to a parmesan. It's very nutty, super umami, and it smells awful. We also serve it with a little bit of duck fat, refried beans, a chorizo and potato puree, and this fried tomato salsa my mom taught me how to make.
What do you eat for breakfast?
Breakfast tacos are a way of life here in Austin. My personal favorite thing is a simple chorizo, eggs, and beans on a tortilla that's freshly made. For me, that's divine simplicity at its best.
What motivates you in the kitchen?
Building up the people inside of my team to do better than me. I want to see people who have walked in through the doors of our kitchen to be able to walk out and go start their own restaurants. We are hopeful that we're able to give them a really good foundation here. We are open books if they want to pick my brain about anything. I love being able to pass that knowledge on to other people.How do you motivate your team?
Every few weeks we'll assign someone a dish. We want them to research this certain area of Mexico, and come up with a dish that would suit our menu, that we could fit as a daily special. We get to talk with them about food costs, how we build it, and how we price it appropriately.There’s also those really beautiful moments where we get to have really cool people like Gordon Ramsay come in and eat our food. Cooking is a blue collar job with white collar opportunities. You're gonna work your butt off, but at the same time, it's just so fulfilling that you get to feed someone, and you get to express a little bit of who you are.
Last week, we had Chintan in from [Bib Gourmand] Dhamaka and [One MICHELIN Star] Semma, a great opportunity for all our cooks. They got to learn Indian food from one of the greatest Indian chefs in America.
Do you have any sustainable initiatives?
5,000 square feet of the backyard has been turned into a garden space. Almost all of our garnishes come from our garden. We're able to turn some of our food waste into compost to feed back into the garden.Instead of throwing away food, we have the ATX free fridge project right in front of the restaurant. Whenever we have an excess of food, we put it outside into our free fridge, an open community pantry to anyone in any walk of life, 24/7.
We pretty much only buy exclusively from farmers and ranchers in Texas.
Our corn farmer in Mexico grows in the traditional milpa standard, which means corn, beans, and squash, helping the dirt regenerate and adding oxygen, density, and nutrients to the soil.
How do you wind down at the end of a shift?
I’m not a big drinker. For me, I like zoning out at the end of the night, watching some random cooking show, Formula One, or whatever game I didn't watch that night, whether it's basketball, baseball, or football.Sometimes my wife and I really love going to Lolo, which does really amazing natural wine. The way that they source, we really love it. You really get to taste the terroir.
What's your favorite food-related show or book?
it's undeniable. I think The Bear is some of the best TV that has come out in years that has been able to really cover the way and the way a kitchen operates, but also the feeling and the energy of a restaurant.My wife can't watch it because she's like, ‘I feel like I'm literally at the restaurant when I'm watching.’ I really love how they were able to show the day-to-day grind that it can be and how it can really break you if you're not mentally strong for it.
What advice would you give to a young person who wants to become a chef?
Just keep cooking. Building your foundation is core. Make a perfect set of scrambled eggs or the most basic pasta. Those fundamentals help you. That's the best way to really find out if this hobby you might like is a career. And keep being open minded about everything that's around you, because it's all inspiration.
Hero image: Eva Kolenko / Edgar Rico
