About the Guests
Rico Torres is the co-founder and co-owner of Mixtli in San Antonio, which he built alongside Diego Galicia. A self-taught chef and El Paso native, Torres co-opened Mixtli in 2013 as a rotating regional Mexican prix fixe that tours the culinary geography of Mexico. Torres and Galicia were named Food and Wine Best New Chefs in 2017 and earned multiple James Beard nominations. Mixtli received a Michelin star and the Michelin Service Award in the inaugural 2024 Texas Michelin Guide.
Evan LeRoy is the co-owner and pitmaster of LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue in Austin, known for what he calls new school barbecue, an approach rooted in whole-animal butchery, non-traditional cuts, and fine dining technique applied to smoked meats. LeRoy and Lewis earned a Michelin star in the 2024 Texas Michelin Guide and has ranked among Texas Monthly’s top five barbecue joints in Texas.
Paul Qui is a James Beard Award-winning chef and one of Texas’s most recognized culinary figures. He is the chef and co-owner of multiple Austin concepts including East Side King and Thai Kun, known for his approach to modernist and Asian-influenced cooking. He is a Top Chef winner and a semifinalist and finalist for multiple James Beard Awards.
Matthew Peters is an Austin-based chef and the first American ever to win the Bocuse d’Or, the world’s most prestigious culinary competition, which he achieved in 2017 as part of Team USA.
Episode Overview
In this special roundtable episode, André Natera brings together four of Texas’s most celebrated chefs to discuss the arrival of the Michelin Guide in Texas and what it means for the state’s culinary identity. Rico Torres, Evan LeRoy, Paul Qui, and Matthew Peters each share their firsthand experience of the Michelin Awards ceremony and what the recognition has changed about how they approach their work, their teams, and their relationship with guests.
The conversation covers the pressure of maintaining standards under a new level of scrutiny, what it means for Texas barbecue and regional Mexican cuisine to receive Michelin recognition alongside more traditionally fine-dining-coded restaurants, and how each chef thinks about running a world-class restaurant in a state that has historically operated outside the Michelin universe. It is a rare, candid conversation among peers who have each earned the recognition to speak to it from direct experience.
Topics covered in this episode:
- The arrival of the Michelin Guide in Texas and what it means for the state’s culinary identity
- Personal accounts from the Michelin Awards ceremony from four Michelin-recognized chefs
- How Michelin recognition changes expectations, pressure, and day-to-day kitchen operations
- Mixtli’s rotating regional Mexican prix fixe and what earning a Michelin star and Service Award means for the concept
- LeRoy and Lewis and why a barbecue restaurant earning a Michelin star matters for the broader category
- Paul Qui on modernist Texas cooking and building a multi-concept culinary presence in Austin
- Matthew Peters on winning the Bocuse d’Or and what world competition cooking teaches you about standards
- The challenges of sustaining excellence in restaurants that are now operating under global scrutiny
Guest
@rico__torres
@evanleroybbq
@pqui
@chefmattpeters
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