San Antonio received a double-shot of good culinary news on Wednesday: Chef Emil Oliva of Leche de Tigre and Mixtli restaurant were named James Beard finalists, moving the city one step closer to a food industry Oscar.
Oliva earned the nomination for Best Chef: Texas, Mixtli for Outstanding Hospitality. Mixtli is the only Texas restaurant in the U.S. to make the group of five finalists.
Winners will be announced on June 16 in Chicago, two days before Mixtli chef and co-owner Diego Galicia celebrates his 41st birthday.
“It’s pretty wild,” Galicia said, minutes after learning the news. “I’m still trying to catch my breath. We’re really proud and thankful for the team we have. They’re responsible for the accolades.
We’ll be going to Chicago. June 18 is my birthday.”
Galicia and fellow chef and co-owner Rico Torres were Best Chef semifinalists in 2018. Mixtli was a finalist in 2024 for Outstanding Restaurant.
The progressive Mexican restaurant in Southtown has been piling up awards for years. Mixtli received a Michelin star in November and a five-diamond rating from AAA in March. In 2017, Food & Wine named Galicia and Torres among the 12 “Best New Chefs” in the U.S.
Leche de Tigre, meanwhile, opened its doors two years ago with a self-taught chef. Emil Oliva has no culinary degree. Oliva, in fact, never cooked in a restaurant until he started his cebicheria, an establishment that specializes in ceviche. Now he’s a Best Chef finalist.
“I am shocked,” Oliva said. “I was never formally trained.”
The son of a Peruvian father, Oliva was born in Laredo. At 11, he moved to Peru and spent eight years in Lima, then returned to the U.S. and studied restaurant management. After school, he became a quick study, rising from busboy and server to bartender and manager in three years at Costa Pacifica.
Oliva worked in restaurant management elsewhere before stepping back to plan his own brick-and-mortar launch. With the help of his brothers, Alex and Alec Oliva, and cousins Sebastian Montante and Paloma Palos, Leche de Tigre opened to great reviews, including one from Texas Monthly.
“This is very surreal,” Oliva said. “We are beyond, beyond honored to be a finalist. It’s honestly life changing for us. It was always my dream to open a restaurant. I didn’t always think I’d be a chef. I’d never cooked professionally before.”
The James Beard awards broke in the wake of disappointing news for San Antonio. Earlier on Wednesday, Food & Wine released its list of Top 10 Cities for food and drink. San Antonio did not make the cut. Two Texas cities did: Austin at No. 4, Houston at No. 9.
The exclusion from Food & Wine is not a big surprise. Austin, Houston and Dallas have each won multiple James Beard awards. San Antonio is looking for its first.
San Antonio did lead all Texas cities with six semifinalists for Best Chef: Texas. Joining Oliva as finalists are Thomas Billie (Belly of the Beast) in Spring, Emmanuel Chavez (Tatemó) in Houston, Regino Rojas (Purépecha) in Dallas and Michael Anthony Serva (Bordo) in Marfa.
James Beard Foundation judges will visit finalists, unannounced, during an upcoming tasting period and vote on the winners.
As the news of James Beard finalists broke, Galicia sent a congratulatory text to Oliva.
“We are so happy for them,” Galicia said. “They are crushing it.”
So is the team at Mixtli.
“It’s surreal,” Torres said. “It’s a lot of work, taking care of a lot of details. Waking up and making decisions every day to push the envelope a little further and do a little bit better than yesterday.”
