Inside an acclaimed Southtown kitchen, Diego Galicia stands at the pass with a walkie-talkie on his belt, a microphone on his apron, a wire in his ear. He tilts his head down and speaks softly into the small device.
Plates of bread and ceviche appear in a dining room with imaginative art. Rice and beef arrive at custom-made tables with hidden drawers for silverware. A Michelin-recognized sommelier pours wine. With each delivery, a hospitality guide shares a brief story, an anecdote with guests about the cuisine and pairing and how they fit into the seasonal menu: The Bay of Campeche, themed around a body of water in the Gulf of Mexico.
From the pass, or expo line, Galicia offers instruction with a word, a nod, a gesture. On a card, he records the exact time each course is set and picked up at each of 13 tables. Under the glow of pendant lighting, he monitors the synchronized tasks of chefs at assigned stations and the coordinated movements of guides across the floor.
The 10-course tasting menu at Mixtli is a dance of culinary choreography. It is a fluid yet precise hierarchical system that originated with Auguste Escoffier, a French chef who introduced the brigade de cuisine to kitchens in late 19th Century Europe.
Mixtli brings a system from France into 21st Century San Antonio with a flourish from Mexico. Consider the Spanish Mayan, a pork belly dish with recado rojo, a seasoning paste, and xnipek, a vibrant salsa.
A guide informs that the ingredients are central to Yucatán kitchens. He explains how certain spices are built to stain meat with flavor and hold the shape in the heat. Then he tells guests, “We finish with xnipec, or the ‘dog’s snout,’ as it is known in Mayan, because of how the habanero makes a person’s nose run.”
Under Galicia and co-founder Rico Torres, Mixtli delivers a multi-sensory performance of storytelling, taste and service. The execution is nearly flawless. The progressive Mexican culinaria earned a Michelin star in 2024 and 2025. It is a James Beard finalist for Outstanding Restaurant in 2026.
Jose Rosario Gonzalez once visited to celebrate the birthday of a friend. As a former executive for Sony Music and Capitol Records, he arrived with a well-traveled palate.
“What stood out the most was the sense of traveling through time to share the taste, the flavors, the textures and the deliciousness of pre-Colombian dishes worthy of Aztec royalty,” Gonzalez said. “The love, the passion and the dedication given to each plate was evident. Not only was each course exquisite and delicious, but the presentation was pure art.”
Gonzalez enjoys the company of celebrities, many of them his clients, and mentors Tejano artists from his home in San Antonio. He’s dined at Grammy Award after-parties in Beverly Hills restaurants with Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony and Shakira.
“I’ve had great meals in New York and Miami and Los Angeles,” Gonzalez said. “But the one at Mixtli surpasses the experience of any place that I’ve dined at.
“And I’ve been all over the world.”
Discovery south of the border
Mixtli takes guests on a journey through the coasts and cultures of Mexico. It is the land that inspired its name, a variant of the Aztec word for “cloud.” Like a cloud, the menu moves across the seasons, guiding diners on a tour of Mexican gastronomy.
To create the menu’s magic, Galicia and Torres travel. In the early days of Mixtli, they took their team to Mexico with Modern Adventure, a company that curates tours using chefs as guides. The Mixtli staff explored street food in Yucatán and fine dining in Oaxaca. They visited markets, spoke with vendors and studied ingredients.
“We never take a carbon copy of a dish to bring to the restaurant,” said Galicia, who was born in Toluca, Mexico. “Sometimes an ingredient can inspire one, a flavor or a feeling. But we never rip a dish. Many times we went to check out how far off or how close a recipe we develop is compared to its traditional counterpart.”
While immersing themselves in Mexican culture, chefs observed architecture, studied hospitality and took notes on popular music. “I’m always building playlists for Mixtli because the music sets the mood we want in the dining room,” said chef de cuisine Alex Cabrera. “Everything we do is purposefully curated to shape our guests’ experience.”
Travel is one ingredient baked into the menu. Research, creativity and elite training are others. Galicia and Cabrera were schooled at Pearl’s Culinary Institute of America. Though largely self-taught, Torres, an El Paso native, spends hours at UT San Antonio libraries, studying historical Mexican cookbooks and manuscripts to recreate pre-Hispanic dishes.
The kitchen brigade brings its own flavors to Mexican cuisine, serving guests for $170 per person and offering wine, cocktail and zero-proof pairings for an additional $65 to $140 each. The green plantain tamal is served with sofrito and green papaya, the blue fin tuna with fermented tomato and olive.
From the bar, beverage director Lauren Beckman creates art in a glass with layered notes and color. One cocktail, The Outer Harbor, blends passionfruit and pineapple with tomato gin, carpano blanco and caper berry soda. The inspiration comes from sailors who had to wait in customs lines before getting off their ship.”I wanted to combine ingredients,” Beckman said, “that reflected both land and sea.”
Behind the cocktails and cuisine are colorful tales written, memorized and shared with guests. Mixtli, for example, does not serve traditional beef Wellington. It serves a dollop of history with succulent meat from San Francisco de Campeche, a port city on the western coast of the Yucatán peninsula. The dish, called “Walls of Campeche,” is a small plate of tenderloin with huitlacoche, a corn fungus known as Mexican truffle, and epazote, a pungent, aromatic herb.
From the Mixtli script: “In 1685, Laurens de Graaf and Michel de Grammont sacked the city of San Francisco. It was the most significant attack in the history of Campeche, resulting in a brutal two-month occupation. The attack was marked by a fierce battle, the destruction of city defenses and the kidnapping of citizens for ransom before the pirates burned the town and departed. After decades of that pressure, the city was rebuilt to defend itself. Surrounded by 26-foot high walls, bastions angled for crossfire, cannons facing land and sea.”
From that conflict in Mexico’s history, the seventh course on the tasting menu emerged.
The birth of a Michelin star restaurant
Mixtli was born in a renovated boxcar.
It was launched by two chefs who invested $15,000, maxing out their credit cards. The first iteration of their dream opened in 2013 with one 12-seat table at The Yard in Olmos Park.
“We ran out of money a few times,” Galicia said. “The biggest struggle was consistently being optimistic. At the very beginning, we had no business. Maybe three guests on a Friday, six on a Saturday, none on Tuesday. We’d have to close for service because there was nobody coming in.”
At times, Torres wondered if they would fail. The operation was small, bold, outrageously ambitious. In a city with no tasting menu restaurant, Torres and Galicia opened one in an old train car — and required pre-paid reservations at almost $100 a head. “Diego and I barely paid ourselves those first two years,” Torres said.
With no money to advertise, the chefs used shoe leather and social media to attract guests. The pitch wasn’t easy. How do you sell dining with strangers in a cramped metal box? The challenge proved invigorating.
“Honestly, it was really fun,” Galicia said.
With no investors and limited resources, Mixtli wrote the blueprint for start-up tasting menu restaurants. Galicia and Torres met every morning over coffee, assessed challenges and devised solutions. They plowed ahead and built a following. They impressed with a rotating, multi-course menu.
“We were writing the script as we went,” Galicia said. “There was no precedent for a place like Mixtli (in San Antonio). There was no blueprint. We were writing the story every day. Making the best decisions we could with what little info we had.”
The menu with regional Mexican themes wowed diners and critics. Four years after opening, Food & Wine named the founders among the nation’s 12 Best New Chefs.
That same year, 2017, an immigrant from Guatemala arrived, looking for a job. Cabrera had just graduated from Pearl’s CIA. Wanting to work at a tasting menu restaurant, she had applied at the only one she could find. After two weeks with no reply, Cabrera walked in and met Torres.
“I was very, very nervous,” she said. “But I got hired on the spot. At the time, I didn’t know what to expect.”
She did not expect a pandemic. COVID-19 shuttered Mixtli in spring 2020, forcing the owners, like all restaurateurs, to scramble. They sold meals to-go — tacos, desserts, anything they could put together — and managed to survive until their next move.
Mixtli abandoned the railcar and moved to Southtown in June 2021 when COVID restrictions limited restaurants to 75% capacity. “It was a scary, scary time,” Torres said.
Mixtli opened with a modern dining room illuminated with natural light from large windows. As COVID restrictions lifted, demand spiked. Forget walk-ins. Waiting lists stretched from days into weeks. With increased resources, Galicia and Torres added a wine cellar. They hired a sommelier, a beverage director, a pastry chef, line cooks and an HR manager.
As business grew, Cabrera rose from chef de partie to sous chef to chef de cuisine. “Your job,” the founding chefs told her, “is to kick us out of the kitchen.”
Embracing the challenge, Cabrera refined her culinary chops, developed management skills and collaborated on seasonal menus. She became an Expo, a traffic controller at the pass.
Eleven years after launching, Mixtli received a Michelin Guide special service award. Beckman and sommelier Hailey Pruitt did not know the award existed until they heard their names called during a Michelin ceremony in Houston.
From the awards stage in 2024, emcee Java Ingram complimented the stunned recipients. “Our Michelin inspectors were thoroughly impressed by the impeccable service and elevated dining experience crafted by Hailey and Lauren,” Ingram said.
Later that evening, Mixtli received its first Michelin star. On the stage, Galicia removed his white Michelin chef’s coat and placed it on Cabrera. “I’ve never cried so many tears of joy in my life,” she said. “I cried so much I felt I was dehydrated the whole week.”
The French connection
In late 19th Century Europe, Auguste Escoffier brought order into the chaotic kitchens of Paris and London. Drawing from his military background in France, Escoffier created a hierarchical system for staff, from executive chef to dishwasher, and assigned specific duties, such as pastry chef, line cook and saucier.
The system, known as brigade de cuisine, established maximum efficiency in kitchens and spread across Europe and into the U.S.
Few American restaurants today use the classic brigade system — sauciers (sauce chefs) and poissonniers (fish chefs) are rare — but the essence of Escoffier’s structure remains. Mixtli elevates the system to another level.
Tasting menu restaurants require precise timing. Chefs at each station must coordinate their courses so they are delivered at correct temperatures. To ensure exact delivery times, Mixtli chefs use a rare tool for communication: walkie-talkies.
“We are obsessed with being organized,” Galicia said. “Massively obsessed. We want clear and concise communication.”
Philippe Placé understands the importance of communication. Before co-founding the Southerleigh Hospitality Group, he worked in elite kitchens around the world. As one who has served Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana and five-star generals in the Gulf War, he recognizes kitchen tricks and trends. From his experience, he says, the use of walkie-talkies is rare.
“The only time I’ve seen it was at Claridge’s in London,” Placé said, recalling the five-star hotel restaurant. “The chef would announce every single order coming in. It was the only voice you heard in the kitchen.”
Claridge’s chef was loud and yelled at staff that failed to meet his expectations, dark echoes from the pressurized world of haute cuisine. “He would go off with a tirade of insults and physical threats to the body,” Placé said. “It was insane.”
The chefs at Mixtli’s pass speak softly, their voices rising barely above a whisper. Their conversation is discreet, virtually unnoticed by patrons. Galicia introduced the microphones and walkie-talkies to facilitate communication and improve service.
“I don’t know how they time everything so perfectly,” said Danielle Rivera, a recent guest. “You are not waiting too long between courses. They give you just enough time to talk about what you’ve just eaten and then all of a sudden the next item comes and a story that goes with it.”
Mixtli brings a flair of the French to its Mexican cuisine. Chefs use confits and fish and meat butchery to elevate their dishes and French techniques to create their sauces.
Patricia Sharpe, the former Texas Monthly food editor, savored the flavors from France. On one visit, she wrote that a blend of culinary techniques were “so avante-garde they border on sci-fi.”
“Occasionally, a dish sails off into the experimental cosmos, but by and large they are astonishingly successful,” Sharpe told the San Antonio Report. “I remember loving a multi-part dessert called ‘A Study of Oaxaca.’ It had a little almond cake made with corn masa and vanilla that evoked the taste of the creamy drink called atole.”
Pushing forward, aiming high
The dance of culinary art begins long before the doors open. A team of chefs arrives each service day at 9 a.m. to begin prep work for dinner. They make bread, create sauces and break down proteins. Another team arrives later to clean the dining room and set tables.
At 4:45 p.m. on the dot, Galicia gathers his team in a circle for a meeting. On a recent Friday, he told them about a large number of special occasion dinners. He issued reminders of important details and ended the meeting. “Let’s go,” he said.
A staff of 20 moved into assigned positions across the floor and kitchen. At one table, hospitality guide Christian Cuellar signed more than a dozen birthday and anniversary cards. After finishing, he passed them on for more signatures. In the kitchen, chefs put the final touches on first courses.
The first to be seated was a couple that arrived a little before 5:30 p.m.
Smooth, synchronized movement across the dining room belies disruptions outside of view. A transformer blew not long ago hours before doors opened, knocking out power. A recent rain caused a leak in the ceiling. Sudden plumbing issues require immediate repair. Rising food prices constantly cut into tight profit margins. “We chose this life,” Torres said. “If you jump into the challenges, you’ll find the answers.”
Every night brings fresh challenges, new opportunities to deliver unexpected service. At the pass, Galicia studies a floor chart and cards with names of scheduled diners. Each reservation is marked as a return guest or a first-timer. Each card contains the occasion being celebrated. Food allergies are reviewed, certain preferences noted.
A guest named Stephen Craddock once told a guide that he enjoyed being seated close to the kitchen. “Every time I came after that,” Craddock said, “they sat me in my favorite spot. I didn’t even have to tell them. They just remembered.”
Attention to detail is a Mixtli hallmark. Thoughtful service is another. A dropped napkin is quickly picked off the floor and replaced. Half-empty glasses are filled before anyone thinks to ask. Staff remembers the preferred wine of a returning guest and arrives with the bottle.
Impeccable service does not go unrecognized. Mixti was named a James Beard finalist in 2025 for Outstanding Hospitality. Mixtli aims higher. It is one of five James Beard finalists this year for Outstanding Restaurant. To win, a restaurant must demonstrate consistent excellence in food, atmosphere, hospitality and operations.
James Beard winners will be announced on Monday.
San Antonio has never won a Beard since the awards were first issued in 1991. Mixtli has the potential to break through. It continues to write an against-all-odds, Hollywood-like narrative, serving plates of tweezered art and turning service into performance.
“Mixtli reminds me of an intimate experimental theater where you — the diner — are swept up in the action,” Sharpe said. “There’s a sense of audience participation, even though all you do is sit there and eat — extremely well.”
From the pass, Galicia speaks into his small microphone. His troupe moves. At table 1, a little boy smiles. A sip of his zero-proof drink hit the mark. At table 2, a couple clinks wine glasses. A toast: To them, and a beautiful night at Mixtli.
