Honor roll

7 Austin culinary all-stars nab best up-and-coming chef award

We all know the Austin and San Antonio culinary scenes are among the most exciting in the nation, but far too seldom do industry professionals have the opportunity to honor their own.

That’s why the StarChefs Rising Stars Awards are held in such esteem. The restaurant industry magazine selected the winners after meeting with over 100 chefs, pastry chefs, bartenders, artisans, and sommeliers in both cities before deciding who got the nod.

On Thursday, November 9, the magazine announced the honorees for this year's class of Rising Stars — a group of chefs and other hospitality pros who are at the forefront of our nation's dining culture.

The winners will be celebrated at a lavish, open-to-the-public ceremony and tasting to be held December 13 at Fair Market, featuring signature bites and sips from their restaurants. Considering it's the first time StarChefs has made a stop in the region since 2012, this is definitely a party food obsessives will not want to miss — especially the VIP private reception with Sturia Caviar.

Buried in the announcement was another food news tidbit: Chef Damien Brockway, who left Counter 3. Five. VII at the end of October, is listed as working with P6, one of the restaurants that will be opening when the downtown Radisson reopens as The Line ATX.

The list of winners and the featured dishes and drinks they will be serving at the gala includes:

Chefs
Tatsu Aikawa (Kemuri Tatsu-Ya — Austin)
Featured dish: BBQ Tsukemen Ramen: smoked brisket, pork broth, black garlic, smoked jalapeño, soft egg
Adam Brick (Vino Vino — Austin)
Featured dish: James Brown's heirloom corn crepe, hominy, sweet corn, Jimmy Red grits, sweet corn butter, roasted farm chile, epazote, hoja santa, black garlic-huitlacoche puree, and shaved serranos
Damien Brockway (P6 at the Line ATX — Austin)
Featured dish: Kanpachi, lemon, koji, native sunflower
Kevin Fink and Page Pressley (Emmer & Rye — Austin)
Featured dish: White Sonora gondolini, ricotta, tomato water, basil
Michael Fojtasek (Olamaie — Austin)
Featured dish: Boiled peanuts, benne oil honey mustard, buttermilk, Austrian green pea hummus
Max Snyder (Pitchfork Pretty — Austin)
Featured dish: Yucca dumpling, Oaxaca cheese, red radish escabeche, coconut oil

Pastry Chefs
Tavel Bristol-Joseph (Emmer & Rye — Austin)
Featured dish: Chocolate-cheddar tart, orange marmalade, candied pecans, dried berries
Daniela Herrera (Counter 3. Five. VII. — Austin)
Featured dish: Popcorn ice cream, caramel, cheddar snow, Sturia caviar, black lime

Artisans
Bryan Butler and Ben Runkle (Salt & Time — Austin)
Featured dish: Salumi board featuring desert oregano salami
Joe Mohrfield (Pinthouse Pizza — Austin)
Featured beer: Electric Jellyfish IPA
Clancy Rose (Wild Gift — Austin)
Featured drinks: Ethiopian natural process coffee and a coffee cocktail featuring Grey Goose vodka
Miguel Vidal (Valentina's Tex Mex BBQ — Austin)
Featured dish: The Real Deal Holyfield brisket taco

Bartenders
Madelyn Kay (VOX Table — Austin)
Featured cocktail: Blueberry Yum Yum: Botanist gin, Olorosso sherry, Bols genever, blueberry-rooibos claret syrup, citrus, Bolivar bitters, salt
Benjamin Krick (Juniper Tar — San Antonio)
Featured cocktail: Portuguese gin and tonic: White port, Broker's gin, lime cordial, Fever Tree Indian tonic

Restaurateur
Chad Carey (Empty Stomach Group — San Antonio)
Featured dish: Miso-aged Lone Mountain wagyu, brown rice risotto, roasted mushrooms, sanscho butter

Community Chefs
Pieter Sypesteyn (Cookhouse — San Antonio)
Featured dish: Boudin Balls
Fiore Tedesco (L'Oca d'Oro — Austin)
Featured dish: Parmigiana, mozzarella, pomodoro sauce

Concept
Charlie Biedenharn, Jeremy Mandrell, Anne Ng (Bakery Lorraine — San Antonio)
Featured dish: Strawberry toaster pastry with macaron sprinkles

Sommelier
Steven Dilley (Bufalina — Austin)
Pairings with winners’ dishes

Chef Kevin Fink from Emmer & Rye was among the lauded.

Photo by Hayden Spears

Chef Kevin Fink from Emmer & Rye was among the lauded.

awards

NYT loves AUS

Homey Austin bakery Comadre makes New York Times Best Bakeries list

Comadre Panadería/Instagram

Comadre Panadería is known for nostalgic Mexican bakes with feminine flair.

The New York Times has once again shined its spotlight on Austin’s culinary scene. It included Comadre Panadería, an Austin bakery focusing on Mexican treats, on its new list of the 22 of the Best Bakeries Across the U.S. Right Now.

Interim food critic Priya Krishna praises pastry chef Mariela Camacho’s pastries that include conchas and her signature pink cake. “Despite their saccharine appearances, not one of the desserts is overly cloying, and even the coffee drinks (Texas pecan horchata! Cranberry vanilla agua fresca!) strike the playful tone of the pastries,” she writes.

Comadre Panadería has been widely recognized, including by this publication; she won Pastry Chef of the Year in the 2023 CultureMap Austin Tastemaker Awards. She also earned a 2024 James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.

Camacho and Comadre as a whole are both invested in using baked goods to make a more equitable world, from the bakery's early days as a fundraiser for disaster relief, to a current insistence on charging enough to support ethical and organic foods, and paying staff enough to keep up with rising costs in Austin.

Mariela Camacho of Comadre Panaderia in Austin Mariela Camacho, Comadre Panaderia. Courtesy photo

The Times also recognized Houston's Koffeteria. Krishna hails the bakery for pastry chef-owner Vanarin Kuch’s creative fare that includes dishes such as beef pho kolaches, Chinese sausage breakfast tacos, and butter mochi.

“Some of Mr. Kuch’s offerings are rooted in his Cambodian American identity — he makes cornbread with the coconutty, scallion-forward flavors of Cambodian street corn — while others are odes to Houston’s multicultural makeup. But most of the fun of Koffeteria is having no idea what Mr. Kuch will do next, and eagerly awaiting his next innovation,” Krishna writes.

Open since 2019, Koffeteria has been riding high this year. It earned a James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Bakery and a CultureMap Houston Tastemaker Award for Pastry Chef of the Year.

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Comadre Panadería and Koffeteria are the only Texas establishments to make the Times’ list. Only California and New York City, which each have three representatives, earn more recognition.

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