La Popular

Mexico City restaurant group opens second U.S. location in Southwest Austin

A spread of Chef Cesar de la Parra Coghlan’s traditional Mexican dishes on offer at La Popular.

Courtesy La Popular

Southwest Austinites — and fans of Mexican cuisine everywhere — rejoice. On Monday, April 24, A Mexico City restaurant group will officially open the doors to La Popular, a chef-driven concept from Grupo Carola.

Located at 7415 Southwest Pkwy. (Building 5, Suite 100), the new spot is inside the Lantana Place development. Ling Wu Asian Kitchen, a new concept from Chef Ling Wu (Lin Asian Bar, Qi, Ling Kitchen) also opened in the complex earlier this year.

Representing the genuine culture, traditions, and history of Mexico, La Popular brings authentic Mexican cuisine in an elevated, energetic atmosphere. The restaurant is part of Grupo Carolo, one of Mexico's most recognized restaurant groups, and marks the brand's second U.S. location after opening in Roseville, California, in November 2022.

Mexico City Chef Cesar de la Parra Coghlan helms the project, crafting a menu of Mexican dishes using high-quality ingredients, adventurous flavors, and innovative preparations. Trevor Tyler is the restaurant's VP of Beverage Operations, leading an agave-centric cocktail program with more than 80 labels in tequila and mezcal.

Each drink on the cocktail menu is prepared with extreme attention to detail, not just in aesthetics (the Oaxacan Jellyfish is topped with a lemongrass smoke bubble; the Desert Rose comes in a delightful cactus glass) but in flavor (the Perlas is essentially a mango passion fruit margarita and easily a strong contender for best new margarita in the city).

The Yucatán Toucan clarified mezcal punch.Courtesy La Popular

The dinner menu is just as dazzling, and diners should prepare for a marathon, not a sprint. For starters, check out the ahi tuna tostadas, queso fundido con chorizo, and guacamole (don't skip the ribeye chicharrones). If the extensive tequila and mezcal selection and specialty cocktails didn't already induce decision fatigue, the nine different taco options will: Al Pastor is a safe (and delicious) bet, as is the Ribeye taco; whichever you chose, don't skip the cheese-crusted Costra Style tortillas.

For bigger plates, the ribeye fajitas are impeccably prepared with charred jalapenos, onions and potatoes topped with melted Manchego cheese, bacon, guacamole, sour cream, and pico de gallo. Meanwhile, the insane habanero bbq ribs are a welcome Mexican twist on an Austin favorite.

If you somehow have room for dulces (dessert), the tres leches is topped with vanilla ice cream, a torched meringue, and caramel, while the churros are perfectly crunchy bite sized ways to round out your meal. Top it all off with a carajillo, La Popular's version of an espresso martini featuring Licor 43, espresso, and vanilla cream.

All in all, the restaurant's warm hospitality, attention to detail, and authentic Mexican cuisine make the new spot a welcome new neighbor — not just for this Southwest Austin suburb, but for the whole city.

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Whoops

Michelin goofs on a few restaurants honored in first Texas guide

Kau Ba/Facebook

Houston's Kau Ba has been removed from the Michelin Guide.

Texans' reactions to the first Michelin Guide in the state have ranged from glowing to unimpressed, but a few notable mix-ups are more concrete than differences in taste. The November 11 ceremony honored more than 100 restaurants across the state, but at least two were in error. In Dallas the guide confused two restaurants with each other, and in Houston one of them had closed.

Starting in Dallas: The Guide's release announcing the list of restaurants who'd won awards included The Charles, an award-winning Italian restaurant in Dallas' Design District, as one of 57 restaurants that earned a "Recommended" rating.

The Charles is a surely deserving restaurant that opened in 2018, the first concept from acclaimed food & beverage group Duro Hospitality, which has since gone on to open other restaurants such as El Carlos Elegante, Sister, and Cafe Duro.

But the Guide got the wrong Charles: The real recipient was Mister Charles, a sibling Duro Hospitality restaurant that opened at 3219 Knox St. in early 2024.

The Charles specializes in Italian and Texas-inspired dishes.

Mister Charles features French and Italian-influenced dishes.

It wasn't just an incorrect name; it listed the accompanying (incorrect) address.

A spokesperson for Michelin Guide verified that Mister Charles was the winner and said that the listing of The Charles was a mistake.

“This was an internal error caused by our geolocation process. The problem will be corrected in the most expeditious manner,” the spokesperson said. The Guide website has since updated the list and replaced The Charles with Mister Charles.

Having a difference of opinion about a critic's choices is one thing — but having an error of this magnitude is something else entirely.

And blaming "geolocation" as the source of the error is a curious excuse. Geolocation refers to the ability to track the whereabouts of an electronic device using GPS, cell phone towers, WiFi access points or a combination of these.

The Houston mix-up was also disappointing, but only involved one restaurant: In a press release issued Thursday, November 14, the Guide announced that it had removed Montrose Vietnamese restaurant Kau Ba from the list of Bib Gourmand recipients.

The reason: "Upon further investigation, our team has discovered the restaurant has been permanently closed since our Inspection team's visits occurred," the statement reads.

As has been widely noted in local media, Kau Ba closed earlier this month. The restaurant’s Instagram account now belongs to Alora, which is described as “a fresh Peruvian-Vietnamese fusion concept inspired by travels to Saigon.” It is expected to open soon.

Open since 2018, Kau Ba served an innovative take on Vietnamese fare created by Nikki Tran. The restaurant built on the notoriety Tran had achieved after being featured in two Netflix series: Somebody Feed Phil and Ugly Delicious. It earned considerable acclaim, including a spot in the Houston Chronicle’s top 100 restaurants as recently as 2023 and a nomination for Best Neighborhood Restaurant in the 2021 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards.

The restaurant went through a number of iterations during its tenure. For three-and-a-half years, Tran partnered with Aya Sushi owners Minette Corpuz and Bruce Kish to oversee operations, but they parted ways in February 2023.

In an email sent to Houston Public Media, Tran expressed regret over Michelin's decision.

“But we understand and respect Michelin’s decision to remove Kau Ba from its selection,” Tran said to HPM. “Exercising an abundance of caution from a legal position, I am not able currently to share further details of our situation but I do hope to follow up soon with more information.”

“Until then, on behalf of the entire Kau Ba team, we want to thank the entire culinary community for the recognition and support,” Tran added. “Kau Ba is proud of the dishes we created and look forward to sharing very soon what’s next.”

Thankfully in Austin, things seem to be going okay. The capital city swept the competition with seven stars (one more than Houston now that the change has been made), and two green stars for sustainability — in fact, the only green stars in the state.

Austin also had four of the first-ever barbecue restaurants to be awarded stars. Houston also had one.

Austin's winning restaurants were Barley Swine, Craft Omakase, Hestia, Olamaie, InterStellar BBQ, John Bates, La Barbecue, Alison Clem, and LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue.

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