meet the tastemakers

These 6 rising star Austin chefs are just getting started

Sometimes there's more to a plate than meets the eye — like who made it. (Pictured: A creative Caprese by L'Oca d'Oro_

Photo courtesy of L'Oca d'Oro

Austin has its fair share of celebrity chefs, and their ranks are always growing. And as much as we love poaching a well-liked chef from New York (at least, some of us do), there's something just chef's kiss about seeing our own local chefs rise through the ranks and open their own restaurants.

CultureMap's annual Tastemaker Awards feature a Rising Star Chef of the Year category, designed to pull some of Austin's most promising chefs out from the back of the house to the front of foodies' attention. Many of these chefs haven't won well-publicized awards, been featured in articles, or really had much of an online presence online before, so our judges — mostly the previous year's winners with a deep personal knowledge of the industry — are extra important here.

With the entire industry to choose from, the judges selected these six sous chefs, appointed executive chefs, and freshman small restaurant owners to represent the best chefs doing big things with fewer eyes on them. The winner of this category is someone our industry professionals want to see at the helm of their own culinary empire soon.

In order to dig deeper for these chefs' bios, CultureMap sent around a few questions about where these rising star chefs are from, what experience they've had, and what sets them apart in their industry. Please welcome — some for the first time — this class of Rising Star nominees. Then, come find out who wins on May 11 at Fair Market for our annual Tastemaker Awards tasting event and awards ceremony. Tickets are on sale now.

Harvard Aninye, Canje
This first-generation Nigerian-American chef is used to looking at things from several angles, saying his upbringing in San Antonio taught him to "continue to challenge and question life in general." Since his time in this cultural hot pot, Harvard Aninye landed at downtown Austin sushi restaurant TenTen as Chef de Cuisine, and then took the same position at Caribbean darling Canje, known for its vibrant takes on homey foods.

Javier Nuñez, Odd Duck
Loyalty is treasured but not always rewarded, especially in the fast-moving food industry. Javier Nuñez, however, has actually risen through the ranks as he's stuck with Odd Duck for the past decade — from a "server assistant" in 2014 to one of the most-admired sous chefs in Austin in 2023. The South Lamar staple has been similarly reliable, always a favorite among visitors and locals alike for the fresh ingredients and creative plates.

Joaquin Ceballos, Este
Joaquin Ceballos has always been international, and it's his "love for multicultural environments" that he says sets him apart. Born in Laredo, Texas, and raised across the border in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, he now represents the latter country at Este, the upscale seafood restaurant in East Austin. If he'd never left, however, he'd never had a chance to return to those roots, so thank Parisian bistro Racines NY for holding on to him in between.

Kareem El-Ghayesh, KG BBQ
In a barely alternate universe, Austin might have missed out on this chef's unique Middle Eastern art via his food truck, KG BBQ. From Cairo, Egypt, Kareem El-Ghayesh was in the corporate finance and banking world. After a visit to Austin he was hooked, he told the Austin Chronicle, and even learned his new trade through iconic Austin pit master Aaron Franklin. His contribution to Texas barbecue, he says, comes from "lighter and more balanced ingredients."

Kyle Mulligan
After a long personal history in Texas, including a culinary arts degree and several positions at Austin institutions as sous chef, Kyle Mulligan has finally moved on to more Northern things — but not without leaving his mark on the food scene. Most recently, and notably, it was as executive chef at 1417 French Bistro, where Mulligan created an example of something Austin doesn't see much thanks to its nontraditional bent: excellent, simple, and traditional French food.

Peter Klein, L'Oca D'Oro
The food world loves an unexpected twist, but sometimes we just need an East Coaster to make great Italian food. This New Jersey-raised chef honed his skills in New York City, finally arriving in Austin eight years ago. Fittingly, Peter Klein says his main inspiration is "leaning into simplicity." For this award, judges recognized his work as executive sous chef with L'Oca d'Oro, and he has now moved on to become executive chef at Holiday.

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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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