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The Michelin Guide ranking top places to eat was announced in October, 2025.
In this bonus episode, Mando Rayo sits down with the Texas Standard to discuss the new Michelin luminaries, as well as details on how he plans to celebrate the podcast’s fifth season.
The interview featured in this bonus episode of Tacos of Texas originally aired on the Texas Standard in November, 2025.
Some of the nominees mentioned in this episode have been featured guests on earlier episodes of the Tacos of Texas podcast. You can listen to all those episodes and more by heading over to the Tacos of Texas show page or wherever you get your podcasts!
Tacos of Texas is made possible by listeners like you. You can support our work by making a donation at supportthispodcast.org
The full transcript of this episode of Tacos of Texas is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Mando Rayo: Hey, this is Mando Rayo from the Tacos of Texas. We’re busy cooking up season seis, but in the meantime, here’s a segment from my interview on the Texas Standard and Austin Signal. You can hear me every month talking about tacos and taco culture and get ready for El Seis, premiering on August, 2026. The Tacos Of Texas is produced by Identity Productions in partnership with KUT and KUTX Studios. Listen on KUT.org or wherever you get your podcasts. You can find Falcons of Texas on Kut.org, or wherever you get
David Brown: It’s the Texas Standard, I’m David Brown. Well, the Michelin Guide ranking top places to eat just announced a few days back, and like many Texans, we were wondering if some of our favorites made the list. Hey, I know just the person to ask about such matters, Mondo Ryo, host of the Tacos of Texas podcast. Mondo, great to talk with you again. Thanks, David, happy to be back. Well, so given your particular expertise, how did Texas’s Mexican Tex-Mex and all-around taco-centered places do on the Michelin Guide this time around. Well, David.
Mando Rayo: I got to say it’s hashtag muy Rico and it’s kind of, you know, it’s been a buildup of these places that, you know, I think naturally deserve that recognition.
David Brown: So, what about, give us some names, do some name drop in here.
Mando Rayo: No, I’m going to go with a barbecue nickname. Her name is Chuck Charney Chart out of Barbs-B-Q. And her real name is Teresa. And she was selected as Texas most promising chef. And they’re out of Lockhart. And to be honest, it’s kind of like this idea around really focusing in on not only the flavors from home, and growing up in the Rio Grande Valley, and then being in the barbecue game, and now mixing in kind of like that traditional barbecue, but also those flavors from home. Yeah. And the new generation of barbecue eaters, right? And makers. So I love that. And I think when you think about Texas, you think Tatemo out in Houston, Measley in San Antonio, and obviously Austin’s Nista Taqueria. But one of the standouts for me is definitely a new one. It’s Mercado Sin Nombre. And so- Where is this? That’s in Austin, Texas. And yeah, and you know, the whole focus of, you know what I would say is their menu is really is corn. Everything’s corn based, right? And everything from scratch but they make these killer burritos. And they have one of the owners has a lineage back to El Paso Juarez. So I appreciate that.
David Brown: Yeah, yeah, being an El Paso in yourself, I guess, you grew up in the area. You know, when it comes to these guides and the stars and all that, is it significant when a city doesn’t get a new one on the list, or is it just business as usual? How does that wash out?
Mando Rayo: You know, it’s kind of like the game, if you will. Cities buy into the Michelin Guide, and then you do get that, you know, they’re being able to get the recognition, right? And so I think when you do you get that recognition and maybe you don’t get the next one, it is okay because it leads to more opportunities and more recognition. And it could be a James Beer, it could the Food and Wine magazine, or they’ll get invited to do like chef pop-ups, and then people line up for them. And so I don’t know if it makes that much of a difference, but just being recognized in the Michelin Guide, what I would say is like people definitely can squeeze like 10 years out of that recognition. That’s pretty amazing. Yeah.
David Brown: Now, let’s talk about five years of the Tacos of Texas podcast. I know season five has just officially wrapped. The podcast came out just a couple of days ago. How was this season? How’d it go? Man
Mando Rayo: It was surprisingly, I mean, you know, people love these taco stories, right? But we really dug into different issues and explored not only culture, but what’s happening even politically in Texas right now and in the United States. So for us, I thought, you, know, definitely we went deeper into interviews, but also the conversations, you know, we asked Amaga Latino around like. How does he feel? When an immigrant makes his food, considering the stance that he takes on anti-immigration. Or, you know, we also went out to El Granpa’s Mexican barbecue out in Georgetown, Texas. And they’re doing, you now, they got all the, they got the TikToks, they blew up. And they are doing lamb barbacoa above ground pits. That’s amazing. And it’s definitely worth a trip. It’s out in this field, in this, you know, ranch road and you just get there and it is like, it’s so good. You know…
David Brown: I have to say, if we’re talking about the end of five seasons of the Tacos of Texas podcast, you guys should, you know, celebrate, have a party or something.
Mando Rayo: Shouldn’t we right? Yes, and people want it and you know what? We’re gonna bring tacos to the people You got anything on on your schedule? Yeah, of course, of course, you know, we do our our uh, we always have a wrap party, you know, and uh, and so, you know, in in production, that means that when it’s closed, not we’re not making wraps, you know, that we’re making tacos, okay? So it’s going to be on Sunday, November 16th at Paprika ATX, which is not anyone come. I mean, you have to be associated. No, anyone can come. It’s free. We’re going to do a live Tacos of Texas podcast taping there on site. It’s going to be, the first 100 tacos are free and it’s going be community. We’re gonna have, you know, a DJ set by Gran Moreno, a local band here, lots of cumbias and sonideros and lots of great community, right? And celebrating kind of what we’ve done over the last five years and continuing, you know the taco journey. So hit us with the location and the time and all that again. Yes. So it’s going to be Sunday, November 16th from 4 to 7 p.m. At Paprika, Austin. And that’s in North Lamar, close to… Airport Boulevard.
David Brown: If you know Austin, well of course you got to know Mondo Ryo if you know tacos. He’s the host of the Tacos of Texas podcast. Mondo, great to talk with you once more and again, congratulations on five seasons of the Tacas of Texas Podcast. Thanks David.
Mando Rayo: You can find Tacos of Texas on KUT.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
