Chef Fermín Núñez’s Guide to Tacos, Tostadas, and More in Austin

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For Austin chef Fermín Núñez, masa is foundational to his menus. Born in Mexico, Núñez has opened three of Austin’s most celebrated Mexican restaurants—Este, Suerte, and Bar Toti—all of which use masa to provide fresh, handmade corn tortillas, tamales, sopes, and other dishes. He found an ally in the brand Masienda, founded by Jorge Gaviria, who wrote the cookbook Masa: Techniques, Recipes, and Reflections on a Timeless Staple (Chronicle Books, 2022). Núñez was a natural fit when Gaviria went looking for a chef to help him put together his next cookbook, Vitamina T: Your Daily Dose of Tacos, Tortas, Tamales, and More Mexican Street Food Classics (Clarkson Potter), which came out April 2026.

“My first thought was, ‘How is this not a book already?’” Núñez notes. “These are the things that I love, dishes really inspired by Mexican street food stands. But also, there are some dishes here that you would not actually find in the streets, more inspired by. Something that I always say about our restaurants is that their first language is English, but we’re very fluent in Spanish, and I think that it’s also reflected in the cookbook.”

To him, masa—the product made from soaking dried corn in calcium hydroxide and sodium—is the canvas on which so many dishes can be painted. “Tacos are the first thing people think when you say masa or Mexican food. But there are so many other things that can be done, like tostadas and masa tamales.”

While Austin has long had a strong Mexican food scene, when Suerte opened in 2018, it was one of a wave of restaurants to put masa and handmade corn tortillas at the center of the menu. Today, Núñez sees that influence all over the city. “There’s a lot of young, exciting chefs coming up and contributing to that story, not forgetting about the roots of what makes a great tortilla,” he says. Here are his top picks for getting a dose of “vitamina T” in Austin.

Paprika carnitas — Carnitas, Paprika ATX

For Tacos

My favorite tacos recently have been from Paprika ATX on North Lamar. They started as a food truck and now they’re full brick and mortar. I get their tacos de carnitas, or check out the rotating special. And the nopales are so good. It’s one of those spots where I always make sure to take people when they’re visiting from out of town for lunch.

For Tortas

I really love the tortas from La Plancha. In Mexico, torta shops are like you’d find a Subway or a sub shop here in the States. Their version is just like the stuff I grew up with in Mexico, which is an amazing thing to have. And they’re a two-minute drive from Este. I usually like to get la Milanese or whatever’s rotating since they do regular monthly specials.

For Tamales

I love tamales. And I love when Nixta Taqueria does their holiday tamales. They usually do them around November till January, because I don’t think they always have tamal on the menu. We went through that phase of making tamales at the holidays at Suerte, and then we kind of outgrew it, so getting them there is such a treat.

For Tostadas

There is a place called Taqueria de Diez—the funny thing about Mexicans is you can have the same thing and call it five different names, depending on where you are. So what they technically do is called volcanes, which is a tortilla that’s toasted with cheese, and then they’ll add whatever meat you want. I like their carne asada.

For Sopes and Tlayudas

I selfishly have to plug Suerte here. So, at Este, people will usually get oysters to start. And we wanted to figure out what the Mexican version of that was, a little bite for somebody to start with. So at Suerte we make little sopes campechanos, with a bit of chorizo and beef belly. They’re one of my favorite things to start with. We also have a tlayuda with mushrooms, which we’ve taken off the menu before and people get mad about it. It’s always kind of coming and going because our egos like to do something different now and then—but then enough people complain so it comes back to the menu. We can’t get rid of them.