Food & Wine on Tuesday announced its 37th class of Best New Chefs in America, and the roster of talent includes a name probably familiar to Austinites who have an abiding love for Mexican pastries.
Mariela Camacho, chef-owner of Comadre Panadería in East Austin, was named to the list of 10 chefs. Camacho becomes the 13th Austin chef since 2001 to receive the honor and the city’s first female chef to earn the accolade.
A Los Angeles native, Camacho honors her Mexican heritage with a menu packed with baked goods made with quality ingredients from Mexico and Texas. Food & Wine name-checked her heirloom corn-infused pink cake, masa sugar cookie and bean and cheese empanada, among others, in announcing its new class that is full of chefs expressing personal narrative through cuisine.
“The 2025 Best New Chefs are telling their stories through food — menus that read like memoirs, whether it’s khao soi with Philly-Italian crab gravy, raspberry-chile conchas, handcrafted Korean tofu, or kaya jam pastries,” the editors of Food & Wine said in a release.
Food & Wine’s article on Camacho gives equal billing to Camacho’s ethos and her flavors. Camacho utilizes quality, nutritious ingredients with a mind toward ethical sourcing, and operates her business in a way that ensures her employees receive more than a livable wage.
Camacho started Comadre as a pickup and delivery service in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and opened her bakery at 1204 Cedar Ave. — behind 2023 F&W Best New Chef Edgar Rico’s Nixta Taqueria — in the spring of 2023. Comadre was funded in part by grants from Siete’s Juntos Fund and the Texas Food and Wine Alliance, as well as money raised through a GoFundMe.
Camacho, who has twice been named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Pastry Chef or Baker, joins the following group of Food & Wine Best New Chefs from Austin: 2001 Will Packwood (7), 2003 David Bull (Driskill Hotel), 2005 Tyson Cole (Uchi), 2011 Bryce Gilmore (Barley Swine), 2014 Paul Qui (Uchiko), 2015 Michael Fojtasek and Grae Nonas (Olamaie), 2016 Kevin Fink (Emmer & Rye), 2017 Yoshi Okai (Otoko), 2020 Tavel Bristol-Joseph (Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group), 2021 Fermin Núñez (Suerte) and 2023 Edgar Rico (Nixta Taqueria).
Those itching for some of Camacho’s award-winning pastries, take note: Comadre Panadería is closed for a brief summer break until Thursday morning and operates Thursday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Dining and Cooking