Tatemó is an 18-seat BYOB Mexican restaurant in Houston, Texas, led by Mexico City–born chef Emmanuel Chavez. Each dish on the eight-course tasting menu features masa made from corn that Chavez imports from small Mexican farms. In 2024, Tatemó received its first MICHELIN star.
In 2021, when chef Emmanuel Chavez came across a vacant juice bar in the Spring Branch neighborhood of Houston, he noticed that it was already equipped with a hood and grease trap, often the highest expenses for new restaurants, and immediately told the landlord he wanted to lease it. The world was still in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic. Chavez and his business partner, Megan Maul, had just been forced out of the ghost kitchen they had been using for their tortilla business with only three days’ notice. They needed somewhere to go. They fixed the space enough to run their tortillería and, despite having no employees, charge for Sunday brunches at the counter. By 2024, Tatemó had evolved into a MICHELIN-starred restaurant.
Nestled in a strip mall, Tatemó’s façade is unassuming, but inside, dimmed drop lights and candles cast shadows across the minimalist décor. Diners sit at the counter with a view of the open kitchen or at one of the six two- and four-top tables. Each of the eight courses on Tatemó’s tasting menu features nixtamalized corn that Chavez sources from small farms in Mexico. Nixtamalizing, the ancient Mesoamerican method of preparing corn for masa, is done in-house.
Nestled in a strip mall, Tatemó’s façade is unassuming, but inside, dimmed drop lights and candles cast shadows across the minimalist décor. Diners sit at the counter with a view of the open kitchen or at one of the six two- and four-top tables. Each of the eight courses on Tatemó’s tasting menu features nixtamalized corn that Chavez sources from small farms in Mexico. Nixtamalizing, the ancient Mesoamerican method of preparing corn for masa, is done in-house.
One dish that has remained on Tatemó’s menu from the beginning is Chavez’s take on the quesadilla, a tortilla made with a blue corn varietal from Jocotitlan and filled with melted quesillo, also known as Oaxaca cheese. It is served with squash blossom, black truffles from Perigord, France, and a small wooden spoon to scoop up the caviar-topped crema on the side.
Of course, it takes more than great food to earn MICHELIN’s attention.
“The last four chefs I worked under, my mentors, have MICHELIN-star backgrounds,” Chavez says. “So I grew up with the highest standards: clean as you go, clean salt, clean shoes, clean Sharpie, clean face. The hours suck. The expectations suck. But if you enjoy all that, then this is for you.”
