Nixta Taqueria
Restaurant · Chestnut
2512 E 12th St, Austin, TX 78702
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Highlights
Inventive tacos & tostadas on heirloom corn tortillas, plus natural wine
Inventive tacos & tostadas on heirloom corn tortillas, plus natural wine
"Nixta Taqueria might best be known for their nixtamalized blue corn tortillas and their very delicious duck carnitas taco, a mainstay of their menu. What sets Nixta even further apart is that a lot of the menu leans vegetarian and sometimes even vegan. A lot of flavor gets coaxed out of vegetables here—we’re especially big fans of the roasted cauliflower taco with romesco, as well as the beet “tartare” tostada with avocado crema and salsa macha that’s almost too pretty to eat. Almost. What to get: Duck carnitas taco; Cauliflower taco" - nicolai mccrary, raphael brion
"Migas tacos usually follow a basic formula that involves a ratio of eggs and tortilla chips to cheese and beans that all leads to a delicious outcome. Nixta uses the same formula, but with little enhancements along the way, leading to a breakfast taco that’s both familiar and entirely new at the same time. The beans are refried in duck fat, the tortilla chips are made from nixtamalized corn, the addition of chorizo adds a savory pop, and a bit of tangy avocado crema and queso fresco brightens the whole thing up. It’s a migas taco that plays by all of the rules, but also makes up its own—and we’re entirely OK with that." - nicolai mccrary, raphael brion
"[This restaurant] might be my favorite restaurant in Austin. I’d heard of it for a while after it first started, but after it reopened during the pandemic, I went, and it blew my mind. It still blows my mind to this day. It feels like elevated cuisine, but it doesn’t feel pretentious. It’s such a casual hang that, even though it’s a newcomer relative to how long I’ve been in this city, it feels like Austin to me. It feels like an extension of places I used to go in college. Everyone I take from out of town, it absolutely blows their minds also. It’s worth every bit of hype it gets. I usually get the duck fat carnitas, which are good. There’s also a cauliflower taco that’s good. When I was there last, they brought something from the kitchen I didn’t order, some kind of steak taco. I was already done eating, then I ate that, and it was so insanely good. Another thing worth noticing about the restaurant is that co-owner Sara Mardanbigi is of Iranian descent, and she hosts a lot of curated Persian-influenced meals that my wife and I go to whenever we can make it. You can taste a lot of her influence on the menu." - Courtney E. Smith
"Nixta isn’t the place you come when you want to scarf down half a dozen small, street-style tacos. It’s where you go when you want to experience unique, rich Mexican flavors that just happen to arrive on a nixtamalized corn tortilla. It’s unstuffy and unpretentious, but seasonal ingredients and a great list of natural wines make it equally suited for special occasions and random Tuesday nights (but you can also just get a Modelo). In many ways, Nixta is pretty representative of Austin—it’s fancy food that you don’t have to dress fancy for." - nicolai mccrary, matthew jacobs, raphael brion
"Nixta Taqueria is the kind of place that could only exist in Austin. It’s a lo-fi spot, with colorful corn murals, fluorescent lighting, and a golden disco ball—the restaurant version of an independent film on a shoestring budget. The food here treads a line between the super-traditional (they make their own masa) and the unconventional (you don’t see many taquerias where duck confit stands in for carnitas). They also have a massive patio out back, with its own bar serving natural wines from Texas, France, and Mexico." - nicolai mccrary, adele hazan, raphael brion
