Austin, TX

This Austin Chef Moved From Oaxaca, but Oaxaca Never Left Her

Published

10 months ago

March 5, 2024

This Austin Chef Moved From Oaxaca, but Oaxaca Never Left Her

When Austin chef Iliana de la Vega was growing up in Mexico City in the 1960s and ’70s, she and her family often traveled into Oaxaca on a long, narrow, and twisty road. “It would take 10, 12 hours to get there on this road that was all curves,” the chef recalls about those trips to visit her extended family. These journeys down a dangerous road to visit her extended family in Oaxaca shaped her life for decades to come as she made her way to Texas, where in 2012 she opened one of the premier Mexican restaurants in the country, El Naranjo, to showcase the heritage flavors of her ancestral homeland.

In Austin the fall of 2023 fall, de la Vega’s business went through many changes as she hands the reins of her restaurant to her daughter, Ana Torrealba, and expands her culinary tourism company into new Mexican cities. Throughout this, Oaxaca continues to drive de la Vega’s culinary inspiration. When she brings back groups of people to the same Oaxacan markets her great-grandmothers would have shopped, it’s full circle.

Oaxaca was considered a far-off place in the 1960s and ’70s, even to her friends in Mexico City, as it was cut off from the rest of the country by mountains and rivers. It wasn’t until 1994 that the Mexican government built a highway that connected Oaxaca, “rich in culture, poor in economy,” she says, to the rest of the country — and eventually the world.

The famous duck mole at El Naranjo.

A plate of cooked octopus on a table. — An octopus dish from El Naranjo.

A plate of shrimp with a sauce on a table. — A shrimp dish from El Naranjo.

In the Mexican tradition, culinary know-how is passed down through the maternal line. During de la Vega’s family trips to Oaxaca, she’d spend time with her grandmother, Justa, and her dozens of cousins and relatives. For her, it was where life revolved around food. Her grandmother had 12 children, and only three girls. Of those, de la Vega’s mother was the only one to have children, so the chef was perhaps destined to be the keeper of her family’s cooking knowledge.

After she graduated from high school in Mexico City, de la Vega tried six different majors in college, including literature, communication, pedagogy, and tourism management, but never graduated. “I had very good grades, but I got bored at school and I just wanted to cook,” she says. To her mother’s initial disappointment, she started selling baked goods and cookies while teaching small cooking classes that people found out about through word-of-mouth. “My mother was a chemist, and for her, cooking was a step back,” she says. “But I couldn’t resist it. I was just teaching them what I knew.”

After meeting Ernesto during high school, getting married, and having their two daughters, the family eventually moved to the city that shaped her culinary path. They opened the original El Naranjo restaurant — named after the Spanish word for “orange tree” — in Oaxaca City in 1997. Political unrest in the early 2000s forced the couple to close the business and move to the U.S. She landed in San Antonio at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), where she taught Latin American foodways for five years. In 2012, the couple moved to Austin to reopen El Naranjo.

During de la Vega’s time at the CIA, she started getting requests from clients to take them on private culinary trips to Oaxaca. Eventually, she decided to start a side business to fill that niche called Mexican Culinary Traditions, which now operates more than a dozen culinary trips a year to four destinations in Mexico. During these weeklong trips, she teaches cooking classes and hosts walking tours exploring aspects of the culinary culture. Her daughter, Isabel Torrealba, an anthropologist and journalist, teaches attendees about the history, architecture, and culture of the destinations. The trips originally focused on Oaxaca and, fueled by her desire to showcase the diversity of Mexican cuisine, expanded to Morelia in 2021 and Mérida earlier in 2023.

De la Vega spends a lot of time writing recipes for her consulting clients — such as Stanford and the University of Massachusetts, which hire her to reboot campus dining halls — but draws inspiration from what’s in season during the trips. “We go to the market and we look around and see what is fresh,” she says. “I don’t even know what I am cooking that day until we go to the market.” Her approach reflects the Mexican approach to cooking, she says. “This is the way we cook in Mexico. It’s ‘What do I have and what can I do with what I have?’”

A bright restaurant dining room. — The bright dining room of El Naranjo.

A restaurant dining room and bar. — Another section of El Naranjo includes an open-bar area.

A restaurant dining room with a yellow and an orange wall with artwork plus wooden tables and chairs. — El Naranjo’s dining room features Mexican artworks and decorations.

Many of her tour guests have never cooked without a recipe and often stress if they don’t have all the ingredients, but de la Vega relishes the opportunity to experiment outside of her restaurant. “I think that is more stressful than to go with the flow,” she says.

Through these trips, de la Vega has met hundreds of people from all over the world — India, Singapore, England, Spain — as well as Mexican tourists and Mexican Americans exploring their own country or heritage. “Some people will say, ‘Oh, my mom used to do that,’” she says as they point to a technique or way of serving a dish. “In a way, we open the door for them, so they feel they are taken care of.”

El Naranjo has transformed in Austin too, starting off as a food truck in 2012, growing into a physical restaurant on Rainey Street, and then relocating onto South Lamar. Then there was the pandemic and what de la Vega considers one of the biggest moments of her career with both pride and humility: her James Beard Award win in the first-ever Best Chef: Texas category in 2022, a feat for an Austin restaurant that focuses on interior Mexican food.

The medal is the kind of nod that most chefs only dream of but wasn’t one that kept her up at night. “I have never been a prize-seeker, but it felt good,” she says, “because you work hard and are trying to do something that makes a difference, so to get recognition makes me feel proud, but it didn’t change much in my daily life.”

After the award, she saw new faces in the restaurant and new interest in her culinary trips, but in many ways, she still feels like she is in survival mode with increased competition from new restaurants and diners’ hesitant to spend money due to economic uncertainties, not to mention rising food costs. “The pandemic was so, so hard,” she says. “We had just moved into the new location when COVID hit after seven years on Rainey. It’s a big step to still be here and be able to count on the people who still work with us.”

With her James Beard recognition, de la Vega is shifting from one chapter to the next. Earlier in 2023, her 35-year-old daughter officially took over the day-to-day management of the staff and the culinary operations at El Naranjo as chef de cuisine, giving de la Vega time to focus on her tours and consulting projects. De la Vega is now traveling more than ever, with 14 culinary trips a year scheduled.

Much like her mother, Ana Torrealba grew up surrounded by food, spending time at the family’s restaurants in Oaxaca and Austin. She studied baking and pastry at the CIA in Hyde Park before working at restaurants in New York and studying food engineering in Mexico City.

Three people standing next to a bar. — Ana Torrealba, Ernesto Torrealba, and Iliana de la Vega at El Naranjo.

A woman in a gray shirt and yellow apron standing next to a bar. — Ana Torrealba.

De la Vega didn’t dissuade her daughter from getting into the food world like her own mother did, “but I did tell her that it was a hard life,” she says. When Torrealba moved to Austin, she worked nights at Central Market’s bakery, and still made the decision that, even with the long hours, she wanted her hands covered in flour and masa, just like her mom.

De la Vega’s journey from Mexico City to Oaxaca to Texas while raising her daughters and building a community around one of the most lauded restaurants in the city, has been satisfying, but she’s not finished yet. The chef still does extensive consulting work. She also speaks on panels about women and diversity in the culinary industry, and is constantly researching to improve and expand her culinary trips. She also wants to take some time for herself. “My main goal now is to see my girls doing well. I’d like to retire and go back and forth between Oaxaca and here and travel with my husband.”

But semi-retirement won’t look like resting on her laurels.

“I don’t know how to sit still,” she says, noting that she has over 10 culinary trips scheduled already, many of which are already sold out.

It’s a lot easier to get to Oaxaca than it used to be, but in some ways, it’s harder to remember what it was like before it became one of the top tourism destinations in Mexico. But that’s the Oaxaca she tries to remember when she’s on the road, teaching chefs and tour guests about her culinary heritage. It’s a legacy she’s building one trip at a time.

2717 South Lamar Boulevard, Austin, Texas 78704

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Austin, TX

Where to recycle your Christmas tree in Texas

Published

2 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Where to recycle your Christmas tree in Texas

TEXAS — Once the holidays have passed, you are encouraged to give your natural Christmas tree another life by recycling it at any number of locations in Texas.

Most drop-off sites open on Dec. 26, but check with your city or county ahead of time to confirm.

There are typically guidelines for tree mulching and recycling. Check with your local recycling location for specifics, but the following rules, provided by Travis County, usually apply:

Only natural trees are accepted (no plastic/artificial trees)
Remove all ornaments, decorations, lights and tree stands (wooden blocks)
Remove all nails, screws, staples, wire and metal
Trees sprayed with flocking or artificial snow are not accepted
Do not place the tree in a “tree bag” or any plastic bag
Netting or rope wrapped around the tree is not accepted
Trees taller than 6 feet must be cut in half

Here are some locations where you can recycle your tree in Texas. The list isn’t exhaustive, so check online with your city or county for a location near you.

For recycling in Travis County, click here.
For the Austin area, click here.
For San Antonio, click here.
For Dallas, click here.
For Fort Worth, click here.
For El Paso, click here.

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Austin, TX

Texas A&M vs USC preview: Scouting report, predictions for Las Vegas Bowl

Published

12 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Texas A&M vs USC preview: Scouting report, predictions for Las Vegas Bowl

All that’s left in the season for Texas A&M football is the Las Vegas Bowl. With one game left, the Aggies head west to take on the USC Trojans for the first time since 1977.

Texas A&M (8-4, 5-3 SEC) dropped out of the US LBM Coaches Poll at the end of the season, while the Aggies’ next opponent is fighting to finish above .500. USC is 6-6 overall and is 11th in the Big Ten at 4-5.

BUY TICKETS TO TEXAS A&M VS USC

Will A&M take care of business in the final game of 2024? Can they send off Year 1 under head coach Mike Elko on a good note? How will the Aggies fare down three key defenders up front? Can Elko and the Aggies secure a nine-win season for the first time since 2020?

Here’s a full scouting report for the Texas A&M Aggies vs the USC Trojans:

Texas A&M vs USC in Las Vegal Bowl

When: 9:30 p.m. Friday.

Where: Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

TV: ESPN.

Radio: 1370 AM in Austin; 1150 AM, 93.7 FM in College Station.

Line: Texas A&M is favored by 3½.

Weather: Allegiant Stadium is a dome, rendering the weather ~~to be~~ a nonfactor.

Texas A&M vs USC history

All-time: USC leads 3-0.

Last meeting: 47-28 USC win (1977).

Most memorable meeting: It hasn’t been an extensive history between the two programs, and it hasn’t been a joyous one for the Aggies either. The latest matchup came in the 1977 Bluebonnet Bowl, played annually in Houston.

The final meeting between the Aggies and Trojans was also the last time A&M played in the bowl game. A&M lost to USC, 47-28, aided by a then-bowl record four-touchdown pass performance from USC’s Rob Hertel. Trojans’ running back Dwight Ford broke a school record with 94 rushing yards.

Know the foe: USC

Last game: 49-35 loss to Notre Dame.

Players to watch: Thanks to increased player movement, it’s oftentimes hard to get a beat on who will and won’t play in non-playoff bowl games. However, looking at the Trojans’ offense, their passing attack was led by sophomore wide receivers Makai Lemon and Zachariah Branch. The duo have combined for 93 receptions, 1168 yards and four touchdowns. Branch is in the transfer portal and is not expected to suit up against the Aggies.

The Trojans started the year with Miller Moss at quarterback, but thanks to USC making a switch, sophomore Jayden Maiava is the starting quarterback now. He has made the last three starts for the Trojans, while Moss has entered the transfer portal, reportedly joining Louisville ahead of the 2025 season.

As a starter, Maiava has totaled 840 passing yards, seven touchdown passes and three interceptions.

Central Texas connections: The USC Trojans football team is a national brand, and with that comes an extensive reach on the recruiting trail. As a result, the Trojans’ roster has its fair share of Texas natives. In total, 11 players call the Lone Star State home, including junior tight end Lake McRee who is from Austin and played at Lake Travis.

When Texas A&M has the ball

It will be interesting to see how the Aggies handle the Las Vegas Bowl, with 19 players reportedly in the transfer portal and at least Nic Scourton already forgoing the bowl game for NFL aspirations.

What Aggies fans can expect to see is Marcel Reed getting plenty of work with him being viewed as the unquestioned starting quarterback heading into the new season for the first time.

Also, preseason-projected starting running back Rueben Owens made his first appearance against the Longhorns in Week 14 following a knee injury that made him unavailable for most of the year. It will be interesting to see if they once again give him game action to close out the year.

Look for the Aggies to work in young players such as freshman wide receiver Ashton Bethal-Roman who finished the year with four receptions, 44 yards and one touchdown in limited action as they head into next season.

When USC has the ball

The Trojans’ passing game is well-documented. They enter the game with the 10th-best passing attack in the nation, averaging 291.7 yards a game. Maiava will be looking for Makai Lemon for much of the evening, while Austin native Lake McRee is also a viable option.

Even with all the attention being paid to their passing game, senior running back Woody Marks tallied 1,133 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns this year, and will be a problem the Aggies will need to contend with as well.

Texas A&M vs USC key matchup

Aggies’ defensive backs vs Trojans’ receivers

A&M’s secondary will have its hands full with this Trojans passing attack, and it will be up to Will Lee III, Dezz Ricks and BJ Mayes to limit the big-play ability of USC’s passing attack.

While teams have had success running on the Aggies recently, the Trojans’ strength lies in the passing game, and A&M should be prepared for an aerial attack during the season finale.

Texas A&M vs USC predictions

Tony Catalina: It’s hard to get a beat on how these non-playoff games will go with all the changes and uncertainty. However, Mike Elko has a chance to get his ninth win of the season, and there is still enough talent in the program and coming back that I think A&M is able to find a way. Texas A&M 27, USC 20.

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Austin, TX

Texas Longhorns HC Steve Sarkisian Prasies Clemson Tigers QB Cade Klubnik

Published

20 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Texas Longhorns HC Steve Sarkisian Prasies Clemson Tigers QB Cade Klubnik

The Clemson Tigers weren’t able to pull of the massive upset against the Texas Longhorns in the first-round of the College Football Playoff, resulting in their season coming to an end.

It was a really solid 2024 campaign for the Tigers. They were able to win 10 games, the ACC Title, and made the newly expanded CFP.

However, going on the road against the Longhorns proved to be no easy task. While it was a 14-point loss, the argument could be made that Clemson exceeded some expectations, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Texas has one of the best defenses in the country, and certainly one of the best secondaries. Throwing the ball on the Longhorns has been something that few players have had success at this season. However, Cade Klubnik and the passing offense of the Tigers had one of their best games of the season in the big moment.

In the loss, Klubnik totaled 336 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, and one interception. Considering Texas was allowing less than 200 yards per game through the air, this was an impressive showing.

After the game, Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke very highly of Klubnik and what he was able to do against the Texas defense.

“I’m proud of Cade,” Sarkisian said via Clemson Insider. “I’ve known him for a long time, been recruiting him I feel like forever when he was in high school, and the fact that his career didn’t start off maybe the way he would have liked at Clemson, and there was a lot of expectations for him there, but to come out and have the season that he had this year for them, to get them to the playoffs, to be ACC champs, that’s a credit to him. He’s a very good football player.”

After a mediocre sophomore season, the Tigers quarterback took a massive leap in 2024. Overall, Klubnik finished with 3,639 passing yards, 36 passing touchdowns, and just six interceptions. While a lot of the attention goes to him throwing the ball, he was also able to rush for nearly 500 yards with seven scores.

The junior quarterback quickly became one of the best players at the position in the country, and was a massive part of why Clemson achieved as much as they did this season.

Now, the hope will be for the Tigers that Klubnik returns for his senior season. If he does, they will be entering 2025 with one of the best passing offenses in the country.

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