Two San Antonio area spots rank among the country’s greatest Mexican restaurants, according to a list The New York Times released last week
Beacon Hill neighborhood staple Garcia’s Mexican Food and Seguin barbecue joint The Burnt Bean Co. were among 41 restaurants the Times recognized. They earned a place alongside Michelin-rated restaurants that offer fermented carrot juice and sourdough tortillas, food trucks and Mexican market serving counters
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The list is “a mosaic of great places to eat,” the Times says. “We hope it tells an expansive story about Mexican cooking in America today — a dynamic cuisine all its own, and as American as any food.”
Yolanda Garcia and her late husband Julio opened Garcia’s in 1962 and it’s still family-run, with their four kids having taken over the reigns. It’s known for serving heaping platters of chilaquiles, pork chop tacos, carne guisada and the best cheese enchiladas in San Antonio, according to San Antonio Express-News food writer Paul Stephen
Garcia’s Mexican Food earned a Michelin recommendation in 2024, the same year it tied for San Antonio’s best Mexican restaurant, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter. It nabbed the top spot on Sutter’s 2023 rankings
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The restaurant has long been a favorite of comedian Gabriel “Fuffy”Iglesias, who dropped by for tacos and pan dulce on a 2024 trip to his “home away from home.”
“Garcia’s is what an idealized American diner looks like in this part of the country: housemade salsas, tortillas instead of toast and plates of nourishing food at prices that explain why some customers visit multiple times a day,” New York Times food reporter Brett Anderson writes
Burnt Bean Co. dishes up classic barbecue alongside brisket tacos and queso mac-and-cheese. Its Sunday breakfast menu features dishes that co-founder Ernest Servantes grew up eating in Uvalde, like huevos rancheros and menudo
“The restaurant simply serves the food of South Texas,” Anderson writes
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Burnt Bean Co. ranked number one on Texas Monthly’s 2025 Best BBQ Joints in Texas, with the Austin-based magazine likening it to “a museum of small-town Texas, with barbecue perfection the main exhibit.”
Sutter put the restaurant at the top of his 2024 list of the Hill Country’s best barbecue spots. “Burnt Bean does brisket with a rippled velvet elasticity like a velour shirt circa 1981,” Sutter writes
Other Texas restaurants that made the Times’ list are Hugo’s in Houston, Nixta Taqueria in Austin and Taquería Elemi in El Paso
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