Chef Ana Castro has every reason to rest on her laurels in 2026. After leaving her first venture, the brilliant tasting menu spot Lengua Madre (which we excitedly covered back in 2023), Castro made some major waves with Acamaya, her first restaurant as owner/chef along with her sister Lydia Castro, which opened in the Bywater two years ago. It has been not only racking up praise both locally and nationally, but also led to a James Beard nomination for the passionate and talented Mexican-American chef. With tables at Acamaya booked solid, it would make perfect sense for Chef Castro to focus wholly on her flagship eatery for a spell. That, however, does not appear to be the Mexican-American chef’s modus operandi, as she and her sister wasted little time expanding to a second effort, this time a more casual Mexican breakfast spot just up the street from Acamaya named Casimiro.
Any concerns about the perils of rapid restaurant expansion do not appear to have bedeviled Castro, whose motivation mostly concerned her culinary colleagues. “The main reason we opened (Casimiro) was because I realized that we have an insanely talented team, and it is my job and duty and responsibility to create opportunities for them. And the only way that we can do that is growth,” she said. Hence the decision to build Casimiro, which highlights the same painstaking attention to detail, ingredients and techniques as with Acamaya, only in a relaxed breakfast/brunch setting. As for why the pivot from ambitious fine dining to something a little more low key, Castro describes a need for something complimentary to her first venture. “I think it offers something for everyone,” she said. “Acamaya, although a stunning restaurant, can be a little intimidating. I needed to move the needle of the conversation away from, ‘Oh, it’s a Mexican restaurant with no chips and salsa.’ I never want to answer that question again. But now, the dialogue can move towards Acamaya really cementing itself on an identity of a fine dining establishment, really pushing the envelope with what we want to do with the food. Now it can have its antithesis, which is Casimiro, where we’re gonna showcase very traditional Mexican food, no riffs on anything. We’re not doing anything crazy. It’s just tamales and chilaquiles, you know? Very casual, approachable, and affordable.”
If you’re expecting this “no riffs” approach to result in the kind of Tex-Mex breakfasts you might find familiar or even staid, you’ll be delighted to learn that Casimiro is wholly Mexican in all the best ways. Take, for instance, the humble tortilla. In Castro’s hands, this simple staple becomes almost revelatory. “They’re made with really nice butter, and they’re rested and shaped and flattened, then cooked to order,” said the chef. “So of course they’re delicious! We’re not reinventing the wheel, we’re just taking care. There’s just a lot of integrity when it comes to the process and sticking to it, with no compromises.” It’s also worth noting that Castro continues to source her ingredients with deliberate care, including maize varietals cultivated by indigenous communities in Oaxaca that Castro’s team grinds on a volcanic stone mill in house daily.
Those gratifying tortillas are only a modest sample of the kind of culinary integrity Castro brings to the table. The menu at Casimiro is tight but diverse, with a curated selection of dishes that should appeal to most hungry diners, from lighter fare to more robust options. On the lighter side, you’ll find fresh fruit and chamoy (a Mexican condiment fashioned from pickled fruit), as well as Greek yogurt with banana and vanilla bean topped with puffed amaranth and candied pumpkin seeds. But the real showstoppers are the savory dishes, starting with the traditional Mexican breakfast plates, like a generous breakfast burrito stuffed with chorizo, cheesy scrambled eggs and crispy potatoes, as well as huevos divorciados, which features a pair of fried eggs over tortillas with refried beans, shaved onion and both red and green salsas. To take that one up a notch, you can opt for the huevos machaca, which incorporates a favorite Mexican dried beef preparation. “It is truly one of my favorite breakfasts, and I really wanted to showcase it because machaca is a hard thing to source,” Castro said. “We rehydrate it with beef stock from Acamaya, add a little bit of butter, sauté in tomatoes, onions, and serrano chiles, and then fold eggs to the scramble, and that’s what it’s like in the northern states of Mexico, where my mother’s family is from. Add some beans, avocado on the side, flour tortillas and salsa ranchera, and boom. That’s it. It is so good!”
You’d also be wise, when breakfasting at Casimiro, to sample some dishes that may seem unfamiliar to American diners who may not have traveled extensively through Mexico. One standout are the tetelas, savory puffed masa triangle packed with roasted mushrooms and deep-fried cheese served with roasted salsa verde and crema. According to Castro, “This is the kind of yummy, non-fussy Mexican food that I wanted to showcase, something that you could have in a market in Oaxaca or that you could have on the side of the street. Just casual and delicious with no pretension.” And if you’re in more of a lunch mood on the brunch spectrum, you’ll surely be satiated with the generous fried pork chop sandwich (torta de Milanesa) with chipotle mayo, refried beans, avocado, tomato and onion, or the savory molletes: toasted bolillo bread with refried beans, cheese and pico de gallo, to which you can and should add chorizo. You’ll also find some of the best flautas and chilaquiles in the Big Easy, which again manage to deftly skirt the line between professional culinary execution and comfort cuisine.
Castro’s expansion to a second restaurant seems like an organic choice that never comes off as exceedingly ambitious and is largely inspired by what Chef Ana and her sister Lydia hope to add to the Bywater neighborhood where they both live and work. “It’s kind of like what I’ve always wanted,” she said. “I get to say hi to my neighbor that lives across the street, and he’s like, ‘Hey, chef! I went to this estate sale and I found this really cool book on Mexican cooking!’ Or maybe their daughter is making tiramisu and they’ll bring some by, or they bring their new dog to Casimiro for everybody to meet. It’s just really cool to be near so many people doing cool stuff and people that care so much.”
El Pavo Real
Nestled at the corner of Fontainebleau and South Broad streets Uptown is one of our favorite Mexican spots in the city, especially if you’re looking for something slightly more refined than a quick breakfast burrito on the go (which we still love, of course). Open since 2015, it’s a cherished neighborhood haunt for numerous excellent reasons. Lindsey McLellan, a New Orleans native and former longtime chef at Lola’s, was inspired by her Mexican husband to bring “coastal Mexican soul food” to the Crescent City, including top notch tacos with freshly pressed tortillas, moles, pozole and unique items like chipotle coconut shrimp, crab and avocado quesadillas, and rajas con queso. It also hosts an absolutely killer breakfast menu, including classics like huevos rancheros and chilaquiles in addition to a breakfast burrito stuffed with carnitas, potato, egg, pintos, cheese, salsa ranchera, crema and pico. And if you need some hair of the perro, their margaritas use only fresh juices instead of overly sweet mixes, perfect for refueling after a long night out with friends.
Taquería Guerrero
We’ve lost so many beloved eateries since Katrina, but thankfully Taqueria Guerrero, one of our faves since 2007, is not only still thriving but also continues to satisfy hungry locals looking for a satisfying Mexican fix. A family-operated institution helmed by proprietor Jesus Martínez, the cozy Mid City spot excels at down-home Mexican comfort cuisine as well as Latin American staples. You will find decidedly unfancy but absolutely gratifying tacos and tamales as well as savory Salvadoran pupusas and Honduran baleadas, all of which are both family and wallet-friendly. And yes, there are plenty of breakfast options on hand if you’re jonesing for a hefty egg and chorizo-stuffed burrito. Also, don’t miss the weekend-only menudo, a classic Mexican soup incorporating tender beef tripe in a rich, spicy broth with hominy, garnished with chopped onions, cilantro, and red chili flakes. It’ll fix you up right, and then some!
About the Chef/Owners
Ana and Lydia Castero were born in Texas and raised in Mexico City, with Ana learning to cook in her grandmother’s kitchen before studying classical culinary technique at Le Cordon Bleu. After turns in restaurants in such far-flung places as India, Denmark and New York, the two eventually landed in New Orleans. Ana cooked at a number of lauded establishments, including Coquette and Jewel of the South, before opening Lengua Madre along with Lydia in 2021. Acamaya, followed in the summer of 2024, again highlighting the uniquely elegant, fine dining Mexican fare that garnered bountiful praise not only from local diners but also the national culinary media, resulting in a finalist nomination for a James Beard Award for Best Chef: South for Ana. “I’ve always felt so embraced by New Orleans as a chef,” Ana said. “There is just so much historical context to Mexico and New Orleans, and we’re so much more alike than you might think. We have so much in common, and it’s really been like the privilege of my life and of my career to live here. I am not planning to go anywhere anytime soon!”
