The jefa of a highly-acclaimed Mexican American bakery in Central Texas is being recognized for making some of the greatest pan dulce in the country. Food & Wine recently announced its 37th class of “Best New Chefs in America,” and only one Latina from the Lone Star State made the list.
The publication named Mariela Camacho of Comadre Panadería in East Austin to its list of top 10 chefs hailing from across the U.S. Camacho, who also lived in San Antonio, is now the 13th Austin chef since 2001 to receive the honor and the city’s first woman chef to earn the accolade, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
F&W praised Camacho’s “reimagined and modernized” take on the pan dulce of her childhood at Comadre. Originally from Los Angeles, Camacho began Comadre as a pop-up in Seattle in 2017 and moved her business to Texas two years later. She named the bakery “Comadre” after the Spanish term of endearment for homegirl or confidant, as she told F&W it implies what she wants her bakery to be a welcoming, safe space…