El Naranjo Showcases the Bold Flavors of Chihuahua with June Specials
Plus, Chef Iliana De La Vega Hosts Baja-Inspired Dinner with Monte Xanic Winery on June 18
AUSTIN, Texas (June 3, 2025) — El Naranjo, Austin’s premier destination for Mexican cuisine, invites guests to experience the bold, diverse flavors of Mexico through a series of culinary specials and events crafted by James Beard Award-winning Chef Iliana De La Vega and Chef de Cuisine Ana Torrealba.
This June, their menu highlights the rustic, hearty cuisine of Chihuahua, Mexico’s largest state and neighbor to Texas and New Mexico. Known for its agricultural richness and high-desert flavors, the region’s specialties will feel both familiar and novel to Texas diners.
JUNE MENU
Cocktail: Sotol Paloma
Beat the Texas heat with this refreshing cocktail featuring sotol, a traditional spirit native to Chihuahua, infused with chile guajillo and árbol, mixed with blood orange purée, grapefruit liqueur, and topped with grapefruit soda. Finished with a chamoy rim for an extra, tangy kick.
Taco del Mes: Chile Relleno Taco
A mildly spicy Anaheim chile stuffed with creamy Oaxaca cheese and bayo (pinto) beans, topped with pickled red onions and salsa verde tatemada, served on a soft flour tortilla.
Ceviche del Mes: Ceviche de Atún con Manzana
A bright, refreshing blend of fresh yellowfin tuna, crisp green apple, Anaheim chile, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and olive oil, finished with delicate alfalfa microgreens—a vibrant dish celebrating Chihuahua’s agricultural bounty.
Appetizer: Empanadas Santa Rita (2)
Sweet and savory fried wheat flour empanadas scented with anise seed and filled with traditional beef picadillo, featuring raisins, almonds, green peas, and a hint of Mexican cinnamon, and lightly dusted with cinnamon sugar for a perfectly unexpected bite.
Plato Fuerte: Carne Asada
Marinated flank steak grilled to perfection and served with creamy rajas con crema (spicy Anaheim chile and onion strips in cream), hearty bayo beans, and warm flour tortillas.
Dessert: Mexican Vanilla Crème Brûlée & Spiced Cake
Silky-smooth crème brûlée infused with rich Mexican vanilla, crowned with a caramelized sugar crust, and served with a spiced cake made with dates, pecans, and apples — the ultimate sweet ending.
A Baja-Inspired Wine Dinner
As a highlight of the month’s festivities, El Naranjo will host an exclusive Baja California-inspired wine dinner in collaboration with Monte Xanic Winery on Wednesday, June 18. This one-night-only event will celebrate the vibrant coastal cuisine of Baja California paired with selections from Mexico’s most celebrated winery.
The evening’s multi-course menu will feature dishes like Scallop Aguachile, Soft-Shell Crab with Mole, and Fish with Sea and Earth Asparagus, each thoughtfully paired with Monte Xanic’s expressive wines — from sparkling Cava to crisp Rosé and Sauvignon Blanc. The dinner will conclude with a Mexican Sticky Toffee Pudding paired with a Mexican whiskey cocktail.
“I’ve long admired the culinary spirit of Baja — its markets, vineyards, and coastline offer a wealth of inspiration,” said Chef Iliana De La Vega. “This collaboration with Monte Xanic allows us to honor those flavors while showcasing the richness of Mexico’s regional cuisines here in Austin.”
Monte Xanic, founded in the Valle de Guadalupe, is regarded as one of Mexico’s premier wineries, known for producing high-quality wines that reflect the unique terroir of Baja’s wine country.
DINNER DETAILS:
When: Wednesday, June 18, 2025 | 5–9 p.m.
Where: El Naranjo | 2717 S Lamar Blvd Ste. 1085, Austin, TX 78704
Reservations available here.
For more information or to book a table, visit elnaranjo.com or follow them on Instagram @elnaranjoaustin.
El Naranjo Complete press kit HERE.
About El Naranjo
In 1997 Iliana de la Vega and Ernesto Torrealba opened El Naranjo, a restaurant specializing in Oaxacan cuisine. Ernesto was a trained architect and initially lacked professional experience in the kitchen but jumped in, and, as he says, “became her best student.” At first, there were many trials and tribulations but by May 2003, their food was featured on the cover of Bon Appetit magazine with the caption, "The Soul of Mexico: bold flavors, romantic places, and rich traditions." The restaurant flourished until 2006, when the community experienced a period of political unrest, causing Iliana and Ernesto to sell their restaurant and move to the United States.
Not long after their arrival to Austin, Ernesto began planning the El Naranjo trailer as a first step to learn about the Austin market and its culinary scene. Meanwhile, Iliana was offered a position as a cuisine specialist, researcher, and chef instructor at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America San Antonio where she hosted the first cooking classes dedicated to Mexican Cuisine. She is frequently asked to make national appearances to chime in on various aspects of Latin American cooking and to help people understand Mexican food beyond tacos and Tex-Mex.
About Chef Iliana de la Vega
Iliana de la Vega is an award-winning Mexican-born chef and owner of El Naranjo, a traditional Mexican restaurant in the heart of Austin, Texas. Chef de la Vega and her husband Ernesto Torrealba first opened El Naranjo as a restaurant and cooking school in 1997 in Oaxaca, Mexico; the restaurant received worldwide acclaim and was lauded as “the soul of Mexico” on the cover of Bon Appetit and at The New York Times Dining Section, among other notable publications. El Naranjo in Austin has been recognized as the best Mexican restaurant in the region, and it has been named among the top 10 restaurants in the city.
Chef de la Vega served as the Mexican/Latin Cuisines Specialist for the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) from 2007 to 2012. In 2014, she was awarded the Ohtli Award in recognition of her work in furthering Mexican gastronomy in the United States and the 2014 Hispanic Female Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Chef de la Vega was also named a semifinalist in the 2019 and 2020 James Beard Awards for Best Chef: Southwest. In 2022, she became the first-ever winner of the Best Chef: Texas category in the James Beard Awards. Chef de la Vega was awarded ‘Chef of the Year’ by Bar and Restaurant expo in 2024.
As a restaurateur and consultant, Chef de la Vega creates menus and oversees training in the U.S. and abroad for hotels, restaurants and universities, such as Stanford University and UMASS. Additionally, she and her anthropologist and journalist daughter Isabel lead culinary trips to various regions of Mexico, including Oaxaca, Mexico City and Mérida through their gastronomic tour company Culinary Traditions.
About Chef Ana Torrealba
Ana Torrealba is the Chef de Cuisine at El Naranjo restaurant in Austin, Texas. She was born in Mexico City but grew up in the city of Oaxaca in Southwest Mexico. She grew up at her family's restaurant, El Naranjo, always surrounded with the aromas of corn, chiles and freshly baked bread. In 2006, she moved to the United States and began her career in the food industry, working at various bakeries and restaurants.
Torrealba graduated from The Culinary Institute of America with an Associate's Degree in Baking and Pastry. She then returned to Austin to work at her family's restaurant for a couple of years. In 2015, Zagat included her in their "30 under 30" List of Best Chefs in Austin. Interested in learning more about the process and chemistry of food, she moved to Mexico City IN 2016 to study food engineering.
Since her return to Austin, Chef Torrealba has developed breads, desserts, and pastries, as well as other savory parts of the restaurant’s menu.
