As we approach Hispanic Heritage Month, we count down the last few Tex-Mex installments as part of the “Jim Duncan’s Austin” series. So far, we’ve adapted more than 30 of his business histories about Mexican food restaurants in Austin, and we’ll bring them all together in September. — Michael Barnes
1945: Avenue Café / Las Manitas / La Peña
Las Manitas Avenue Cafe on Congress Avenue officially closed its doors after its final day of service on the last Sunday of August 2008.
American-Statesman file
Two sisters went from pedaling tacos on the Drag to becoming Austin culinary and cultural legends. In 1979, after two years on the street, Lidia and Cynthia Perez leased the 35-year-old Avenue Café at 211 Congress Avenue, added Las Manitas to its name and made its menu a morning migas magnet.
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Although small, it became an affordable gathering place for musicians, artists, political activists and government insiders. You had to walk through the kitchen to get to the bathroom or back patio.
Over the next 25 years, Las Manitas became a significant part of the downtown culinary scene, but with a cultural twist. Art exhibits, poetry readings and music performances were delivered with the food.
In 2006, however, the music stopped. The restaurant’s lease was up, and developers wanted the property to make way for the second-largest Marriott hotel in the world (26 stories and 1,000 rooms). For several weeks, it was Las Manitas versus Marriott in the media. And the hotelier only added fuel to the fire by saying, “Why should you hold up a several-hundred-million-dollar investment because of a small little restaurant?”
He later apologized. In the end, the sisters moved into La Peña, a Latino cultural center a few doors north, which they owned. They now sell tacos on the side.
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1963-2016: El Azteca
Jorge Guerra, owner of El Azteca Restaurant, at his longtime Austin restaurant. Contributed by Lonnie Limon
Lonnie Limon/Contributed by Lonnie Limon
What Hernán Cortez and the conquistadors did to the Aztec Empire in the 16th century, skyrocketing taxes did to Austin’s El Azteca restaurant in the 21st century.
They were both forced to cease operations. For more than 50 years, El Azteca had been a popular Austin Tex-Mex eatery at 2600 E. Seventh St. Its founder, Jorge De Jesus Duron Guerra, had immigrated to Austin from Reynosa in 1950 when he was 18 years old.
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El Azteca was one of the first local Tex-Mex restaurants to offer vegetarian options. Its menu included something for both herbivores and carnivores. Popular items were cabrito, carne guisada, spinach and mushroom enchiladas, vegetarian tostados and chile rellenos.
Aztec paintings and Aztec calendars covered its interior walls. In 1992, Fiesta Patria named Jorge an “Outstanding Hispanic Citizen,” and in 2000, El Azteca received the Chronicle’s “Most Happily Recovered Vegetarian” award. The restaurant was also featured on an episode of “No Reservations” with Anthony Bourdain, who met up with local music legend Alejandro Escovedo for lunch.
El Azteca closed in 2016, and Duron Guerra died the following year.
1957-2017: El Gallo
Owner Abel Kennedy seats a customer at El Gallo on Tuesday, January 24, 2017. The popular restaurant closed that weekend after 60 years in business.
Austin American-Statesman
In 2017, skyrocketing property taxes caused another Tex-Mex old-timer to bite the dust. El Gallo was founded by Abraham Gonzales Kennedy and his wife, Maria, in 1957. Except for four years in the early 1980s, the Kennedy family owned and operated the restaurant.
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Located directly across the street from St. Edward’s University at 2910 South Congress Ave., El Gallo was known for its weekend live music.
Interestingly, the restaurant’s name and exterior color were influenced by an early customer who was a sign painter. As a Mexican immigrant, Abraham wanted to name it after some matador with a long name. After he found out that sign costs were calculated by the letter, he branded it with a rooster instead (gallo is rooster in Spanish). As for the pink building, the customer happened to have pink paint on sale at the time.
After Kennedy died in 2000, his son, Abel, and his wife, Jill, ran the restaurant. Maria died in 2015.
Despite owning the property and having no liens or debts, Abel decided to sell the property in 2017. The reason: His taxes had doubled almost every year for the last five years. In 2019, St. Edward’s purchased the one-acre property and indicated that it would likely be redeveloped as residential and commercial.
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But then came COVID-19. The property is still vacant and fenced.
1990: Mi Madre’s
Veronica Torres delivers food at Mi Madre’s Restaurant Monday, May 5, 2025. The Torres family owns Mi Madre’s Restaurant, Techo Mezcaleria & Agave Bar and School House Pub.
Mikala Compton/American-Statesman
Austinites revere breakfast tacos, and according to some food writers, no one makes them better than Aurelio and Rosa Torres.
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When the Torres family moved to Austin from Saltillo, Mexico, in 1988, they brought with them a tradition of Sunday morning barbacoa. Aurelio Torres worked briefly for Chuy’s before deciding to open his own place and serve his Saltillo-style tacos.
What started as a 10-seat “taco shop” in 1990 evolved into a full-scale restaurant with two dining rooms, a patio and a to-go area.
Aurelio was an experienced chef but did not know how to make breakfast. Rosa was learning English from behind the cash register. More critically, the couple had to pay off their purchase of the restaurant in weekly installments.
Aurelio said of his arrival in Austin, “I came with $100 in my pocket, but I had a million dollars of ideas.”
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The family has since expanded their Manor Road portfolio to include School House Pub and Vida Pura Juicery. “In hindsight, buying these properties was the best thing for our family. A lot of the restaurants that are closing were leasing their property month-to-month,” he says.
The couple has retired, leaving the restaurant to their children, but still comes in to prepare tacos for the University of Texas band on game days.
More Austin Tex-Mex history
Austin Tex-Mex history: Texas Chili Parlor, La Palapa, Fiesta Tortilla Factory
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Austin Tex-Mex history: Taco Flats, Las Palomas and Tony’s Tortillas
Austin Tex-Mex history: Güero’s, Mr. Natural and Camino Real have served for decades
Austin Tex-Mex history: Juan in a Million, Manuel’s and other local staples
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