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Chef Leo Davila of Esencia, which as named on of San Antonio Magazine\u2019s 2026 Best New Restaurants.<\/p>\nEsencia, the newest restaurant from Chef Leo Davila, celebrates the city\u2019s Mexican past, Mexican American present and multicultural future, one dish at a time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Consider the combination of shishitos and nopales, listed on the menu as Peppers and Cactus. Davila and his team bring together the almost grassy flavors of the Japanese chiles with earthy nopales for a dish that\u2019s both thought-provoking and deeply satisfying. Crisp, fried garlic, chunks of housemade chorizo and a spread of miso aioli bring everything together.<\/p>\n
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Chef Leo Davila of Esencia, which as named on of San Antonio Magazine\u2019s 2026 Best New Restaurants.<\/p>\n
The shishitos, which go back to Japan\u2019s Edo period, and nopales, an ingredient that has sustained indigenous peoples for millennia and feature strongly in the Aztec story of creation, bring their own cultural contexts. It shows how the best culinary ideas often seem obvious only in retrospect, combining seemingly disparate ingredients that complement each other into a new revelation.<\/p>\n
This combination marks a perfect expression of Davila and the city he deeply loves. A San Antonio native who\u2019s the son of a Chinese mother and Mexican father, he embodies and celebrates the city\u2019s changing culture.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThat dish symbolizes who we are,\u201d Davila said. \u201cI\u2019ve never been Mexican enough, never been Chinese enough. I am San Antonio enough, and I\u2019m Texas enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davila shares these stories at Esencia<\/a> and Anacacho Coffee & Cantina<\/a>\u00a0across a hallway at the St. Anthony Hotel. A dish at Esencia playfully titled Duck and Flowers illustrated this deliciously. A- duck breast, tender from sous vide and quickly seared, brilliantly united a touch of five-spice flavor with a lightly sweet and floral essence from a hibiscus and pecan mole.<\/p>\n It took some time for Davila to develop his approach to mole. Like thousands of San Antonians, he grew up with mole poblano.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI have been one of these Mexicans who didn\u2019t like mole,\u201d he said. His perspective changed when he began studying the work of iconic Mexican chef Enrique Olvera, who approaches mole as a complex sauce with a lot of flexibility.<\/p>\n Davila began creating sauces that were nothing like the jars of Do\u00f1a Mar\u00eda that sit in many South Texas pantries and began riffing on Olvera\u2019s broccoli mole recipe, adding some lemongrass and more garlic. When Davila cooked at the James Beard House in New York, he added that sauce to bite-size beef tartare tostadas. After more rounds of revising, it found a place at Esencia as a signature appetizer: Beef and Broccoli.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n He recently introduced a tasting menu that focuses on a single ingredient, and he\u2019s launching a series of guest chef collaborations to continue the spirit of community that helped him get started years ago. The broader mission continues.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that San Antonio is a special place,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a story to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n Esencia<\/p>\n 300 E. Travis St. at The St. Anthony Hotel<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AnacachoBNR-0655-scaled.jpg\")
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