Nixta taqueria

Nixta Taqueria is the quintessential Austin restaurant. Marrying the high and low has become somewhat of an Austin food scene calling card with the amount of humble food trucks pumping out restaurant quality dishes. Though not a food truck, Nixta occupies a brightly colored but otherwise unassuming building on the corner of 12th St and Cedar Ave in the Chestnut neighborhood of East Austin. Ordering is casual and done in the backyard by counter service where you’ll get a number and then find an open picnic table or bar seat. You might be tipped off that this isn’t your average neighborhood taco joint by the selection of natural wines to choose from or the price tag on some of the tacos, and you’d be right. Co-owner and chef Edgar Rico (who helped open LA hotspots Son of a Gun, and Trois Mec and staged at Mexico City’s Pujol) is making all the tortillas by hand with corn straight from Oaxaca, using shredded duck confit in lieu of the traditional pork in his carnitas taco, and is using a marinated sashimi-grade tuna for a tuna tostada that is a must order. Nixta has that old school backyard Austin vibe with food that feels like it could come out of a Michelin starred restaurant in Mexico City, and for a little place deep in the rapidly gentrifying east side it feels like a true Austin gem.