Hailing from his beloved Torreón Coahuila Mexico, Executive Chef Fermín Núñez represents three of Austin’s top restaurants, Suerte, Este and Bar Toti. With over 13 years of culinary experience, he was named among Food & Wine’s 2021 Best Chefs – a title he’s deemed a true honor to the craft he loves. Núñez’s steadfast dedication to honoring authentic Mexican cuisine, culture and traditions through an elevated dining experience put his East Austin restaurants on the map with features on Netflix’s “The Taco Chronicles,” Bon Appetit’s “Brad Makes Tortillas” and “On The Line,” among others.

In 2018, Chef Núñez and restauranteur Sam Hellman-Mass opened Suerte with a mission to create their own genre of Mexican cooking while amplifying the beauty of Núñez’s home country. Rooted in love for masa, Núñez sought to combine ingredients sourced by Texas farmers, such as heirloom corn, with traditional Mexican cooking techniques in unexpected ways. He was recently named a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Texas (2024) for Suerte. An industry leader and proud Austin local, he previously worked at other Austin favorites such as Launderette, La Condesa and Uchiko and holds a Culinary Arts associate’s degree from The Art Institute of Houston.

In 2022, Núñez opened Este which celebrates fresh seafood sourced from close relationships with premier fishmongers, coastal Mexican cuisine and charcoal cooking. The menu features oysters, ceviches, aguachiles, a seafood tower, fried fish tacos made with pressed-to-order tortillas, charcoal grilled shrimp and whole fish. Este was awarded “Best New Restaurant 2023” by Bon Appetit and was featured by The New York Times as one of “America’s Best Restaurants of 2023.”

In 2023, Núñez and the team behind Suerte and Este opened Bar Toti, a neighborhood bar and hangout located on the grounds of Este. For the space, he curated an a la carte bar menu inspired by the bar cultures of Spain, France, and Mexico. The space serves as an outlet for Núñez to cook the food he craves the most when he’s enjoying time with friends in a fun bar or a snack after a long shift in the kitchen and the menu includes his famed Mexican Smashburguesa.

Núñez’s passion for community and cuisine doesn’t remain in the kitchen. He uses his platform to support local causes that are dear to him including Urban Roots, a cultivator of leadership skills through food and community farming, the Mike & Sherry project, which provides accessible mental health care to Austin restaurant and bar industry professionals and Jolt, an organization that empowers Latino voter engagement and leadership development.