Born in Mexico City and raised in Houston, Chef Emmanuel Chavez spent his days after school helping to run his family’s Tex-Mex restaurant. Catching the restaurant bug, in 2015, he began a series of pop-up dinners around Houston. In 2016, Chavez relocated to Seattle to work under chefs Eric Rivera (Alinea) and Derek Simcik, named to Chicago’s 30 under 30. While in the Pacific Northwest, Chef Chavez rediscovered his Mexican roots and studied the importance of heirloom varietals and the key process in masa—nixtamalization.

After a 3-year stint in Seattle, he returned to Houston to open his first restaurant, Tatemó. Chef Chavez started selling masa and tortillas at Urban Harvest Farmers Market during the pandemic before finding a permanent home in Spring Branch in 2022. A year later, Tatemó was named a Finalist for the 2023 James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant and that same year, Chef Chavez was named to the Best New Chef class by Food & Wine. In 2024, Chef Chavez was named a Finalist for Best Chef: Texas by the James Beard Foundation.