A culinary trailblazer in Austin, chef Iliana de la Vega will close her restaurant, El Naranjo, on July 18 after more than 15 years due to an oversaturated restaurant market and high costs. De la Vega won the inaugural James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef: Texas in 2022. Her daughter, Ana Torrealba, has served as chef de cuisine for several years. De la Vega helped translate the cooking traditions of her native Mexico for Austin diners, with her exceptional moles being the restaurant's hallmarks. The complex sauces at her minimalist but handsome restaurant ranged from the rich, deep notes of a mole negro, suitable for duck breast, to a bright, herbaceous mole verde pooled around seared halibut, reflecting the lessons she learned cooking at her mother's side. De la Vega, who runs a culinary tourism operation, Culinary Traditions, with her daughter Isabel Torrealba, influenced the next generation of Mexican cooks in Texas. Fermín Nuñez, the executive chef at Suerte and Este, said he was inspired by the way she treated sauces and ingredients.
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Austin's Mexican Restaurant El Naranjo to Close After 15 Years
Chef Iliana de la Vega, a culinary trailblazer in Austin, will not renew her South Lamar lease for El Naranjo, which is set to close on July 18 after more than 15 years.
Published June 10, 2026 at 2:00pm by Matthew Odam
