"2021 F&W Best New Chef Fermín Núñez of Suerte in Austin has been working on the mole negro that he'll make in memory of his grandmother, María Eugenia Chávez de Núñez, for years. He has a few rules for making it. First, if he’s in a bad mood, he won’t make it at all. When it’s mole day, he plays the Mexican rock band Maná’s album Sueños Líquidos, both to set the vibe and to let everyone at the restaurant know that he cannot be disturbed. It’s the first album his family let him play on road trips; he knows where he should be in the process based on the track that’s playing. “This mole is an expression of who I am and what I’ve gone through to get to this version,” he says. “I hope that my grandmother can see that and the trajectory that I took to get here.”" - Sam Gutierrez
