Tatemó
Mexican restaurant · Spring Branch East
4740 Dacoma St Ste F, Houston, TX 77092
Highlights
BYOB Mexican tasting menu restaurant focusing on corn
BYOB Mexican tasting menu restaurant focusing on corn
"Concerns about immigration and protecting the safety and wellbeing of staff are major challenges; the visibility afforded by an award nomination has provided a platform to raise these issues and strengthened the resolve to keep going." - Sam Nelson
"Chef Emmanuel Chavez was nominated in the Best Chef: Texas category at the 2025 James Beard Awards for his work at this restaurant." - Courtney E. Smith
"A seasonal favorite where the Mexican tasting menu consistently balances raw, fried, and indulgent elements, often featuring the chef’s mole; staples recur alongside rotating specials, and the tuna tostada is a highlight — a crispy base topped with Big Eye tuna, a slightly tangy pico de gallo, and a chipotle spread that makes for an exciting starter." - Brittany Britto Garley
"At night, the dining room at Tatemó looks near pitch black, with only flickering candles and faint wall sconces to illuminate the corn-packed seven-course tasting menu. This tiny Mexican restaurant in a nondescript Spring Branch strip center is a temple of tortillas—or, more specifically, masa. The focus is on heirloom Mexican corn, nixtamalized in-house, the smell of which floats around the room like a faint puff of perfume. Servers quietly whisper each heirloom’s name as you stare into a tiny plate with a dish like a yellow corn tortilla blanketed in rich mole, a thick sope smothered in shaved cheese, or a tiny buñuelo crisp over a scoop of hoja santa ice cream. When dinner is over, and you leave with only the smell of masa wafting behind you, you’ll wonder when you can pay homage again. How to get in: Reservations for Tatemo’s tasting-menu-only dinner get snatched up quickly. So you will either need to stalk their page or create an altar for the reservation gods and hope one pops up because spots are only released a few weeks in advance. May the odds be ever in your favor." - chelsea thomas, gianni greene
"A tasting-menu restaurant that earned a Michelin star after getting its start in Houston's pop-up scene, representing the city’s ability to incubate high-end, reservation-driven dining concepts from temporary formats." - Brittany Britto Garley
