After closing taqueria Comalito in Houston’s Farmers Market on Airline Drive, Netflix star and Mexico City chef Luis Robledo Richards is back in Houston with a new restaurant: Mayahuel. 

Launched on Friday, July 18, in Autry Park, Mayahuel offers a menu rooted in tradition and masa, with an agave bar and an engaging coffee experience.  

Richards originally dreamed of opening an agave bar—ironic, considering the chef doesn’t drink. “I always wanted to do a project that was rooted in tradition, but also keep it modern and contemporary,” Richards says. 

The vision eventually evolved into a full-service Mexican restaurant that would serve a wide range of plant-based dishes. Richards knew he needed help to bring his dream to life. In 2022, after several meetings and tastings, Richards partnered with Omar Khan of Culinary Khancepts, a Houston-based hospitality group behind local restaurants, including Liberty Kitchen & Oysterette and Leo’s River Oaks. “Omar loved [the idea] from day one,” says Richards, noting that the restaurant group now runs all operations while he focuses on the vision.

Keeping tradition in mind, Richards named the restaurant after Mayahuel, the ancient Mexican goddess of the maguey (agave) plant. The name symbolizes resilience and versatility, while the flower’s lifecycle serves as a metaphor for the restaurant’s transformation, patience, and care, Richards says.

The menu needed some tweaks, though. The chef says he knew his original vision of a plant-based menu wouldn’t win the hearts of meat-loving Texans, so he incorporated more dishes with red meat and fish. 

Starters include a refreshing aguachile made with cucumber, fennel, mint, pickled onions, and Atlantic salmon simmered in citrusy broth, plus Mayahuel’s take on guacamole, a rich, hearty dip made with avocado and Sikil P’aak, a traditional Yucatan peninsula paste made from pepitas, tomatoes, and chiles.

Richards says he isn’t trying to become the “savior of maiz,” but diners can expect an emphasis on Mexican heirloom corn and flavors from his home region. That includes brioche buns and English muffins made in-house with local ingredients, and a Tacos y Masa menu that keeps it simple yet flavorful, with dishes like mushroom pastor tacos, duck tamales, and pork belly tacos with mole verde, accompanied by verdolagas and ayocote beans. 

Entrées offer bold Texas-size portions, from sea bass served with boulangère potatoes and salsa Veracruzana to filet mignon with mole negro, hazelnut puree, and date gastrique to carne asada made with a New York strip and thinly sliced slow-cooked beef cheek.

Richards still taps into his original idea, placing plant-based dishes that are just as dynamic on the menu. There’s fideo seco, which combines vermicelli pasta, seasonal mushrooms, vegetarian chicharrón, queso fresco, and avocado, along with the arroz verde cremoso, a rice dish made with market greens, organic egg, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. 

Weekend brunch is already underway, featuring staples such as breakfast pastries, chilaquiles verdes, enfrijoladas de pollo (chicken enchiladas dipped in a creamy bean-based sauce), and Mexico City–style eggs Benedict with ham, avocado, and salsa roja hollandaise.

Richards, who co-owns four locations of the Mexican chocolate and pastry shop Tout Chocolat, also channels his love for foundational Mexican flavors into a small but mighty dessert menu that requires “high-skill, execution, and precision.” The sweet treats revolve around ingredients such as cocoa, vanilla, coffee, and seasonal fruit. 

Staying true to Richards’s original vision, Mayahuel’s drinks menu showcases an extensive selection of additive-free agaves, including G4 Tequila, Weber Ranch Agave Vodka, and Derrumbes mezcal, plus a special list of original cocktails divided into two sections. The Moon menu explores refreshing, lighter flavors with cocktails like the Metzli (Del Maguey mezcal, Aperol, orange and grapefruit juices, agave syrup, guajillo shrub, fee foam, and Aztec Ruda bitters). The Sun section leans heavier and smokier, with sips like the Ocelotl, featuring mezcal, Amaro del Capo, vanilla, mace and cacao bitters, and citrus. 

Beverages also extend to the restaurant’s coffee program, which features espressos, cappuccinos, and Americanos. Richards, who is a coffee connoisseur himself, approached Houston-based company Katz Coffee to help source beans from Chiapas, a southern state in Mexico. For a hands-on experience, diners can opt for Mayahuel’s “pullover program,” which offers a front-row seat to the coffee grinding, filtering, and brewing process from the comfort of their table. 

The real star of the show is the open kitchen, Richards says. Inspired by gatherings in friends’ kitchens in the US, Richards strategically placed the kitchen in the heart of the dining room to make diners feel at home. “There are no secrets. It’s very transparent,” he says. “They can walk up to the counter and look at what’s happening. I think it creates a sense of micro community—people having a good time.”  

Though Richards says Mayahuel’s journey is just beginning, the chef views the restaurant as ever-evolving, with menus and dishes that change with the season or when inspiration strikes. Regardless, Richards says he hopes diners come hungry and eager to experience his vision of Mexico City. 

Mayahuel (811 Buffalo Park Drive, Suite 130) is open from 3pm to 10pm Monday through Thursday, 3pm to 11 pm on Fridays, 10am to 11pm on Saturdays, and 10am to 3pm on Sundays.