SAN ANTONIO – A Peruvian-style restaurant in Southtown was named one of Texas’ best new restaurants in a recent list from Texas Monthly.
Leche de Tigre Cebichería Peruana is the only San Antonio eatery to make the “Texas’s Best New Restaurants in 2024″ list, coming in at No. 7. The Alamo City’s Nineteen Hyaku and Paladar were honorable mentions.
In the 23rd edition of “Where to Eat Now,” released on Tuesday, Texas Monthly’s Patricia Sharpe wrote that the state’s dining scene “is as delicious as it’s ever been.”
Sharpe called out Leche de Tigre, specifically, for its Peruvian ceviche.
“In a small cottage near downtown San Antonio, three brothers are tutoring the curious in the way of tiger’s milk. Equal parts metaphor and marinade, leche de tigre is the complex, citrusy potion that gives Peruvian ceviche its distinctive kick,” Sharpe wrote.
Brothers Emil, Axel and Alec Oliva, along with their cousin, Sebastian Montante, opened the restaurant and bar at 318 E. Cevallos St. in February 2023. The brothers were born in Laredo to a Peruvian father and a Mexican mother, but their family later moved to Lima, Peru.
In a news release announcing the restaurant, Emil Oliva said they wanted to provide San Antonio with a taste of “back home.”
“We want to be a little embassy for Peru here in San Antonio where they can gather,” Emil Oliva said at the time.
He added that their “little restaurant” started with a food truck.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday night, the restaurant said they were “truly grateful” for the magazine including them on the list.
Menu food items include Peruvian sashimi plates and ceviche and other authentic Peruvian dishes and tapas.
For drinks, the restaurant offers a pisco + coriander cocktail, chicha cocktail, and pisco sour.
Click here to read the full list from Texas Monthly. To be considered for the list, restaurants must have opened between Dec. 1, 2022, and Nov. 3, 2023, and must be the first location in Texas.