Origin
We were told a Mexican restaurant needs a fryer. We bought a mill instead.
Verde Cantina exists because dried maize, soaked with lime and ground by stone, tastes nothing like a bag of flour. Everything on our menu is built backwards from that tortilla — what deserves to be wrapped in it, and what would only get in the way.
The kitchen has no deep fryer and no walk-in full of pre-portioned sauces. There is a fire, a comal, a mill, and a delivery schedule that we let dictate the menu instead of the other way around.
Seven years, two rooms
2019
A six-seat masa counter opens on East 6th in Austin with one hand mill and a wood grill.
2021
We start buying maize directly from two families in Oaxaca and Chiapas — single-origin, never blended.
2023
The Chicago room opens in Wicker Park with a mezcal bar in front and counter dining in back.
2026
Two thirds of the menu is vegetable-led, and the mill now runs twice a day in both cities.