Houston’s Most Exciting New Fast Casual Restaurant Takes Tacos to New Heights — Inside Maximo, a West U Original

Longtime Houston restaurant creators Benjy Levit and Dylan Murray (Local Foods, Lees Den and Eau Tour) have opened a exciting new fast casual restaurant dubbed Maximo, in West University. Taking up residence in the former stead of El Topo, Levit and Murray collaborated with El Topo’s founding chef Tony Luhrman, as well as their company’s culinary director Seth Siegel-Gardner to envision a menu that honors Mexican and Texas heritage cooking.

With design front of mind, Levit enlisted designer Brittany Vaughn of Garnish Design to refresh the 1,500-square-foot space with a gracious nod to mid-century modern Mexico. At this new Maximo, the colors of the desert meet the ocean with cushy burnt orange velour-backed navy banquettes that run the length of the intimate dining room and are pulled up to onyx-topped tables. Gleaming copper accents and artworks evoke a Southwest vibe.

When the weather cooperates, you can take advantage of it and dine outdoors on a covered 35 seat patio bordered by a hedge of cacti.

Maximo’s menu is a well-honed list created with farm-forward ingredients culled from local producers. When Luhrman initially opened El Topo in this very spot, we couldn’t help but extol the lengths he went to and the culinary meticulousness he brought to his menu. And today, the San Antonio native is seemingly even more fastidious.

Maximo’s Corn Obsession

Take the beautifully mottled corn tortillas made in-house. Unlike the majority of Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants in the United States, Maximo is going to great expense and time to import heirloom varieties of raw corn from Mexico to make its tortillas de Nixtamal. Their commitment to the traditional Mexican process of nixtamalization involves the laborious method of soaking and cooking maize in an alkaline solution before the grains are washed and the hulls removed. That results in nixtamal, more nutritious corn that’s ground and used to create the masa, the base for Maximo’s noteworthy corn tortillas.

Cradled in those warm, tender corn tortillas you’ll find a variety of tacos like the crispy fish taco ($7), a wink to the English-born fish and chips with a puree of pea and avocado, pickled fresco chiles, shaved breakfast radish and a squeeze of lime crema. The vegetarian-friendly tempura mushroom taco is made with a gluten-free batter that enrobes the hen-of-the-woods fungi before they are fried and topped with tiny pickled beech mushrooms and corn chili crisp ($7).

You can order tacos individually or bundle a pair together for the Maximo plate ($16), which comes with two small sides like cilantro seasoned lentils sprinkled with cotija cheese and the quinoa elote kale salad with pickled red onions.

Cool dishes include the refreshing watermelon and cotija salad ($12), a diced mélange of seedless watermelon, cucumber and pickled fresnos topped with the crunch of amaranth-peanut “croutons” tossed in a black pepper-spiced champagne vinaigrette and “refried” lentil hummus with spears of colorful carrots and bell peppers topped with a spicy chili crisp ($10).

The decadent barbacoa grilled cheese ($12) utilizes Maximo’s adobo-braised beef roasted over mesquite wood. Prepared to order the beef is then pressed with caramelized onions and asadero cheese (created with goat and cow’s milk) between two slices of buttery brioche. The Maximo smash burger pays homage to this restaurant space’s longtime former tenant —The Edloe Street Deli. It is built with two patties, American cheese and a smear of Edloe’s signature remoulade.

For those who care to imbibe, Maximo brings frozen and on-the-rocks margaritas, beer and craft cocktails, including the frozen Maximo and the peacemaker with bourbon, mezcal and Montenegro. You’ll also find alcohol-free aqua fresca, lemonades and even cucumber-spiked sparkling water imported from Mexico City.

Maximo is located at 6119 Edloe Street in West University Place. It is open from 11 am to 9 pm seven days a week.