Carlos Mendez

Carlos Mendez has spent fifteen years covering the overlap between Latin American culinary traditions and the cities that have received and transformed them. Born in Mexico City and based in Miami, he covers the Latin American and Caribbean restaurant scenes across the Southern United States with the authority of someone who grew up eating the original and can identify the gap between a kitchen that has understood a tradition and one that has borrowed its ingredients. He covers Mexican, Cuban, Peruvian, and Brazilian restaurants; cocktail bars with kitchens worth staying for; BBQ across Texas and the American South; and the casual spots that punch well above their price points. His annual guide to Miami's Latin American restaurant scene is one of TastyPals' most-read editorial pieces, and his deep-dive on Austin's taco culture is widely cited in Texas food media. Before TastyPals, he contributed restaurant criticism to a Miami alternative newsweekly and wrote about the Latin American dining scene for several regional and national food publications.

Areas of expertise

Cities covered