Naco Mexican co-founders and husband-and-wife duo Francisco Estrada and Lizzeth Martinez have plans for a second brick-and-mortar restaurant, Santonia.
The new eatery will open at Pearl, according to details released by the owners. However, they didn’t provide an opening date. The Current reached out for more details on the timing but so far received no response.
Santonia won’t simply be an expansion of the couple’s Naco Mexican concept, but rather a love letter to the cuisine of Northern Mexico and South Texas — a fusion menu paying tribute to the borderlands. Santonia will be open for lunch, dinner and drinks, and aims to have a cantina-style ambience.
Menu highlights teased by the owners include pork shanks, botanas, ribeye tacos, crispy shrimp flautas, ceviches and more. Drinks will revolve around the same theme, with tasting notes including mesquite, pecan, roasted chile, corn, piloncillo and grapefruit. A full bar will specialize in sotol, mezcal and tequila.
The news comes months after Martinez and Estrada were named 2026 James Beard Award semifinalists for Best Chef: Texas. Martinez and Estrada launched Naco as a food truck in 2017, drawing on their own roots in Nuevo Laredo and Mexico City, respectively, to create a straightforward taco concept.
The couple continues to operate the food truck at 2347 Nacogdoches while running their brick-and-mortar Naco Mexican at the Yacht Club, 310 W. Grayson St.
Santonia is among several San Antonio-bred restaurants joining Pearl’s growing dining lineup. The coming additions include LoverBoy House Eats, a new restaurant from the team behind Box Street Social, and Rosso, a traditional white-tablecloth Italian steakhouse and the first solo project from Mixtli chef Rico Torres and his new hospitality group, La Union.
Other new Pearl projects include (a)Mar, a Pan-Latin coastal restaurant in the space that once housed Allora, and an unnamed project from Houston chef Aaron Bludorn.
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