Chef Xóchitl Valdés wins Michelin Young Chef award

Chef Xóchitl Valdés was named the Michelin Guide Mexico 2026 Young Chef Award winner on May 20, according to Michelin’s guide announcement and a separate Michelin profile published the same day. The award went to Valdés, chef-owner of Pancho Maíz in Mérida, as Michelin rolled out its latest Mexico selection and expanded the guide into Yucatán, Puebla and Jalisco. Michelin said the 2026 Mexico guide includes 29 starred restaurants, with seven new one-star additions. Huniik, also in Mérida, was among the new one-star restaurants in the 2026 selection. ### Who is Xóchitl Valdés, and what restaurant was recognized? Xóchitl Valdés is the chef and owner of Pancho Maíz in Mérida, Michelin said in its May 20 profile announcing the Young Chef award. Michelin said Valdés founded Pancho Maíz in 2019 with the goal of helping preserve native corn varieties from the Yucatán Peninsula. (guide.michelin.com) Pancho Maíz began as a small mill and tortilla-and-masa operation, according to Michelin’s account. Valdés told Michelin that the business initially sold tortillas and masa, with a small table where customers could eat while waiting for nixtamal orders. Michelin said the project later developed into a showcase for her cooking and her network of local producers. (guide.michelin.com) ### What did Michelin say the award recognized? Michelin said Valdés’s work centers on native corn, seasonal cooking and regional sourcing. In its profile, Michelin said Pancho Maíz was included in the guide’s inaugural Yucatán selection in May, and that part of the restaurant’s profits are reinvested in the countryside to help improve farmers’ working conditions. (guide.michelin.com) Valdés told Michelin that Yucatán has deep biodiversity and food culture, but that not all of it reaches Mérida. Michelin also said her menu changes through the year based on crop availability and the stages of corn maturation. ### How does this fit into Michelin’s 2026 Mexico guide? (guide.michelin.com) Michelin said on May 20 that the Mexico 2026 guide recognized 29 starred restaurants in total. The guide’s biggest structural change this year was expansion into three additional states — Jalisco, Puebla and Yucatán — joining Mexico City, Oaxaca, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Quintana Roo and Nuevo León. (guide.michelin.com) The same Michelin roundup said seven restaurants were new to the starred selection for 2026. Michelin’s guide page for Huniik identifies the Mérida restaurant as a one-star property in the 2026 guide. ### Why does Huniik keep appearing in the same conversation? Huniik appears alongside Valdés’s award because Mérida featured in multiple Michelin distinctions released on May 20. (guide.michelin.com) Michelin said Huniik won one star in the 2026 guide, and Michelin separately named Rodrigo Caltenco Núñez, Huniik’s front-of-house chief, as the Mexico 2026 Service Award winner. Michelin described Huniik as an “ambitious operation” from chef Roberto Solís, with a tasting menu built around Yucatecan gastronomy and local ingredients. Michelin said the restaurant’s service team of five presents a 12-course menu and that the dining room was designed by Cuban artist Jorge Pardo. ### What does Valdés’s background tell us about her cooking? (guide.michelin.com) Michelin said Valdés studied gastronomy, trained abroad and later worked in Mexico City at Guzina Oaxaca with chef Carlos Galán and in Mérida at Nectar with chef Roberto Solís. Michelin also said Valdés credited a Maya community member named Goyita, from Maxcanú, with helping her understand corn and its processes. (guide.michelin.com) Michelin’s next reference point for readers is its published Mexico 2026 selection and the individual restaurant pages for Pancho Maíz and Huniik, where the guide lists the year’s awards and starred entries by city and state. (guide.michelin.com 1) (guide.michelin.com 2)