Elia Herrera is returning to Toronto with St. Lawrence Market spot, Canada Reviews

Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market is getting a new spot for Mexican eats, and the chef behind it may already be a familiar face to local foodies (our stan-ship goes way back). Acclaimed third-generation Mexican chef and restaurateur Elia Herrera is expanding her Toronto footprint with Tecolote Market, a contemporary Mexican market and dining concept opening inside St. Lawrence Market this Thursday, Aug. 13.

The grand opening takes place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and everyone is invited to stop by and check it out!

Herrera trained at the Culinary Institute of Mexico and worked in kitchens across Europe before moving to Toronto in 2003, where she went on to become a familiar face in the city’s food scene. She competed on Top Chef Canada in Season 6 and worked her way from pastry chef to executive chef at the former Los Colibris on King West.

After making a name for herself on the city’s restaurant scene, Herrera opened LosCo Vegan, a Mexican-inspired plant-based concept inside Assembly Chef’s Hall in October 2019. More recently, the chef headed west to Calgary, where she opened the acclaimed Mexican small-plates restaurant Milpa in 2023, a culinary experience rooted in family traditions.

And now she’s returning to Toronto with another project! Tecolote’s St. Lawrence Market location may be new, but the concept itself isn’t new to Toronto. Herrera and her sister Marlene previously brought Tecolote to Kitchen Hub inside Longo’s Liberty Village in 2022, serving authentic Mexican fare for pickup and delivery, before opening at Chefs Hall on Richmond St. W. in 2024.

The complete menu for the new St. Lawrence Market location hasn’t surfaced yet, but Tecolote specializes in fast-casual Mexican cooking, including fresh corn tortillas made using traditional nixtamalization techniques, cod-battered Baja burritos, tacos and chicken enchiladas (so definitely worth making a trip to the market this week!).

Tecolote Market’s grand opening takes place this Thursday, Aug. 13, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the lower level of the South Market at 91 Front St. E.