The city of Austin tomorrow will unveil the newly renovated Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center.

Why it matters: The key cultural institution, located off Rainey Street, has been closed for nearly three years.

By the numbers: The renovation and expansion project cost just shy of $25 million, paid for by a 2018 voter-approved bond.

What's happening: The renovation of the facility, which first opened in 2007, includes new music rehearsal rooms, a teaching kitchen, and updated galleries, offices and classrooms.

• Additions also include a large shade structure on Zócalo Plaza to expand daytime programming in the space.

What they're saying: The plaza formerly was a "rectangular patch of concrete," and the cultural center had to compete with others — people working out or walking their dogs, for example — to make use of their own space, Bud Franck, who directed the project for Miró Rivera Architects, tells Axios.

• The center even needed to rent fences to put up around the plaza for their own Día de los Muertos celebrations, Franck says.
• The aluminum panels of the shade structure in the plaza are intended to evoke papel picado, the traditional Mexican folk art banners displayed during festivals.

The intrigue: Budget constraints due to inflation and construction costs meant an effort to upgrade a multipurpose space into an auditorium had to be scaled back, Franck says.

The bottom line: The renovated center "will be instrumental in our mission to preserve, create, and promote the vibrant cultural arts of Mexican and Latine Americans for the next 20 years and beyond," Angela Means, director of arts, culture, music and entertainment for the city of Austin, said in a statement.

If you go: A reopening celebration tomorrow runs 11am-9pm and includes live music performances, tours of the new and renovated spaces, children's art activities and food trucks.

As part of our running feature about Austin chefs' favorite meals, we recently caught up with Eric Silverstein, head chef and founder of the Peached Tortilla, the Asian fusion restaurant with a handful of locations around town.

• One location, Bar Peached on West 6th Street, caught fire early Sunday, leaving it with extensive fire and water damage. This interview was conducted before the fire.

The backstory: Silverstein was born in Tokyo, the son of a Chinese mother and American father, both with ties to the restaurant business. He was raised in Japan until junior high, when his family moved to Atlanta.

• By the time he arrived in Austin in 2010, ready to take a crack at opening a food truck, he was a trained lawyer.
• "At the time, it didn't seem like Austin had quite arrived," he says. "That's fundamentally changed."

You're on a desert island. What's the one dish you'd like with you?

"I'm going with beef chow fun. It's made with a wide rice noodle, which I love — I love the texture of the noodle, the flavors, it's just comfort food for me, and it's something my mom made for me growing up as a kid."

You can bring along a dessert.

"Probably bring a six-pack of the Jeni's ice cream sampler."

What he likes to drink

🐄 A deadly cattle pest called the New World screwworm was confirmed in Texas. (Axios)

🏠 Austin increased its property tax exemption for senior and disabled homeowners by $12,000. (Community Impact)

🛑 The University of Texas removed a Cesar Chavez statue on campus yesterday, following reporting that the famed civil rights leader sexually abused girls. (KXAN)

🌊 Another boardwalk segment is planned for Lady Bird Lake, between Congress Avenue and South First Street. (Austin American-Statesman 🔒)

Answer correctly these three questions — drawn from this week's Axios Austin newsletters — and you could be the subject of a shoutout in our Monday edition.

• Hit reply to this email.

1. Name the NBA franchise currently competing in the Finals (and which plays a couple home games a year in Austin).
2. What's the official job title of Jane Nelson, the Texas state official overseeing elections, who announced her resignation this week? (Hint: The title is basically the same as a U.S. cabinet member's.)
3. Facing foreclosure, a pair of downtown Austin hotels went up for auction this week. Name one of them.

World War II veterans are dwindling in number as we mark the 82nd anniversary of D-Day this weekend.

By the numbers: Roughly 45,000 WWII veterans are alive today — 0.5% of the 16.4 million who returned from the war.

• An estimated 2,720 of those survivors live in Texas.

Zoom out: Roughly 750,000 Texans served in the war, per the Texas State Historical Association.

• About 22,000 lost their lives.