Desert Island Dish with Geraldine's Sergio Ledesma

Asher Price

Photo illustration of Sergio Ledesma on a bottle in the sand. — Photo illustration: Axios Visuals; Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Van Zandt

As part of our running feature about Austin chefs' favorite meals, we recently chatted with Sergio Ledesma, the executive chef at Geraldine's, in the Hotel Van Zandt by Rainey Street.

At the Southern-inflected Mexican restaurant, shrimp and grits ($38), composed with chintextle, a Oaxacan chili paste, shares menu space with a lamb barbacoa ($44) and sides like smoked carrots ($14), prepared with a guajillo adobo rub.

The background: Ledesma, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, grew up in Mexico and has run restaurants in that country and this one.

He now lives in Pflugerville with his wife and two kids.
Of note: Geraldine's is named for a guinea fowl that used to live on Rainey Street.

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

"I'm going to go nostalgic and pick Milanesa, which my grandma made. I was always very close with her. She always made that Milanesa with beef tenderloin."

You can bring a dessert.

"Tres leches from my mum. My favorite part is the whipped cream and strawberries — that was what I always wanted as a birthday cake."

And what about a libation?

"A Cuba Libre, with Bacardí white, Coke Zero, soda water and a lime twist."

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Desert Island Dish with Geraldine's Sergio Ledesma

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