Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen debuts its Signature Sauce Collection for sale

The Enchilada Queen Takes Royalty to Retail

(16-ounce jar) is $5.99 for Sylvia’s Red Salsa; $5.99 for Salsa Verde; and $7.89 for the Enchilada Chili Gravy

Available at Both Sylvia's Locations!

HOUSTON… For 25 years Sylvia Casares, the James Beard nominee, author, chef, restaurateur, teacher and authority on Texas border foods, has reigned as the Enchilada Queen over her popular and successful restaurants, Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen.

Now, a quarter of a century after opening her first restaurant, the personable and talented chef is taking a bit of her royalty to retail. Partnering with Houston’s Generations in Jars and working with Gourmet Cuisine, Inc., a French-owned company with operations in Dallas, Casares is now packaging two of her most popular salsas and her famed Enchilada Chili Gravy for sale in her restaurants and in retail stores.

Sold in 16-ounce jars, the trio of Sylvia’s Signature Sauce collection are the Sylvia’s Red Salsa, the Salsa Verde and the Enchilada Chili Gravy are making their debut at her restaurant at 6401 Woodway location on April 20 for a 25th anniversary celebration from 4-6 p.m.. They are now for sale at both restaurant locations. They will be available in selected food stores later this year.

The Signature Sauce Collection products are all made with classic South Texas recipes, the kind that fill every part of Casares’ restaurant menus. Born of necessity and a love of timeless comfort food, they bring a piece of that little Brownsville home and her extended family to tables in Texas and beyond.

“My sauces are prepared the same way they have been for generations with all the hard work that goes into them,” Casares says. “If flavors are to be rich and fresh, you can’t be afraid of using a whole spice that needs to be ground, a guajillo chili that needs to be simmered, or a sauce that needs its many ingredients to marry overnight. It’s one of the things I pride myself on as a Texan: Lower your head and roll up your sleeves.”

Where the process of making these sauces means they are labor intensive – starting from scratch and taking no easy shortcuts – retail customers have an easier option. This true taste of Texas can come to their tables ready to serve.

Of all things Texas, chili gravy is something with roots deep in the soil. Its first home is on top of enchiladas, but its versatility is endless. Technically, it is called “chili” gravy, ending with “i” not “e,” because while it’s a sauce, it is made similarly to Texas’ chili con carne. Historically, there’s no clear answer on why it’s called gravy except it is,” Casares explains.

Chili gravy is recognized as the cornerstone of Tex-Mex fare and the litmus test for any Tex-Mex restaurant. “It is my chili gravy for which my restaurants are best known, one we do better than anyone else,” Casares says with pride. It is made with a roux, ground chiles and the Tex-Mex holy trinity – a perfect combination of cumin, fresh garlic and black pepper I make myself.”

 The recipes, like Casares herself, come from humble origins with oversized determination. In the years since leaving the corporate world to open her own restaurants in one of the most competitive cities for Tex-Mex food, she has garnered attention from media and professional organizations across the country. In 2016, St. Martin’s Griffin published “The Enchilada Queen Cookbook,” and two years ago she was a semifinalist for Best Chef: Texas for the 2022 James Beard Foundation Awards. She is also proud to showcase her extensive food science skills and background with her own line of packaged products.

The journey has also added a new objective in her life, that to further the understanding of Tex-Mex food. “I am the self-anointed enchilada and border-food ambassador,” she says.