Edgar Victoria

00:00Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. What a wonderful day today. We have got Edgar Victoria, who is the famed Alabrije. So you've seen his pop-ups all over town, but today we're going to sit down and tell his entire story. Yes, the days of growing up in Mexico City, in Oaxaca, the street food, the inspiration behind what he's doing on a regular basis. We also get to learn the genesis behind Alabrije and I think you're going to absolutely love this episode as I did.

01:00And they have a pop-up coming up this Sunday. The chef at Hawthorne, Evan Logecano, does that even say his name? Evan Logecano? I don't know. He's an awesome dude, but he and Edgar will be doing a pop-up with tortas and all kinds of amazing things at Hawthorne to get your orders in now. So we're doing now, instead of going into an ad where I tell you about somebody on our show, The Music City Roundup, I do a segment called On Brand where I get on and I tell you kind of what I'm seeing and what I'm doing. It's fun and all, but instead of doing that, I want to go to the people who are right there in the field talking to chefs, talking to people out there, and I want to know what's going on in their eyes. So today we've got Ross Chandler. Ross Chandler is the director of strategic accounts for Cytex. We all know Cytex, they're the great, great linen company who has been working with our show for quite some time and we're going to bring Ross in right now and hopefully, there he is.

02:02What's up, Ross? What's up, man? How are you? I'm fantastic. Hopefully he can give us a better idea of what's going on in the linen world, kind of what is your perspective right now, Ross Chandler? Yeah, thanks for asking. Brandon, first of all, it's awesome to be on the show. You and I have known each other for several years now. What our relationship has become is just awesome, so I appreciate it. Thank you. Same way. Yeah, man. So one of the neat things that we've been seeing here since about December is we've been getting a lot of inbound calls for new openings and or businesses that are looking to make a switch, which is exciting. As most people know, it was quiet as a church mouse there for a while, either through our prospecting efforts or people calling us, but just this week on our install call that we have, which is a call where we kind of game plan getting new customers set up. We had six new restaurants that we're installing this week, so we're really starting to see things tick up in the restaurant scene, which is really cool.

03:09Can I ask, interrupt you? Are those brand new restaurants or those restaurants brand new and people that are converting over to Cytex? So of the six, four of them were new openings. Wow, that's amazing. That's good to hear. One of the newest ones that's coming on board with us is going to be Blanco Taco. It's going to be down on Broadway. The Fox Concept Group, we take care of those guys. We take care of also their North Italia concept that they have. So that's one of them that's coming in. So we're pretty excited to grow with those guys. That is really good news indeed. What else you see out there? So one of the biggest things that we realized is that with everybody pivoting and all the general managers, managing partners, owners, as you love that show that you did the award on the best pivot when you talked about that. But with people doing that, they have less time to deal with crappy linen service. They're not wanting to mess with nickels and dimes and pennies and price increases and not delivering stuff. They need to focus on their business.

04:10So one of the things that we've seen a lot more of by restaurants is people just wanting to partner up, no bull crap, make it what it is, make your price right. And then something else we're seeing is a lot of people are starting to use us or our industry but us for things like restroom supplies and first aid and things like that. So instead of them having to worry about keeping compliance of hand sanitizers, soaps, those sorts of things, band aids for the chefs, whatever, the cooks, they don't have to worry about those things. They kind of let us manage that and then focus on keeping the business running because you know, it's still a dog fight out there. Everybody's trying to make it happen and keep going and keep business going so that's what they're focused on. Well this is one of those times that I've, you know, this is a time I've said that this is for everybody to reset. Go back in, look at your P&L, look at all of your numbers and go through and identify the things that weren't working before and upgrade them. Look at them, renegotiate them, get them together and that's exactly what you guys want to be doing.

05:13You've got consolidating people's services, you've got linens, you've got uniforms, you've got the mats, you've got first aid, sanitizing stuff, so you guys have way more than just table linens. I mean you're doing a lot for people so you can consolidate a lot of things people need in one stop. How do people get ahold of you if they want to do this? So absolutely. So you can go to our website at sitex-corp, like corporation.com. I've got my phone number there below, it's 270-823-2468. We make our website super easy as soon as you go to the website, literally the first thing up at the top says, request a quote, get started, it's a big red button, click it, give me some information and we will call you right back. And I can assure you, you'll be called right back. So if you send me one on Saturday, I will be calling you on Saturday. So don't worry, we have people on call ready to take care of you guys. Because the linen business never sleeps. Well, thank you guys for supporting the show.

06:14I'm happy to hear your perspective. We're doing this every single week on our shows with different people kind of letting you into their industries. We look forward to doing this again with you real soon. And again, you're not just a sponsor of the show. I'm also a customer of yours. You guys, I give you firsthand that you guys are doing a hell of a job and I really appreciate all that you do. Yeah, man, no worries. Glad that we could do this with you. Appreciate it. Take care of yourself, Brandon. Thanks, Ross. All right, Ross Chandler, thanks for coming on today. Cytex, what a wonderful sponsor. So excited to get to Alabrije, Edgar Victoria. Let's do it right now. So excited today to talk to my main man, Edgar Victoria, Alabrije in the house. What's up, brother? What up? Well, this has been a long time in the makings, man. We've been talking about this for a long time. Yeah, about two months, maybe longer. I think we've been talking about longer than that, but I am super excited to have you here for those who are listening.

07:18Edgar Victoria is the man, the myth, the legend behind the most amazing pop-ups of the pays the pandemic pop-up maestro like that. I just gave you a new title pandemic pop-up maestro Alabrije. Today, we're going to learn all about you. I am just excited to pick your brain, hear your story. What does Alabrije mean? Alabrije, those are actually fictional folk art from Mexico. I think its origins are from Mexico City in the 1930s and then Oaxaca in 1960s. So they're like myth creatures. So it could be anything from like a horse with a chicken head kind of thing. So you can pretty much create any sort of character, if you could say. OK, fictional, that is obviously.

08:22But I just remember as a kid, my dad used to take me to street markets all the time. And like you would see all these characters made out of paper hanging on like the tents of the street vendors and like all the color on these things were like very bright colors, like anything from super bright pink to blue, sky blue and green and all these colors. So I guess we could say we could call them Mexican colors. I don't know what to call them. But, you know, I think that's where the name came from. Just like thinking about it, how it's related to Mexico City and Oaxaca and just like these memories that I had of street markets, eating food and just seeing these figures all over the place, it just made it feel very Mexican.

09:29Nostalgic in Mexican. So where are you right now? What room are you in? I'm in the living room. It's actually, yeah, it's it's my cave, man. I have a lot of this where I play around and this is where I read books and come up with ideas kind of thing. But the ideas never stop. They're always flowing. I feel like I come up with the weirdest and craziest ideas while I'm sleeping or while I'm driving. And I don't know why. Like I'm just driving to work and then all of a sudden I'm like, oh, how come I didn't think about it like this or how come I haven't done this yet? And then as soon as I get to work, then I start doing it. If I don't start right away, I feel like I'm just going to forget that one idea. But yeah, when you get these ideas, do you write them down? Do you put them in your phone or do you just hope that you don't forget them? No, actually, I'm I'm almost a completely opposite.

10:33If I'm taking a shower or they call it whatever you want to call it, meditation, meditation, I don't really come up with ideas that way. It's almost like it's very boring. I have to be I have to be doing something. I have to be engaging with someone or engaging with with what's around me in order for me to come up with an idea. And then like once once I come up with the idea, I don't write it down. I just make sure that I make it it becomes a goal like, cool, that's an idea. I'm going to do it today and I try to get to it like as soon as possible. Is that part of just like your creative span is talking to people and listening is such a unique. It's a gift to be able to do that, to listen and take what people say and then let that inspire you. I think we're going to talk about this in a minute. But since I was a kid, I just love talking to people.

11:36I mean, that's just so magical when you talk to someone and that someone has so many stories to tell. Like I remember in my neighborhood, there was this old man, I think he was around 60 and he would tell me stories all the time. And I was just there listening and I was like, oh, this is fantastic. And like as I was listening, I was picturing the whole story in my head. You know, I could totally see this guy when he was in his 20s, just doing everything that he's telling me on his little story, you know. And since I was a kid, I just love listening to people and I just love talking just as much. You know, so that was always that was magical. It's kind of lame that nowadays we spend a lot of time looking at a screen rather than engaging and talking to people. So, I mean, I'm guilty of that as well. But let's tell your story, man.

12:38Let's tell. Let's start from the beginning. You're born in Mexico City. And tell me about growing up. What was it like growing up? Where did you move in and kind of get us? Tell us about your your your upbringing. Yeah, absolutely. So I'm from Mexico City, a big city. It's very similar to New York for anyone who's been to New York before being there a couple of times. If it's food related, because I think that's the main thing we're going to end up talking about today. I grew up in that city. I came from a very poor family. No one in our family has like or had like any sort of luxury. Myself and my sisters were able to go to school and we had shoes and we had food, which are the basics. But we never had anything like we didn't have a computer, you know, we didn't have a Nintendo. We, you know, we didn't have we had what we needed to survive.

13:49I don't know. I just I didn't I didn't think about it like that. But then I just know that I had a lot of friends and I was playing soccer and every day I was having a blast as a kid. That's, you know, the way I looked at it. Then when you grow up, you're like, oh, man, yeah, we didn't really have any money. If I could go back, I would not change a single thing. Like I would not take I would not exchange money for memories. Like I met so many people and I made so many memories. Like money is useless at that point. Yeah, it is. So, yeah, I was lucky that I grew up in a neighborhood like that. There are so many memories and stories that I can tell you about it. But I'm just going to keep it limited. Tell me one. Tell me one story. I think there's a couple that the neighborhood where I grew up and I went to school.

14:52One of the things that stays with me all the time was being humble and just seeing how my mom used or like basically my whole family would take care of other people. And I think that falls nowadays in what we do into hospitality. But like I just remember being a kid and if my mom saw anyone on the street struggling, she would approach that one person and give them food, water or money. And I couldn't get it. Why? And I was like, why? Why are you doing that? And she's like, you have to understand some people don't have what you have. And if there's any way you can help them, it's your job to help them. Always going to be thankful for my parents because they gave me what they could.

15:54And I was able to I'm able to do the things that I do nowadays thanks to them. And, you know, I feel like they show me they show me the right way. There's things that cannot be taught and there's things that money can't buy. And that's a good example. So are your parents still alive today? Yes. Have you told them that? I have. Maybe not as deep as I am talking about it today. I think I would do that with my mom. My dad, it's a little more strict kind of guy. Yeah, the relationship with myself and my dad is just I don't know. It's almost like homies kind of thing, you know, there is a point where at least in our culture, you're like, man, I don't know about telling my dad how I feel, you know, what's he going to say? What's he going to say about me? Is he going to start picking on me? You know, our culture is full of those kind of things.

16:55It's full of nicknames like they call you nicknames all the time. They call you Gordo. They call you a Nano. They call you they just call you. I have a nickname my whole life. They used to call me a Nano, which means short guy or shorty. And I was I was taller than everyone else. And I was like, I don't know why you call me a Nano. But fine, that's my nickname, I guess. I was surrounded by food all the time, like all the time. If I was in school, there was there was street vendors inside the school. You will leave school and there was like a guy selling paletas on the corner, a lady selling a lot is on a different corner. And then a tent with the guys selling tacos. And then you would take the subway to go somewhere. And there was just like street vendors all over the place. This is you can't even count it. But that's like your memory of like food is like that's the original flavors of you growing up, right?

17:58Yeah. And the street tacos. Yeah, like I was saying earlier, it's very similar to New York. It's just so many people all over the place. And then there was like bakeries next to our house and people selling churros. And it's just when it comes to food, I feel like I was very lucky that I grew up around so much food. And then at home, my mom would cook all the time. On the weekends, I would visit my grandma and she would be cooking all the time. But I never lift up a finger to cook anything. Never did. Really? I was just I was eating all the time. And that's jealous. That would that would be the good story about the warache. The warache, it's a novel tortilla that we did start doing on the first. Pop-ups, and I think we've done it in just about every single one of our pop-ups.

19:02But it's like a novel up in Facebook that and I just remember like every time I was traveling with my parents, there was actually before taking the subway, there was this lady just making waraches on the streets. OK, now what exactly is in that? How do you how do you what is a warache? So it's basically a tortilla, but it's thicker. It's stronger and it's shaped as an oval, almost like a football. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I mean, basically a tortilla, you just get in a little more of that massive flavor when you eat in it and it holds like whatever toppings you put on it. So this lady just saw waraches on the subway station all the time. And that's where my dad and my mom used to buy them. And they would give me half of it. And it was usually done in blue corn.

20:04Or with blue corn. So blue corn, meat, beans, cheese and salsa. Those are like the basics. And that's what the lady would put on it all the time. So that's that's a that's a dish from my childhood memory kind of thing. And that's just one example. There's so much food in Mexico City. There's tortas, tacos, tamales, churros. We can have like a little bit of everything from like all these older regions and states in whole Mexico as one kind of thing. So it's a good mix of everything. So I'm going to take you back one second. I'm stuck on waraches. You said in Mexico City, they make them beans, cheese, salsa. You know, it's just kind of some standard ingredients. The horachas that I ate. What did you put in that? Oh, that's that's what I want to call a super saiyan warache. That's just like my version of food nowadays.

21:06The one that you had that was black beans that I think we folded miso and tallow on those black beans and green chorizo that we made from scratch. We had escabeche that's inspired by this market in Mexico City, but made with local ingredients here in the States. And I think there was daikon radish and I think we did a salsa matcha on that one as well. And some greens on top. Yeah, it was I have a picture of it. It was some of the best things I've ever had anyway. So that was that in that was in Mexico City, all of this food. I guess we're getting at is you grew up in Mexico City. You grew up eating all these foods that your mom made. We're selling the foods. You are just you would have these watches. Your memories are just all of these amazing flavors that came from street food in Mexico.

22:13Yes. And I think this is like this. I like to call it the tape, you know, and there is if like anyone who's old enough to remember those tapes side, a side, be kind of thing, and that would be side a street food in Mexico City. And I think side B was. I had like half of my family lived in the country, very small state outside of Mexico City, and I would go visit them twice a year, sometimes four times a year. And life there was just completely different. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, it you come from the city and then. You go live the country life for a couple of weeks. And like my cousins, they're like fishing and they're like hunting and they're drinking water out of the river.

23:15And I'm like, yeah, you know, what are you doing? You don't do that. And they're like, oh, this water is cleaner than the water in your city. You know, I was like, what? So it was just like wild and different to me. It was just like a completely different lifestyle that they had a little farm with cows and pigs and goats and chickens. And everything was just like very fresh. And it kind of stayed within the family kind of thing. So there was no need to go to the store and get tortillas. She was making tortillas and there was no need to go to the store and get eggs. Like we had chickens. And I think that's where my sense of like staying local and supporting the community comes from. Just because like if you look at it on the bigger picture, like that's that's who your family is now, the community. And if you're not supporting local and if you're not supporting the community, then you're not really supporting your family kind of thing.

24:23So living, not living, but visiting my cousins and my other family in the country. It was another thing. Very little things such as like smelling when my grandma was making tortillas. Now that I cook, it's like, how can I put the smell on a dish? How can I how can I share this one memory with people? And I think that's. What Albrecht is cooking is. Let me get into Albrecht first. Let me get into this first real quick before we get into how you're cooking. Albrecht, what brought you to America? My parents wanted a better. Well, you know what? I guess what everyone else is pursuing, it's a better life and better chances. I was not doing great at some point in Mexico just because it's it's a big city. It's it's kind of dangerous.

25:24And I was getting in trouble by doing graffiti. Honestly, like you're a graffiti artist. I mean, I was I was I liked it. I liked it a lot. I was always trying to create something, whatever that was. And I mean, that helps with cooking a lot because cooking is endless. And it's just like I will always have something to do if I'm cooking. So cooking replace graffiti in a way. Well, if you look at your food, though, I mean, there's absolutely a huge level of art involved with cooking and plate presentation and things that blend together. I mean, what colors work together in which way as a, you know, if you were a paint stroke versus what flavors mix together and then how they look on a plate, that's one of the aspects that you do really, really well. I can totally see that that come together.

26:25So did you move to Nashville directly from Mexico? I was actually have another third of my of my family has been living in the States since the 80s. Some of them live in Atlanta. Some of them live in Nashville and just came straight to Nashville. And then is it easy to do that from Mexico just to move to Nashville? I mean, I mean, on my end, it was what wasn't easy was adapting to a whole different new life. That just wasn't easy. Like I didn't see kids playing on the streets or playing soccer because I didn't. That's how I grew up. There wasn't, you know, like kids just like go knock on your door. And even if they don't know you, they're going to ask you to play soccer with them. And you just open the door and you're like, cool, I don't know you. But yeah, I'm done for a soccer match. But you hadn't seen any of those things. I didn't see street vendors offering you food sometimes for free.

27:28And mostly, and maybe more importantly, I didn't speak the language. You didn't speak English? No. So that was the main one. How long did it take you to learn English? I think it took me. I mean, it's a work in progress, if you ask me. But I think for me to be able to communicate, fully communicate with people, I think it was like my junior year in high school, I just felt very comfortable, like talking to people or standing in the middle of the class and talk to everyone. I think when I was a freshman in high school, they would make me get up and read. I was like, no, I don't want to do it. And, you know, the teacher was like, if you don't do it, then I'm going to have, you're going to fail this class. And I was like, sure, that's fine. I'm not going to read it, you know, in the middle of the class, in front of like all these people.

28:32But, you know, one day I just thought about it and I was like, this is easy. Like the hardest part is over. You know, all I got to do is stand up and read. And if I say, if I do say anything the wrong way, then all I got to do is learn and fix it. This is the only way to learn. But man, I have so many memories from school as well. Did you go to college at all? I did. I went to Nashville State. Did you go to the culinary school there at all? I did. I did. Just for one year. And then I dropped out. Okay. When did you start working in restaurants? So that's going to be the fun one. So I was in school, I did finish high school. And then I worked at an electrical company as an electrician helper. I was making really good money. And this is back, back when the economy was struggling. I think it could have been 2008.

29:35So we got laid off. And I called one of my friends and I was like, hey man, I've been at home for a couple of weeks and I don't know if you know anything or anyone who's hiring. And he's like, we actually need people. Where was this? What restaurant? I don't remember. It was a restaurant in Franklin. Okay. It was a very small place. And I was like, cooking? He's like, yeah, that's what we have. I was like, yeah, I don't know if I want to cook. I was like, I don't cook, man. That's not for me, you know, kind of thing. And the thing, this is a culture thing, I guess. Like back in Mexico, like my grandma would do the cooking. My mom would do the cooking. And you would never really see any of us touching the foot kind of thing. So I never really cooked anything in my life. Like nothing, you know, like I didn't even know how to cook an egg.

30:38I mean, I was lucky enough to know how the microwave worked. But other than that, like I had never cooked. He's like, well, that's what we have. And I stayed at home and I thought about it and I couldn't get a job. And I called him back two weeks later and I was like, you know what? I'll take it. And I was like, what am I going to say on my interview? Like, I really have no idea. So he gave me an advice and said, you agree and say yes to everything they ask you. And I was like, simple as that. He's like, yeah. So I walk in the kitchen, I get interviewed by the GM. He's asking me if I know how to prep. I'm like, I don't even know what that means. I'm thinking in my head, prep what? And I was like, yeah, do you know how to saute?

31:41And I'm like, I don't even know what that is. Like, I've never cooked an egg. And I'm just saying, I'm just saying. Oh yeah, of course. I would think about it. I'd be like, saute, hmm, yeah. How good are you? I'm like, I mean, I'm nine, eight. Now he's asking me if I know how to grill, if I know how to work expo. I'm just saying yes to all these things. Yeah, my first day in the kitchen was a very bad day. I walk in the kitchen. All these people expect me to know all these things. And I know a single thing. So I'm standing in the middle of the kitchen and everyone's looking at me and I don't know what to do. I think I never felt so useless in my life. I just felt so useless and so bad. I kind of wanted to cry. So I talked to my friend and I was like, man, I don't want to go back.

32:42Like, I don't know what I'm doing. No one's teaching me anything. Yeah, I don't fit in. And then he just gave me another advice. And he's like, if you don't have anything to do, sweep the floor. So I was sweeping the floor. And then the next day, he's like, if you don't have anything to do, then clean the tables and clean the prep areas. And then like just day by day, I was finding one little task to do. So if I was sweeping the floor, I made sure that that floor was clean all the time. Took pride in it. If I was washing dishes, I would make sure like the moment I would see like one single dish here in DishBit, I'd be like, whoop! And I would clean the hell out of DishBit. And I mean, it's all because like I didn't know what else to do. So I was doing, you know, basic things. And one of the cooks didn't show up, but I was watching him all the time that I was like doing all these basic preparations. And I was like, I'll do it. And they looked at me and they're like, no, you don't know how to cook.

33:45And I was like, I know, but I've been watching him and I know how to build things on that one station. It was a very basic kitchen. So it was like just building things, kind of thing, like no cooking requirement for that one station at least. And they're like, no, you're not doing it. And I was like, oh, and they made a couple of phone calls and nothing worked out. So they just looked at me like this is our last option and only option. And they put me on the station and I struggled a lot. But I made it happen. And, you know, after that, I just I just kept on doing it. And I just went, I think three months in, I was like, man, I love doing this. This is this is what I want to do. And I just went from restaurant to restaurant, mainly chain restaurants.

34:49And I gained knowledge in satay and grilling, some management and doing prep. Volume, you know, I gained a lot of experience on volume. So a lot of these chain restaurants, they're doing like $80,000 per day. And it just like it's big. It's don't stop. It's just like you just keep making food for hours. So those places taught me a lot of volume. And at some point I felt like I was a really good cook, but I wasn't. So one day I took a little vacation, came back in town and I was like, I want to work at the best place. And I don't know what that best place is, because I don't I don't think what I'm doing right now, it's actually cooking. You know, I'm like, how do I make that one sauce that comes in a bag? Who knows? It comes in a bag. What you did was, you know, I used to have people all the time that would come in when I was at Amerigo and people would walk in and, you know, be a kid who'd never worked before.

35:56And I'd said, go work it out in the miners for a little while and then come see me. And this was not a rude thing I needed to do, but I needed somebody who knew about consolidation. I needed somebody who knew about wine, who knew about liquor, who knew about restaurant terms, full hands in, full hands out, working as a team, the flow of a restaurant. There's a lot of things that you can learn from working at an Applebee's for six months, or then going to, you know, Charlie's or a cheesecake factory. These places that have systems and processes that work really well, it's a great way to learn the fundamentals of being in a restaurant to get it. But you got to a point where you're like, okay, I got all the fundamentals. This isn't like, I want to take it to the next level. I want to I want to work with like real chefs that are creating. I don't want to just do the basic stuff. That's where you were at, right? Yep. And I mean, I'm thankful. No shame. To work at those places. No, absolutely. There's no shame in those places.

36:58Oh, no, no, not at all. Like if it wasn't for those places and you're like this one kid just like using tweezers to play everything, the moment volume hits you, you don't really know what to do because you don't have that experience. You don't know volume. I mean, you know, 50 covered volume, you know, you don't know 500 covered volume. It's a different animal. Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's a lot of fun, too. I love those. You get 500 covers. That's a good day, man. That's a rush. It's insane. So where'd you go? What was the place you went to? Where'd you get a job at? So I came in town and I used Google because like, you know, I didn't have a lot of connections that working out of these places. I made a lot of friends, made a lot of good memories. But like chef wise, if you could call it that, I didn't really have a lot of connections. So I just Google what's the best restaurant in Nashville.

37:59And capital real popped out on my Google search. This is about eight years ago. Yeah, Tyler Brown, Tyler Brown time. Yeah, he was all right. He was in the building and I sent in my resume and the chef, Andrew, that was his name. It's security sous chef. He is like, yeah, coming for an interview tomorrow. And I show up and it's like this restaurant inside a hotel. And it's almost like in a basement. And I walked down the basement and I started looking around me and I was like, oh, man, I don't I'm not sure if I can work at this place. It just looks just looks too fancy. And then Andrew came out and we talked. He's like, come on, you got a job. And I was like, cool. And the next day, I show up with my knives and my uniform.

39:06And I feel like back square one, like that one day that I show up to the kitchen with never worked in the kitchen ever before, I had the same feeling again. It's like everyone is butchering things. Everyone is making stocks and sauces. And like this farmer is coming over to talk to us about mushrooms. And it's just like, it's a lot going on. And I'm just standing there like, oh, man, I have to get rid of everything that I learned so far and start from zero again. So it was that place taught me a lot. It was very intense and very rough. But, you know, thankful for the team that I was there with for one year. Capital Grill and F Scott's have always been like kind of those places where it's like that six degrees of separation.

40:10Any chef in town has worked there at some point. Like it's really a proving ground. Sean Brock really created something special there. And Tyler did a great job and now Chef Derek. But like there's a there's something about working in that kitchen that teaches you anywhere that's open 24 hours a day and does that kind of volume. But at that level of detail and it's just there's so many facets of things that they do really well there. It's a good it's a good proving ground. Good place to learn. Yeah, I mean, I have I have really good memories from that place. I feel like I learned what I could have learned in culinary school in one year. I mean, what it would have had taken me five years in culinary school. I feel like I learned it in one year at that one place. So, yeah, very good memories. Some bad ones. It was just the amount of volume with the amount of people on the line and the dishes that we were that we were making.

41:13It was just at some point it was just a lot. But yeah, I mean, I'm very thankful that I worked at that one place. And like every time I would go in, I was like, oh, man, like, let's get ready for this. Like, it didn't matter how ready I would get. I was always chasing it kind of thing. You know, I would do something completely different the next day to make myself better. And it was like I was never able to reach it. Like I would change my mise en place. I would have like spoons all over the place. I would go through like my station in my mind and how would like execute service. And it was just it's a good feeling because it's almost like makes you get better and better and better. And it's almost like you never stop getting better. And, you know, one of my chefs, one of our chefs told me once when you leave this place, you're going to go to any other restaurant and you'll be like, oh, this is easy.

42:15And it didn't happen. You know, he told me that. And then I came in and I put in my notice when I was ready to move on. So put in my notice and went to the next place. And when I went to the next place, I was I feel like I wasn't doing much. Just because, yeah, I mean, I guess I got so ready that it just felt it felt a little easier to work at the next place. OK, so just to fast forward a little bit because I want to get into Alabrije and I want to respect people's times listening to the podcast. You're a listener to the podcast. You know, we don't want to go too long. So you worked at many locations. You wanted to hone in on your craft. What was your favorite place that you've worked in Nashville so far? Oh, man, that's a tough one. Who's your who's who's the person? Is there a chef in town that took you under their wing and said, hey, I see your talent.

43:16I see what you're doing. Let me take a special interest in you and help you. Or did that not happen? It did not happen. Honestly, it didn't. I was always I was always watching. I was always like I would watch someone do something and I would I would try to do it like right away. I would go home and like try to do the same thing. So a lot of self-teaching. I honestly liked my days at Capital Grill a lot. I just I just learned so much. We used to get scheduled to go to the farm and pick up like our own vegetables and cook with them when we got back. So, yeah, I mean, Andrew, Richard, like all these people taught me taught me a lot of things. I don't know if they kind of took me under the wing kind of thing. It's almost like they taught me things because I didn't know how to do those things. And I needed to know I needed to know how to do those things in order to execute service.

44:18If that makes sense. Can we ask you this if one of those guys would have walked up to you and said, hey, what are your goals? What do you want to do? I want to help you achieve those goals. Would you would you have jumped in right in? Would you have said, yes, I want to own my own place one day or I want to learn this or I want to learn that help me. Would you have accepted that level of help? I think I would I think I would take the help from anyone. So, I mean, yeah, to answer that question, that's it. That's a yes. But I feel like I'm never going to say no to help. It's like if one thing that I've noticed throughout my years, like I've seen people who struggle who struggle with asking for help and some people who ask who actually ask for help. I like I try to take the bath from like all these places and not make those mistakes. And I try to take the good and and be successful. So, yeah, I would take help from anyone. You know, help is it's a good thing.

45:21So, yeah, I just think it's interesting because I I try and listen to I like to engage people all the time. I'm like you. I like to listen. I like shocker. I like to ask people questions and learn about their stories. But like I think it's interesting because you have every day you have four or five people on a line that's working and everybody does the kind of the role. But sitting down and really sitting down with your staff and asking them what their goals are and what they'd like to accomplish and how can I help them get there? I think as leaders, we have to really put as much into our people as we expect out of them. Absolutely. I like having fun. Like if you're not having fun when you're cooking or doing anything, it reflects on the food. Like the food doesn't taste the same. And I don't know. I don't know what it is about it. But it just doesn't taste the same. So like I did try to get rid of when I took when I took cover on my first restaurant as you know, a chef, sous chef or chef de cuisine, whatever title people want to give it.

46:26I was like, I don't want to be that guy. I don't want to come in and people say, oh shit, like Edgar's here. And I put their heads down and I put the phones away and start working or pretend that they're doing something. I was like, I want to be able to come in and like whistle at this one guy and like call this one guy a nickname and he's going to call me a nickname as well and give like this other guy a high five and you know, like change it all the way around. Instead of, oh shit, Edgar's here. Like put your head down and start working. Like smile, you know, and be like, oh man, he's here. And like give him a high five and like now it's going to be a blast. You know, like how do you achieve those things? It's it's hard, but at the same time, it's not like if you use treat people the right way and you use be yourself, then, you know, people want to be around you and they want to have fun and they want to kick it.

47:30And you can still teach people how to do the how to do things the right way. And you can still secure like really fun, delicious dishes without being a dick, you know? You know, at both of our restaurants, the Green Hills Grilla Mirror Bowl, one of our core values is cheers. And cheers represents two people holding glasses that clink, not the TV show cheers. If you try this, sometime when you're out there, try and try and be with somebody where you're having a drink and propose a cheers. You can't it's like it's impossible not to smile. Yep, right. It's one of those things like so we have cheers because we want you to have fun at work and we encourage every part of the goal is you need to have fun. And we sit down and do these these coachings that we call them. But like it's a how do you feel like you're doing on cheers? Do you feel like you're having fun at work and what fun are you bringing to work? And people go, well, I mean, you know, I'm here and you don't know.

48:33I want to know what you're going to do this week to make work more fun. I want you to be intentional. Come to work, do something fun. Let's do it. And so I totally get that. Like if you're not having fun in this industry, like you need to. I think it's absolutely vital in order to succeed. Yeah, you got to love what you do and don't let it kill you. Keep having fun, you know? So let's let's fast forward another time here. You wanted to own your own. You want to own your own place and you wanted to recreate. Now, was it was it a matter of you've eaten at restaurants around town and you just weren't able to find the flavors that you were looking for? Is that it? Were you trying to find those flavors of Mexico City as a child and you just couldn't find them? It's something similar to that. I think before 2020, or actually before COVID, I was like, I want to open a food truck and make some tortas or some sandwiches, which I have like a very love for those two, a very big love for those two and passion as well.

49:55I was like, that's what I want to do. And we'll just make like some cool sides and like house made pickles and whatnot. That was like a rough idea. I went to this place in Chicago and I love the place. What place was it? I think the name of it is called Semitas Puebla. So I got really inspired by that one place. I was like, you know, I think that's that's what I want to do. I want to do something simple and I want to have like a really good schedule and have fun. I don't want to make it to where I'm working over a hundred hours and I'm hating what I'm doing kind of thing. I want to be able to love it and I want to be able to give it to people and share this with people. But it was just a rough idea. Nothing was said kind of thing. But I knew that it had to be Mexican kind of thing. And then when COVID happened, I was like, I came home and I was watching a TV show and I was like, you know, I'm craving like good Mexican food.

51:04So I pulled my phone out and I'm looking at places in Nashville and where I can go. And I realized that I've been to or I have had food at most of those places. And like some of these places, you pick up the tortilla and it falls apart and you end up with like all this meat with toppings on your plate. And people think it's okay. And then you tell the server and they come over and you let them know. And they're like, sure, can I bring you a fork? And it's like, yeah, I guess. And then like they bring you a fork. And that's just one example of so many, right? And I was like, oh, man, like I don't think there's a single place that I'm looking at my phone right now that I want to go and eat Mexican food. And I was like, I'm better off going to a food truck on Nolensville Road or ENIAC than going to any of those places and pay five times the amount of money for something that's like, okay, you know?

52:13Or if you're going to bring me a fork to eat, you know, if I wanted a salad, I would order a salad, not a taco. So that was the beginning. Like when I thought about that, I was like, oh, man, I'm not going to be the guy here complaining that it doesn't exist and it sucks. Like if that's the case, I'm going to do it. And just working at all these other places in the past, like you grow up, well, you grow as a cook that, you know, wants best and stays local. And, you know, you just want to put out the best version of yourself and that dish out there every time you cook. So I reached out to a couple of friends, Lauren Bloomsbury Farms. And I was like, I told her about my idea and how I wanted to get like local produce. And I would go visit her, talk to her personally. Because like engaging, that's another part of what you do as a cook, you know, on your daily life.

53:14Like you send them a message and say, hey, I might need a couple of radishes. Like that doesn't do it. Instead, if you visit them and you see what they're growing, what they're going to be growing next year, and you talk to the farmers and like you see how much work they put into everything they do, that just changes everything. So I talked to her, went to visit her. And then I just connected all these parts of the ideas. I didn't have a name for Libreja yet. And then I came up with the name. We didn't have a logo. We didn't have a sign. We don't have a restaurant. I have $1,200 in the bank and I don't have a job anymore. And I have the decision of doing a pop-up because I believe in this thing or paying my rent for the month. And yeah, I'm connecting all the dots. Talk to Alex Ballou, very good friend of mine. I was like, will you let me do a pop-up in your restaurant?

54:18And he's like, sure, man. I was like, I don't know how much money we're going to make. So I just want to make sure that you don't feel like I'm taking advantage of you. And he's like, man, if that's your dream and you want to do something in this place, you can just have it for free kind of thing. So I did my pop-up. He didn't charge me a single dime. So that was cool. And then I was missing, I didn't want to make tortillas because I have a lot of things to do. I have to create systems. I have to come up with dishes. I have to hire servers and line cooks. And I have to put this thing together. And I never done it before. I worked in restaurants for years, but I've never done a pop-up before. I went on Instagram. That's how I found Julio. And I called him and I noticed on his Instagram that he had a love for making masa and tortillas.

55:19And I was like, oh, this is the guy. I found him. Yeah. And I gave him a call and I was like, this is going to sound weird. I know you don't know me, but I have this idea. Let me know what you think. He's like, sure, man, I'll call you back and we'll see. And I was like, he's not going to call me back. And I was like, I'm going to have to end up doing it myself. And then he called me back and he's like, yeah, man, I'm in. Yeah. We did the first pop-up and I think we did around 40 people. Yeah. We, we kind of failed because I took it lightly. I was like, man, 40 people, it's going to be easy. Like I'm used to volume. I know what I'm doing. It will be fine. I didn't, I didn't get a printer for our tickets. So we were writing down tickets. And yeah, I mean, not a little thing that I took lightly on that one day. It came back to us.

56:21So let's talk, let's talk about some of the things you're doing. Cause if you're, if you're listening to this and you're familiar with alabri hey, and you've had, had, you've gone to one of the pop-ups, you're fully aware of what the food tastes like. You've seen it. It's beautiful. But if you haven't, if you're out there right now and you're listening to this and you're like, alab, alabri, J alabri, hey, okay, that sounds cool. This guy sounds cool. I get it. He grew up in Mexico city. They were salivating when you were talking about the Horacha earlier. Horacha. I'll say that the right way. You're talking about a lot taste. You're talking about street foods, street tacos. When you put this menu together for what you're doing at the pop-ups this past summer, and I'll, I'll, I'll say, uh, we'll get into what you're doing going forward and, um, what you want to do, kind of what your dreams are. Let's talk about some of the food. I don't do that a lot. I don't, you know, you listen, I don't talk about food a lot, but your food is everything is advertised. And I eat Mexican twice a week.

57:22I'm not kidding. We go to a little place. We go all over Bellevue. It's our favorite, but it's not, it's not what you're doing. What you're doing is like next level. If I could dream what my Mexican dinner would look like, the flavors, the smells, the way that it looks, the presentation of the food that you presented. I've never seen anything like it. So what were some of the dishes? I will say, I told the story on the, on the roundup the other day, the Asada, carne asada tacos. We only ordered one of those. It's the only time in my life that I've shared a taco bite for bite with somebody where like I took a bite and I was like, okay, you take a bite, but don't take too big of a bite. And then she passed it back to me and she was like, seriously, you don't take too big of a bite. And I was like, well, what are you gonna do? And there was like that tiny little end of the taco that was left. And I was like, you can eat that. That one's mine. Stop it. We're fighting for like the end of the taco.

58:22I've never done that before. And that was something that happened during that dinner. It's that good. Tell me about that carne asada taco. Tell me about some of the dishes. You made a Caesar salad that had no traditional like Caesar ingredients. It was incredible. What are you doing? Todd, let's talk about your food. I think, yeah, I mean, I feel like the system that we have for making food, the first one is respecting those memories, right? The first thing when I'm building a dish is like, how do I put that one memory onto a dish? It might seem meaningless to other people because they'll be like, well, I don't know what it tasted like when you were a kid because I have no idea. This is the first time I'm actually gonna have a huarache or a taco. But it makes sense to me, like to be able to nail that flavor, that one smell. So then once I can make that happen and have that one dish that when I take a bite from it, it just takes me back.

59:28You don't even think about it. You're not like, oh, like, just, no, it just takes you back. Once I can do that, then I start thinking, okay, well, what's local? You know, how do we add texture to this one dish? How do we add freshness to it? Well, let's get a couple radishes, texture. Let's just make, let's just toast a couple pepitas and mix it with some venison seeds and some of this, some of that, and we'll give it crunchiness. And then we start thinking how balanced it is, you know? We always talk in, as cooks, we're always talking about salt, fat, and acid. And we kind of leave peppers out, you know, like spiciness, heat, kind of thing. And I was like, no, we're going to put heat on it. We're going to put peppers on it. And another thing that we want to change is like when you making dishes, I guess, especially with Hispanic population, or you're working out of a Mexican restaurant, it's like, oh, yeah, don't make it too spicy.

01:00:31Because like, you know, people don't like it spicy. And it's like, when we're building dishes, it's like, no, make it spicy. I mean, spicy like, enjoy it spicy, you know? Don't make it too spicy to where like you can't even take a single bite. But like spiciness is, it's important. So whenever you are nailing like all these flavor profiles, and I think that's the way we build dishes, and that's the way we want you to have a bite. And you take a bite and you start tasting like acid, fat, saltiness, and something that's very umami and you can't explain it. And you just take that one bite and you're like, why did I just have? And you're like, cool, I'm going to go for the second one. And you go for the second one. And you're trying to think what's in it. Why am I eating this? And I'm enjoying it. And why do I want? Why can't I stop myself from like wanting to eat the whole thing like right away?

01:01:35You want to know what's in it, you know? Like I think that's what we do with our dishes. We want to be able to make them unique. I mean, at no point we're like reinventing anything. Like we're doing tacos. Like everyone's done tacos. We're doing tortas. Like everyone's done tortas, you know? We're doing huaraches or sopes. Like everything that we're doing, it's been done before. And I think we just want to do our version of it. And we don't know if it's better than someone else sat there. We know that we're doing it our way. And we believe that it's the right way. And it's the way we want to feed people. You've done a hell of a job at it. I mean, follow, if you're out there, follow Alabrije. A-L-E-B-R-I-J-E on Instagram, Alabrije. And I think you probably have the other social medias too, right?

01:02:39Do you have a website? Yeah, we have a website which is under construction right now. We're going to add like a couple food items on there. And we're going to add like all this merch. Like all the hoodies, all the shirts and stuff. But if there's anything that you guys want, you can just send me a message on Instagram. And we will make it happen. And we're going to be planning our next pop-up. So it should be up and running by the time we do our next event. But you're going to follow, you post, whenever you do pop-ups, you're going to post it on your website to let people know. Do you want to open your own brick and mortar location? Do you want Alabrije to be a restaurant in Nashville? Yeah, I think that's the goal for 2021 to have an actual… I mean, pop-ups are not very sustainable. You don't make a lot of money out of them. And also like people… You got to have consistency, you know?

01:03:43Like you might have a pop-up in East Nashville. And they're like, man, I don't want to drive to East Nashville. Or you might be doing one in downtown. People just don't want to pay for parking in downtown. Or they just don't like going to downtown. And I think like the moment that you have that one location where people can find you every week, you know, it doesn't matter what day it is. If they know they can find you every Saturday at that one location, you know, I think that's the one thing that's stopping us from feeding all these people and sharing with people what we do, kind of thing. We were doing the farmers market last year and that was lovely. Because like people can find you there every Tuesday. We're kind of limited to like the things that we can do. But yeah, I think that's the goal for 2021 to find that one location where we can share like all these dishes with people. And the goal with 2021 as well is just to make it a little more approachable.

01:04:47And also affordable on the pop ups that we've done in the past. We were food prices were not high. But I think if we just take like one or two things away from those dishes, we can make them a little cheaper and more accessible to people. Sure. Because that's another thing, you know, that I would take from my childhood. Like if I want to be able to share this with as many people as possible, I got to be able, I got to make sure they're able to have access to it. What's the thing that's in the way right now of you opening your own location? Well, one, I mean, the main one would be money. You know, the main one, it's money. I don't think small business people like myself and like so many other people out there have investors kind of thing. So it's like, it's you. It's you against the world kind of thing. So if there's somebody out there right now who's listening, who's like, man, I love this guy.

01:05:52I love his attitude. I love his spirit. I love his food. I'd love to like partner with him and open a restaurant. Hit you up on Instagram. That would be lovely. There it is. If you are out there, hey, there's a lot of people out there that don't know where to start, know where to begin, especially for somebody like yourself who has a ton of experience, real world experience. You've done so many pop-ups, which is basically like opening an individual restaurant multiple times. You guys think opening a restaurant in the brick and mortar is going to be there for a long time. It's got to be a piece of cake at this point. So if you're out there and you want to invest in a restaurant, head up Edgar. I mean, this is an amazing opportunity. Do you have any pop-ups or anything planned, farmers market stuff? I mean, where can people eat your food next? We're going to do a pop-up on the 31st of this month at Hathorne. Hathorne, yes, on Charlotte, John Stevenson.

01:06:55It's going to be a torta pop-up because we haven't done tortas. We've been making tacos and huaraches and all these fun little dishes and Caesar salads with trout roe and all these fun little components. So this time around, we're going to make tortas, make sure they're delicious and affordable. We're thinking about making pozole with ramen. So I don't know what we're going to call it yet. So we're going to be doing a couple of those dishes. We're taking a little trip to Texas as well, right before we do the pop-up, a couple days before we do the pop-up. So after we do the pop-up on the 31st, we're going to start doing the market again on April. But the plan, I'm talking to a few people to be able to open at their location at least once or twice a week. So that's going to be in the works next month.

01:07:56So hopefully midway next month, we will have a place where you can find us and be consistent. You can find us maybe once or twice a week. And yeah, come over and have some great food. And take it home. I can't wait. I will definitely be joining for any and all of that. Edgar, thank you so much for joining us today. The first of what hopefully will be many times you're on the show. Well, the second time because you're on the roundup a few weeks ago. So, you know, I end up every show. I like to let the guests take us out with whatever they want to say. The floor is open. Whatever you want to say, as long as you want to say it, brother, go. Go. Absolutely. You know, be nice to people. Just just be nice. Treat people the right way. Treat if you have a restaurant, treat your staff the right way. It'll it'll pay off. Trust me. If you see anyone who's struggling and needs help, they might never raise their hand and ask for it.

01:09:01So ask people if they're okay and if they need anything. And if you can help them out, then help them out. And yeah, be nice. Be nice, man. I can't ask for a better way to take it out. You know what? Be nice. Love your neighbor. And yeah, ask people they need help. Smile. How do you smile with your eyes? Smile more. It's a good thing. Always. Yeah. Laugh. Yeah. Get off the phone for for a little bit, you know? Well, thank you so much, sir. Have a wonderful trip to Texas and we'll see when you get back. See you when I see you. All right, buddy. All right. Alabrije, Edgar Victoria. Thank you so much for being on the show. If you hear like a beeping, like a chirping sound, he promises to me that that wasn't a smoke alarm. I don't know if I believe him. I think the smoke alarm needs a battery. It was driving me nuts. Anyhow, go check him out this Sunday at Haythorn with Chef Evan.

01:10:05And they will they are promising to bring some amazing food to you. So excited you guys are here. If you want to hear this episode in a long form version, we edited out about 25 minutes of him talking about tagging things and his whole growing up and his whole life. So it just got a little too long. So we edited out some of that stuff. You can watch the full version on our YouTube channel. The whole unedited interview, it's like an hour and 20 something minutes long. But it's a great, great interview. If you do want to hear that, you please go to our YouTube channel and check it out. As always, we hope you guys are being safe out there. Love you guys. Bye.