Julio Hernandez

00:00Hey everyone, it's Brandon Styll, host of Nashville Restaurant Radio. I know what you're thinking about right now. We are so close to being reopened. Whether you're a restaurant or a hotel, there's a big gamble right now. Are we going to be busy? Is the mass amount of people just gonna flood, or is it gonna be a trickle? And one way for you to ensure that your business is ready to go is to put together a marketing plan. And that's why Kurt's Hospitality has spent the last several weeks putting together plans to drive business after we are allowed to reopen. They are a full-service sales, marketing, and public relations agency dedicated to growing revenue for their clients. Doesn't that feel nice? Somebody who's out there working every day to get people into your business. That makes much more sense than just trying to post stuff on Facebook. So give them a call. There's no stupid questions right now. Nobody knows what's gonna happen. It's always nice to have somebody to bounce ideas off of. 615-456-3953, or visit him on the web at KurtzHospitality.com. That's K-U-R-T-Z-Hospitality.com.

01:17Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, a podcast for and about the people of the Nashville restaurant scene. Now here's your host, the CEO of New Light Hospitality Solutions, Brandon Styll. Hello, Music City, and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll, and I am your host, and happy Cinco de Mayo! Today is a pretty special day. It does not feel like the normal Cinco de Mayo that we're used to. There's not gonna be any big outdoor parties. I think if you're in Williamson County, maybe you get a little bit of that. Today's guest is Julio Hernandez, and Julio is the executive chef for Nectar Urban Cantina, and he's gonna talk about his story, why today is special for him, and kind of what they're doing today for their features and what's coming up. So he's just an amazing story, and I hope that you enjoy it. If you like listening to this podcast, please click subscribe. I think that you would get these podcasts daily in your inbox when they come out. You'd be the first person to hear them, and I would appreciate it, and I hope that you are enjoying listening to these podcasts. I think you're gonna love the episode today, so without further ado. All right, we are here with chef Julio Hernandez, and Julio is the executive chef at Nectar Urban Cantina. Welcome into the show. Hey buddy, how's it going? It's been a couple years. I know, man. It's so good to hear your voice. Now today is kind of a special day. It is Cinco de Mayo, but it is also your birthday. Happy birthday. You can't make that stuff up. You know, normally people will ask for my ID if I'm being honest or lying. But yeah, today I turned

03:1830. What are you 30 years old, man? What a milestone birthday that is. I am excited today to talk to you and get into all of the things that made up those 30 years and see all the stuff that has been jam-packed into those 30 years, and then I want to talk to you about what you anticipate in your 30s. Okay, yeah, definitely. It's hard to say what's coming, but definitely. So let's get started. Let's start with when you and I met. I met you, I guess, gosh, it was around... I was a child and probably, what, 20, possibly 10 years ago? Maybe it was like 2010, 2011, something like that. You just arrived in Nashville. You were cooking at the Bluegrass Yacht and Country Club. Oh yeah, the iconic Bluegrass. The guy's name was Cobb. He was running the kitchen. Yeah, David Cobb was running the kitchen. Funny enough, he's actually running Creation Gardens. And last time I saw him a week ago, he's doing...

04:29Yeah, he's doing, you know, taking care of making sure everything goes in the right place. And I what better person than a chef to do that, you know? Creation Gardens, what chefs want is what they're called now. It's always been just innovative and they've always been forward thinking and been on the chef side really forever. I've always been a big fan of what they do. So you left, so you're at the Bluegrass Yacht. What did you do over the Bluegrass Yacht and Country Club? Oh, shoot. I mean, for starters, I learned to make meatloaf. You know, I just came from New York and I'm like, what's meatloaf? I don't know how to make this. So, you know, I worked with chefs such as Chris Cobb back in the day. And, you know, he showed me a few tricks. More than anything, he shared a lot of his personality with me. So I was able to develop that as well. You know, chefs don't only teach cooking. Some also have other great tools behind them. And then you got Chef Barb Pickens, who's now a party file. And he taught me a lot of cooking.

05:32He opened my eyes. He turned me from a cook to think like a chef. That makes sense. A hundred percent. Barb Pickens was amazing to me coming up also. You also got to have enough coffee to deal with him because he's all over the place. He ain't stopping. He sees the wack. I think he's the wackiest chef in the city. I think he's one of the most underrated. To me, he's got all my respect and I look up to him a lot. And I say this maybe once a week, you know, and it's maybe not cooking. It's more the personality and the tribe. I mean, he's what, like, I don't know, 20 years old right now. And he's got this energy and he doesn't stop and he doesn't think twice. And he's just doing it all, you know. I met Bart. He was at the Sobro Grill in the Country Music Hall of Fame. This was in 2006, I think it was. And the first time I talked to him, I said, okay, so we're going to meet on Tuesday at whatever time. And he's like, yeah, all right, Tuesday. I'll see you then. Holla, holla. Peace. Love. Donny Osmond. Out.

06:44He goes, peace. Love. Donny Osmond. Out. And I was like, who the hell is this guy? But, you know, it makes your day. It really does. So little things like that is what I also kept, you know. We're like, hey, what's up, playboy? You know, let's skip the fun, you know. You got a lot of things to do, man. If you're happy, you'll accomplish a lot more stuff during the day, you know. Well, you've always been that guy. Every time I see you, you are full of positivity. Like, every time I see you, every time I see you in a kitchen, if I see you in personal life, whatever it might be, you're just like, you're a happy dude, man. I can't wait to hear more about how that happens. Yeah, it just clicks, you know. Just positive outlook? Positive outlook, yeah, for sure. So I want to get, let's get back. So you came to Nashville, you said around 2010? 2010. And your parents were immigrants, right? So you were born and then you were kind of raised.

07:51So tell me kind of your story. Yeah, let me take over on this one. So I was born in Queens, New York, and mom was Colombian. My dad's from Mexico. Shortly, say, I was two months old when mom passed away. So dad, you know, had no choice. He tried to raise me for about five months and he found himself, you know, he's trying to do construction work, restaurant job, driving a cab. And he had, what, a seven month old kid, right? So I ended up going to Mexico to live with grandma. And, you know, that's where I met my dad brothers as well. And I stayed in Mexico till the age of 11. So at 11, I moved back with my father to the Bronx now. So it was transition like, whoa, now here you go. This is, we'll take you away from here. And so when I first got here, just by natural instinct, you know, I miss my friends, I miss my community, I miss my food. I was just so against everything. I didn't want to learn the language. I didn't, I was just against it. I was like, no, like it took me away from a happy spot. You know, and then years go by and then you start to see the beauty of all this stuff.

09:10You're like, all right, this is not bad. I still remember my first words in English, which were, can I have a slice of pizza, please? And I practiced and I practiced before leaving the house. And I was like, I gotta, I gotta get me some pizza. Can I have a slice of pizza? That was it. That was my first encounter with English. So what was it like growing up in Mexico from two to 11? You know, you're there, you're growing up, you live with your grandmother and you get back to America and New York. What were the things that you were most angry about that you missed the most from Mexico? Here's what people don't often think about it. And it's just not exposed enough. When I was in Mexico, I don't know if you could call it bluing, but when I was a young kid, you know, I'm a little lighter skin. I'm still not white, right? But back in Mexico, the kids in school were mean. Kids are mean. So they'll be like, hey, go back to your country.

10:11No, you're not from here. And then I get here and they're like, hey, go back to your country. We know you're not from here. So I was just kind of like 13 at this point. I'm like, so what's going on? Like where, where do I run? You know, I, you know, it's funny because coming from Southern California, I was born in Southern California and I moved here when I was nine. But I got a lot of that too, just in Nashville. Cause I wore like Stussy clothes and Quicksilver. Cause I grew up like at the beach. You know, so I moved here and people were like, you're different, you know, and school mean kids are mean. Kids are mean. Yeah. And I, in turn was mean. You find your spot, you find what you love and then y'all clicks in. It was, it was perfect transition. Good. So you, you're in New York now, you learned how to order a slice of pizza. How did you get into the hospitality industry? That's a funny story. So I was about 15 years old and I need a job. I just, I always want to, I'm very active, right? I need a job.

11:14And I decided to go to the restaurant row, the famous restaurant row in Hell's kitchen. And I walk up and down, there's about what? 40 restaurants in one block. I walked up and down, up and down until I pick one. It's like, Ooh, this is it. This is the restaurant I want to wash dishes for. This is worthy enough. And I went in and applied for this washer job. I ended up with a busboy job. So I was like, all right, Boston tables it is. It happened to be one of Joe Bastianich restaurants, Beko, where little did I know, you know, they pretty much building me to who I am. Like the first restaurant still is my home, if that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. So what was the, was there like a, I've used, asked this question before. Was there like a seminal moment that you had, like when you were in there, that just, you kind of just went this, this is for me, like where you just felt at home? Yeah, dude, you get there and everybody that works in the hospitality business, you know, you, you walk into a restaurant, it's a different feeling. You, you get to talk, Hey, how you doing? You catch up with your buddies. You're like, so you're telling me I can eat, hang out, learn and get paid. Like I'm going nowhere.

12:38So you found this camaraderie there and did you move up from there? Were you always a busboy there? Oh dude, it took me, with this personality, it took me about a month, about a month later. They put me through food running and I was a terrible food runner. Let me tell you, I will stay at the tables and be like, Oh, you like some more wine or you like some cheese. We have these, I was in love with Italian food. If you haven't figured it out yet. So I'm like, Hey, we have this amazing pasta special. Make sure you get it. And the manager is like, all right, dude, can you, can you just be off the server then? Like you suck as a runner. And so you went to be a server. Yeah. So I got to do the whole serving for a couple of years in Broadway. Nice. And when did you get into, when did you start working in the kitchen? Shortly after I realized I was a terrible server because I always hang out in the kitchen. You know, I was like hanging out with the boys in the bag, like, Hey, show me how you cook that steak. Hey, let me try that sorbet. Hey, you know, and then I'll get in trouble with the manager. Like, Hey, dude, you do kind of really are a bad server. Well, yeah, it's funny because Nick, Nick Guidry, you were telling me, you were listening to this episode that he's got the chef's bar that is, you know, kind of there at Pelican and Pig where people can sit at.

13:57And his idea was we'll have this, the chefs can wait on tables and they can make some extra money. Then he quickly realized he goes, chefs don't want to wait on tables. No, that's not their thing. Not a thing, not a thing. So that was fundamental. They decided to give me my real kitchen job. I went to Chef Jan George, Banker Easton, down in the meatpacking district. You know, at this point, he's a huge successful chef and I like, I want to work for that guy. So he's running, he's got what, 32 restaurants around the world. So I get a job as a prep cook at the Spice Market, right next to Chelsea Market. And let me tell you, that's, I still have nightmares of that place. The prep was insane. The skill level required. I haven't seen it in Nashville even, you know, it was bulk and finesse all together. We would push, I don't know what, 1,600 covers on a Tuesday.

15:03And we had to make diamonds at a watermelon for service among prep. Like, yeah, that was a quiet experience, you know, got to work in that. I would say that's one of the most aggressive kitchens I've experienced and worked, had a pleasure working in. Do you think everybody to be successful in the kitchen needs to work in a kitchen that just pumps out more food than's possibly able to do? Like, does everybody have to work in a place that is so challenging that they can overcome working almost anywhere else to be successful? That's a good question, you know, because I keep wishing I could go back to the Spice Market and prove this. But, you know, I'm not going to say I was the best there. I did good. But I keep wishing I could go back, but they're no longer there. But that's my- But now you've got, you got a little chops now and you want to go back to show, hey, look, I'm not that kid that I was back then. Yeah, I used to try to peel the lunga with a peeler and my knuckles told me that was definitely a mistake, you know, but they were letting me learn, learn the hard way. I mean, you know, I think that back in the day with like when I was at Creation Gardens and I told the story with Monty that it was a Mother's Day and somebody slashed our tires on the trucks and we had Mother's Day graduation. And, you know, you just have to go just a thousand percent for like eight, ten hours in a row. And back then it was seven days a week, nonstop. And it was just more work than I could possibly handle. But I overcame and did it, which then for the rest of my career so far, I've just been kind of chasing that level of insanity. And I kind of want I miss it. I need it. It's almost like a drug. Well, yeah, and I am very glad that I got to obviously the end of that industry, however you will say it, because it's different now. It's not kitchens don't run the

17:08same anymore. And it's a good thing. But definitely I'm glad I was able to be part of the last, I don't know, same brigade is the right word, but I was able to be part of that, you know, and experience it, which I agree with you. It makes you like, you know, you have that extra gear in you and you just you got it there. You're waiting for it. So when did you when did you move to Nashville in 2010? So from there, from the spice market, is that when you why did you move to Nashville? I guess is the question. It was more of my first, my first, my son was born and I was going wild in New York, you know, I would sleep in the subway because I had too much drink. They will wake up and it's like, Oh, shoot, I'm working a double. I got I'm just gonna go back in the same subway, you know, and clock into my shift. And that seemed to be becoming a little bit of a pattern. So all right, it's time to pack it up and go, you know, my brother lived here. So it was easier to get a room. And I ended up at the Bluegrass Country Club as a first job, which all my knife skills that I had learned really didn't pay off. Because back then it was maple glazed pork loin with sweet potato mash is seeing catfish, you know, and so that was kind of what I walked into. That's easy to make. Yeah, after the Bluegrass, I went on to I was about 25 now. And I was able to I landed a job as a sous chef, eventually, executive chef of Foxland Country Club, where I had a really good run. However, So I want to jump back here real quick. I want to interrupt you. But you, you said that you moved to Nashville, you had a child. And when did you have a child? Like, I mean, that's a big part of it. How old were you? I was 20 20. Yeah. 20 years old. Well, yeah, I mean, I've been wild, you know,

19:10so 20 years when it happened. Okay. And then so you had a kid where you did you have a girlfriend, your girlfriend moved with you, you married? Yeah, yeah. So the girlfriend came over, she moved with me to Nashville. And I came working, you know, making a good $13 an hour back then, and trying to make in life. But you know, you're young, you got to start somewhere. And then I came going up the ladder, right? As the more you the more you know, the more you work. And then eventually, Fox and Harbor, Fox and Harbor, which was the first executive shop, it landed at the age of 2526. Which, you know, I felt pretty accomplished. I was happy. I was on top of the world, in my own little world, of course. And I was like, all right, I'm going in the right direction. But here's where the story gets a little interesting. About a month and a half, two months into the job, the wife, the ex wife wakes up, and she tells me she no longer wants to be part of a family. And she no longer wants to be a mom. So what, what, so you know, you try to process this. And I remember it was a Sunday morning. And you have two kids now. And now we have two kids, we have, I'm gonna say a five year old and an 18 month old baby girl.

20:42She wakes up and says, I don't want to be a mom. And I don't be a wife. Correct. She's like, and you gotta think we met back in New York when we were both wild. So I guess one grew up, one didn't. So she took off and left. And I'm here trying to figure out how to do a job. And then sinking in and like, holy cow, this is real. And my first thoughts were, I gotta go punch it in order. You know, and then I guess I was just processing the reality. So it was just dark, dark hole. So I want to get back to that. So you get, you get, is it a phone call? She calls you and says, Hey, I don't, I don't want to be a mom. Don't want to be a no, no, no, she, she woke up. She woke up one morning and I guess maybe she just, she had to say it, you know. Was your first thought anger? Were you just mad? What went through your brain? No, it wasn't anger, dude. It was, I saw it coming, you know, there's, and I was just more shocked, but my brain the whole time was thinking, and I need to hustle. I cannot stop. Rather than saying, asking why I was more thinking, let's go. All right. Let's do this. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. There's no hesitation. Would that be inspected? You're 26 years old. You're the executive chef at Fox and Harbor. You've got all this creativity. You're trying to put every ounce of your being into being the best chef you can possibly be. And then your wife says all of this in your transitioning, go. Go. Let's go.

22:26There were some dark moments, but the first thing, first thing I did, and a lot I did, I promised to my five year old, I was like, Hey dude, we're going to be fine. And that ain't going to drink a single drop of beer, alcohol, none of that, because I knew that was a problem. I knew that's what led to all this. So I promised my kid, like, Hey dude, uh, we're going to pull through and sobers away. So it was about a year, man. I would not even taste. It was that big of a promise. You know, I would not, I would not taste. And we had a good run at Foxland. We did great food. I had a wonderful sous chef. I learned under Josh Tomaski and, you know, we made our pasta. We were proud. We make our emulsions. We based it and we cook. I remember we even had some sea bass back then. Can you believe that? Like that's I haven't even had sea bass in a while, but we were doing great things. And I'm glad I did.

23:29I'm glad I chose to stay sober or more than anything. I was like, I need friends. And my sous chef at the time, uh, Josh Davis, he's a Hattors now, you know, and the crew, they're all very supportive. And on top of that, I reached out to chef Garrett Piddler, uh, who was, what is it? City winery. Right now he's, uh, all red. All red. Yeah. And then I also met one of my best friends, uh, Brandon Frone between chef Garrett and Brandon. I knew they have gone through something similar. So even though we were not friends, I had to give him a call and they, they took the phone call and they talked to me and they gave me advice. And the advice was, cause I asked, I'm like, so do I, can I become your prep cook? And you can just pay me X amount of money so I can come home to the kids. And their advice, both of them were now, dude, don't stop. Keep pushing. Things will be fine.

24:30Uh, you have a bright future ahead of you. Don't put it behind. Like don't jump into different careers. Just keep pushing. And I'm glad I called both of them, you know? That's so mature for somebody at your age to reach out for help like that. I mean, so many people, chefs, people in the industry, there's so much pride of I can do this. I'm just going to power through, but the vulnerability to call people that kind of had the similar situation that you knew of to ask for help. I mean, that's just, that's just amazing. And it was everything that you needed. Yeah, yeah, definitely. That's, uh, you know, after that things started getting better. Uh, it can only be so bad, right? Uh, but the problem is though, so I'm trying to do this job at an early age and then it comes alive with it. So there was running to the daycare. Before the daycare, you gotta get the kids to dress. Uh, one of them happens to be a girl, so you gotta learn how to do pigtails or ponytails at least. And then you gotta come back home, pack some lunches so I can go with the babysitter. And then on top of this, you still gotta make fresh pasta. You still gotta run the squid and taco you've been thinking of all week. Uh, and you know, it only lasts, when things get bad, it'll be okay eventually, you know?

26:00And there's a happy ending so far to all this. Uh, I, a couple years later, uh, this beautiful girl came in and applied for a carbon gem position at the Foxland and I didn't think much of it. I said, oh great, I can, I got a staff, you know, getting staff was difficult. So little did I know she was soon to become my, uh, my wife and we now have a baby girl together. She has a beautiful kid of her own, which is my kid as well, and then my two kids. So now we have a family of six and an 80 pound golden retriever. That's awesome, man. Congratulations. That's just like, that's everything. I love hearing that. So you, did you guys work together? Yeah. You and your, um, your wife and that didn't, you didn't, you didn't want to continue working together, right? No, no, no. It was, all these were a lot of happiness, but it was also very, there's a lot of drama, you know, let's be honest, uh, the hospitality business, everybody knows everybody's business. And I was like, okay, uh, I think it'll be best if I take another step on the different direction, which was something I've been meaning to do, which was to actually join and cook for Hillwood contract club, which I couldn't be happier about.

27:30I, I got to, uh, cook with chef, uh, Patrice, uh, poppy, which, you know, he, if you know poppy, you know, his personality and he's cool French, you know, um, I love everything about the Hillwood country club kitchen. Chef Perry seal was there. It was great. Yeah. Um, right now, Mark, Mark, way field, you know, he's, uh, it's hard. He's, he's the hardest chef to read. Let me tell you that I love Mark, but you don't know if he's pissed at you. You don't know if he likes the food. You don't, you don't know, man. He's just straight up. He's just hard. I could not read him. Super nice guy. And then, and then as soon as his little kid walks in the kitchen, he's the happiest dad in the world. His knowledge of fish. My God. Yes. Seafood is unbelievable what he knows. He knows which way the fish is swimming right now. It's out of control. I asked him one time, I said, what kind of salmon is that? And like 45 minutes later, I was like, I now know more about salmon than I've ever wanted to know, but it was awesome. And he's, he's like that. He's a, he goes like, he is like professional fisher. So he goes out every morning at like four o'clock in the morning and fishes for three hours and then comes and works a 12 hour day.

28:54You know, Colin, Colin Messner, who was, we shared titles of sous chefs back in Hillwood and him and I always loved to go listen to his lineups and we'll come back to the kitchen going, dude, did you just hear that? Like, are you serious? We're like, he went on and talked about fish for 10 minutes and we're talking, you know, like just oysters or clams and locations and what they eat. And we're like, bro, we got like, we got a long way to go. What an awesome, what an awesome experience working at Hillwood Country Club. I just love that kitchen. I love everything about it. Patrice being in the kitchen, his personality, and then Josh came back when Josh came back was super exciting. And then your, your energy in that kitchen, I imagine it was like a dream job. It was, man. We were able to get our stuff down. It was good, man. It was a, it was one of the best runs, one of the happiest moments, you know, working there and the club itself, they, they take care of you. So it's hard not to, you know. Yeah. No. And so that prepped you for what you're currently doing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So how did that come about? It was, it was out of the blue. I think the whole nectar thing is Brando's, Brando's front fault. He gave my number to Bruce Fields and Hunter Hegeson and they were to stop calling. So eventually I had to come meet with them. We had lunch and you got to think I'm, I'm doing, I'm very happy at Hillwood. So there's no reason of leaving. And then they keep calling and I said to myself, well, might as well go get a free lunch and smash a margarita. It makes sense.

30:48And you've seen the kitchen at Hillwood and nectar is, I'm not even, you know, there's numbers I can describe. It's Hillwood's huge. I walk in this kitchen and I'm like, oh, there's a flat top. All right. This will be fun. And, but there's a reason I took the job. You know, the main reason was to showcase my food. I had a great time making pasta. I have a passion for it. But I've always, always, always end up making family meal, which was Mexican food and watching from the house, enjoy it. I was like, dude, I don't even know what I'm doing. And they're enjoying it because I don't really know how to cook Mexican food. Like I took this job without knowing how to cook Mexican food because, you know, I, when you're working in restaurants, you eat, you cook at the restaurants. So necessarily I wasn't trained to work Mexican food. But yeah, just watching the family meal will be successful and they're enjoying it. And they're like, oh, hey Julio, can you make family meal again? Like, yeah, okay. No, we created a monster, you know.

31:56So that's what made me take this job. I wanted to show people more of what is Mexican food. Of course it comes with its limitations and territory. You got to look and find your clientele. And I think we did, you know, necessarily it's not full on Mexican food, but we can, it's closer than Hillwood Country Club, you know? Oh, sure. Yeah. So, I mean, you just, you're a guy who has a passion for life. It seems to me like everything you're doing, you seek out people that have energy and you want to share your energy and you have a love for food and the food that you make. I mean, the presentation of how you do that, were you ever an artist? Like, did you draw? How did you do what you do? I'm very good at that. I stop at stick figures and there's no drawing skills whatsoever. It's just, it's in my, oh, I think a lot of chefs can relate. It's in stuck in your head and it's in your head and you just got to get it out somehow. And thankfully cooking is what I do and I'm able to express what's in my head and I'm always, you know, thinking of the next thing to do, which one of those things was the guest chef series that Nectar had last year.

33:19We had a good run with it. We did a five guest chef work. We started that just for fun, see what would happen. I ended up making five best friends out of it, you know? Yeah, so that's something I did want to talk to you about. You do a guest chef series and I've always said to my wife, because I haven't had this conversation with anybody else, that if I had a restaurant, I would want to bring other chefs in as a series where we would have like their influence for a night because how cool would that be to build your community around other local chefs? And then I saw you guys doing it and I was like, yes, yes, but there's no, the competitive nature of I'm going to have you in my kitchen. We're going to share this. It embodies every single thing that is hospitality. It's bringing other chefs in. It's talking. It's building that friendship and then creating food for your community to enjoy. And you nailed it. You had chef Hal Holdenbech.

34:24Oh yeah, which he held a tortilla class in the middle of his guest chef series. He had kids making tortillas. He had just guests making tortillas. They were pressing them and putting them on the flat top. And that to me was priceless. I'm like, I have the one only making tortillas with everybody else at Nectar. Like what else can you ask for, you know? It sounds like paradise. We had Josh Cook and chef Katie from Husk come over. Let me tell you, they blew it up. It was crazy. We had people that were just driving by and they saw the name Husk and they're like, oh, oh, like we're not even hungry, but we're here. We're going to buy it. Period. I had Joey Multini. He did this amazing cochinita pibil. That was crazy. I had one of my best friends, Ravi Manzanava. He did dry aged ribeyes over hickory wood and fresh tortillas. And then Brandon Frohn did a to start up and try to set the bar on fire by the end of the night. That happened. I didn't want to ask that. That's another story. But yeah, we, we, we try to set the bar on fire. So it comes with profitability all these men.

35:49I just think the guest chefs, the vibe, Nectar. Tell me about the actual restaurant itself, like the outdoor area and the whole thing. Well, I'm glad you asked. I really just want to, I don't know if you guys got a shout out, like the ownership here makes you want to work here. They own it. They, and by saying they own it, they get down and dirty and they work and they push hard and they hustle. I remember the morning we woke up from the tornado. We had just done Cushon 555 downtown. So the whole staff was tired. We had hustled for that and we said to ourselves, we're taking a break. We wake up and it's tornado time. It's like, Holy cow, this really happened. And it happened about two minutes away from Nectar and being a community, like you said, a community restaurant, uh, the ownership, uh, Hunter, Bruce and Tina, their first text message at eight in the morning. We're like, Hey, do we have enough chicken? Do we have enough tortillas, steak to get the taco truck out and feed people? Um, before I replied, my sous chef, Jose replied, he's like already cooking chicken.

37:06So that was wild, man. It was crazy. Uh, obviously, you know how that look and and it took about five minutes. The truck was loaded. He had food and we did two runs every day of the week. We fed about 500 people a day and brought waters and a lot. You have no idea, man. Like I got here. I have a couple of times just watching people and their houses are destroyed and they see this taco truck rolling down and they're like, Oh, forget about the house. Let's go eat tacos. I was like, yeah, it's a little bit of happiness, right? That's so amazing, man. I talked to Hunter briefly on another episode. We kind of talked about this, but just the, the community response. And again, if there's one thing I want this show to know is that locally owned and operated restaurants is where you need to be eating. That's where you need to be going to get these type experiences because these are the first responders. This happens. You guys get out there literally at eight o'clock in the morning. The next day you're out there feeding people who lost their homes. I mean, that's, that's like saintly, man. Yeah, it was crazy. And then keep in mind there's nothing going on. There's nothing available. People are confused and the restaurants back too. So it was a very busy week, you know, and we had people charging their phones and I come to the office. We have outlets. We have people.

38:36I actually ended up paying an Uber ride for a lady who was like, Hey, I just don't have any money. I need to get across town. Would you give me some cash? And like, I'll put you in a cab. I'll call you an Uber. She's like, Oh, thank you so much. And just, we were just acting on it. There was, there was no book. There was no green card to follow. It was just, this is the right thing to do. Let's do it. So you're at the, you're at the restaurant right now. And we're getting ready for Cinco de Mayo. I don't know if it's hard to know nowadays with everything going on, but being Cinco de Mayo, I think we are going to be able to bring a lot of good feelings out there for the community today. You know, forget about the problems going on around the world and just enjoy, have a little get together today at home, enjoy some tacos back and have a relaxing day today, you know? So that's what you guys, you guys are doing tacos. Do you have any special menu for Cinco de Mayo? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We, we today we're doing a little preview of what's coming. So we have, I have this passion, right? I have a passion, just like corn. I started a little page and it's not a business. It's more of a, I want to showcase what corn can do. The next mile process of making tortillas.

40:06Maiz de la Vida. Maiz de la Vida. So right now I have a meal that is being built in Mexico that should be here in about five weeks. And this guy is going to open the doors to a whole new Mexican scene. You know, there's a, as a Mexican chef, I look around and I'm like, which was my favorite Mexican restaurant in Nashville? And by Mexican, I mean authentic. Like where is my grandma at? And I can find it. There's good spots. There's places that are close to it, but it's just not it. And I'm like, what's missing? What's the one piece missing in the puzzle? And I, well, Mexican food's a lot of labor as it is. It's labor intensive. So you're making tortillas and all the different. Well, even take away the tortilla making, just making Mexican food, it's labor intensive, you know, making it happens. A lot of braising. It's a lot of just a lot of seasoning. We're not shy on the seasoning. So there's no time to go make tortillas for eight hours. There's no time to make masa. And it's like, what if I can produce a masa and let other chefs shine?

41:24Um, so because of this nectar is going to be the one spot where we're going to start producing this, uh, putting out real Mexican food. And we still got, I mean, the chicken taco here, it's by far Mexican food. It's, it's pretty close. I eat a lot of those a day, but I want to produce something authentic as well. Kind of best of both worlds, because I have a passion for, uh, what Nectar Cantina has, the, uh, fresh and healthy and the Mexican, and then I have a passion for authentic Mexican. Uh, so yeah, I'm planning to do a few, uh, events out of Nectar. Uh, I met this great guy, Edgar Victoria. Uh, he's going to do a guest chef, uh, pop up in here and we're going to keep a curbside. So, but the idea is legit, legit original Mexican food. And I think that we can start showing people some of that.

42:31So you just said you grew up in Mexico and you had, your grandmother used to make food that was authentic Mexican food that just brings you back. That is like everything to you. And you cannot find that in Nashville. No, no, no, you cannot. You cannot find it in Nashville. You've met another chef, um, and Edward Edgar, and he and you are going to make food like your grandmother made coming up soon in a guest chef series at Nectar Urban Cantina. That's right. And you know, it's, uh, yes, please. Yeah. That's, that's what we're shooting for. And that's the beginning of other projects, but yeah, definitely. When's that going to happen? We don't have a date down yet, uh, or more than like the beginning of June. Um, right now we're drafting a next pop-up, which is going to be called, uh, friends and amigos with a whole COVID-19 thing going on. We're not trying to gather too many people.

43:40So we're just going to do, uh, friends and amigos with people that work here. Uh, possibly, uh, my house, you know, we're already here every day together. So we're just going to smash some tortillas and forget about what's going on around. So, wow, man. So it's hard to believe with that story that you're only 30. Uh, you have had an action packed three decades of your life. What are you anticipating for your thirties? What's, what's in your next stage? I'm obviously making the tortillas, really working towards de la vida and focusing on, thank you, working on, um, just, just creating authentic Mexican food and really continuing to improve everything at Nectar Urban Cantina. But what about you personally? What, anything that you want to do? What do you see for your thirties? Are you excited? Are you, do you feel like you're getting old? No, I'm not getting old at all. I don't feel old, you know, even though I go home and I see four kids and I'm like, I must be 40, you know, easy. No. So they still looking forward for besides the food and all this. Uh, I want to go back to Mexico for a few weeks and just relax. That's one thing I want to do. I want to show, uh, I want to show Emma, um, my soon to be wife, uh, what I always brag about because she's never been, she has no clue. So obviously that's going to have to wait till things are able to happen, but that's really what I'm looking forward for, man. Just taking, taking a break and going back to the beginning.

45:26Well, you certainly have, uh, worked hard and I commend you for stepping up to the challenge. Not a lot of people would respond the way that you did when you get put in that situation and asking for help and really buckling down. I love the idea of just not drinking and focusing on, on your family and success has come and I love it. And I wish you nothing, but more of that. With that being said, man, to anybody listening, I'm here. Everybody's here. All you gotta do is ask. Everybody's willing to help. You know, there's, uh, it's, if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to talk. Uh, you know, I'm sure everybody calls you. You'll have the time to talk and it's easier this way. I, it's one of the main reasons I wanted to do this podcast was really to, to help people with perspective and to tell people stories out there so that other people can hear them and say, Hey, they're not too dissimilar to me that you're not alone. No, not at all. Not at all. So, so thank you so much, man. Go enjoy your 30th birthday.

46:41Thank you so much for joining us here on Nashville restaurant. We have finally got you your episode 32. Oh, finally got you on. We got it. We here, man. You got me on a busy day. I'm gonna go set up a clayota station. I'm about to go set up a tortilla station and we're going live at 11. So you're listening to this. We'll be here till I believe because of eight, uh, it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a fun day. Go now Cinco de Mayo. Go wish Julio happy birthday. Go by there, take him balloons, make him ridiculously embarrassed and like do whatever you can go by Nectar urban Cantina today. Cinco de Mayo, buy lots of tacos and be happy. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It's a good day. We gotta, we gotta have fun, man. Thank you so much again, Julio for being here. All right, brother. And I'll love you, dude. I'll see you soon. Take care. I mean, what more can you say? Julio Hernandez, what an awesome guy. Thank you, Chef, for coming on Nashville Restaurant Radio. And if you're out there listening to this and it is Cinco de Mayo, please go over there today. Buy lots of tacos.

47:52He's starting to make this fresh milled corn tortillas to go with the tacos today. I dare you, if you want something authentic and amazing, go check it out. And seriously, take him balloons, do something to embarrass him. Let him know it's his 30th birthday. What a special milestone. What an amazing guy. Thank you all so much for listening today and I hope that you have a safe and happy Cinco de Mayo. If you're listening to this on a different day, hopefully that day is amazing to you. And I hope that you are staying safe and healthy. Love you guys. Bye.