December 17, 2020 • 29 mins
What’s Her Story with Sam & Amy talks to Daniela Soto-Innes, the youngest woman to be named World’s Best Female Chef by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Daniela brings her trademark work ethic to all that she does, from her childhood as a competitive swimmer to opening two hit restaurants before she turned 30. She shares her recipe for building a great team and how she kept her restaurants thriving in the pandemic. Tune in to hear about the rise of a world renowned culinary star.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, I'm Sam Ennis and I'm Amy Nelson. Welcome to
What's Her Story? With Sam and Amy. This is a
show about the world's most remarkable women. They're professional and
personal journeys. Together, we'll hear from gold medalists, best selling authors,
and leaders of the world's most iconic brands. Today, we're
so excited to introduce you to the world's best female chef,
(00:23):
Daniella Soto NS who heads up Cosme at La, and Elio. Danielle.
Thank you so much for so How are you such
a successful chef and so world renowned at such a
young age. I don't know. I just work and then
(00:44):
I happen to have the opportunity to talk with people
like you are amazing and I can share my story
and hear other people's stories, and um, just work a
lot and be happy doing so. In reading your story,
(01:05):
you gigrated to the US when you were twelve. I
want to know about that piece of your life. What
was that like? Oh gosh, well, my mom told us
that we were going shopping to Houston and then we
never came back. I'm from Mexico City and Mexico City
was just not doing very good and it was a
(01:28):
dangerous place, uh to live in. And I'm one of
three sisters, and I my parents wanted just a safer
place for us and they're they're used to both practice
law in Mexico, and we moved to Houston. I was twelve,
(01:49):
my other sister was thirteen, and my older sister was sixteen.
We definitely had a culture shop. It was completely different.
We went from going to private school to public school
and like huge school. Uh. But also, um, we grew
up doing sports, a lot of sports. My dad was
(02:09):
also he before law, he was basketball player, and we
grew up just playing basketball and swimming a lot and
being very competitive in sports. So when we moved to
the US, the sports were just like a whole different level.
So that was what like really kept us happy and
(02:31):
really kept us discipline, the three because the three of
us together we're just like, I don't know how to
say it in English, like we're like the Tasmanian devil.
And you were a competitive swimmer, yes, Like I grew
up my three sisters. My sister Carla, the oldest one,
(02:52):
was actually the best one of us. She was like
the fastest like Mexican swimmer at her age, and she
hated competing, and when I moved to the US, I uh,
we just needed to do sports, and swimming was a
huge part of us. And I swam until a band
(03:13):
of high school and I had to pick whether it
was cooking or swimming when I was going to pursue.
And I do think there is some similarity between being
a competitor and as an athlete and then being at
the top of your field as a professional. How did
those skills translate for you? It's everything Like growing up
(03:38):
with sports teaches you how to be disciplined and depend
on a team. You know, you have to be part
of a good team in order for you to excel,
and you have to care for others and you have
to make sure that we'll all go at the same time.
And it doesn't like different positions are always good. It's
(03:58):
not that another issue is better. So that for me
gave me the structure of you know, transferring into the kitchen. Um.
Now what I do in the kitchen is the same thing,
you know, like a dishwasher is the most important position
in the kitchen. You know, the and I always talk
about it like if it was like a game or
(04:20):
a UM we call it cancha like a football field.
You know, you always have to make sure that you
know you're looking at the person that you want to
make you know the contact with, and they can already
follow your movements even though you're not speaking. So I
when I started cooking, I saw that it was completely
(04:40):
different in this field. It was the woman were on
pastry and the men where you know, with the touching,
the hot pants and the chefs most of the time
where all men. And I said like, this is so weird.
This is not how I grew up or my essence.
So that every time I cook, I think of that.
(05:04):
I think of, you know, having that feeling of becoming
a child again and becoming and having that you know,
excellence that you have of just being a good teammate.
And I think it was the best thing that happened
to me to do sports. So you get there and
you find out, hold on, why are why are women
(05:25):
being put in this one area and men are being
put in another? How did you react to that? I
just worked. I worked towards a goal, and my goal
was always to be the one that brought the team
together and be the one that had this idea of
let's do this because it works. Let's just even though
(05:48):
I was the little the little one that will I
was always the youngest one in the kitchen, and I
will always say, like, if we all care for this person,
it's just going to work, and everybody will look at
me crazy, but then the team will be better. So
I focused every I said to myself, everywhere that I go,
I am going to bring this energy to the places,
(06:10):
the energy of being able to have that conjunction with everyone,
not just yourself. Daniela, you got your first internship cooking
when you were fourteen. Yes, I was really young, really really,
but I think I started working in restaurants younger. But
(06:32):
we shouldn't even talk about that because that was not
you know, I was not supposed to be working. I
was supposed to be in swim practice. But how did
that even happen? How did you get there? My parents
were going through a divorce because my dad said, listen,
I can't be in the United States. My law firm
(06:53):
is in Mexico. So they get divorced. And when they
get divorced, my sisters and I didn't want to ask
my mom for a meeting because you know, we felt
bad and we didn't know the situation because my mom
would never say anything bad about my dad. So I said, okay,
So we started working. We said we were going to
be in practice, and we would just like have like
(07:15):
the little jobs that you know, like little kids have,
I guess and now that I see them, like how
did somebody even give us a job? You know, it's
like so bad. And then they got back together like
eight months later and they got remarried on all of
these crazy crazy but ever since then we were like,
(07:36):
I think we have to be responsible for our own
actions and if we want nice things, we need to
be able to afford it ourselves. And then I got
my first opportunity in an internship when I was fourteen
um at a hotel and then I continue being there
until fifteen sixteen, and I was a little girl in
(07:59):
in in the tell that was really excited about everything.
I will like follow the chef after work and I
would be like how did you do that? And they
will be so weird it out that I was so interested, uh,
and they're like why, Like I was, like, I watched
issues Like for me, cooking is not about making a
sauce or like a turkey for Thanksgiving. For me, cooking
(08:22):
is about the flowers that go on the table, the
conversations that go around, you know, like the type of
glass that I'm serving with the type of silver, where
Like how does the material of the plate feels? Like
about how many careers I can have within one place?
Because cooking is about, you know, the habit of combebeting
(08:44):
English is like being with somebody, like having a family.
That for me is cooking. And now for a quick break,
how did you meet Riquevera? You know who you worked for?
Like how did you meet the chefs that you trained
with earlier in your here? So I met Enrique in
New York. Then I heard that Enrique was in town
(09:08):
doing a dinner with another chef, and they asked me.
They invited me to that dinner. And when I was
having dinner and Rique said high and I said, funny,
I'm going to Mexico's city in a couple of weeks.
And he said, oh, perfect, I'll be there tomorrow. That
night he said, oh, you should come to the restaurant
(09:28):
and check it out. And um. Then I stayed there
for one day in the kitchen and I said, this
is all the cooking I did growing up, you know,
with my grandma and my great grandmama and mother. But
it's not what I do what I used to do
as French Italian and you know, American cooking. And one
week became a month, one month became two months, three
(09:52):
months until six months. And this was a non paid
internship that I was doing. What I said, like, I love,
you know, just cooking so much, and it's just an
investment of like what I really wanted to do in
the future. I didn't want to lose my green cards.
I said, you can't have to go back. I'm going
(10:12):
to New York to find a chef shop somewhere. I uh,
I need to do this for myself. And I feel
like I'm starting to get very comfortable here. And um
he said, do you want to move with this project
and you can be the chef and I said yes.
The next day, I was already New York and when
I got here, it was the oldest strip club in
(10:36):
New York. And I said to myself, this is what
happens to me, for getting too excited, never asking enough questions,
like I'm freaking out, and I remember feeling like my
world was falling apart until they told me later, Oh no,
it's going to be a restaurant. Don't worry. We're going
to fix it. So from there too. When the restaurant
(10:57):
opened was one year. Uh, I have no idea how
to open a restaurant in New York. None of us did.
And it was just kind of like Google will tell
you absolutely every single answer, and this is you know,
I know this can be possible. I will just look
(11:18):
it up and find out how to do it. And
that's how we did it. We just kind of questions
were you putting into Google? Just everything like how to
fix this on the toilet? Like how what's the h
B A C? Like what like where can I find
this refrigeration system? Where can you know? And it was
(11:39):
literally like just if you want something, you just have
to find out how to do it. And it was
just kind of like, Okay, well it's going to be
really really hard. I've never done this before, but if
I don't try, you know, every single year up to
now has been like that, like a new thing. It's
(11:59):
like how to do it? I don't know, We'll figure
it out. Would you stop to dry now? With which restaurants?
This case? Me with me? Okay, Wow, it was case
me and then after that two years later, three years later,
I became a partner um with them, and then we
opened out La and then um we have Alo in
(12:24):
Vegas and it's being definitely a learning experience every day.
You've talked a lot about team and told us a
lot about the restaurants. But one thing, Um that I
know to be true about you is that you are
known for building incredible teams in your restaurants that are
very welcoming two immigrant communities. Can you talk about that
(12:47):
and also talk about how we as guests at restaurants
can can help build communities that are inclusive of everyone too.
We noticed that most of Latin people all that we're
working in the best restaurants in New York were not
the main server, or they were on the back, or
(13:10):
they were not the actually they were not the chef.
And we said to ourselves, I think we have the
responsiblibility of maybe giving that opportunity and teaching people how
to feel good about having those positions, because it's you
know a lot of you know cooks that have trained
here in cosme as women. They say, no, I'm too
(13:34):
scared to take over that position. I'm not good enough
to be a sou chief. So everything that we do
is very uncommon from when you know, when somebody comes
into my kitchen and they don't know how to hold
a knife, and that is like a lot more responsibility
on the su chiefs or the chefs of how to
train these people. But if we don't teach them, who
(13:56):
else will? I think for us, it's just we genuinely
want everyone to excel at the same rate because we're
on the same field. I remember the only person, the
only American person in our team was Diana Alsar, beverage
director and she's from New York and she's amazing, and
she will tell us all the time, like guys, like,
(14:18):
you know this is not common, like this is really
you know, this is really weird. There must be so
many people who want to work for you. How what
kind of characteristics do you look for? And so many
higher when they're nice people, like when they're generally like
nice people that listen and you can tell when someone
(14:42):
is paying attention, and when they generally, uh, make a
mistake and they explain to you how they made the mistake,
and they are curious about how to make themselves better,
and it's one of the coolest things of you know,
be kaschef or being chief or leader is like watching
(15:03):
other people around you grow, Like what are they doing
and like how are they growing differently from you? And
what did they do in order for them to take
that extra step? Was it like was it something something
like an advice that you told them? Was it something
exciting that happened to them on their next restaurant that
(15:24):
they went to, or they moved to Mexico or they
moved to back to their country. You know, I think
it's like the most fun thing to watch. How has
the pandemic affected your business? I know that you had
plans to open two new restaurants last summer that we're
(15:44):
put on hold. What had that been like for you?
Everything happened to fast where like all the restaurants closed
without like any warning, without anything. The scariest part always
is your team, like what is going to happen? Like
how are we going to do it? Rent is fifty
dollars from one restaurant or you know, and it's just
(16:07):
just thinking how to make it work for your team always.
But then it's like if we don't have a restaurant later,
how is your team going to have a job. Later,
Cosmo was closed for almost seven months, always closed for
one month because we had to go platform. And it's
those kind of risks that you don't want to take,
(16:29):
you know, you don't you say, we're not doing food
to go from the beginning. Now everything your whole world
just changed to like you must do that to go platform.
And that's the thing about the world. There is always
going to There was always a war, there was always
kind of depressure, and there was always a virus in
(16:49):
every like decade or two or three. Our minds know
how to do evolution, like how to evolve, how to
adapt because we have to, you know, so every day
is a change, even from a change of menu from
the guests that are coming in. We changed the restaurant
(17:10):
to only have a capacity, but we were able to
have a different experience, um and we learned a lot
from that. We learned, you know that sometimes we like
a slower pace. And now for a quick break, how
have you evolved as a leader of the team. Oh
(17:32):
my god, it was definitely slow down and just how
do you give directions to your team differently in a
more like slower pace. And maybe someone will just move up,
you know, from that, maybe they don't need someone to
be next to them at all times. I've always had
(17:55):
the habit of talking to the team, but now it's
more it's my job is more to make sure that
everyone is okay to work, not just health wise. My
job right now just listening and understanding what to do
next and how to revolve from this. How did you
(18:15):
make those difficult decisions about who to keep and whether
to pay your team even though they weren't working. From
the different exercises that we do of how the person
developed through the years that they were with us, you
have to see who had the higher grades, and from there,
(18:36):
like you call your team, you know, and you have
around a round b rounds, and you have to make
those decisions, and it's really hard. It's really really hard,
and it puts you in a position that you don't
ever want to be. You put yourself into a situation
where if there is not a restaurant, there are no jobs,
(18:57):
there will be zero jobs instead of twenty jobs. So
you have to be able how to explain that. And
I think at the beginning, employees just everywhere in like
the world didn't understand these changes that the company we're having,
but they're more that they're aware of the news. When
(19:18):
they're more educated about what's happening out there, now they understand.
So you've even named the best female chelf in the world,
which is amazing. Um, And I mean, is there a
best male chelf award? I know, right at the beginning,
(19:38):
I didn't want to take it because I was really
Hessy doant that. I've always been like, like, you know,
we're the same and there's no difference, especially in cooking,
like or like others. You know, it's kind of like
a And then the president of of fifty Beds she said, well,
when there is actually like the voting system actually has
(20:02):
more than three women on the top ten, we're going
to stop doing this a word because it's still the
people like women are not getting recognized. The kitten knows
that is traditionally the women's domains, So why wouldn't that
translate to having a lot of cap women chefs. It's ridiculous.
Everyone wants to know that. But I always think like
(20:23):
this kind of words are magnet for talent, and for me,
that's what it means, and that's it. The more that
I get to work with talented people and the more
that like you know, my name is other, so women
can feel empowered to have a job that provides for
other people or to be just an example, you know.
(20:47):
And I got that word, and I would receive letters
like hundreds, like thousands of letters from little girls like
Latin America about you know, like you I just enrolled
the culinary school, or I'm not going to coin as
soon because I cannot afford it, but one day I'm
going to visit you for me. If that, if that
a word takes somebody to push themselves in a row
(21:09):
to like believe in themselves and think that they can
do something, and they didn't feel that about themselves before that,
it's worth it. We usually end before Luke comes on
with some kind of rapid fire questions. Definitely more lighthearted
than a lot of this amazing conversation, but all begain.
Even if your nighttime routine is at two a m.
(21:30):
What is your nighttime routine before you go to bed?
My nighttime routine, Okay, so I drink a tea and
it depends on how I feel. I had like maybe
like hundreds of different types of teas and flowers, and
if I feel like you know, like I just need
to like mellow, I have a lot of flower teeth,
(21:51):
and then listen to good music and then to my
uh my phase routine. And then I got to see
who would be your dream guest in your restaurant to
cook for that you haven't yet had a chance to have,
Serina Williams, I heard that your favorite food is Mexican.
(22:14):
I don't understand where are you? It was Michelle Obama,
but I got to cook for her, So it was really,
what is your favorite cocktail? If it's cocktail? I love
ms Camma greeted too and Amy and I cannot wait
to visit your restaurants post COVID please. And here's Lulu
(22:40):
has been listening to this entire interview. He did not
do any research on you, so the only thing he
knows about you is when he's heard in this interview.
And he is going to ask our final question. Okay, hi, Hi,
don't make me nervous that um. Your story and and
(23:02):
how you came to glory reminds me of a conversation
I was having with a middle school friend who actually,
during the pandemic, she decided to just take the leap
of faith and and actually start her cooking business, and
and she's doing everything from home and she's so excited
about it and her passion and her excited. Her name
is Brenda Nora Alice. And when this comes out, I'm
(23:24):
gonna point her at this podcast so she can get
inspired by you, because she inspired me. And one of
her main things is she wants to make Haitian food
like a five star cuisine, you know, like French and
Italian food, you know, so it can like stand up there.
But um, my question is when you were talking about
(23:44):
just cooking as a general, you made it seem like
the universe, like it was way more than just simplified
a pan or you. And I want to know how
did you develop that perspective on cooking. What cultivated your
passion and desire for it. I think when you're touching
ingredients and when you're cooking, you're using your five cents,
(24:06):
and you're always aware of other things that sometimes you
don't notice. But when you can achieve the concentration of
what actually it means to a cook to just hold
that you know, squash into their hands and understand all
the work that goes behind that squash and what you
(24:26):
can do in order for these to taste so delicious.
It is your own world when when you cook for
a culture representation, you cook for more than yourself. It's
just your roots, and it's just goes so far beyond
you know what a dishes. And I think like it's
(24:48):
mostly about caring and on how you project that current
like that carrying into a dish or into a moment.
Thank you so much, Daniel, this isn't clean. Thank you.
I think what's so interesting is that she almost reminds
me of like the old school ways people used to
(25:08):
learn about a field. And not only is she an
incredible manager and an inspiring leader, but she also had
this attitude when she was just starting out that I
think it's hard to find. I remember, you know, when
I first started out as an assistant in Hollywood, is
my first job, like I would do anything to learn.
(25:28):
I was the first one in the office, the last
one to leave. I got my boss's copy, I went
and bottom closed when me meeting him, Like I was
just there to be a sponge and do anything, and
there was nothing someone could ask me to do that
that I wouldn't be just excited about. And I feel
like she because I wanted to learn an industry and
she she did that and look where it's taken her.
(25:51):
It's pretty amazing. And to herken back to another point
which you mentioned, which is the one that really stuck
with me, It is the management and leadership piece. I mean,
Danielle is twenty nine years old, and I feel like
she could lead a masterclass for all of us, whatever
industry we're in, on how to lead and how to manage.
She talked a lot about the power of team and
about how everyone is in it together and how every
(26:11):
person's role in the team matters so much. And I
think part of that is because she did She did
act as an apprentice essentially right in the kitchen, and
so she got to see all the different roles from
the bottom up. And one thing that's also really clear
about Daniella is that even when she was in what
you would call is the most junior role, perhaps you know,
starting in the kitchen when she was fourteen, it sounds
like she spoke up and that she advocated for others,
(26:33):
and I think just to have that as someone who
is able to model leadership is remarkable. Daniella definitely inspires
me to want to be a better leader and to
apply a lot more of what she explained. It's kind
of like the team athletics analogies to the workplace. I mean,
she she's she's really quite something. I can't wait to
(26:53):
see where she's going to be in ten years. Agreed, Well,
that was remarkable, and I'm also really excited to go
eat at her restaurants the next time we can head
to New York. I can't wait for us to eat
at her restaurants, which canna be so much fun. Thanks
for listening to What's Her Story with Sam and Amy.
We would so appreciate if you would leave a review
(27:15):
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(27:41):
my carphones, I promise I will try to make my
ears bigger. Mine like mine don't fit either, and they're
just driving me nuts and you can try flipping her
upside down. I read that's a cool trick to do.
You should have told me that an hour ago. Are
you kiddingstssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Hi, I'm Sam Ennis and I'm Amy Nelson. Welcome to
What's Her Story? With Sam and Amy. This is a
show about the world's most remarkable women. They're professional and
personal journeys. Together, we'll hear from gold medalists, best selling authors,
and leaders of the world's most iconic brands. Today, we're
so excited to introduce you to the world's best female chef,
(00:23):
Daniella Soto NS who heads up Cosme at La, and Elio. Danielle.
Thank you so much for so How are you such
a successful chef and so world renowned at such a
young age. I don't know. I just work and then
(00:44):
I happen to have the opportunity to talk with people
like you are amazing and I can share my story
and hear other people's stories, and um, just work a
lot and be happy doing so. In reading your story,
(01:05):
you gigrated to the US when you were twelve. I
want to know about that piece of your life. What
was that like? Oh gosh, well, my mom told us
that we were going shopping to Houston and then we
never came back. I'm from Mexico City and Mexico City
was just not doing very good and it was a
(01:28):
dangerous place, uh to live in. And I'm one of
three sisters, and I my parents wanted just a safer
place for us and they're they're used to both practice
law in Mexico, and we moved to Houston. I was twelve,
(01:49):
my other sister was thirteen, and my older sister was sixteen.
We definitely had a culture shop. It was completely different.
We went from going to private school to public school
and like huge school. Uh. But also, um, we grew
up doing sports, a lot of sports. My dad was
(02:09):
also he before law, he was basketball player, and we
grew up just playing basketball and swimming a lot and
being very competitive in sports. So when we moved to
the US, the sports were just like a whole different level.
So that was what like really kept us happy and
(02:31):
really kept us discipline, the three because the three of
us together we're just like, I don't know how to
say it in English, like we're like the Tasmanian devil.
And you were a competitive swimmer, yes, Like I grew
up my three sisters. My sister Carla, the oldest one,
(02:52):
was actually the best one of us. She was like
the fastest like Mexican swimmer at her age, and she
hated competing, and when I moved to the US, I uh,
we just needed to do sports, and swimming was a
huge part of us. And I swam until a band
(03:13):
of high school and I had to pick whether it
was cooking or swimming when I was going to pursue.
And I do think there is some similarity between being
a competitor and as an athlete and then being at
the top of your field as a professional. How did
those skills translate for you? It's everything Like growing up
(03:38):
with sports teaches you how to be disciplined and depend
on a team. You know, you have to be part
of a good team in order for you to excel,
and you have to care for others and you have
to make sure that we'll all go at the same time.
And it doesn't like different positions are always good. It's
(03:58):
not that another issue is better. So that for me
gave me the structure of you know, transferring into the kitchen. Um.
Now what I do in the kitchen is the same thing,
you know, like a dishwasher is the most important position
in the kitchen. You know, the and I always talk
about it like if it was like a game or
(04:20):
a UM we call it cancha like a football field.
You know, you always have to make sure that you
know you're looking at the person that you want to
make you know the contact with, and they can already
follow your movements even though you're not speaking. So I
when I started cooking, I saw that it was completely
(04:40):
different in this field. It was the woman were on
pastry and the men where you know, with the touching,
the hot pants and the chefs most of the time
where all men. And I said like, this is so weird.
This is not how I grew up or my essence.
So that every time I cook, I think of that.
(05:04):
I think of, you know, having that feeling of becoming
a child again and becoming and having that you know,
excellence that you have of just being a good teammate.
And I think it was the best thing that happened
to me to do sports. So you get there and
you find out, hold on, why are why are women
(05:25):
being put in this one area and men are being
put in another? How did you react to that? I
just worked. I worked towards a goal, and my goal
was always to be the one that brought the team
together and be the one that had this idea of
let's do this because it works. Let's just even though
(05:48):
I was the little the little one that will I
was always the youngest one in the kitchen, and I
will always say, like, if we all care for this person,
it's just going to work, and everybody will look at
me crazy, but then the team will be better. So
I focused every I said to myself, everywhere that I go,
I am going to bring this energy to the places,
(06:10):
the energy of being able to have that conjunction with everyone,
not just yourself. Daniela, you got your first internship cooking
when you were fourteen. Yes, I was really young, really really,
but I think I started working in restaurants younger. But
(06:32):
we shouldn't even talk about that because that was not
you know, I was not supposed to be working. I
was supposed to be in swim practice. But how did
that even happen? How did you get there? My parents
were going through a divorce because my dad said, listen,
I can't be in the United States. My law firm
(06:53):
is in Mexico. So they get divorced. And when they
get divorced, my sisters and I didn't want to ask
my mom for a meeting because you know, we felt
bad and we didn't know the situation because my mom
would never say anything bad about my dad. So I said, okay,
So we started working. We said we were going to
be in practice, and we would just like have like
(07:15):
the little jobs that you know, like little kids have,
I guess and now that I see them, like how
did somebody even give us a job? You know, it's
like so bad. And then they got back together like
eight months later and they got remarried on all of
these crazy crazy but ever since then we were like,
(07:36):
I think we have to be responsible for our own
actions and if we want nice things, we need to
be able to afford it ourselves. And then I got
my first opportunity in an internship when I was fourteen
um at a hotel and then I continue being there
until fifteen sixteen, and I was a little girl in
(07:59):
in in the tell that was really excited about everything.
I will like follow the chef after work and I
would be like how did you do that? And they
will be so weird it out that I was so interested, uh,
and they're like why, Like I was, like, I watched
issues Like for me, cooking is not about making a
sauce or like a turkey for Thanksgiving. For me, cooking
(08:22):
is about the flowers that go on the table, the
conversations that go around, you know, like the type of
glass that I'm serving with the type of silver, where
Like how does the material of the plate feels? Like
about how many careers I can have within one place?
Because cooking is about, you know, the habit of combebeting
(08:44):
English is like being with somebody, like having a family.
That for me is cooking. And now for a quick break,
how did you meet Riquevera? You know who you worked for?
Like how did you meet the chefs that you trained
with earlier in your here? So I met Enrique in
New York. Then I heard that Enrique was in town
(09:08):
doing a dinner with another chef, and they asked me.
They invited me to that dinner. And when I was
having dinner and Rique said high and I said, funny,
I'm going to Mexico's city in a couple of weeks.
And he said, oh, perfect, I'll be there tomorrow. That
night he said, oh, you should come to the restaurant
(09:28):
and check it out. And um. Then I stayed there
for one day in the kitchen and I said, this
is all the cooking I did growing up, you know,
with my grandma and my great grandmama and mother. But
it's not what I do what I used to do
as French Italian and you know, American cooking. And one
week became a month, one month became two months, three
(09:52):
months until six months. And this was a non paid
internship that I was doing. What I said, like, I love,
you know, just cooking so much, and it's just an
investment of like what I really wanted to do in
the future. I didn't want to lose my green cards.
I said, you can't have to go back. I'm going
(10:12):
to New York to find a chef shop somewhere. I uh,
I need to do this for myself. And I feel
like I'm starting to get very comfortable here. And um
he said, do you want to move with this project
and you can be the chef and I said yes.
The next day, I was already New York and when
I got here, it was the oldest strip club in
(10:36):
New York. And I said to myself, this is what
happens to me, for getting too excited, never asking enough questions,
like I'm freaking out, and I remember feeling like my
world was falling apart until they told me later, Oh no,
it's going to be a restaurant. Don't worry. We're going
to fix it. So from there too. When the restaurant
(10:57):
opened was one year. Uh, I have no idea how
to open a restaurant in New York. None of us did.
And it was just kind of like Google will tell
you absolutely every single answer, and this is you know,
I know this can be possible. I will just look
(11:18):
it up and find out how to do it. And
that's how we did it. We just kind of questions
were you putting into Google? Just everything like how to
fix this on the toilet? Like how what's the h
B A C? Like what like where can I find
this refrigeration system? Where can you know? And it was
(11:39):
literally like just if you want something, you just have
to find out how to do it. And it was
just kind of like, Okay, well it's going to be
really really hard. I've never done this before, but if
I don't try, you know, every single year up to
now has been like that, like a new thing. It's
(11:59):
like how to do it? I don't know, We'll figure
it out. Would you stop to dry now? With which restaurants?
This case? Me with me? Okay, Wow, it was case
me and then after that two years later, three years later,
I became a partner um with them, and then we
opened out La and then um we have Alo in
(12:24):
Vegas and it's being definitely a learning experience every day.
You've talked a lot about team and told us a
lot about the restaurants. But one thing, Um that I
know to be true about you is that you are
known for building incredible teams in your restaurants that are
very welcoming two immigrant communities. Can you talk about that
(12:47):
and also talk about how we as guests at restaurants
can can help build communities that are inclusive of everyone too.
We noticed that most of Latin people all that we're
working in the best restaurants in New York were not
the main server, or they were on the back, or
(13:10):
they were not the actually they were not the chef.
And we said to ourselves, I think we have the
responsiblibility of maybe giving that opportunity and teaching people how
to feel good about having those positions, because it's you
know a lot of you know cooks that have trained
here in cosme as women. They say, no, I'm too
(13:34):
scared to take over that position. I'm not good enough
to be a sou chief. So everything that we do
is very uncommon from when you know, when somebody comes
into my kitchen and they don't know how to hold
a knife, and that is like a lot more responsibility
on the su chiefs or the chefs of how to
train these people. But if we don't teach them, who
(13:56):
else will? I think for us, it's just we genuinely
want everyone to excel at the same rate because we're
on the same field. I remember the only person, the
only American person in our team was Diana Alsar, beverage
director and she's from New York and she's amazing, and
she will tell us all the time, like guys, like,
(14:18):
you know this is not common, like this is really
you know, this is really weird. There must be so
many people who want to work for you. How what
kind of characteristics do you look for? And so many
higher when they're nice people, like when they're generally like
nice people that listen and you can tell when someone
(14:42):
is paying attention, and when they generally, uh, make a
mistake and they explain to you how they made the mistake,
and they are curious about how to make themselves better,
and it's one of the coolest things of you know,
be kaschef or being chief or leader is like watching
(15:03):
other people around you grow, Like what are they doing
and like how are they growing differently from you? And
what did they do in order for them to take
that extra step? Was it like was it something something
like an advice that you told them? Was it something
exciting that happened to them on their next restaurant that
(15:24):
they went to, or they moved to Mexico or they
moved to back to their country. You know, I think
it's like the most fun thing to watch. How has
the pandemic affected your business? I know that you had
plans to open two new restaurants last summer that we're
(15:44):
put on hold. What had that been like for you?
Everything happened to fast where like all the restaurants closed
without like any warning, without anything. The scariest part always
is your team, like what is going to happen? Like
how are we going to do it? Rent is fifty
dollars from one restaurant or you know, and it's just
(16:07):
just thinking how to make it work for your team always.
But then it's like if we don't have a restaurant later,
how is your team going to have a job. Later,
Cosmo was closed for almost seven months, always closed for
one month because we had to go platform. And it's
those kind of risks that you don't want to take,
(16:29):
you know, you don't you say, we're not doing food
to go from the beginning. Now everything your whole world
just changed to like you must do that to go platform.
And that's the thing about the world. There is always
going to There was always a war, there was always
kind of depressure, and there was always a virus in
(16:49):
every like decade or two or three. Our minds know
how to do evolution, like how to evolve, how to
adapt because we have to, you know, so every day
is a change, even from a change of menu from
the guests that are coming in. We changed the restaurant
(17:10):
to only have a capacity, but we were able to
have a different experience, um and we learned a lot
from that. We learned, you know that sometimes we like
a slower pace. And now for a quick break, how
have you evolved as a leader of the team. Oh
(17:32):
my god, it was definitely slow down and just how
do you give directions to your team differently in a
more like slower pace. And maybe someone will just move up,
you know, from that, maybe they don't need someone to
be next to them at all times. I've always had
(17:55):
the habit of talking to the team, but now it's
more it's my job is more to make sure that
everyone is okay to work, not just health wise. My
job right now just listening and understanding what to do
next and how to revolve from this. How did you
(18:15):
make those difficult decisions about who to keep and whether
to pay your team even though they weren't working. From
the different exercises that we do of how the person
developed through the years that they were with us, you
have to see who had the higher grades, and from there,
(18:36):
like you call your team, you know, and you have
around a round b rounds, and you have to make
those decisions, and it's really hard. It's really really hard,
and it puts you in a position that you don't
ever want to be. You put yourself into a situation
where if there is not a restaurant, there are no jobs,
(18:57):
there will be zero jobs instead of twenty jobs. So
you have to be able how to explain that. And
I think at the beginning, employees just everywhere in like
the world didn't understand these changes that the company we're having,
but they're more that they're aware of the news. When
(19:18):
they're more educated about what's happening out there, now they understand.
So you've even named the best female chelf in the world,
which is amazing. Um, And I mean, is there a
best male chelf award? I know, right at the beginning,
(19:38):
I didn't want to take it because I was really
Hessy doant that. I've always been like, like, you know,
we're the same and there's no difference, especially in cooking,
like or like others. You know, it's kind of like
a And then the president of of fifty Beds she said, well,
when there is actually like the voting system actually has
(20:02):
more than three women on the top ten, we're going
to stop doing this a word because it's still the
people like women are not getting recognized. The kitten knows
that is traditionally the women's domains, So why wouldn't that
translate to having a lot of cap women chefs. It's ridiculous.
Everyone wants to know that. But I always think like
(20:23):
this kind of words are magnet for talent, and for me,
that's what it means, and that's it. The more that
I get to work with talented people and the more
that like you know, my name is other, so women
can feel empowered to have a job that provides for
other people or to be just an example, you know.
(20:47):
And I got that word, and I would receive letters
like hundreds, like thousands of letters from little girls like
Latin America about you know, like you I just enrolled
the culinary school, or I'm not going to coin as
soon because I cannot afford it, but one day I'm
going to visit you for me. If that, if that
a word takes somebody to push themselves in a row
(21:09):
to like believe in themselves and think that they can
do something, and they didn't feel that about themselves before that,
it's worth it. We usually end before Luke comes on
with some kind of rapid fire questions. Definitely more lighthearted
than a lot of this amazing conversation, but all begain.
Even if your nighttime routine is at two a m.
(21:30):
What is your nighttime routine before you go to bed?
My nighttime routine, Okay, so I drink a tea and
it depends on how I feel. I had like maybe
like hundreds of different types of teas and flowers, and
if I feel like you know, like I just need
to like mellow, I have a lot of flower teeth,
(21:51):
and then listen to good music and then to my
uh my phase routine. And then I got to see
who would be your dream guest in your restaurant to
cook for that you haven't yet had a chance to have,
Serina Williams, I heard that your favorite food is Mexican.
(22:14):
I don't understand where are you? It was Michelle Obama,
but I got to cook for her, So it was really,
what is your favorite cocktail? If it's cocktail? I love
ms Camma greeted too and Amy and I cannot wait
to visit your restaurants post COVID please. And here's Lulu
(22:40):
has been listening to this entire interview. He did not
do any research on you, so the only thing he
knows about you is when he's heard in this interview.
And he is going to ask our final question. Okay, hi, Hi,
don't make me nervous that um. Your story and and
(23:02):
how you came to glory reminds me of a conversation
I was having with a middle school friend who actually,
during the pandemic, she decided to just take the leap
of faith and and actually start her cooking business, and
and she's doing everything from home and she's so excited
about it and her passion and her excited. Her name
is Brenda Nora Alice. And when this comes out, I'm
(23:24):
gonna point her at this podcast so she can get
inspired by you, because she inspired me. And one of
her main things is she wants to make Haitian food
like a five star cuisine, you know, like French and
Italian food, you know, so it can like stand up there.
But um, my question is when you were talking about
(23:44):
just cooking as a general, you made it seem like
the universe, like it was way more than just simplified
a pan or you. And I want to know how
did you develop that perspective on cooking. What cultivated your
passion and desire for it. I think when you're touching
ingredients and when you're cooking, you're using your five cents,
(24:06):
and you're always aware of other things that sometimes you
don't notice. But when you can achieve the concentration of
what actually it means to a cook to just hold
that you know, squash into their hands and understand all
the work that goes behind that squash and what you
(24:26):
can do in order for these to taste so delicious.
It is your own world when when you cook for
a culture representation, you cook for more than yourself. It's
just your roots, and it's just goes so far beyond
you know what a dishes. And I think like it's
(24:48):
mostly about caring and on how you project that current
like that carrying into a dish or into a moment.
Thank you so much, Daniel, this isn't clean. Thank you.
I think what's so interesting is that she almost reminds
me of like the old school ways people used to
(25:08):
learn about a field. And not only is she an
incredible manager and an inspiring leader, but she also had
this attitude when she was just starting out that I
think it's hard to find. I remember, you know, when
I first started out as an assistant in Hollywood, is
my first job, like I would do anything to learn.
(25:28):
I was the first one in the office, the last
one to leave. I got my boss's copy, I went
and bottom closed when me meeting him, Like I was
just there to be a sponge and do anything, and
there was nothing someone could ask me to do that
that I wouldn't be just excited about. And I feel
like she because I wanted to learn an industry and
she she did that and look where it's taken her.
(25:51):
It's pretty amazing. And to herken back to another point
which you mentioned, which is the one that really stuck
with me, It is the management and leadership piece. I mean,
Danielle is twenty nine years old, and I feel like
she could lead a masterclass for all of us, whatever
industry we're in, on how to lead and how to manage.
She talked a lot about the power of team and
about how everyone is in it together and how every
(26:11):
person's role in the team matters so much. And I
think part of that is because she did She did
act as an apprentice essentially right in the kitchen, and
so she got to see all the different roles from
the bottom up. And one thing that's also really clear
about Daniella is that even when she was in what
you would call is the most junior role, perhaps you know,
starting in the kitchen when she was fourteen, it sounds
like she spoke up and that she advocated for others,
(26:33):
and I think just to have that as someone who
is able to model leadership is remarkable. Daniella definitely inspires
me to want to be a better leader and to
apply a lot more of what she explained. It's kind
of like the team athletics analogies to the workplace. I mean,
she she's she's really quite something. I can't wait to
(26:53):
see where she's going to be in ten years. Agreed, Well,
that was remarkable, and I'm also really excited to go
eat at her restaurants the next time we can head
to New York. I can't wait for us to eat
at her restaurants, which canna be so much fun. Thanks
for listening to What's Her Story with Sam and Amy.
We would so appreciate if you would leave a review
(27:15):
wherever you get your podcasts, and of course connect with
us on social media and What's Her Story of podcast?
What's Her Story with Sam and Amy is powered by
my company, The Riveter at the Riveter dot c O
in Sam's company, park Place Payments at park place Payments
dot com. Thanks to our producer Laurel Moglin, our podcast
associate Emma Hard, and our male perspective Lubern. Sorry about
(27:41):
my carphones, I promise I will try to make my
ears bigger. Mine like mine don't fit either, and they're
just driving me nuts and you can try flipping her
upside down. I read that's a cool trick to do.
You should have told me that an hour ago. Are
you kiddingstssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Hosts And Creators
Samantha Ettus
Amy Nelson
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