Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello everyone, I'm Dara's from Soflo Dining and today we are here with Chef Dan at Esofe
(00:13):
and we have...
Che, del hauche pulvo.
And we have...
Roberto Carrasco.
Roberto Carrasco.
And Simone Carrasco.
And Simone Carrasco.
And we are finding out about where you are and what you do and where you're located and
(00:34):
everything.
We're so excited to talk to you.
How long have you guys been in business?
So we've been open one year and six months.
Right in this location?
Yeah, right in this location.
This is our only location.
Awesome.
We have our first restaurant.
Yeah.
And how's that been going that first year?
It's been going well.
Yeah, it's been pretty good.
Can I ask you a question?
(00:55):
You can ask Esofe.
And then I sense...
You've been learning a lot, right?
No, we've heard a lot.
I've heard a lot about this place.
You know, we haven't been here yet to eat, but we will be coming back.
But I've heard a lot, yes.
Definitely, definitely.
And as you know, we've been in...
This has been in works for a couple of weeks.
Yeah, a couple weeks for sure.
But we've been doing good because we bring something different to Fort Lauderdale.
(01:16):
I think we're bringing a lot more authenticity than other people haven't before.
So people are trying a lot of new things and people are really loving like the traditional
plates that we're bringing out on the table.
We're a family-owned business, so we try to make our customers feel like family too.
That's nice.
That's very sweet.
It's just fun when we all work.
(01:37):
No, un toque mexicano.
Un toque mexicano para que se sientan como si estuvieran en México.
¿Y de dónde tú eres?
Yo soy de la Ciudad de México.
Pero cuando terminé mi carrera me fui a Cabo San Lucas y hacer mis prácticas y ahí me
ofrecieron trabajo y me quedé y me quedé y ahí me quedé por 13 años.
(02:03):
Así que ya, pues, 13 años.
Entonces, pues ya, hemos aquí.
Así que empezaste cuando tenías goceano.
No, no, no.
No, porque Javier es un niño.
Pero eso digo.
Ella me cuida mucho, por ejemplo.
Good job, Simone.
So, he has an extensive background.
(02:25):
Oh, yeah, he definitely does.
Very extensive background.
Over 13 years in Cabo San Lucas.
In Cabo San Lucas.
Different resorts, different restaurants, steakhouse, Italian restaurants, everything.
So, you didn't just learn how to cook.
Well, I learned how to cook.
You took time.
I learned how to cook, but as soon as you finish the school, all your knowledge is not in your
(02:46):
hands.
Now your brain needs to teach your hands so then you get all these skills.
Yes.
People don't really like that though.
It's the skills.
I mean, they teach you the mind, but they don't teach you the skills.
They teach you skills.
You can do it faster or good or maybe you put a lot of salt.
It's different.
And now I think we are at the level.
(03:10):
Do you agree?
Yes, we agree.
It's very important.
You have to always check with your dad.
And my dad is the first one who tried.
My husband's food inside.
He opened up.
Yeah, when they came, my daughter was in school in China.
She was in school in China.
(03:31):
Then when she came back, she went to Cabo San Lucas.
That's how they met.
She and I used to go to a group.
We were comfortable one day.
So when they got married and they came over here.
They had to make a good impression.
They said, well, it's going to work.
So we decided to open a restaurant because I think it's pretty good at what you do.
(03:57):
They put what they sell in.
So I gave them a chance and opened a little restaurant.
This is the result of that.
What a beautiful family thing to do.
That is so beautiful.
You deserve a lot of credit for all of this.
Because you saw something beautiful and you said, wait a minute.
The world has to enjoy this too.
Thank you for sharing.
(04:18):
He's a really talented chef.
He puts a lot of passion into his food.
He was actually a private chef too for many years.
So everybody was always like, we need this to go and eat whatever we want.
Wow.
You were educated in Japan?
No, in China.
That was just a business.
I was studying Chinese.
(04:40):
Who knows, maybe an episode in China.
Do you speak Chinese?
That's so awesome.
Because we were talking about languages.
We got interrupted and I did not.
That's wonderful.
I'm a Chinese Spanish and English.
So all the customers are bienvenidos, welcome and huangy.
How sweet.
I love it.
(05:01):
Yeah.
You said this is the only location you guys have ever had.
What style of food do you make?
I think we make definitely Mexican authentic like.
In Spanish it will be like...
It's like cooking my grandmother's home food.
(05:34):
So there's a lot of processes when you make the Mexican food.
(05:57):
You have to follow each process.
So it's strictly authentic the way grandma makes it.
Exactly.
You don't have a mortero back there?
No, I don't have a mortero.
I actually try to bring my molcajete from Mexico to a tent and I lose it.
(06:21):
They take it over.
But I'm a Chinese right here.
It's a big one.
Oh yeah, for the sauce.
Wow.
Is it just too big?
They think of it as so big they thought of it as like weapons.
They didn't let us pass.
So you have to drive it through.
(06:43):
So when are we going?
I have a truck outside.
Let's go.
And what is your most popular dish?
Well the most popular is quesadillas.
For sure.
A lot of people hear quesadilla but it's quesadilla.
So it's a...
(07:05):
It's cooked in a special way.
A lot of like agobo sauces.
And then the quesadillas, it's cheese.
Your mom.
Let her introduce herself.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi, my name is Karen.
I'm Las Vegas.
(07:27):
She's the mama.
The hot mama here.
Yes.
Welcome.
So what would you say is our top seller?
I was saying quesadillas but what did you say?
Well I would say quesadillas but you know,
every time we get creative
and you know like
he started to make tamales
and it's just amazing how many people are
(07:49):
according to him. It seems like in the mole,
you know, people love his mole.
People love his all his sauces.
All of his top class, you know.
It's just, it's really, really amazing.
And it makes me so happy.
Everybody just loves his food.
Yeah, your husband said that he cooks like,
never saw anything like that before.
And apparently you guys stand behind him.
(08:11):
Another thing that I would say is
that he's a great cook.
He's a great cook.
And apparently you guys stand behind him.
And that's why we are.
He teases me all the time
because that's one thing
I really can't cook.
I never was able to cook.
I can try as hard as I want
and it's just no flavor.
(08:33):
So he finds me sisterly.
So wait a minute.
You don't have to cook anymore.
I'll take over.
But she has one recipe that's really good
and we actually have it on the menu.
What recipe is here?
Actually it was my dad's,
my grandma's,
her flan.
If you guys know flan.
(08:55):
But my mom has mastered like
remaking that so she makes the fun
and that's the recipe we sell here.
Not even the recipe. She has the same
or that they write.
Molding.
Molding.
Molding.
Molding.
From the century of
the Colón.
(09:17):
I love it.
I love it.
Wow, yeah.
It's an antique.
And it doesn't make a big portion.
So our flan is made like
very fresh.
We make one flan every two, three days.
That's great.
There are little things like that that make us.
But that's what people love.
(09:39):
That's why we do what we do
because if you didn't tell us that story
we wouldn't know it.
And if you didn't share
where you went, what you did,
when you came and why
and all these things.
We want everybody to know who you are.
Because you have so much.
So much to share.
Now I'm going to throw my curve ball to the chef.
(10:01):
Uh oh.
So a question I ask all the chefs
is what is your go-to
to eat?
We've had people say hot dog,
peanut butter and jelly.
So like when you want something to eat
what do you grab?
What's your favorite?
And I know as a chef
this week is one thing, next week is something else.
(10:23):
So right now, what do you go?
Well I think that
when I'm not
here at the kitchen
and I'm craving something
I think a really good steak.
I love ribeye.
So I love to cook my ribeye
on the grill take the time
and maybe some potatoes.
But definitely if she's included
(10:45):
Italian.
She loves some
good pasta
or some gnocchi
or radiole.
Because we spend time together.
I make my own pasta and then we are talking
and everything and we are making the pasta.
That's kind of like a fun.
Fun.
Exactly.
(11:07):
Yeah.
I love it.
I was serious.
We had hot dog,
sushi,
for me
what was mine? Peanut butter and jelly.
Friday and Saturday night I would make
three and I put them underneath the low-boy
in the refrigerator and it was busy.
I put it back down.
(11:31):
Because honestly
people don't realize
when we sit there and we look at that same food all day
we get tired.
We see it all day.
Last week I made
cante gallego and picadillo.
All this food.
And I didn't eat any of it.
Because all day sitting here making it.
And the house smell was amazing.
(11:53):
But
it's
they learned to control them.
No, just like I said
all day you see it and it's just like
yeah.
That's why I asked that question.
How did you find
your way into this industry?
Into the hospitality industry?
It's a calling.
(12:15):
We know it is.
Well, I think
I was, one of my dreams
was always open of
my own restaurant.
How old were you then?
21.
Oh, 23.
And then I was
I work as a
chef.
(12:37):
And then I did my
practice to go
as a waiter.
And then I learned that part.
I became head waiter.
And then somebody
told me that I should
study to be a sommelier.
But every time I was a little bit farther
to the kitchen.
I was back in the kitchen.
(12:59):
But I was learning all the positions.
You know, because
when I meet here
and we were talking one day she told me
that when she finished the school
she has to do some work
and her work was
opening a restaurant.
Well, I had like projects to do for school
because I was studying business, international business.
So I had projects and
(13:21):
two of my projects were like restaurants.
So you had to put out a whole business
plan, the whole thing
menu, hosting, everything.
Yes.
And then she was at the school back then.
So every time that we finished
work I was cooking
everything. So she
started with
everything, pasta.
(13:43):
And every day we eat something different
and she told me one day, you know what
the people need to try this.
And then
one day we just did it.
And with the business plan already done
that's half the battle.
Oh yeah.
Everything just came together.
We made a good team that way.
We made it happen.
(14:05):
He's the skill set and I guess I'm the brain behind it.
We work together
in a really good way.
We understand.
But I relate to him because
when I started I was 13
or 14 I was a bus boy.
And the head waiter would call me
where is he, where is he, where is he?
I was in the kitchen, pelango papa.
You know, cut the celery.
(14:27):
And the guy says, you know
you don't get out there, I'm gonna fire you.
So I go out there, then they made me a waiter.
And then what happened was when it was
busy and it was backed up
I would go in and cook my
table, I would cook their appetizer,
I would cook the food.
And the other waiter said, how come he has
his food? You know, they didn't realize
I'm the one cooking my tables.
(14:49):
So, but the same thing, I always ended up
back in the kitchen.
Back in the kitchen.
It is a calling.
It is, it really is.
And if you enjoy it, why not share it?
You know, I mean, it's a beautiful thing.
It's like opening up your home
to people.
To all the people.
Everywhere, in your neighborhood
(15:11):
and beyond.
Because we will get other people from other places.
But that's what this is, like back in history
when they had restaurants, it was your house.
People came into your house, you welcomed them
into your home.
And then you used to feed them, they go about, you know.
Even in Mexico, there's still restaurants like that.
So that's beautiful.
In the United States, we can always see that.
We used to get up on Sunday morning
(15:33):
and we used to go, I always remember,
New Haven, a woman,
she opened up her house only on Sundays.
And she served what, carnitas.
And we would just walk into this woman's house.
And we would just walk into this woman's house.
You'd see other people there eating?
She used to back her house on Sundays.
That one guy that you throw in a Mexican restaurant
down the street from them
actually called the police on her.
(15:55):
Because
she was taking off his clothes to her.
But she wasn't charging.
And you need to pay anyway.
You don't have any of her here.
So he actually called the cabs.
And then she actually opened a restaurant.
And they were very interested.
What an experience.
You just walk into this woman's house.
You sit on the couch.
(16:17):
They run over and ask you what you want.
You eat with people you don't even know.
And then you pay in there at home.
Yeah, then one day we discovered
this guy, a very humble person.
He used to make
lamb
that's called Barabacoa.
Barabacoa on Sundays.
And he had a very small little house.
But you actually have to sit in the bedroom.
(16:39):
You serve them
in the bed.
And he would put the galeric chess.
And people would go sit
and look in the morning.
And they started selling by
11 o'clock, everything was gone.
Wow.
Isn't that something?
But you actually eat in somebody's house.
I know what we hear in Pampano.
(17:01):
The poster where we live.
I read about there's a lady
I guess in the neighborhood.
And if you walk in, she'll cook for you.
Really?
So it's still in there.
It's like you're visiting grandma.
Yeah, there's a couple of restaurants
I know in Connecticut.
There's more restaurants
where you go inside
(17:23):
and they don't even know
what is going to be in the menu.
And you sit down
and whatever they cook out there
is what it is.
But that's a little hard because
you know, I mean, you do have to tell
the people that you have any island
to do whatever it is.
So it's a little more complicated.
With the menu, everything is easier
(17:45):
because they know what to expect.
That's cool.
I love that idea.
But you're right.
The open restaurant is opening up to your house.
Yeah, it is.
This is your life.
It's like soapis,
lacoios,
the gullet lacoios,
guaraches,
(18:07):
the cochinita vivido.
We have the villas
but we also have the
sometimes we make some,
some of these we make menudo.
We have the pozole.
A lot of Mexican classics.
All these dishes that are very classic
and people in your eating.
So this is more,
(18:29):
and I would say more traditional Mexican.
This is not tacos.
There's tacos here.
But we have pato con morse.
It's just some very
traditional tacos.
What do I say?
There's a couple places we go when I say
you don't get the Taco Bell tacos here.
It's like Tex-Mex, I think that's what you mean.
There's a lot of those.
(18:51):
It's its own food.
Tex-Mex is its own type of cuisine, I think.
But authentic Mexican, you can't compare the two.
They're really different.
We have tacos
like Mexican street tacos.
So you can come and eat tacos
but you can also
find another thing like
mole, tan piqueña,
a little bit of
(19:13):
I think we have
the 10 more traditional dishes in Mexico.
That's right.
Plus tacos.
That's awesome.
So now with customers
coming in more times, I think I see a lot of people
start to get tacos even like an appetizer
because they love the tacos so much.
They want to eat the tacos but
they want to eat big plates too.
(19:35):
I see you make the smaller tacos.
Also we have the full fish.
The whole snapper.
And we have the ceviche.
The shrimp cocktail.
Sometimes it goes and makes the tiraritos.
Yeah.
That's what she's doing.
I love all that.
I do.
I'm going to show you.
(19:57):
It's family food.
It's what you need at home.
Part of the success
is what we said about family.
And that's what you see here.
Because as we say, the owner involvement.
Owner involvement you have to have.
If you just buy this place
and put a manager in here
nobody cares about the place
more than you.
(20:19):
If you hire somebody
to be the manager
they get their paycheck.
That's our main job.
In the heart.
We have here a menu of beers
from Mexico.
We have all these beers from Mexico.
Some that are not very famous around.
Like
Monopolyo.
(20:41):
East Los Angeles,
Mexico since the 1800s.
And hardly you can find it anywhere.
And the other one that we have is in Charro.
It's a nice business.
It's from Mexico.
My favorite Mexican beer?
Seoul.
We don't have Seoul.
We have Pacifico.
We have Josequis.
(21:03):
Victoria.
We have the same company.
This is a small place.
We don't have the possibility of immigration.
We don't have it.
You got a good selection.
We also have the ones from
Valle de Guadalupe.
We got all the Mexican ones.
We have Jose,
we have Charro Neym,
(21:25):
Pino Gris,
Pino Leopold.
We have New Blanc.
We have Cabernet.
We have the mix.
Those are from
Sena.
From Baja California.
And
we have Montechanis.
We have Santo Tomás.
(21:47):
Those are the brands
from La Ruta del Quinoa.
And from the Slavs.
Everything is Mexican.
We don't have any American beer.
Everything is Mexican.
We have our sodas.
We have popes.
We also have popes.
What's that?
It's like the Mexican eggnog.
(22:09):
Oh, okay.
I didn't know it had an egg.
What's it called?
It's a Mexican beer.
It's a Mexican eggnog.
It has a little bit of alcohol.
It's made in the Conventos in Mexico.
It was born there.
Thank you, little ones.
Thank you, little ones.
I just have to say yes.
(22:31):
We have coffee every morning.
We have coffee every morning.
That's true.
We have our Mexican coffee.
Did you just show Mexican coffee?
Have you guys heard of Cafe de la Yaza before?
No.
You put the water and then you put the coffee.
It's a lega.
And then you cook it and then you put it in the sauce?
No.
(22:53):
This is like morga.
People, they drink it as a branch.
Or something.
And it's basically the coffee.
But they use something that is called talega.
They imagine it like one of your socks.
It's a lega.
They put the coffee inside with some spices.
And they make the coffee.
It tastes different.
It tastes different.
(23:15):
It's like sweet and spicy.
And it's usually just a drink black.
You don't really add any creams or sugars.
It's just already sweet and spicy.
Because we use what is called a sugar cane.
We don't use another sugar.
So it has some particular flavor.
Super, super delicious.
It sounds like something that they would
be very good for you.
It sounds medicinal almost.
(23:37):
Coffee.
Coffee.
Coffee.
It sounds healthy.
It sounds like an anti-inflammatory.
Or something.
It's just a traditional coffee.
We got to try that.
It's a really beautiful cup too.
Oh yeah?
You got a special little cup that you serve it into?
(23:59):
The experience.
I'm here for the experience.
Yes.
You're badly yummy for the experience.
It's true. It's true.
And I don't deny it.
Do you have any events or special promotions coming up?
Well we do have weekly promotions.
They're all here too.
So we have on our tables,
we always promote our Margarita Monday.
(24:21):
Because we do have $6 Margaritas.
We have Taco Tuesday.
Which is $3.62.
Tacos.
On promotion.
So all the street tacos basically.
We have lunch specials too.
So this is a taco lunch teal.
It's 3 tacos with rice and beans.
And an agua fresca.
We didn't even talk about the agua fresca.
(24:43):
Agua fresca, do you guys know what those are?
Like horchata, Jamaica.
I love them. Oh my god.
I love my horchata.
That's my favorite one.
And we do agua de lia as well.
So it's like special.
Sometimes it's agua de mango,
agua de tuna, the cactus fruit.
Sometimes we do cucumber and lime.
So it's like a fresh drink that's natural.
(25:05):
And we have a cochinita pivillo lunch special too.
So it's a plate of cochinita.
With the agua fresca and the rice and beans.
For only $15.
And then all day on Thursdays we do
torta Thursday.
So any torta, it's like a Mexican sandwich.
We have like five different kinds.
You get a free agua fresca.
And then lastly we have the Mexican brunch.
So that's Saturday and Sunday.
(25:27):
It's from 10am to 3pm.
We have a whole breakfast menu.
This is it.
It's a whole breakfast menu.
Some Mexican brunch.
Chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, huevos vincuenciados.
Chilaquiles, yeah.
I gotta try that.
Molletes, yeah.
I have family in Sacramento
and that's all they talk about.
(25:49):
Chilaquiles and all that other stuff.
Cacha is going on.
For example, November 2nd is coming.
The end of the month.
So Hugo has to be paid a menu.
There's a good way to eat it.
Yeah, that's what we want to have.
But we have all different events.
Like for depending on Christmas coming up.
Or we always do like little special menus
for Valentine's Day.
(26:11):
And so our QR code, we have a mailing list.
We always send everybody updates because everybody asks.
Well, when is the next event?
He does special menus for every upcoming event.
Awesome.
So we're going to put links to this on everything.
We'll put links at the end if you'll just go.
Yeah, we'll put links.
This way we can spread it out even more.
Absolutely.
So do you have any other things to add?
(26:35):
Or anything we should know?
Or any other like cute stories?
Because these stories are amazing.
It just...
Definitely we have so many.
We just want to invite the people to come and try.
People go on an opportunity.
Try your food and then bring the family.
Yeah.
(26:57):
Have a really good time.
The taste of Mexico.
Great location. Plenty of seating.
Yeah.
Great food.
So tell everybody where you can be found.
You're contacted information.
Where we're located. How they contact you.
We're in the promenade causa located next to Black Rock.
Our neighbor. So it's 6206 North Federal Highway.
(27:19):
And Fort Lauderdale of course.
And we're open from 10 a.m. to 9 30 p.m. Monday to Saturday.
Sundays are the only days as of right now.
We are closing at 3 o'clock.
Maybe that will change in the future.
I don't know. But as of right now we close at 3 on Sunday.
Little break.
Oh yeah. Family times.
Yeah.
Awesome.
(27:41):
I am so glad for this opportunity.
We said it took a while.
Yeah.
But it's never late.
When it's right, it's never late.
Thank you again.
Thank you so much.
Thank you guys.
And we will be back to do a regular fold review.
Yeah.
We look forward to having you guys back.
(28:03):
We'll all the cafe de olla, chilaquiles.
We'll have everything ready.
Thank you so much.
So sweet of you.
We wish you all the best.
Thank you.
And we will do our best to make sure the people out there know you.
In the area.
Absolutely.
Thank you for doing this.
This is about, you know,
(28:25):
that's why we do this.
For the small businesses that need this.
For sure.
After 2020, we didn't know what to do.
And we didn't know how to help.
We didn't know what there was that we could do.
But one thing we did know was that
the mom and pops needed help.
You know?
So here we are.
I like the bottle.
(28:47):
I like the bottle.
I'm gonna have your own in your house.
Yeah.
So as always,
enjoy and we'll see you here.
Take care. Bye.
(29:27):
Bye.
Hello everyone, I'm Dara's from Soflo Dining and today we are here with Chef Dan at Esofe
(00:13):
and we have...
Che, del hauche pulvo.
And we have...
Roberto Carrasco.
Roberto Carrasco.
And Simone Carrasco.
And Simone Carrasco.
And we are finding out about where you are and what you do and where you're located and
(00:34):
everything.
We're so excited to talk to you.
How long have you guys been in business?
So we've been open one year and six months.
Right in this location?
Yeah, right in this location.
This is our only location.
Awesome.
We have our first restaurant.
Yeah.
And how's that been going that first year?
It's been going well.
Yeah, it's been pretty good.
Can I ask you a question?
(00:55):
You can ask Esofe.
And then I sense...
You've been learning a lot, right?
No, we've heard a lot.
I've heard a lot about this place.
You know, we haven't been here yet to eat, but we will be coming back.
But I've heard a lot, yes.
Definitely, definitely.
And as you know, we've been in...
This has been in works for a couple of weeks.
Yeah, a couple weeks for sure.
But we've been doing good because we bring something different to Fort Lauderdale.
(01:16):
I think we're bringing a lot more authenticity than other people haven't before.
So people are trying a lot of new things and people are really loving like the traditional
plates that we're bringing out on the table.
We're a family-owned business, so we try to make our customers feel like family too.
That's nice.
That's very sweet.
It's just fun when we all work.
(01:37):
No, un toque mexicano.
Un toque mexicano para que se sientan como si estuvieran en México.
¿Y de dónde tú eres?
Yo soy de la Ciudad de México.
Pero cuando terminé mi carrera me fui a Cabo San Lucas y hacer mis prácticas y ahí me
ofrecieron trabajo y me quedé y me quedé y ahí me quedé por 13 años.
(02:03):
Así que ya, pues, 13 años.
Entonces, pues ya, hemos aquí.
Así que empezaste cuando tenías goceano.
No, no, no.
No, porque Javier es un niño.
Pero eso digo.
Ella me cuida mucho, por ejemplo.
Good job, Simone.
So, he has an extensive background.
(02:25):
Oh, yeah, he definitely does.
Very extensive background.
Over 13 years in Cabo San Lucas.
In Cabo San Lucas.
Different resorts, different restaurants, steakhouse, Italian restaurants, everything.
So, you didn't just learn how to cook.
Well, I learned how to cook.
You took time.
I learned how to cook, but as soon as you finish the school, all your knowledge is not in your
(02:46):
hands.
Now your brain needs to teach your hands so then you get all these skills.
Yes.
People don't really like that though.
It's the skills.
I mean, they teach you the mind, but they don't teach you the skills.
They teach you skills.
You can do it faster or good or maybe you put a lot of salt.
It's different.
And now I think we are at the level.
(03:10):
Do you agree?
Yes, we agree.
It's very important.
You have to always check with your dad.
And my dad is the first one who tried.
My husband's food inside.
He opened up.
Yeah, when they came, my daughter was in school in China.
She was in school in China.
(03:31):
Then when she came back, she went to Cabo San Lucas.
That's how they met.
She and I used to go to a group.
We were comfortable one day.
So when they got married and they came over here.
They had to make a good impression.
They said, well, it's going to work.
So we decided to open a restaurant because I think it's pretty good at what you do.
(03:57):
They put what they sell in.
So I gave them a chance and opened a little restaurant.
This is the result of that.
What a beautiful family thing to do.
That is so beautiful.
You deserve a lot of credit for all of this.
Because you saw something beautiful and you said, wait a minute.
The world has to enjoy this too.
Thank you for sharing.
(04:18):
He's a really talented chef.
He puts a lot of passion into his food.
He was actually a private chef too for many years.
So everybody was always like, we need this to go and eat whatever we want.
Wow.
You were educated in Japan?
No, in China.
That was just a business.
I was studying Chinese.
(04:40):
Who knows, maybe an episode in China.
Do you speak Chinese?
That's so awesome.
Because we were talking about languages.
We got interrupted and I did not.
That's wonderful.
I'm a Chinese Spanish and English.
So all the customers are bienvenidos, welcome and huangy.
How sweet.
I love it.
(05:01):
Yeah.
You said this is the only location you guys have ever had.
What style of food do you make?
I think we make definitely Mexican authentic like.
In Spanish it will be like...
It's like cooking my grandmother's home food.
(05:34):
So there's a lot of processes when you make the Mexican food.
(05:57):
You have to follow each process.
So it's strictly authentic the way grandma makes it.
Exactly.
You don't have a mortero back there?
No, I don't have a mortero.
I actually try to bring my molcajete from Mexico to a tent and I lose it.
(06:21):
They take it over.
But I'm a Chinese right here.
It's a big one.
Oh yeah, for the sauce.
Wow.
Is it just too big?
They think of it as so big they thought of it as like weapons.
They didn't let us pass.
So you have to drive it through.
(06:43):
So when are we going?
I have a truck outside.
Let's go.
And what is your most popular dish?
Well the most popular is quesadillas.
For sure.
A lot of people hear quesadilla but it's quesadilla.
So it's a...
(07:05):
It's cooked in a special way.
A lot of like agobo sauces.
And then the quesadillas, it's cheese.
Your mom.
Let her introduce herself.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi, my name is Karen.
I'm Las Vegas.
(07:27):
She's the mama.
The hot mama here.
Yes.
Welcome.
So what would you say is our top seller?
I was saying quesadillas but what did you say?
Well I would say quesadillas but you know,
every time we get creative
and you know like
he started to make tamales
and it's just amazing how many people are
(07:49):
according to him. It seems like in the mole,
you know, people love his mole.
People love his all his sauces.
All of his top class, you know.
It's just, it's really, really amazing.
And it makes me so happy.
Everybody just loves his food.
Yeah, your husband said that he cooks like,
never saw anything like that before.
And apparently you guys stand behind him.
(08:11):
Another thing that I would say is
that he's a great cook.
He's a great cook.
And apparently you guys stand behind him.
And that's why we are.
He teases me all the time
because that's one thing
I really can't cook.
I never was able to cook.
I can try as hard as I want
and it's just no flavor.
(08:33):
So he finds me sisterly.
So wait a minute.
You don't have to cook anymore.
I'll take over.
But she has one recipe that's really good
and we actually have it on the menu.
What recipe is here?
Actually it was my dad's,
my grandma's,
her flan.
If you guys know flan.
(08:55):
But my mom has mastered like
remaking that so she makes the fun
and that's the recipe we sell here.
Not even the recipe. She has the same
or that they write.
Molding.
Molding.
Molding.
Molding.
From the century of
the Colón.
(09:17):
I love it.
I love it.
Wow, yeah.
It's an antique.
And it doesn't make a big portion.
So our flan is made like
very fresh.
We make one flan every two, three days.
That's great.
There are little things like that that make us.
But that's what people love.
(09:39):
That's why we do what we do
because if you didn't tell us that story
we wouldn't know it.
And if you didn't share
where you went, what you did,
when you came and why
and all these things.
We want everybody to know who you are.
Because you have so much.
So much to share.
Now I'm going to throw my curve ball to the chef.
(10:01):
Uh oh.
So a question I ask all the chefs
is what is your go-to
to eat?
We've had people say hot dog,
peanut butter and jelly.
So like when you want something to eat
what do you grab?
What's your favorite?
And I know as a chef
this week is one thing, next week is something else.
(10:23):
So right now, what do you go?
Well I think that
when I'm not
here at the kitchen
and I'm craving something
I think a really good steak.
I love ribeye.
So I love to cook my ribeye
on the grill take the time
and maybe some potatoes.
But definitely if she's included
(10:45):
Italian.
She loves some
good pasta
or some gnocchi
or radiole.
Because we spend time together.
I make my own pasta and then we are talking
and everything and we are making the pasta.
That's kind of like a fun.
Fun.
Exactly.
(11:07):
Yeah.
I love it.
I was serious.
We had hot dog,
sushi,
for me
what was mine? Peanut butter and jelly.
Friday and Saturday night I would make
three and I put them underneath the low-boy
in the refrigerator and it was busy.
I put it back down.
(11:31):
Because honestly
people don't realize
when we sit there and we look at that same food all day
we get tired.
We see it all day.
Last week I made
cante gallego and picadillo.
All this food.
And I didn't eat any of it.
Because all day sitting here making it.
And the house smell was amazing.
(11:53):
But
it's
they learned to control them.
No, just like I said
all day you see it and it's just like
yeah.
That's why I asked that question.
How did you find
your way into this industry?
Into the hospitality industry?
It's a calling.
(12:15):
We know it is.
Well, I think
I was, one of my dreams
was always open of
my own restaurant.
How old were you then?
21.
Oh, 23.
And then I was
I work as a
chef.
(12:37):
And then I did my
practice to go
as a waiter.
And then I learned that part.
I became head waiter.
And then somebody
told me that I should
study to be a sommelier.
But every time I was a little bit farther
to the kitchen.
I was back in the kitchen.
(12:59):
But I was learning all the positions.
You know, because
when I meet here
and we were talking one day she told me
that when she finished the school
she has to do some work
and her work was
opening a restaurant.
Well, I had like projects to do for school
because I was studying business, international business.
So I had projects and
(13:21):
two of my projects were like restaurants.
So you had to put out a whole business
plan, the whole thing
menu, hosting, everything.
Yes.
And then she was at the school back then.
So every time that we finished
work I was cooking
everything. So she
started with
everything, pasta.
(13:43):
And every day we eat something different
and she told me one day, you know what
the people need to try this.
And then
one day we just did it.
And with the business plan already done
that's half the battle.
Oh yeah.
Everything just came together.
We made a good team that way.
We made it happen.
(14:05):
He's the skill set and I guess I'm the brain behind it.
We work together
in a really good way.
We understand.
But I relate to him because
when I started I was 13
or 14 I was a bus boy.
And the head waiter would call me
where is he, where is he, where is he?
I was in the kitchen, pelango papa.
You know, cut the celery.
(14:27):
And the guy says, you know
you don't get out there, I'm gonna fire you.
So I go out there, then they made me a waiter.
And then what happened was when it was
busy and it was backed up
I would go in and cook my
table, I would cook their appetizer,
I would cook the food.
And the other waiter said, how come he has
his food? You know, they didn't realize
I'm the one cooking my tables.
(14:49):
So, but the same thing, I always ended up
back in the kitchen.
Back in the kitchen.
It is a calling.
It is, it really is.
And if you enjoy it, why not share it?
You know, I mean, it's a beautiful thing.
It's like opening up your home
to people.
To all the people.
Everywhere, in your neighborhood
(15:11):
and beyond.
Because we will get other people from other places.
But that's what this is, like back in history
when they had restaurants, it was your house.
People came into your house, you welcomed them
into your home.
And then you used to feed them, they go about, you know.
Even in Mexico, there's still restaurants like that.
So that's beautiful.
In the United States, we can always see that.
We used to get up on Sunday morning
(15:33):
and we used to go, I always remember,
New Haven, a woman,
she opened up her house only on Sundays.
And she served what, carnitas.
And we would just walk into this woman's house.
And we would just walk into this woman's house.
You'd see other people there eating?
She used to back her house on Sundays.
That one guy that you throw in a Mexican restaurant
down the street from them
actually called the police on her.
(15:55):
Because
she was taking off his clothes to her.
But she wasn't charging.
And you need to pay anyway.
You don't have any of her here.
So he actually called the cabs.
And then she actually opened a restaurant.
And they were very interested.
What an experience.
You just walk into this woman's house.
You sit on the couch.
(16:17):
They run over and ask you what you want.
You eat with people you don't even know.
And then you pay in there at home.
Yeah, then one day we discovered
this guy, a very humble person.
He used to make
lamb
that's called Barabacoa.
Barabacoa on Sundays.
And he had a very small little house.
But you actually have to sit in the bedroom.
(16:39):
You serve them
in the bed.
And he would put the galeric chess.
And people would go sit
and look in the morning.
And they started selling by
11 o'clock, everything was gone.
Wow.
Isn't that something?
But you actually eat in somebody's house.
I know what we hear in Pampano.
(17:01):
The poster where we live.
I read about there's a lady
I guess in the neighborhood.
And if you walk in, she'll cook for you.
Really?
So it's still in there.
It's like you're visiting grandma.
Yeah, there's a couple of restaurants
I know in Connecticut.
There's more restaurants
where you go inside
(17:23):
and they don't even know
what is going to be in the menu.
And you sit down
and whatever they cook out there
is what it is.
But that's a little hard because
you know, I mean, you do have to tell
the people that you have any island
to do whatever it is.
So it's a little more complicated.
With the menu, everything is easier
(17:45):
because they know what to expect.
That's cool.
I love that idea.
But you're right.
The open restaurant is opening up to your house.
Yeah, it is.
This is your life.
It's like soapis,
lacoios,
the gullet lacoios,
guaraches,
(18:07):
the cochinita vivido.
We have the villas
but we also have the
sometimes we make some,
some of these we make menudo.
We have the pozole.
A lot of Mexican classics.
All these dishes that are very classic
and people in your eating.
So this is more,
(18:29):
and I would say more traditional Mexican.
This is not tacos.
There's tacos here.
But we have pato con morse.
It's just some very
traditional tacos.
What do I say?
There's a couple places we go when I say
you don't get the Taco Bell tacos here.
It's like Tex-Mex, I think that's what you mean.
There's a lot of those.
(18:51):
It's its own food.
Tex-Mex is its own type of cuisine, I think.
But authentic Mexican, you can't compare the two.
They're really different.
We have tacos
like Mexican street tacos.
So you can come and eat tacos
but you can also
find another thing like
mole, tan piqueña,
a little bit of
(19:13):
I think we have
the 10 more traditional dishes in Mexico.
That's right.
Plus tacos.
That's awesome.
So now with customers
coming in more times, I think I see a lot of people
start to get tacos even like an appetizer
because they love the tacos so much.
They want to eat the tacos but
they want to eat big plates too.
(19:35):
I see you make the smaller tacos.
Also we have the full fish.
The whole snapper.
And we have the ceviche.
The shrimp cocktail.
Sometimes it goes and makes the tiraritos.
Yeah.
That's what she's doing.
I love all that.
I do.
I'm going to show you.
(19:57):
It's family food.
It's what you need at home.
Part of the success
is what we said about family.
And that's what you see here.
Because as we say, the owner involvement.
Owner involvement you have to have.
If you just buy this place
and put a manager in here
nobody cares about the place
more than you.
(20:19):
If you hire somebody
to be the manager
they get their paycheck.
That's our main job.
In the heart.
We have here a menu of beers
from Mexico.
We have all these beers from Mexico.
Some that are not very famous around.
Like
Monopolyo.
(20:41):
East Los Angeles,
Mexico since the 1800s.
And hardly you can find it anywhere.
And the other one that we have is in Charro.
It's a nice business.
It's from Mexico.
My favorite Mexican beer?
Seoul.
We don't have Seoul.
We have Pacifico.
We have Josequis.
(21:03):
Victoria.
We have the same company.
This is a small place.
We don't have the possibility of immigration.
We don't have it.
You got a good selection.
We also have the ones from
Valle de Guadalupe.
We got all the Mexican ones.
We have Jose,
we have Charro Neym,
(21:25):
Pino Gris,
Pino Leopold.
We have New Blanc.
We have Cabernet.
We have the mix.
Those are from
Sena.
From Baja California.
And
we have Montechanis.
We have Santo Tomás.
(21:47):
Those are the brands
from La Ruta del Quinoa.
And from the Slavs.
Everything is Mexican.
We don't have any American beer.
Everything is Mexican.
We have our sodas.
We have popes.
We also have popes.
What's that?
It's like the Mexican eggnog.
(22:09):
Oh, okay.
I didn't know it had an egg.
What's it called?
It's a Mexican beer.
It's a Mexican eggnog.
It has a little bit of alcohol.
It's made in the Conventos in Mexico.
It was born there.
Thank you, little ones.
Thank you, little ones.
I just have to say yes.
(22:31):
We have coffee every morning.
We have coffee every morning.
That's true.
We have our Mexican coffee.
Did you just show Mexican coffee?
Have you guys heard of Cafe de la Yaza before?
No.
You put the water and then you put the coffee.
It's a lega.
And then you cook it and then you put it in the sauce?
No.
(22:53):
This is like morga.
People, they drink it as a branch.
Or something.
And it's basically the coffee.
But they use something that is called talega.
They imagine it like one of your socks.
It's a lega.
They put the coffee inside with some spices.
And they make the coffee.
It tastes different.
It tastes different.
(23:15):
It's like sweet and spicy.
And it's usually just a drink black.
You don't really add any creams or sugars.
It's just already sweet and spicy.
Because we use what is called a sugar cane.
We don't use another sugar.
So it has some particular flavor.
Super, super delicious.
It sounds like something that they would
be very good for you.
It sounds medicinal almost.
(23:37):
Coffee.
Coffee.
Coffee.
It sounds healthy.
It sounds like an anti-inflammatory.
Or something.
It's just a traditional coffee.
We got to try that.
It's a really beautiful cup too.
Oh yeah?
You got a special little cup that you serve it into?
(23:59):
The experience.
I'm here for the experience.
Yes.
You're badly yummy for the experience.
It's true. It's true.
And I don't deny it.
Do you have any events or special promotions coming up?
Well we do have weekly promotions.
They're all here too.
So we have on our tables,
we always promote our Margarita Monday.
(24:21):
Because we do have $6 Margaritas.
We have Taco Tuesday.
Which is $3.62.
Tacos.
On promotion.
So all the street tacos basically.
We have lunch specials too.
So this is a taco lunch teal.
It's 3 tacos with rice and beans.
And an agua fresca.
We didn't even talk about the agua fresca.
(24:43):
Agua fresca, do you guys know what those are?
Like horchata, Jamaica.
I love them. Oh my god.
I love my horchata.
That's my favorite one.
And we do agua de lia as well.
So it's like special.
Sometimes it's agua de mango,
agua de tuna, the cactus fruit.
Sometimes we do cucumber and lime.
So it's like a fresh drink that's natural.
(25:05):
And we have a cochinita pivillo lunch special too.
So it's a plate of cochinita.
With the agua fresca and the rice and beans.
For only $15.
And then all day on Thursdays we do
torta Thursday.
So any torta, it's like a Mexican sandwich.
We have like five different kinds.
You get a free agua fresca.
And then lastly we have the Mexican brunch.
So that's Saturday and Sunday.
(25:27):
It's from 10am to 3pm.
We have a whole breakfast menu.
This is it.
It's a whole breakfast menu.
Some Mexican brunch.
Chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, huevos vincuenciados.
Chilaquiles, yeah.
I gotta try that.
Molletes, yeah.
I have family in Sacramento
and that's all they talk about.
(25:49):
Chilaquiles and all that other stuff.
Cacha is going on.
For example, November 2nd is coming.
The end of the month.
So Hugo has to be paid a menu.
There's a good way to eat it.
Yeah, that's what we want to have.
But we have all different events.
Like for depending on Christmas coming up.
Or we always do like little special menus
for Valentine's Day.
(26:11):
And so our QR code, we have a mailing list.
We always send everybody updates because everybody asks.
Well, when is the next event?
He does special menus for every upcoming event.
Awesome.
So we're going to put links to this on everything.
We'll put links at the end if you'll just go.
Yeah, we'll put links.
This way we can spread it out even more.
Absolutely.
So do you have any other things to add?
(26:35):
Or anything we should know?
Or any other like cute stories?
Because these stories are amazing.
It just...
Definitely we have so many.
We just want to invite the people to come and try.
People go on an opportunity.
Try your food and then bring the family.
Yeah.
(26:57):
Have a really good time.
The taste of Mexico.
Great location. Plenty of seating.
Yeah.
Great food.
So tell everybody where you can be found.
You're contacted information.
Where we're located. How they contact you.
We're in the promenade causa located next to Black Rock.
Our neighbor. So it's 6206 North Federal Highway.
(27:19):
And Fort Lauderdale of course.
And we're open from 10 a.m. to 9 30 p.m. Monday to Saturday.
Sundays are the only days as of right now.
We are closing at 3 o'clock.
Maybe that will change in the future.
I don't know. But as of right now we close at 3 on Sunday.
Little break.
Oh yeah. Family times.
Yeah.
Awesome.
(27:41):
I am so glad for this opportunity.
We said it took a while.
Yeah.
But it's never late.
When it's right, it's never late.
Thank you again.
Thank you so much.
Thank you guys.
And we will be back to do a regular fold review.
Yeah.
We look forward to having you guys back.
(28:03):
We'll all the cafe de olla, chilaquiles.
We'll have everything ready.
Thank you so much.
So sweet of you.
We wish you all the best.
Thank you.
And we will do our best to make sure the people out there know you.
In the area.
Absolutely.
Thank you for doing this.
This is about, you know,
(28:25):
that's why we do this.
For the small businesses that need this.
For sure.
After 2020, we didn't know what to do.
And we didn't know how to help.
We didn't know what there was that we could do.
But one thing we did know was that
the mom and pops needed help.
You know?
So here we are.
I like the bottle.
(28:47):
I like the bottle.
I'm gonna have your own in your house.
Yeah.
So as always,
enjoy and we'll see you here.
Take care. Bye.
(29:27):
Bye.
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