What you'd see typically on tables here but in Mexico…I’ve talked about it a lot. He is the inverse of us and is Northwest in Mexico City. I have a friend in Mexico City that I'd like to bring up. Who’s on your wish list for collaboration? And snacks like olives and nuts and cheese and crackers, all of those were on the table. They're big beer drinkers in that part of the world. Their parties had lots of alcohol, playing cards, smoking at the table, multiple meals there at the big table and there's the decks of cards, beers of all sorts.

And on the table the way they eat, going back to my dad's side of the family they were snackers and their parties were different. But when it comes to food and flavor I draw from Mexico and eastern Mediterranean. You can use the French technique in any way. …I tried to lean on past food influences and, technique wise, obviously French, but that's ubiquitous.

And if you really take time to think about those things, there's a connection. I see a lot of ties in Mexican technique, flavors, chilies, bold, salty, preserving, all those things…A lot of Arabs ended up in Mexico flour tortillas comes from that region of the world, you know. London Plane was a little bit later than that first experience but…Matt Dillon, he's very in that zone and plays a lot with the eastern Mediterranean or African flavors. I spent a lot of impactful time cooking Eastern Mediterranean food…And I found a lot of similarities to Mexico there. How have your past experiences working in restaurants influenced what you’re doing here with Raiz for example, the Ace in LA, Delancey and London Plane in Seattle?Ī lot of it's in the food. You know, from across the room, somebody just looked at you and saw you walk in the door. Straight up… that could be love of any sort, but simple: a smile, a look, a welcoming gesture, you know, “Come on in, how's it going?” It’s acknowledgement. The challenge is to figure out what our cuisine is. Mexican food wasn't even what we know as Mexican food and what I grew up eating is like a different version….what was available to her, it's not how her mother cooked, you know? …it's been an interesting journey and it's a continual journey because now this is what I do. I think I need to figure out a lot of things for myself…my grandmother was a great cook but she was also subjected to her time and place. I think about this every day, all day long. Same with when you have to check the box on the government papers for your race and your background… I'm trying to break that stigma, a little bit, of what the food should be. And I've tried to find a better descriptor and there's not, so I think that's an interesting thing that I'm sure other restaurants and other cuisines deal with. That's why we don't even say Mexican food. Granted, we still serve burritos and stuff at other times and I know that can be confusing…īut yes, that is a bigger pressure… how do I define my cuisine and where does it fit into Mexican food if you will.

People walk in the door and they expect that sometimes. And I don't want us to come off as that and we still deal with that. I don't mean in a bad way, but rice and beans on a plate, that’s just not us and I don't want that to be us. That’s the nicest and the easiest way to put it. That's part of the pressure for me… We don't want to be what older generations of Americans think Mexican food is. Is there a tension between what your relationship is now with Mexican cuisine and people's perception of what that means? I'm starting to rekindle this fire of figuring out what it means for us to be here and how we cook and how we do things… So that was kind of put on the back burner because of the pandemic… I’m back in the kitchen. The last eight years, I really learned to embrace the Mexican side of cuisine and what that means, and what it means to me, and what my experiences have been. And it still is to a certain extent… That gives me a broad stroke to, kind of, work within a larger umbrella, to have a little bit of freedom to say “this dish fits here because it fits here” … There’s nothing set in stone. I'm constantly learning things about myself and what my cuisine is… opening day of this place, I had no idea what it was… Northwest meets Mexico City or vice versa. I kind of just figured it would come to me and I would figure it out…Right now, if you asked me, I'd probably give you a little bit of a different answer. I'm very stubborn… And to be quite honest, I'd never really put a whole lot of thought into what my place would be. You describe the food at Raiz as, “Inspired by the vibrant food of Mexico City and placed here in our beautiful Pacific Northwest.” Was it always part of the vision to honor your heritage in some way?

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