When we say Chef Alam Mendez Florian grew up in restaurants, we mean he literally grew up inside of a restaurant. His mother Celia opened La Quince Letras in Oax, Mexico when Alam was just three years old. The family home and the restaurant were one and the same. As a child, Alam had to walk through the restaurant’s dining room and kitchen to get to his bedroom.
So as Celia grew to become a celebrated chef, and as her restaurant found its way onto the pages of the Michelin Guide, young Alam watched as a three-person operation became a two-story, 60-person restaurant and a dining destination in a region known for its rich culinary tradition.
Today, Alam is a celebrated chef in his own right, and he shares that rich tradition through his Apapacho Taqueria at La Cosecha Food Hall in Washington, DC. So how did Alam’s journey take him from Oaxaca’s Valle Central to America’s capital? He dropped by to share the whole story with co-hosts Claudia Saric and Spencer Michiel on the most recent episode of So You Want To Run a Restaurant.
Living Back of House
If you’re an aspiring chef, there’s probably no greater education than actually living in an acclaimed restaurant. From that vantage point, Alam had the amazing opportunity to watch his mentor at work 24/7.
“I always say that my mom is my first mentor in my life and in my culinary career,” Chef Alam explained. Alam was especially influenced by her never-ending curiosity, and how her constant desire to learn more helped her continue growing as a chef even after achieving success.
“She learned how to cook at home,” Alam explained. “And my mom always asked people, ‘Hey, how do you use this ingredient? Oh, this is amazing. What is that?’ She was very interested in the flavors from Oaxaca and from all the towns.”
Five Takeaways From Our Chat With Chef Alam
Today, Alam works alongside his wife, pastry chef Elisa Reyna, to bring those same flavors and traditions to La Cosecha. They serve up sensational tacos and cocktails in this vibrant and immersive marketplace where fellow merchants sell crafts, jewelry, and books, as well as all kinds of other traditional Latin American foods.
Apapacho Taqueria operates out of a 20,000-square-foot shared space in DC’s Union Market District, surrounded by apartments, frequently used for events, and teeming with energy.
To find out what it’s really like to be part of a food hall, check out the whole episode above, and read on for a few of our favorite moments from our chat with Chef Alam.
1. Find Your Flavor
Alam shared his mother’s deep curiosity for ingredients, recipes, and traditions. But he also traveled widely to satisfy that curiosity. He explains that he began working in his family’s restaurant as a teen. But after studying at the Culinary Institute of Mexico, Alam knew he wanted to experience other traditions, cultures, and kitchens.
Alam first spent time honing his craft in Mexico City before venturing to St. Sebastian, Spain. It was here that Alam gained his first exposure to a more formal type of fine dining. As Alam told us, “I decided to stage at a Michelin-star restaurant, and that helped me to become the kind of chef and the kind of leader in the kitchen that I wanted to be.”
Though his focus today with Apapacho is to celebrate a more accessible type of street food, Alam carries the philosophies that he learned in that Michelin-star environment into his own space.
He explains, “I learned a lot. Today, I understand that we are not one of these big restaurants. We don't have a Michelin star, but we do care about our food. We care about our ingredients as well.”
2. Choose the Right Ingredients for Success
Alam acknowledged that Apapacho doesn’t have the PR of fancy restaurants, but they have built a stellar reputation through their commitment to tradition and their focus on ingredients.
As Alam explained, “Corn is one of the main ingredients in Mexican cooking, and I think it's one of the bases of our culture itself. In Mayan culture, they say that men are made with masa. We call it masa. So it's in our ideas, and it's in our genes.”
That’s why, Alam said, you must have good tortillas if you want to make Mexican food. He explained that in the northern parts of the country, flour tortillas are common, but corn tortillas are the standard in the southern region that he comes from.
Whichever type you prefer, Alam stressed, there can be no shortcuts when it comes to the qualities of his tortillas. And that kind of dedication to doing it the right way takes a lot of work.
“When I started cooking Mexican food outside of Mexico, I realized it's not easy to find good masa. You're not going to find good tortillas in the supermarket. It's impossible,” Chef Alam explained. “In Mexico City we made our own corn masa in the restaurant. So here it’s the same. We started looking for companies that bring corn from Mexico.”
3. Listen to Your Customers
Chef Alam does recognize that some of his success comes from his willingness to evolve. It’s true that the ingredients and recipes are deeply rooted in his Oaxacan heritage. But it’s also true that you have to be flexible if you want to make the most of a space bustling with tourists, locals, and lunch-breakers alike.
So what began as a very simple menu with a selection of popular corn tortilla tacos now offers a full selection of traditional Mexican dishes, seasonal specials, and margaritas.
“We didn’t start with soups because we didn't want to have a big menu. We only wanted to be a taqueria. For me, I can eat tacos in the cold weather and in the hot weather. But,” Alam recalled, “one day we saw that people that are not from Mexico don't want tacos all winter. They want to try different stuff. So we started doing other things from Mexico.”
That’s when Alam added the tortilla soup, the red pozole, and the flautas to his menu. Apapacho also now offers flour tortillas as well as a dessert menu. Still, Alam said that the true star on the menu remains the tacos de mushrooms.
4. Be a Part of Something Bigger
Operating out of a food hall like La Cosecha is quite different from running a restaurant out of your own space. As a restaurant owner, it’s easy to feel like you’re in competition with your neighbors for that precious foot traffic. Alam explained that things are a little different when you’re working in shared space.
“Community is very important in a food hall. And in a Latino food hall, you really feel it,” Chef Alam told us. “People help each other. If somebody needs help and we can help them, we do it. Sometimes in the rush, someone is like ‘Hey do you have 10 avocados that you can share with me and I will pay them back to you tomorrow?’”
“I don't feel like we are competitors every time,” said Alam. “We have our own business. We have our own customers. The sun shines for everyone. That’s the way that I like to see it.”
5. Running a Restaurant and a Business
Chef Alam acknowledged that there’s a lot more to running a successful restaurant than just making incredible food. He explained, “At the end, Apapacho should be a business, so we need to care about making it a good business. We care about our team. We care about our product. We care about the facilities that we use to work.”
This is the administrative side of running a restaurant, said Chef Alam. And both he and Elisa have taken on a lot more responsibilities in these areas. As a result, Chef Alam has been increasingly open-minded about using certain technology to simplify and streamline his operation.
In fact, he told us, just adding the option of online ordering has really boosted the speed and efficiency of his operation while driving more repeat business.
“We have customers that visit the taqueria sometimes three or four times per week. And this is amazing, because it's just fast casual food,” Alam explained. “They pre-order online, and they just pick it up at the door. It’s pretty simple. And they like what we do, and we feel blessed that they visit us with that frequency.”
Merging Tradition and Technology
Chef Alam’s success is an example of how you can create the perfect recipe with a combination of tradition and tech. If you’re running a restaurant and the administrative side is starting to take up more of your energy and attention, now’s the time to take a closer look at your tech.
Schedule your free, personalized consultation with one of our in-house restaurant tech experts and find out how the right tools can help.
