Rants 'n' Ruminations

It has been a long year. A year ago it was clear that the restaurant I had built was going to have to close. My employees Antonio and Molito had decided to partner with me in a new venture we had hoped to be a continuation of RnR in Somerville named Delicious & Co. With RnR closing it was impossible to focus in the right direction to make D&C what we wanted it to be. Dragon Pizza was created and we rolled into May 2018 with new intentions, focuses, and directions. We closed RnR, packed the vitals in a storage space in Eastie, opened the Dragon, and rolled into the fall making pizza.

I always wanted to own my own restaurant. When I was sixteen and began working in kitchens I found a calling. When I moved to chef-owned restaurants I knew this was my goal. That never changed leading up to April 2011 when Redd's in Rozzie opened.  »read more

When Matt and Jess walked into my empty restaurant while I was tending bar solo after sending the last tender server home (even though I was finishing up a Sunday double shift) neither of us knew that it would be a major turning point in our careers. I have had the joy of working with Matt for 4 years and this weekend we say goodbye to him for another exciting step in his blossoming career path.   »read more

Chapel Hill, North Carolina 1997

Chef Brian Stapleton called me into his office at The Siena Hotel when I got to work. I was dressed in my standard Guatemalan shorts, Grateful Dead t-shirt, flip flops, mop of hair, and a Lucky Strike cigarette dangling from my lips.  »read more

After I got canned at the bistro for sucking as a cook I picked up my sore beer-soaked head and started searching again for a place to cook. It needed to be the kind of place that cared about what they were doing but could teach me the basics. I found this and much more with Brian Stapleton at The Siena Hotel.  »read more

In my training as a chef I always looked for the best kitchens to work in, headed up by the best chefs in the community. I joined those teams excited to give my all and develop into a master of my craft. I dreamed of quietly working hard at the side of the chef as they taught me how to cook, while sharing their philosophies of the great chefs and their historic contributions to gastronomy.  »read more

This is the year of the resistance.

In the last 6 months, shit, the last year, I have observed a breaking down of the American society I had come to idealize. Political stand-offs have broken our community and driven us to the trenches of battle over our core values and ideals. So be it. I am ready to wear my tin hat and dive in for the battle, but not until I have exhausted my resources as a guerrilla. I will not give up the freedoms my forefathers, grandparents, and parents fought for, and the freedoms my children, brothers, sisters, and colleagues deserve.

I wish my grandfathers were still alive to meet Antonio.  »read more

Working in America Today

I dream of a country which wants to get back to work instead of finding excuses to not work.

A people that look back on their ancestors and see the great sacrifice that they made for the opportunities we have now and wish to honor their memory by matching , no, surpassing that work ethic.

A youth with backbone, humility, strength and discipline.

A youth that brings innovation AFTER they have learned the ways of sweat, craft, art, responsibility, dedication, trust.  »read more

I have few regrets in life. One true regret I have is not going to the Prince concert on the Musicology tour of 2004 because I was moving to Africa and the price of the ticket could pay for me to live there for three weeks. What an idiot. I now will never get the chance.  »read more