{"id":19,"date":"2018-07-01T09:11:39","date_gmt":"2018-07-01T09:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/txmosponsored.wpengine.com\/2020\/02\/11\/headline-for-article-page-goes-right-here-2\/"},"modified":"2020-02-25T03:59:01","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T03:59:01","slug":"convo-hugo-ortega-ambition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paid.texasmonthly.com\/texas-optimism-project\/convo-hugo-ortega-ambition\/","title":{"rendered":"How Hugo Ortega Created a Recipe for Success"},"content":{"rendered":"
Optimism correspondent Dyar Bentz and chef Hugo Ortega, a Oaxaca native and 2017 winner of a James Beard Award, share a conversation about optimism + ambition.<\/span><\/h5>\n

The young Hugo Ortega struck north for America knowing no English, without contacts, and no arranged job opportunities. What followed was a remarkable rise from a gig as a late-night kitchen custodian to a James Beard Award-winning chef and top restaurateur. To explain his success, Hugo credits motivation from loved ones and an interminable dedication to exploring and promoting the traditional culture and cuisine of his home country, Mexico.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dyar Bentz:<\/b> I saw some old friends, and every single one of them freaked out when I said I was going to meet you. One friend specifically said, \u201cIf you care about food in Houston, then Hugo is your guy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hugo Ortega: <\/b>Thank you very much. We love this incredible city of foodies, you know. Here, it\u2019s become a destination, believe it or not. Of course we believe in what we do, but now, the foodies, the millennials, they\u2019re marching with us. It\u2019s just an incredible movement when it comes to food, to culture \u2026 you have to know when it\u2019s the time to move and be hands-on and be part of this incredible, wonderful city.<\/span><\/p>\n

DB: <\/b>So, we\u2019re here in this Oaxaca\u2013themed restaurant, which really excites me. I\u2019ve spent about a month travelling through Oaxaca, so I\u2019ve seen its culture and food and geography, all so fascinating. Let\u2019s start there. I understand you spent some of your childhood in Oaxaca?<\/span><\/p>\n

HO:<\/b> I did. I was born in Mexico City, and at the age of seven or eight we moved to the countryside, right at the border of Oaxaca and Puebla. It was an incredible time in my life. Probably the most exciting and unique period. You just had to be part of what happened on a daily basis, and I ended up helping my grandmother.<\/span><\/p>\n

My grandmother lost her husband at the tender age of 19, so she was a powerhouse. Very independent, very driven, nothing was impossible for her. We\u2019d get up around 5:30 in the morning, put clay jars on my donkey, and we\u2019d go down the hill and bring water for two hours solid. I was also a goat herder. I\u2019d take close to 300 goats to the mountains for the day, come back around three, take the goats to drink water at the river, and then pasture the goats for an hour or so, then bring them to the corral. That was, more or less, my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

DB:<\/b> Moving down that timeline, I think you were a teenager when you immigrated to the United States?<\/span><\/p>\n

HO: <\/b>I was. You know, for all of us, at some point, it\u2019s just time to move on and find yourself, find who you are. We had come back from the country, from Oaxaca, and it was time to move. For me, it was time for what we call, \u2018vamos al norte,\u2019 in search of opportunity.<\/span><\/p>\n

DB:<\/b> And you had no contacts or job opportunities lined up, right? What was your mentality? You were standing there, with just a backpack, looking at this big city. What was your headspace like?<\/span><\/p>\n

HO:<\/b> Well you know, I was completely lost. As you can imagine, I didn\u2019t speak a word of English. When you come for opportunity, you embrace another culture, but, at the same time it\u2019s very sad because, in my case, the Mexican culture, as you know, is very rich, and full of traditions. The little things\u2014food, family\u2014that were very difficult for me to leave behind.<\/span><\/p>\n

DB:<\/b> How was it finding that first job? I understand you were working in the back of a kitchen?<\/span><\/p>\n

HO:<\/b> There is always a spark, or a beginning, in your life, you\u2019re good at something … so, I was a really good soccer player. I got the attention of this friend of mine, he invited me to play with his team, and eventually, one of those friends invited me to my first restaurant. I was a janitor there. I worked nights, cleaning the kitchen, from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., and that\u2019s what I did for a while. That was my first experience adjusting to my new city.<\/span><\/p>\n

DB:<\/b> 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. So you were working all night?<\/span><\/p>\n

HO:<\/b> All night, cleaning that kitchen. It\u2019s tough. You build character. At that point, I didn\u2019t think about how tough it was. I was more happy that I had a job. I didn\u2019t worry much about the schedule, or those kind of things.<\/span><\/p>\n

“You know, for all of us, at some point, it\u2019s just time to move on and find yourself\u2014find who you are.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

DB: <\/b>OK, and from there, it\u2019s essentially been *rocket blast-off noise*. Can you describe how it\u2019s been, going from working those night shifts cleaning the kitchen to winner of the James Beard award for Southwest Chef of the Year?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

HO:<\/b> Well, you have incredible people in your life. And I have my wonderful and beautiful wife, Tracy, and she always pushed me to do better. Some years ago she told me, you know, you can do it. I still remember the first time she said, why don\u2019t you cook the food of your own country? I remember thinking, oh my God, that\u2019s a lot of work! I knew from living in the mountains that it was hard work. But at the same time, Tracy said, \u201cSomebody\u2019s going to do it. Why not you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So she put a lot of fire in my guts and, you know, that\u2019s the thing that I pursued … and that is a very rewarding feeling. It\u2019s something I will carry with me. I will also carry the incredible responsibility of the heritage that I inherit from being Mexican, to have the opportunity to cook the wonderful food of my country.<\/span><\/p>\n

DB:<\/b> And to share it with everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n

HO: <\/b>Absolutely. I share it with everybody.<\/span><\/p>\n

DB:<\/b> Very cool. So, when you look back at yourself as a young kid, working here, trying to figure things out, and then you look at yourself now, what\u2019s changed? And what\u2019s the same?<\/span><\/p>\n

HO:<\/b> Now that I\u2019m older, I know that my grandmother was a disciplinarian. She was always very on point, you know. It was difficult for her to laugh. And I understand that she was carrying this incredible responsibility to be an independent person … so that was something that I learned. I am still Hugo Ortega, the goat herder, but I am still Hugo Ortega [of] today, I understand my responsibilities and I understand what I need to do to continue to drive, and continue to be a part of this wonderful city and country, and to continue to help, and to embrace my heritage.<\/span><\/p>\n

I can say today that Houston, culturally speaking, is much richer than any time in history. And that\u2019s wonderful to see. To live it, and, you know, to be able to contribute to that, and help to build the incredible culture that this wonderful city thrives on. The most diverse city in America. I\u2019m just so happy to be participating and to embrace the responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

DB: <\/b>That\u2019s perfect, my next question was just that, about Houston being such an international city. So I\u2019d like to know, what is the Houston effect? How has Houston shaped your cooking?<\/span><\/p>\n

HO:<\/b> Houstonians are not afraid to give a hand to the stranger. To give a hand to the immigrant. Houstonians are very open to that. I remember in the early years, when I came, I was scared. You know, everybody is so different, in every way…and I was thinking, how am I going to fit into that? But you know, the principle of this country, we are full of immigrants. I could not have come to a better city in this wonderful country than Houston. They give you a hand, give you opportunity, and that\u2019s one of the reasons everybody wants to come over here. People are willing to give you a hand, give you a chance to do something with your life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dyar Bentz and Hugo Ortega, James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur, talk about optimism + ambition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conversations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paid.texasmonthly.com\/texas-optimism-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paid.texasmonthly.com\/texas-optimism-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paid.texasmonthly.com\/texas-optimism-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paid.texasmonthly.com\/texas-optimism-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paid.texasmonthly.com\/texas-optimism-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paid.texasmonthly.com\/texas-optimism-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paid.texasmonthly.com\/texas-optimism-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paid.texasmonthly.com\/texas-optimism-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paid.texasmonthly.com\/texas-optimism-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paid.texasmonthly.com\/texas-optimism-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}