Daily Inspiration: Meet Karla Flores-Mercado

Today we’d like to introduce you to Karla Flores-Mercado.

Hi Karla, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Born in Sinaloa, Mexico, I made my way to California around the age of 10. I started working with my family making and selling tamales around our neighborhood and eventually my mother got a restaurant and helped out (always did the shrimp cleaning). Hospitality came so natural after that. I then continued working at different places as a server, I cooked in a food truck for a little and eventually I managed a little pizza/ pasta spot in Downtown Los Angeles. My passion and interest to do something special on my own grew after working with my chef Friend Felix that ran a pop up brunch spot of his own, he created hi sown vibe, cooked great food filled seats. I was fascinated with prohibition times, jazz and cocktails.

My best friend and I decided to host a “reservation invite only” called Sip in LA. We saved what we could of our money, bought glass ware, vintage decor and rented warehouses for the night. By the time we blinked we had 150-300 people in this dingy old warehouse in skid row. We had our jazz musicians friends play and couples and friends dressed their best 1920-1940s look. I got to experience my way of cooking it up in the kitchen but with booze! Eventually, I got a lucky opportunity by sitting at Wolf and Crane bar one night having a scotch and my bartender friend getting slammed and said “you have your pop ups and know how to bartend right? can you help me out? I am getting swamped”

Shortly after that I was making the cocktails and managing Wolf. After so many years of Sip in LA, it helped me plant the seed that is now Bar Flores. I am the beverage director for Park Hospitality and am co owner to my ever growing baby Bar Flores.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oof if all roads would be smooth. We opened Bar Flores in August and pandemic hit us in March. We had to create some type of normalcy, not even just to guests but also to my staff and myself. There would be no success without struggles, it helps shapes us and helps us learn from them.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Well… my work is playing around with seasonal fruits and vegetables and to make cocktail menus for bars with different personalities. I am most proud of the culture around me, I can make good drinks but so can a lot of other people and I get to work with people who work hard, play hard, respect each other and their professions. We lift each other up. What sets me apart from others? that’s hard to answer for me but I can say that I put my passion and emotions in the work that I do, I feel it when I make cocktails and create safe community spaces.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Right now at this moment, kindness. Community and protecting each other, with so much discrimination to people based on their appearance or where they came from. It matters to me because that is me, my family and friends and especially a huge part of LA.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.barflores.com
• Instagram: Mercado_de_Flores

Image Credits
Julian Mercado
@julianmercado