Today we’d like to introduce you to Juan Garcia.
Hi Juan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
The Goat Mafia was born somewhere between 2009 – 2010. My father was a Birriero, just like his father and his Great Grandfather and the generations before him. He was proud of his roots and proud of his food. He was I’ll at a relatively young age. (Early 50’s). Before he passed he expressed he wanted the Birria recipe to be learned my sister. He said “if I get out of this one I’ll teach you to make Birria.” He passed and months went by. I had that moment forged in my memory. I got curious and decided to take charge and carry on his wish. I started to learn it with the help of my mother. She was the taster, and helped me make final tweaks. I started to cater for family and friends. I can’t remember how but somehow I was contacted by a stranger who wanted Birria for her daughters quinceañera. I remember I had flight to Guadalajara that same date at night. I couldn’t miss either so I took on the gig and it was a success. Picked up went home and headed to the airport. Officially Goat Mafia was born. I started a food truck shortly after somewhere around 2011. I copied Roy Choi and started to use Facebook to tell people where we would be located. (Btw he has been a great human to me and has given me great advice. I got to work with him too) Running the food truck allowed me to see the potential of it all. I went to Culinary School so I could have some type of backing and a title. I graduated from Los Angeles Harbor College Culinary Program. Already that alone made me very proud. It’s the furthest any of my family has gone in terms of education. So to graduate from a college was overwhelming. In the background throughout my life I’ve dealt with debilitating anxiety. Never knew what it was until I was diagnosed at age 25 which in a weird way made it worse. I along with a classmate (Ivan Flores) got hired at the college. We worked there 3 years and during that time we would cater here and there. Around 2018 we got published by L.A. Taco and we took things a bit more serious. The second stage of Goat Mafia was born! After that it has been an incredible amount of publishing and accolades that we’ve experienced. Smorgasburg was amazing g to us. It helped us push further. Now, I want to selfishly bring Goat Mafia back to Compton, where it all started.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No! Never a smooth road. We have always encountered road blocks. Often times people give you the wrong advice or mislead you. Sometimes they see they can leech from you and your knowledge and they do while hiding it through the softness of their voice or the good old bait and switch lol. We try to be open and help people who try to break in the food world here in L.A. because we hardly ever got any help. The second hurdle is simply trying to be informed and have the money to take the next step.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are known for our Birria. It’s what I pushed for because I wanted to honor my father and all my ancestors. Our Birria recipe is over 120 years old. I wanted the world to know that real Birria is not a process, it’s a dish. Not simply because you use adobo on any protein makes it Birria just like simply using goat doesn’t make it Birria either. Birria is a marriage between goat and a well spiced adobo concentrate. Together they give birth to Consome. Consome isn’t gallons of water boiled with your adobo. It’s meat juices being squeezed out by the cooking process and combining with the adobo. It takes years to perfect it. Aside from Birria, people think that’s all we know how to do but we are now ready to break from that and get a bit more creative in our space.
What matters most to you? Why?
The future of my kids is all I worry about. Lyam, Itzel and Emiliano. I hope that through the hard work and long hours that I have spent cooking for others, they learn to be relentless in their pursuit of happiness. That they can distinguish between being victims and being victors. That my parents crossing the border with me in arms will never be in vain. That they see how hard a fought for my little space here in this country. That they see the rewards when you defeat adversity. I don’t want to leave this world without witnessing their success. My father never saw what I made out of Birria.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thegoatmafia.com
- Instagram: The_goat_mafia
Image Credits
@losojos
