Today we’d like to introduce you to Pablo Vega.
Hi Pablo, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Torreón, Coahuila Mexico. I went to culinary school for four years at Universidad del Valle de Mexico, once I got my degree I came to LA looking for more experience and opportunities as a chef. I was working for five years at a Japanese/ Peruvian fine dining restaurant “Picca” by chef Ricardo Zarate. During this time I started working at the fryer station, I didn’t have a lot of experience working in Los Angeles so I had to start from the bottom and little by little I was getting more confidence and experience on what I was doing and the last 2 years I ended working as a sous chef. The last year knowing the Restaurant was going to close doors me and my business partner Denice Mendez had the idea of starting our business and we started selling Tacos on the street at Downey City, after 3 months the owner of the property where we were selling wanted to charge us rent but this one was to high so we decided to look for a different option and we found that all the breweries in LA were looking for food vendors so we applied to a lot of them and we found a really good business opportunity because people liked our food and we got a lot of requests for private caterings.
While we were doing this caterings we hired Curtis Woods as a bartender, he only worked for us once and this was in 2018 but this name was really important to our future because after five years of doing private catering and pop-ups at different breweries, in 2021(after pandemic) Curtis Woods became general manager of “Las Perlas” Bar in West Hollywood and I don’t know how he remembered us because we didn’t have communication for three years and one day he just contacted us to make us an offer of the kitchen at “las Perlas”, to be honest, we were looking for this opportunity during five years, we partnered with “pouring with heart” group and they offered to us DTLA and West Hollywood Locations to run the food program. Right now we are really thankful and happy that we are working with this company because they gave us the opportunity to offer our food in two different areas of Los Angeles and for having our own place.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it has not been a smooth road, doing pop-ups is a really exhausting business model, basically you have to build and break a kitchen every time, during this time when we were doing pop-ups our box truck where we had all of our equipment was stolen so literally we lost everything. We thought on quitting but we really loved what we were doing so we took it as a good challenge, we didn’t stop working so we cleaned and recycle our old equipment and we stayed on the road.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Moderno Cocina is a Latina full-service kitchen and catering company located in Los Angeles, California, committed to providing the most authentic and delicious full Mexican flavor and that unmistakable Angelino twist. Co-created by owner Denice Mendez and the visionary chef Pablo Vega, MODERNO COCINA LIBRE is what happens when California and Mexican flavors meet and marry on a plate. Hispanic and woman-owned, we stand for empowerment, growth, inclusion, and UNITY. Chef Vega and Denice have created a MexiAmerican masterpiece, delivering and blending LA’s one-of-a-kind style with Mexican traditions that have influenced the City of Angels for generations.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I see the food industry changing a lot, I think people care a lot less about flavors and they look more for something trendy, I’m not against it because I think at Moderno Cocina we try to offer dishes with a little twist but is a good challenge for me as a chef on creating different and trendy dishes but keeping authentic flavors. Lately, people is eating less and taking more pictures, so our responsibility is keeping those flavors there so they can have the full experience.
Contact Info:
- Website: modernococina.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/moderno.cocina?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moderno.cocina.la?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Yelp: https://yelp.to/t73ADI3Dpvb
