The path of a dream, especially that of a chef, is bathed in a balance of aesthetic, ambition and ultimately the customer. Geography makes a difference but also palette. Mario Vasquez, chef and partner at Colorado Craft Social, having cut his teeth in places like Napa Valley and Laguna Beach in California, has come to understand, even at the young age of 30, that understanding the business and the community it feeds is key.
As a kid and into his formative years, he was a musician with a background in orchestra. His musical training evolved, and he began touring with a band, playing guitar, but after a stint in Los Angeles, came to realize that this path “wasn’t going to cut it.” At 19 years old, he enrolled in the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Sacramento.
Understanding the Goal
Vasquez’s goal became clear. He said, “You’re just going to grind until you become your own chef, and you’re going to have your own restaurant. You’re just going to push and push and push to make something of yourself. I was tired of being broke, sleeping in vans for tours for weeks at a time. It was just time for me to stop it.”
After initially working at the Castrati Casino in Sacramento, a friend who was the sous chef at Farmstead in Napa, offered him an in. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Longmeadow Ranch and Farmstead in St. Helena, but it’s a very beautiful spot. I mean, it’s a dream job.” After three years working there (at only 21) and becoming a sous chef, Vasquez became restless.
“I could have stayed there and continued to live in California. But I’ve always told myself that I need to do more than what everyone else in my family had done.”
Around that time, Anthony Bourdain had become big with his travel food show. “I decided to travel after my time in Napa and went to Spain and France to see if my culinary teachings were what they were actually doing there. I was very curious and wanted to know everything. So, I took that whole journey out there, [without] a plan.”
On the Road
Vasquez did what was called “couch surfing,” where he would travel to places and cook food in exchange as a form of payment. “I spent a lot of time in San Sebastián. That was kind of the goal area. Uriz was very beautiful. I would actually really love to go back to that place. They do a lot of surfing there, and the food was just a beautiful mix of the Basque region, a lot of French and Spanish influence together. I got to meet a lot of cool people, eat a lot of good food. And once my money kind of ran out, I bought my ticket home.”
A friend in a band was moving to Orange County in California with his fiancé and needed a roommate. Instead of heading back to Vacaville where he grew up, Vasquez headed to the OC, but initially couldn’t find work for months.
“Right when I was about to give up, I got a call from Casey Overton over at The Montage at Laguna Beach.” Vasquez says that call molded his entire career from that point on. “I got to work with handfuls of different chefs at that resort, some with Michelin stars. Some with very big reputations and very high standards. It was just a blessing to be able to be a part of that and a very cool honor to have.”
Expectation & Great Ingredients
When he looks back at that time, Vasquez says it was like training camp. “You’re there, you’re taking care of VIPs left and right. They want special requests. It was just a crazy time, just being the age, I was. And just getting to work with such great ingredients and great chefs, that was just the cherry on top. I couldn’t trade that for anything now.”
But he admits, “in California, you’re just so spoiled, man. You can order your produce at night, and you get it the next day. You have all this fish that’s right around you. You have beef and pork. Everything’s just available at the highest standard. And coming out here, when we opened Till Kitchen [as Chef de Cuisine in the Springs], it wasn’t as hard. We were able to kind of buy a lot of the things that we wanted. But the goal was to always seek out the local produce players first.”
When it finally came to open his own restaurant in Colorado Craft Social in 2017 with Brian Bradigan, it was the culmination of his path but a lesson that eventually required a reawakening, which the pandemic has helped solidify. “We opened up with a huge menu: brunch, all crafted specialty dishes, lunchtime was completely different from dinner. Dinner had short ribs and whole roasted chickens and crudos and tartars and different things downtown. But no one bit. Our only seller was the spicy chicken sandwich and the Craft Burger. Those are the things that sold the most.”
Awakening to a New Reality
This awakening to reality of what people wanted in his approach and his food required a rethink, which Vasquez says was essential to the evolution of the business and for him as a chef.
“I had to realize that maybe [people] were not ready [for that here]. It’s really hard for a chef to be pushed so hard and push yourself so hard and then get to what you want and not be able to put the show on that you want to put on. I think for the first two years, being honest, it just really killed my drive. And it took this pandemic to light the fire under my ass to say like, ‘How bad do you really want this? Because if you don’t fight for this every day [it won’t happen].’”
At the beginning of the first shutdown, it was just Vasquez and Bradigan showing up every day, not paying themselves and just grinding out to-go food, to-go cocktails, to-go beers. “And that really did show the same people came in and bought from us … it really showed that people do care about us being here.”
That just clicked for Vasquez. “I realized, ‘Hey, just keep selling the things that the people are buying and throw in some of your flair here and there.’”
“For instance, we ran a street corn dish this last month because the corn grown out here is some of the best. It’s the sweetest. It’s awesome. And if I can present that to someone in a special way, done very flavorful, I think that they’ll remember that. And next season, when it comes around, they’ll be coming back for it as well. That’s how I’m trying to keep my chops high.”
Looking Forward with Eyes Open
Now with the pandemic waning, Vasquez is seeing the light but with a more awakened view. “We have lost a lot of people during the pandemic and the summer has been rough. But I’m very blessed to have the people I have around me. Any other 30-year-old chef that thinks that they know everything or that they’ve been there, done that…it’s like you never stop learning in this journey. I believe until the day I leave the kitchen, I’ll still be learning.”
But it is also reflected in his continuing ambition. “For me, it’s like, ‘Man, you can’t fail. You’ve already put in the work. They’re getting it. The guests are getting what your vision is.'”
He adds that he did farm dinners this summer in Fountain for over 100 people every weekend from August all the way until September. He did it to promote his craft and what he does. “And massively, I think that it did kind of bring more foodie-type people into the restaurant. So, it’s just really about building yourself and staying the path.”
