The Recovering Lawyer Who Traded a Suit for a Chef’s Coat

Javier Becerra: I was a lawyer, former recovering lawyer, as I like to call it. Before I was a chef, family of six, all of them lawyers except for my twin. They worked for the UN, but everybody followed the same path. And after graduating law school, I decided that it just wasn't for me. So working five years at the family law firm, I applied to a culinary school here in Houston, to The Knot And then I also applied to NYU to do my master's in law. And I just said like flip a coin, whichever comes first. That's where I'm going. And in a week I was enrolled in culinary school. So that was 14 years ago. And I can tell you it was like the best decision of my life. And after that moved to Houston, went through culinary school.

And after graduating, I worked for Chef Britt's Kitchener, who was one of the only Master Chefs in America. Taught me a lot. shortly after I was to Chef Luis Roger who had BCN and he has a Michelin star here in town. And that's where my career really started. I worked with him for like five years, went back to Mexico and I was gonna work in Mexico for a year, but an opportunity to open a restaurant in Tokyo came up. So moved to Tokyo, opened a Mexican restaurant in Tokyo. That was a fun year of my life. Very, taught me a lot, you know, in a place where you cannot even read the signs for the Metro or to explain how to eat a taco. It was a very illustrative year. Came back, opened another restaurant with Luis Roger here in Houston.

That's where I met my current business partner, Angel Bautista, behind the bar. And after that, we followed each other. I moved on, opened DeGust, who was a very small restaurant. was a 15 course menu. And yeah, after that, this opportunity came to open a little bit of what we as Mexico City kids, it's three of us who are from Mexico City who decided to join this business idea. All from the mind of my business partner, And just the bar showcasing, you know, down to all of the color of the vase, the bars made out of Mexican volcanic stone, just a little of what, how we grew. We're showcasing that between drinks and food and the ambience overall. that's where we're at right now at Xolo. So that's my journey in five minutes.

Javier Becerra: I always have liked it. Always, as a kid like cooking. My grandma had, wasn't really a restaurant. It was more like a, you can call it a cafeteria was like you pay 40 pesos and they give you a starter, a main course and a water or a dessert or something. But I never saw her during those, while she was doing that, she put her 10 kids through school. I never saw it if was all of these stories, but every Sunday that the family would get together, my grandma would create these amazing feasts and just to see how much food she produced and how happy she was just seeing us eat. I don't know if that's part of what encouraged me to cook. 

I remember during law school, I would invite my friends to poker night at my house, but it wasn't, I couldn't care less about betting. It was because I saw some Martha Stewart recipe that I really wanted to cook for them or to try. I've always had the passion for cooking. The first book I rented off a library when I was eight was a French cooking for kids. It's engraved in my memory. I can't describe the pictures and how, I don't know how fascinated I was that you could create something and transmit the joy of doing that. Like see the people enjoying it, cooking, mean, the plate. I think that's what caught me, what gave me the satisfaction of saying, yeah, well, law has great money, but I wasn't really happy. So it was, it was a great paying job, but there was no passion. There was no drive. And with cooking, there's a complete opposite. I love what I do. It's, it's, it's the creation, the taking a family recipe and creating something. I don't know, to the experience I've had in many restaurants or school or stuff like that. think that's what. I was like, yeah, whatever, let's cook and let's be happy.

Javier Becerra: I wouldn't honestly like go some it's as I say it's great money but but no like my passions here I don't see myself behind a desk or or going to the courthouse and the talking like not for me like it gave me a bunch of good foundations to do what I do now there is a lot of reorganization skills that time management working in high stress environments, it gave me a bunch of structure. But I don't see myself back in a suit with my briefcase and coat. So I prefer my Chevrolet.

Javier Becerra: Well, it was to open a Mexican restaurant. The only other Mexican restaurant there was La Fonda de la Madrugada. Yeah, well, but I learned a lot, you know. And mainly I learned that you don't need too much to live. Because of course I show up with six pieces of luggage and they show me where I'm living. And I'm like, this was a Harry Potter closet. It was a triangle. And I'm like, I remember the guy showing me the place and  he didn't speak English. I didn't speak Japanese.

And I just see a door inside the little like triangle space. You could see this tiny kitchen sink, one burner. And I'm like, bedroom in there, right? And he's like, here. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, living room, bedroom in there. And the guy's like, no. And I'm like, well, dining room. And he's like, here. And I'm like, no, bedroom. And he just opened that door and it's a closet with a tatami, which is the bed and the tiny table. I learned a lot of that and learned to think on my seat, but you don't have the resources that you normally use like corn husks per se. They were extremely expensive. That's not something that Japan uses, no? And I felt like, okay, to make tamales, what am I going to do? I cannot sell you a $20 tamale or a 200 yen tamale because I'm paying for the husk.

So I was like banana leaves, no, we're close to, I don't know, tropical climates, expensive too. So I ended up using bamboo leaves to make tamales or like there's a very similar like succulent close to nopales, to cactus petals. So it taught me how to like think on like innovate with the materials that you had at your disposal over there. But it was a Japanese guy that had the only other Mexican restaurant in Tokyo and he wanted something more refined instead of just a Honda. That's Fonda De La Madrugada was the name of his other restaurant and the other two Mexican were Taco Bell and a burrito place by some Australian brothers. down to teaching the Japanese that you're not supposed to eat the cilantro and the onions and then the meat and then they cut the tortilla with the chopsticks and eat the tortilla at the end. I was like, no, you grab the tackle, 45 degree angle, 90 degree angle, it comes to you. So it was a learning experience and a teaching experience. So it was a fun time. It wasn't fun here or there.

Javier Becerra: Two things come to mind. The first one, I didn't know like kitchen shoes. I remember just showing up like I showed up to my interview in a suit and a tie. Cause in my head, that's what like, you know, like any interview like is and everybody thought I was the GM and I was applying for a salad boy position and I got my V and yeah, everybody was like when they saw me the next day in the chef go like.

And everybody was like, what are you doing here? I'm like, what do you mean? Like you were wearing a suit yesterday. You look so sharp. I'm like, well, it was an interview in my head. Like that was a funny memory. And the second one was apparently I was too hairy for the industry. So they made me shave my arms. That was my never expected it. And the main chef said that I was a hazard to the food. So showed the next day like with my waxed arms. 

Javier Becerra: I honestly think that my dad always told me, find something you love and you will not work a day on your life. And I always thought it was that advice of, know, your dad says it, the old man is... And it's not until now that I realized how true that is, what he says. So I feel that if what you do doesn't make you happy and you're gonna do it the rest of your life, do it. Take the risk. If you feel that little thing in your stomach that's saying, should I, should I not? If it scares you, If you don't risk, you can taste champagne, so why not take the risk? And if anything fails, you can go back to your old career. You have your title, you have your... But if you're not happy with what you're doing, life is short. Let's make the best out of it.

Javier Becerra: I think you have to work your way up. People think that,  or maybe I'm too old school in my mentality, like, scratch abroad stack wherever you can. The more you learn,  I'm a firm believer in learning something new every day. You have something to teach and something to learn every day. Whether it's reading, whether it's watching a video, whether it's, that in my head is something important, teaching and learning. And I think you need to know the basics to get yourself up. And there's no,  you're constantly learning, you're constantly growing. So I think, I wouldn't know if there is a top, because once you reach it, you're setting new goals and new ideas and new stuff, so you keep working your way up. So in my group, you have to work your way up. There's nothing given, there's nothing free. There's always somebody that knows more than you know, or that,

But instead of seeing it like that, I see it there's always somebody that has something to teach you. And you cannot have that mentality of,  I'm at the top and I know everything. Like there's always something new to learn. So I don't know, I think just stay humble, keep learning and keep planning. And when you get to where you're at, tell the next one in line and keep reaching new goals and keep setting new goals to reach. So yeah, start from the bottom and climb yourself to the top, whether it's learning and starting somewhere or taking a course somewhere else. Like I was very fortunate to take a course with  Martin Lippo in Barcelona on molecular gastronomy. 

I've always been fascinated by molecular gastronomy and how you can decouple food and turn it into something else and turn a gel in a foam. And I never thought that I would be able to apply that to Mexican cuisine because you never in your head you think that you can have. We're doing a postada with a chorizo foam on top and it comes out and people are like wow when it's it tastes like you're biting into a chorizo which pairs amazing with a scallops so I think you always have something new to learn to add to your repertoire of of crazy ideas.

Javier Becerra: Passion. I've worked with the best people that don't even know what Julian or Brumao is, but they have the will, or not the will, yeah, the passion to work, the hunger to learn. And I think that is something that not everybody does. If you're just here to collect the check, thank you, next. I want people who are curious, who constantly want to learn, who want to grow too. So to me, that's what I look like, the little sparkle in the eye. And then you don't have it, there's 50 other people that also want to collect the check. So I would much rather say, no, thank you.

Javier Becerra: The show offness the one that comes and says, like, I know, and I had one of the interviewers that came and I just want to tell you that I am not a line cook, that I am, there's a door, man, thank you. Like, I don't need as the standoffish and rainies. That's all right. Like, I don't, like, we're all here as a team. There's nobody better than anybody. Like, I know there's a kitchen structure; everybody has it's place in the team, but that person that comes, the typical know it all of the, can, you know, clean a fish better than you. Show me instead of just, you know, like show me. 

Those are to me the red flags that I saw. No, thank you. You're not going to be a good team member. So like in the end, this, we see each other every day, no, it's a family. It's your work family. And I just try to, I don't know, have key members that everybody gets along, everybody's curious, everybody is, first of all, happy with their jobs, and second of all, just like helping each other, because in the end, it's like your chosen family, your work family.

Javier Becerra: Completely in there! But that's what like, you know, I mean, with all due respect, if that's as I say, you think you are because TikTok chef's cool, everybody wants to be a celebrity now, like good for them. It's not something that to me drives me. What drives me is the passion of seeing somebody licking the plate of saying, wow, this meal was extraordinary. And it doesn't, I don't have to show you my knife skills, you know. And it is, we know we're in an ego industry, but I think that's like old school, like, or maybe some mentality of, just, you know, stay humble, stay kind. It's not that hard.

Javier Becerra: Study every day, learn something new every day. think brush on, know, your skills if you have to jump back to frying station or to like carmangé or to fish mongolin. Keep your skills sharp and learn something new every day. Like, don't do, I don't know what the sanctum going to do or like, what is, I don't know, what application, like just keep studying. I think it's a very important tool to have knowledge in the end is power and to keep learning and to keep studying and not to say, I've reached my limit, I know everything. No, you don't like learn something new every day. That will be my advice.