Chino and his family left Mexico City because of the pollution. They moved to a small town where his family started a bunch of businesses that all became quite successful. Because Chino’s family was busy, he was a latchkey kid. He came home from school every day hungry, that’s when he started cooking. “I was frying-up wieners and onions”, “I was copying my grandpa”, “my grandpa was a good cook and my inspiration”.
He became an expert at combining seemingly unfriendly ingredients into delicious snacks, fridge snacks he called them. He became known for this, cooking for his brother, and his brother’s friends.
All of the success the family was having with their various small businesses turned out to cause a lot of trouble. It was as if the town turned on them and they kinda got run out of town. This is what precipitated the move to Toronto.
When he arrived he found work as a house painter. He was working for a contractor who wasn’t stable, and was generally a problem. Chino struck out on his own and found success. Eventually he was running 2 crews of 4 guys, and they were very busy. He did this for about 7 years. The work became incredibly stressful and grinding. There was always a cheaper crew waiting to replace his crew. He was always miserable and the work never made him happy.
In the back of his mind for all these years was another venture, a food business. In his youth he found joy through cooking and that joy was still very much alive. A restaurant seemed impossible though. So he constantly went to this idea of a food truck, maybe a taco truck.
While researching the truck business licensing and bureaucratic nightmares started to emerge. It wan’t much different than the restaurant idea. Dealing with the City and other government bodies – it would be so hard to pull this off. It would be a gigantic gamble, and success was hard to visualize.
“I just wanted to be happy” —Chino
About this time he was a customer at Crows Nest Barbershop in Kensington Market. The aesthetic and the vibe was really appealing. The wife of one of his crew was cutting hair at home – and he thought, maybe she could teach him how to cut hair, maybe this was a better, more realistic path to security and some happiness.
He knew Jon Roth, the owner of Crows Nest a tiny bit—and decided to reach out to him on Instagram. To see if he could skip the private barber lessons and go right into an apprenticeship. It worked. Jon gave him a shot—and he joined as a Junior Barber. He was sweeping, answering phones and doing barber training. As the training intensified, and over the course of 9 months – Chino learned the skills to get started as a barber. It was enough skill for him to start doing walk-ins and inviting friends in as clients. He’s now a Senior Barber at the shop—and much sought after.
I thought this article was about lunch? Why is it in the food section of the mag??
When did you start cooking lunch for the gang at the barber shop?
So the story goes something like: The shop closes every day from 2:30 – 3:30pm for lunch. The barbers would bring their own lunches, or would go into the market – Kensington Market – and buy their lunches. Sandwiches, chips. Sometimes / often, the lunches weren’t that healthy. And well, he liked cooking – was really good at cooking… On the first day of his newly found sobriety, he decided to make lunch for everybody. He went to Sanagan’s Meat Locker – a butcher shop in Kensington Market and picked-up some steaks. They had a bbq-steak lunch, it was a big hit. So now he makes lunch 2 or 3 times a week. Beef tacos are the favourite amongst the staff. On the day I was there he made hamburgers with grilled pineapple and salad with avocado.
Chino took this burger pic.
The End.
*** You can find Chino on Instagram
*** You can find the author on Instagram