Where I grew up
Born in Yokohama, raised in Pasadena, Texas. Spent ten years in the kitchens before crossing over to the maintenance side — three years on a barbacoa pit at Ninfa's, two on a robata grill in Midtown, two more on an open hearth in Montrose. I know the line because I worked the line.
How I got onto a hood
I started ducking out of my own kitchen at the end of the night to ride along with the cleaning crew on the rooftop. By the time I asked Marisol whether Updraft was hiring, I had been doing the work for eight months on my own time. I came on full-time in January 2023.
What I work on
Route 3 covers Midtown, Montrose, and the inner Loop. Fourteen restaurants. I also run dispatch — the routes, the calendar, the operator portal. If you call us at 7 a.m. on a Tuesday, you are talking to me.
Outside the bay
I have a six-month-old at home. I read fewer cookbooks than I used to and watch more cycling. I am the only Updraft technician who can still keep up with a Friday-night ticket window. On weekends I cook for my family on a small Konro grill in the back yard, which is the only solid-fuel cooking I do, and which I clean weekly with the same brushes we use on the line. Old habits.
What I want operators to know
The dispatch line is a real number staffed by a real person. If you call us at seven on a Tuesday morning, you are talking to me, not to a phone tree. I have probably already met the kitchen we are talking about. I am also the person who answers when you have a back-of-house question that is too small for an email and too embarrassing to bring up in front of a building inspector.