The January 2008 issue of the Spanish-language magazine Siempre Mujer includes a list of the United States’ best Latino chefs. Some of the usual suspects are on there, such as Washington, D.C.-based José Andrés and Douglas Rodriguez in Miami. But so is Sylvia Casares, the self-made chef of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen in Houston.
She started out working in test kitchens of a food manufacturer and then spent eight years on the sales end, peddling food to restaurants before striking out on her own.
Casares prides herself on making the traditional Tex-Mex cuisine of the lower Rio Grande Valley, where she was raised. She says the cuisine is a rich, natural fusion of the Anglo and Mexican cultures of the area that these days is being slighted by some chefs who are more interested in exploring the cuisines of Mexico’s interior.
Casares has been teaching classes on enchiladas and tamales out of her restaurant for the past three years, and she recently released a DVD called “Hot Tamales! A Primer on the Ancient Art of Tamale Making.”
Her menu also has 18 different enchiladas.
You have a philosophy about Tex-Mex food, that it’s underappreciated in the rest of the world, right?
I call it the original fusion food because it was developed in the mid-1800s, when Texas became settled by American settlers, and of course the Mexicans were [already] here, so the two cultures blended. Thus, Tex-Mex was born. Because a lot of people’s familiarity with Tex-Mex is often commercial preparations—some restaurants really don’t sell or serve Tex-Mex as it truly is—maybe it’s gotten a little bit of a black eye.
CHEF’S TIPS For ease in mixing tamale dough, first thoroughly mix the dry ingredients and separately mix the wet ingredients over low heat, emulsifying the lard, and then blend the two mixtures together while still warm. Mix tamale dough thoroughly.
But it’s healthy enough, it’s very good and it’s really one of the most popular ethnic cuisines, certainly in the U.S. and even in the world. And so I think my recipes represent the cuisine as it was originally developed.
But you also have some innovative enchiladas, like one with squash, corn, tomato, onion, garlic and cumin.
Yes, the squash is a calabacita. I call it the first cousin to zucchini because it’s round instead of long. The calabacita enchilada was an idea I got when I was trying to think of a vegetarian enchilada that was still Tex-Mex or Mexican. It’s based on a very traditional skillet dish that my mother would prepare. It represents a dish that’s commonly eaten, but in a skillet it would have chicken or pork.
For the [vegetarian] enchilada we put a light cream sauce over it that has a little bit of cilantro and tomato.
Has your restaurant’s focus always been enchiladas?
It actually just started as a general [Tex-Mex] restaurant called Camino Réal, and then I would get so many compliments on the enchiladas. In an extreme competitive environment for Mexican restaurants like Houston, my sales were lackluster, so as a way to break away from the herd, I decided to rename it. And then I began to add a variety of enchiladas.
This is your second location, right?
Well, with the father of my children I bought an existing restaurant [in Rosenberg, Texas, 30 miles from Houston]. We developed the sales, and then our partnership [and marriage] broke up. So I came to Houston and took over a location that he had started with another person and left him with the one that we had done together.
BIOGRAPHY Title: chef-owner, Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen, HoustonBirth date: February 3, 1953Hometown: Brownsville, TexasEducation: B.S. in home economics, University of Texas at AustinCareer highlights: working in a research lab of a major food manufacturer; achieving success through sales to restaurants; deciding to be an entrepreneur
It was teeter-tottering between red and black, just barely scraping by. Even though the address was on a very busy street in Houston, it faced a side street and it was not near the road. The 100,000 cars that drove past it probably didn’t see it.
I struggled with it for another year and then got discouraged and decided I would sell it. Then I sat back and thought about it for 24 hours and just decided that I had to take another approach. That’s when I changed the name, gathered up my courage, dug into my pocket and leased a billboard that was across the street from the restaurant. The copy on the billboard read: “The best enchiladas in Houston are also the hardest to find.” With an arrow pointing to turn left.
Within just a few months [of renting the billboard] it just exploded with customers. But because the restaurant was so little and the parking was so limited, when the lease was complete I relocated in November of 2001 to where I am now, about two miles away.
What did you learn from selling food to restaurants?
One of the things I noticed was that the successful restaurants bought on quality. It’s so basic to good food that you start with the best products.
How about when you were doing product development?
I did flavor analysis on a daily basis, with shelf life testing and evaluation. Some of the product development I did was trying to make substitutions to either improve cost or increase shelf life or some sort of other advantage.
What I learned was that any time you gained something, you always lost flavor or texture or something. There’s no such thing as all gain. I’m extremely sensitive to that. It’s a universal law.
Are there times when you make a decision to add shelf life or cut costs anyway?
I can’t remember any time I’ve ever done that.
Another thing I learned in sales is that people in general memorize flavors and textures. Even if they eat in your restaurant just once a month, they do have that flavor memorized, and so it’s critical that the consistency always be there. They will remember if there’s a deviation. Even if it’s sometimes a positive change, even if you’ve improved the product and increased its cost, I’m sensitive to the fact that sometimes people don’t like change, even if it’s for the better. That’s just being human.
What’s the hardest part about being an entrepreneur?
Managing all of the different aspects of a small business. You have to wear lots of hats, you have to be good at a lot of things. And what you’re not good at you farm out to someone who’s better at it. It definitely gives you an opportunity for creativity and independence and expression of yourself.
What are your strengths?
My strengths would be product development and my ability to bring the best out in people. Generally speaking, I have a pretty good record—not a perfect record—of selecting people who have helped me build the restaurant.
What are the best ways to motivate people?
Always be really positive and lead by example. Work side by side with them.
