Employee Feature: Chef Ryan Rose

Name: Ryan Rose

Position: Chef

Hometown: Clarksburg in the Delta

Quote: It doesn’t matter how well you can cook a steak, if you can’t take care of people you will not make it in this business.- Ernesto Jimenez, Zocalo owner

1. Industry Experience:

I started with Zocalo a month after it opened, almost 7 years ago.

2. Why did you join the Zocalo family?

After a study abroad in Granada, Spain I knew I wanted to get in the restaurant business. Zocalo was opening right when I got back. I started as a barback!

3. Favorite food:

I’ll never forget this stand I would have breakfast at in Puebla, Mexico.  Tamales and champurrado, a corn thickened drink. Man, that was good!

4. Favorite drink:

You cannot beat the simplicity of a well crafted margarita. Three ingredients are all you need. I prefer mine with 7 Leguas blanco.

5. What do you like to do in your spare time?

I don’t get much spare time but when I do it’s spent at home with my fiancé. We get married in June!

6. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?

A day after our wedding, we are spending three weeks in Mexico in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Jalisco. There’s so much diversity in Mexico that you can go a thousand times and never see it all. My heart is in Mexico.

7. What can you not live without?

I can’t get enough church. It keeps me grounded for the week.

8. Hobbies that you love:

Restaurant hopping. I love eating out. I not only enjoy the food but also watching people and the way they interact while in a food service environment.

9. Most memorable past time:

Traveling. I think I’m around 12 different countries that I’ve visited. I’ve lived in Spain and Italy, backpacked Europe with my dad, laid on the beaches of Barcelona and Mexico with my fiancé, visited Central America with Pablo, a Zocalo vet. and had a blast doing it. The different foods I’ve eaten and people I’ve met have really made me appreciate life.

10. What has been your favorite Zocalo moment so far?

Again I’ve been here since the beginning. I’ve been able to see Zocalo and its staff mature and blossom into something very special. I’ve seen staff members travel the world, some  get married and start families, others leave us to enter doctorate programs, some have even gone off to start their own businesses. We are a crazy family but that’s what defines us the best: family. It’s been an amazing ride and you can trust me when I say it’s only going to get better!