This week, we visit with Z’Tejas executive chef Diego Bolanos, who moved to Arizona in 2010 and has worked in many kitchens across the Valley and beyond. Highlights include opening his own restaurant in Sedona in 2013, and then selling the business and going to work with Sedona chef Lisa Dahl to help her create the award-winning Mariposa Latin-Inspired Grill. He did a stint at the Thirsty Lion as regional training chef for Arizona and then joined Z’Tejas in 2019, where he is now part owner and corporate executive chef.
How much does your upbringing influence your cooking?
I was born in Costa Rica and was there until I was 19. All my cooking experience and training has been in the United States, but I do go back to the roots of how I grew up. We had simple meals, with simple ingredients. I still see that in my cooking. I use avocados, mango and yucca root.
Do you get to do much cooking as a corporate executive chef?
As an executive chef, my job is to work on recipes and training materials, do evaluations and make sure everything in the kitchen is done properly. But as you’re probably aware, we have a staff shortage, so I’m all over the place being a 40-hour a week line cook and a 40-hour a week corporate chef between the two Arizona restaurants. That’s when I’m lucky.
What are your most popular menu items?
People go for enchiladas and fajitas and we have a couple of appetizers that are very popular – catfish beignets and shrimp tostada bites. We have a seasonal menu that changes four times a year, and two times a year we change the core menu. If there’s something on the winter menu that was very popular and customers want to keep it, then we’ll replace a dish that is not as popular on the core menu.
What is your biggest challenge right now?
Staffing, and that’s very important because the key to our business is consistency. When you change staff members constantly, the food and service is going to be affected. The industry is struggling right now. As a customer, when you go out to eat and pay for a service, you have expectations. That’s the hardest part right now because sometimes customers have to wait a little longer.
Tell me about your ghost kitchen concept, Woo Woo Burgers.
It’s going well. Some of our clientele is having an issue understanding what a ghost kitchen is, but the Millennials are definitely on it. I’m already working on an Italian ghost kitchen concept and our goal in three years is to have Woo Woo and the Italian concept as brick (and mortar) as well. We’re also opening a new Z’Tejas in Mesa next year.
What are some of your favorite ingredients to work with when you’re cooking?
Something simple like tomatoes and garlic because you can do a lot with them, like make a sauce or rub. I also love working with proteins – meat and seafood, especially seafood.
