Episode #004: Alvaro Rojas

Santa Barbara’s ace restauranteur!

Welcome back Funketeers! It’s hard enough in Santa Barbara to run one restaurant but restauranteur Alvarado Rojas ran up until recently three of Santa Barbara’s funnest restaurants: Alcazar on the Mesa, Milk & Honey downtown, and the Bourbon Room out in “No-Leta” the area east of Goleta. The latter he just recently signed over to his partner. All three are warm, cozy gathering places with great cocktails and menus that bop between tapas, hearty main courses, and comfort food like pizza and hamburgers (at Bourbon Room especially.)

In this episode we sat down with Al to talk about his history of creating restaurants in Santa Barbara and his remarkable success rate. After the interview, Al made me a fan-freakin’-tastic duck carnitas slider as a thank you. I can’t send that out to our listeners, but I can include his father’s recipe for carnitas below.

Topics include:

* A rundown of Al’s current businesses
* His recent Europe trip, including thoughts on Berlin, the Latin Quarter in Paris, and his favorite meal of the trip
* Growing up son of Mexican immigrants in Palo Alto
* His dad’s history of cooking and comfort food
* How carnitas is the cousin to duck confit
* Learning the kitchen at his dad’s restaurant
* Living in Isla Vista
* Dropping out and opening his first restaurant in Santa Barbara
* The learning curve as a young restauranteur
* What closed his first business, Chilangos
* What led to his next tapas-based restaurant
* What he learned about tapas only by going to Spain
* The joy of Spanish culture
* How the more restaurants you open, the more intimidating
* The major changes in Santa Barbara’s culinary scene since Chilangos
* The secret skills of Dutch Garden’s owner
* What will be trendy in five years in Santa Barbara
* Why restaurants fail and why you shouldn’t trace trends
* The reasons behind the wood-fire pizza glut in SB
* Where Al funnels his creativity and dancing salsa
* The brief reign of LOFT in the FunkZone
* Al recommends his menu favorites

Alvaro Rojas’ Dad’s Carnitas Recipe

3 Gallons Lard
2 Pork Shoulder Butts Bone In or not
35 Garlic cloves
2 oz. Salt
12 oz. water
3/4 gallon water
8 oz. Molasses

In a 5 gallon pot add lard and 3/4 gallon of water. Add pork butts (if butts are bone in cut in half). Heat water and lard at medium to medium-low heat until it simmers. Let simmer for 3.5 hours.

In blender add garlic cloves, 12 oz. water, and salt. Blend until finely minced. Add blender contents to pot. Rinse blender to get all of the garlic. Add molasses by drizzling over each piece. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer for another 45 mins. to 1 hour or until desired tenderness.

You can find Al at his website:  http://alvarorojas.com/

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