Los Olivos Pizzeria - Darren Jones Interviews Quetzalcoatl Laura

Hi, I'm Darren Jones with the Tony Ray Baker Group, and this morning I'm here with Quetzalcoatl Laura, and we are at Los Olivos. And if you haven't tried this, then you're in for a treat because just past the mercado before you get to Grande, on the north side of the street, there's a place that everybody is flocking to, and the main reason is the Foods. So good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you. And, um, I have a couple of questions. I just kind of wonder, how did you get into this, uh, Italian pizza type of affair?

Well, um, I— since I got here to United States, I was cultivated by European food, and Italian's one of the— one of them French as well. But, you know, I decided to open a small pizzeria because that's the only thing I could afford at the moment.

Yeah, well, I'm just kind of happy about it because, you know, for me, any kind of pizza, or especially the strombolis and these types of things, it's all about the crust. And your crust is just amazing. But this is a really— it's a real surprise., for this place to be here. So, um, tell me about how long have you been here?

We've been here approximately 6 years. 6 years. Uh, we started in like '13.

Now, did you start out at this location?

Yeah, yeah. Well, I used, uh, at the, uh, at the same time I used to own a small raspado place like next door here. Okay, and that's where I started for, uh, owning up, uh, my own business. And then this one was the second one, and I sold the other one. I just kept this one.

Okay, so now what would be your favorite dish, or what is your most popular dish here?

Uh, our popular pizza, I'll say, is the Los Olivos pizza, which is one of them that they order the most, uh, has, uh, fresh artichoke hearts, uh, green olives, fresh Roma tomatoes, and topped with fresh basil.

Oh, that sounds amazing. That's amazing. And so what is your favorite?

That's one of my favorites, and the margarita pizza. I'm kind of a simple guy with just one topping. Just like you said it before, I like to taste the crust, I like to taste the cheese, and I think when you put a lot of toppings, it's overwhelming. And so I'm a little simple, but that's me.

And that is very European to have a few very good ingredients that really stand on their own instead of just being overpowering.

Yeah.

Yeah. So that's fantastic. Now, how did you get into cooking culinary interests and start cooking?

And well, since I came to the US, I, uh, I, my first job, it was, uh, it was a dishwasher in a restaurant. And, uh, you know, watching all the, uh, chefs working on the kitchen, I started in the hotel and it was, uh, French. So, and the, the, just the technique that they were, uh developing those dishes, it was just, for me, it was just amazing. So I say, I'm gonna learn and I'm gonna own my restaurant one day. And here I am.

And here you are. And again, we're very glad. So tell everybody please, where do they find you? And if they wanted to order takeout, how would they do that?

We're here at 937 West Congress Street. And they can order through Grubhub or DoorDash. Also, we have simplemenu.com, is another company that they promote our business. That's where they can find us.

That's fantastic. And I highly recommend that you do. So thank you again for working with us today and taking your time. And everybody, please, please come down because you'll be happy you did.