Victor Villarreal

Twice a month beginning in February, the Hemphill house will be blessed with Victor’s rotating menus and introductions to collaborations with friends he’s made along the way. Keep an eye out for recorded conversations with guests about food, life and art.

It’s the last Monday in January when Victor stops by the Hemphill house so I can take his portrait. Recent developments have made him more available than he likes to be, but he sticks to his mantra and has been making the most of it. The idea to feature him for this month came up while helping him move and the timing felt right. Caracol has featured live music and art shows, but we hadn’t quite made the introduction to the third pillar of this production, food! 

I first met Victor when he and his wife Misty hired me to design a logo for their seafood and cocktail bar restaurant just weeks before N95’s began to litter the sidewalks. They continued to give me work when times got quiet and the trade-off hasn’t stopped since. The gradual introduction to friends and family along with afterhours talks of a shared vision over shots of Jameson have produced a mentorship and friendship that I’ve grown to value. 

He’s got this tired expression on his face today, evidence of the previous nights trying to make sense of things. That signature grin that makes his eyes even smaller breaks it up. I slide behind the “barmoire”, a bar I cut out of an old armoire that came with the house, and begin to sift through the small inventory. This repurposed furnishing is symbolic of our DIY community and has become somewhat of a shrine for conversation. A handful of beers and several shots of his favorite cheap tequila later and we’re laughing it up. 

Victor starts to imagine the path ahead of him, you can see it form in his eyes when he’s talking to you. “When you limit yourself to a box, you limit your potential,” he finally says. Victor’s endeavors will no longer revolve around the niche. He goes into detail about allowing himself to pursue some of the things he’s been wanting to do. “I’ve always wanted to explore, to cater to a more diverse group of people and be more creative in the process, but I’ve always put myself in a box!” “The seafood concept became repetitive…and people created expectations” he says, referencing his feature in Bon Appetit last year. He goes on to compare life experiences with cooking. “Now I get to use everything that I’ve always wanted” (ingredients) goes on to list seafood and Mexican food hybrids and continues to list the parallels. “I have to use everything about my life and make it mine again,” implying limitations, something he’s familiar with and thrives in, whether business or personal life.“I felt like I needed to be who I became for the business...but now I have a chance to reinvent who I am for myself… I’m going to start doing food that I like for the reasons that are important to me.” 

Some of the why's and how's for his abrupt shift in direction with La Onda come up, but he’s quick to change the topic. “For now I need to know where I’m going before I come back to an old story.” I scribble a few notes on paper before we head over to one of his few favorite lunch spots in Fort Worth.

Good Luck on W. Rosedale St. has been around since the 70’s according to one of its employees. I watch the interactions Victor has with the staff, how he quickly finds himself in their conversations and they in his. This charisma he’s developed from years in the service industry, but most importantly, from his upbringing. “I’d wake up to prayer sessions in the living room,” he recalls. Victor’s story began in Abilene, TX where he was raised by his grandparents. “My grandmother put others first and I saw the good it did to both.” 

Victor wants to elevate the simplicity of his food. He tells me to look up Francis Mallman, an Argentenian chef that’s captured his attention for some time. Mallman prepares simple dishes using traditional methods outdoors. Victor wants to accentuate the simplicity of cooking by fire and cast iron. “I want to take fire cooking more seriously on the side” referencing Sofia, his Santa Maria grill.

Interview and Photography by Guillermo Tapia

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