1932: THE EL CHOLO CHEF
Joe Reina was El Cholo's first chef, a job held for 54 years and is responsible for many of the recipes still used today. Although he held the job for just over 5 decades, he was always afraid of losing his job. He would lie about the recipes, constantly leaving one or more ingredients out so that only he could make the dish properly. The next time you asked for that same recipe, Joe would leave out a different ingredient, forgetting which one he left out prior and eventually we could piece together the full recipe. Joe has forever influenced the Mexican restaurant industry.