Maria Mazon Transcript
Kerry Diamond:
Hi everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host, Kerry Diamond. I'm the founder and editor of Cherry Bombe Magazine. Each week I talk to the coolest culinary folks around. Today I am chatting with my new best friend, Chef Maria Mazon. Maria is the executive chef and owner of BOCA restaurant and the SONA Bodega, both in Tucson, Arizona, and she is overseeing the kitchen at the brand new Borderlands Brewing location, also in Tucson.
Some of you might know Maria from her appearances on Chopped and season 18 of Top Chef. She is funny, honest, and clearly puts her heart and soul into everything she does, from her tacos to her famous salsas, to her life in Tucson, with her firefighter wife, son, and two dogs. Stay tuned and learn how Chef Maria got her start, what kitchen appliance, yes, what kitchen appliance is tattooed on her thigh, and how her salsas reflect her mood.
One of the reasons I am so excited to talk to Maria is because she and I will be hanging out in person at the Graduate Tucson hotel for a special networking event. It's taking place Thursday, February 23rd from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at The Moonstone, which is the hotel's rooftop restaurant and bar. Graduate Tucson is just steps from the University of Arizona campus. Come and meet other folks in the Bombesquad and from the local culinary scene, and enjoy snacks and sips from The Moonstone. Then we'll have a talk and panel discussion with great food folk, including Chef Maria. Tickets are $30 and include all food, drinks and a copy of our magazine. Head to cherrybombe.com to snag your ticket and we can't wait to see you.
We are also hosting networking events at the Graduate Hotel in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on February 9th and at the Graduate Hotel in Palo Alto, California, on March 2nd. If you have pals in any of these cities, let them know. If you're not familiar with Graduate Hotels, it's a collection of 33 handcrafted hotels in college towns across the U.S. and U.K. Each one has a unique design inspired by its hometown and their restaurants and lobbies are perfect gathering places for visitors, students, and locals.
I'm very excited about hanging out at The Moonstone. I saw some pictures online and the view from the roof is amazing. There's also a rooftop pool, so I am most certainly packing a bathing suit. For more information on our event, visit cherrybombe.com. And for more information on Graduate Hotels, visit graduatehotels.com. Now, let's check in with today's guest.
Maria Mazon, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Maria Mazon:
Thank you. Honestly, it's an honor. I've been following you on social media for a while and just to be in your presence, it's pretty cool.
Kerry Diamond:
You are doing so many things and really just crushing it out there and I'm honored to be able to talk to you and that you are going to share your story with all our listeners. I read that you didn't choose your style of cooking, it chose you. You're going to have to explain to us what that means and what your style of cooking is.
Maria Mazon:
Well, people assume that because I'm Mexican, "Oh, she's going to cook Mexican cuisine." It chose me. I became a chef by accident. My story's quite unique. It was working as a waitress in a restaurant in the Foothills here in town, and it was Mexican American, the typical yellow cheese, sour cream, which I'm fine with. Now, at 41, I understand there's three types of Mexican food. It's what you call Mexican cuisine, the one that I grew up eating coming from all over Mexico, which is gorgeous. American Mexican, that is the yellow cheese, the sour cream, and the TexMex, which I don't mess with Texas, so we're going to leave that alone.
So with pride, I said, "Why you're doing like this?" Mind you, this was a family that had restaurants for 40 years and little by little I found myself in the kitchen and given them ideas. I have ADHD, so the only thing that makes sense to me, being in the middle of the chaos, it felt super calm to me. So, one thing led to another and I started doing the weekend specials and people are liking it. People are ordering my specials. So, I got more interested and I was like, "Let me bring Mexico to this border town." So I started YouTubing, I started Googling. I started asking everybody and their moms, and 20 some years later, I'm talking to people like you. So, I'm very stubborn, so I stuck to my guns. I never sold myself cheap in the sense like, if you do this or if you sell sour cream in your restaurant, you can make more money. I'm like, "No, I'm not here for the money." I'm here to represent my Mexico and I want people to eat my Mexico through me. And that's it.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell us a little bit more about how you went from waitress to self-taught chef at the same restaurant.
Maria Mazon:
I found I was good at the kitchen, I was good at the cooking, I was good at mixing and I discovered myself being very confident cook. I discovered that I didn't need to follow a recipe, that my sense, my spidey sense of smell, or knowing a certain ingredient was working. So, I felt confident, I felt secure, I felt like I belong and that's how I started. I started in that little restaurant in the foothills of Tucson and one thing led to another, being stubborn, being super “terca”, what we say in Spanish. And so far, so good. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop, believe me or not.
Kerry Diamond:
Did you show any interest in cooking when you were little?
Maria Mazon:
Yes, I had a nanny. See, in Mexico it's very easy to have nannies, at least in Sonora where I grew up, Gregoria was her name and took care of my mom. And then when my mom got married, she was our nanny and she-
Kerry Diamond:
Wait, she had been your mom's nanny also?
Maria Mazon:
Yes, she was my mom's nanny as well. And she cooked the best Chili Colorado, like red chili stew, and I was that little skinny middle child, which I do have the middle children syndrome. I was always there, "What are you doing? What are you doing?" And she was always taught me how to make flour tortillas, the Chili Colorado, verdolagas, or the purslane, that they say in English. So, I was always interested. It was just, "Oh, they're cooking, I'm going to see what's what's out there." I was not great at school. So that, I don't know, since ... Now, that I think about it, I'm like, "Oh, okay. That's where I felt safe." That's where I felt myself that I can be literally all I wanted to be through a plate, in years of still trying to make it right. Because I think if you stop trying to make it right, I don't think you have nothing to offer. You have to try and try because the perfection level is never going to be enough. And I'm not saying, "Oh, I want to be ... " I just, that makes me be better and better human, as a chef, as a mom, as a wife.
Kerry Diamond:
When did you realize this could be a profession?
Maria Mazon:
When I started waitressing, I love talking to people. I love talking about food, I love ... They chose that restaurant, but I was the face of it, I was part of their evening. Waitressing is not easy, as being a cook is not easy, being a dishwasher is not easy. But just being part of their evening, I was entertaining. And then we were talking about food and then I felt prouder and I got an inject of gasoline when people were trying to try my food and I used to hide in the corner, where the waiters and waitresses hide, and I used to look for that nod, I do till this day. That first nod of that first bite, doesn't matter if it's guacamole, or truffles, or whatever. You look for that nod and then you feel you're high. It's at the highest. And that's what I was looking for.
Kerry Diamond:
After that first experience, what came next? More jobs. Did you go to culinary school?
Maria Mazon:
I did not.
Kerry Diamond:
You're self-taught.
Maria Mazon:
Yeah, self-taught. I learned from TV, so yeah, they taught me. I learned from radio, from magazines, from books. I find myself a confident cook. So, if I'm going to try fish sauce, or kombu with frijoles, how to respect the ingredients of different parts of the world in making my own.
Kerry Diamond:
Who were some of your TV teachers?
Maria Mazon:
Of course, the mighty Julia Child, but Ina Garten, I think I can fix the world with her. Give us a bottle of wine and tacos. I will be cooking the carne asada. Believe me when I'm cooking, I imagine the scenarios of people that I want to hang out with and her being one of them. Seriously, just cook and talk about it. Talk about the world. I learned, and I don't have to, say Padma [Lakshmi], Gail [Simmons] and Tom [Colicchio], but Tom gave me a lot of confidence. I can go fishing with Tom.
But there is a book in Mexican cuisine, if you will. Every mom and their mother has it. It's called Doña Cuca. Doña Cuca is a house mom that decided to do a book and I stole those two books from my mother and I have them, and every mom and their moms follow that book. I don't know if she's still alive or not, I just found ... The book, I can see her. It was a long book, short hair with super '90s array of food and just the tiny lady just in the corner. And she was going to teach you how to cook like a mom. So, Doña Cuca has been one of them for me. And of course, TV took over and the celebrity chefs took over. But yeah, Ina Garten and I can go fishing with Tom, I'm going to put it out there for the world.
Kerry Diamond:
When did you decide you wanted to have your own restaurant?
Maria Mazon:
When that restaurant was closing and my catering company was taking over and I said, "Why not?"
Kerry Diamond:
So, you had your catering company at the same time you were working at someone else's restaurant?
Maria Mazon:
Yes, and there were kind enough to work out of there. And I open BOCA, pay an homage to Sonora. I say, "Why not? Why not?" I'm going to facilitate the tacos for us to Tusconans, and not to go all the way to the south side, if you will. And I want to show the taco that we Sonorans eat. Mind you, I'm from Navajo, Sonora, which is the last city of the state of Sonora. I grew up watching the a te caro, he taught me how to chop tomatoes just by watching him. I watched Pancho, Don Pancho was the taco cart by the corner of my parents' house. I saw him without him knowing how to put a carbon, the charcoal, how to ... All those memories came back running to me to open the restaurant and that's what I wanted to do. Little did I know that I was a difficult task, but I will not change it for the world.
I found myself with a business partner, that didn't work out. Couple bills were missing and the typical story, but I learned the hard way who was the IRS. I learned the hard way I needed to pay my employees, but I needed a worker. So, I learned. What I told them is, "I have no idea, get sometimes lost in translation. But if you patient with me, I really do believe in my project." And somehow, somewhere, little by little start working.
So, I don't have a ... When people say, "Who's your mentor in the kitchen," I don't have it. Those people that I just mentioned, hotdog man, my nanny, those are my mentors. My mentor is a gentleman that I used to rent from, the spot that BOCA was originally at, and I needed to pay the rent of course. So, I learned business. I became a business person first and a chef later, which they don't like each other at this point, but that's another podcast.
Kerry Diamond:
So, you said it's a tribute to the food you grew up on in Sonora.
Maria Mazon:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell us what that means. What is the cuisine of Sonora?
Maria Mazon:
Sonora is tacos, is hot dogs, it's freshness. It's that smell of the charcoal. Food and music is the only thing that has the power to take you back years. I'm 41 years old and if I smell the charcoal burning, it takes me when I was little and takes me back. But Sonoran food, we have a lot of agriculture, so we have a lot of meat, we have a lot of pork, we have a lot of mais, which is the tortillas, harina, the flour tortillas. So, it's very rich, but it's very simple. So you have the machacha, which is the shredded beef, dried beef that the ranchers, that's the way to ... they used to preserve that beef so they can go days with the cattle. It's very simple cuisine, but very rich. You don't need much.
Kerry Diamond:
What has been on the menu since day one?
Maria Mazon:
The macho taco at BOCA, it's a roasted Anaheim pepper, stuffed with cheese and then melted, and then put in tortilla with steak and cabbage and guacamole, pickled onions. People think Mexico, Mexican cuisine, Mexican food, "Oh, tacos, pozole, yada, yada." But Mexico's so big that it has their cocina Yucateca, cocina Sonorense, so you go and if you go to Mexico, you don't eat tacos with cabbage. So, it's very cool to teach people without them knowing them that you're teaching them, your patrons, that's how we eat in Sonora. Oh, I love a good taco with a nice glass of wine. Why not? Fancy it up a bit, in fixing the world, that's where it's at.
Kerry Diamond:
What are the dishes you're most known for at BOCA?
Maria Mazon:
My salsas, my salsas put me on the map. I was broke as broke they can be. And I was at the grocery store here, the Mexican grocery store, and they had bananas for 33 cents. And I said, "I need to make something with this because I don't have money for tomatoes, which ... " oh, I don't know, they were $3 a pound or $2 or whatever. So, I got back to BOCA and I grilled them, toss them in a little bit of butter and seasoning and I put orange juice in habanero peppers. And since, then the banana habanero, it's been a thing.
And then I discover that the blender was my superpower, that I have a voice through the blender because I can put stuff together and I can take people that don't have the means to travel, to India, or Japan, or China, or Mexico with little things in the little salsa ramekins. And that's how I'm known for my salsas, which I have a ... I'm going to say the brand because I don't care, I have a Vitamix tattooed in my thigh.
Kerry Diamond:
You do?
Maria Mazon:
I do, I sure do because the Vitamix gave me ... it's going to sound very dumb, but gave me power, because I was broke, so I didn't have money to buy an expensive restaurant blender. So, I was spending $30 at Target or Walmart buying blenders. I was breaking them, breaking them. When I told myself, "When I able to afford a $500 blender, then I made it." And then I did, it was a red blender, a red Vitamix, it's tattooed in my thigh. That's the only blender I buy. My wife makes fun of me.
Kerry Diamond:
Speaking of your wife, you have a salsa called the Hotter Than Your Wife salsa. Tell us what that's all about.
Maria Mazon:
It's not a salsa. When you're come into the restaurant, the marquee that I had at BOCA, the old BOCA on Speedway, that used to be a Taco Bell back in the day. So, when I moved locations, I wanted to take the marquee with me. So, my wife being a firefighter that she is, "Oh, we can make it a drill ... " and fire department, Tucson Fire Department, are amazing. So, they helped me take it down and make a drill out of it, of course, trying to train and be better or whatever. And the slogan of BOCA was, "Our salsas are hotter than your wife."
Kerry Diamond:
Now I get it.
Maria Mazon:
Yeah, and we've been insulted. People don't take the joke, but I just laugh. I'm like, "Hey, the world needs more laughter." So, I would put it out there. That slogan was created by ... back then was my customers, now they're one of my best friends and I adore them, the Melroses because I always had hot salsas. And now you can go to BOCA and you can see what my mood is. If they're super fruity with a little heat, oh, chef is having a good day. And they're hell hot, do not talk to me.
Kerry Diamond:
Good to know. Is there anything new on the menu there that you're really excited about?
Maria Mazon:
You know what? I did this for myself, for my sanity, every Wednesday instead of other regular people doing their weekend specials on the weekend, I start on Wednesday. I bore very easy, my attention span is very short. So, I do my weekend special starting Wednesday so you can come and yesterday, when was it? Wednesday I did a mixiote of barramundi with, I put a charred parsnip puree on the bottom, chile morita green beans on top of the puree, and then that fish with an achiote sauce and then wrapping the paper and let it steam. So, I let my mouth and my brain go. And yeah, every Wednesday you're going to find something new. And every day you're going to find different salsas. I'm in the process of writing my salsa book. I think over my career of opening BOCA for 13 years, I'm very confident I have about 8,000 salsas.
Kerry Diamond:
That's a lot of salsas, Maria.
Maria Mazon:
Well, I need to scream sometimes. I need to say, "Hey, I'm here." It's a good outlet for the youngsters that work in my kitchen and I'm trying to teach them that less is more. That sometimes, you let these ingredients speak and you can create a great memory for a customer. Yeah, I love it. I will not change my story for the world.
Kerry Diamond:
We'll be right back. I have a little Cherry Bombe housekeeping for everyone. Tickets are now on sale for Cherry Bombe's 2023 Jubilee Conference, taking place Saturday, April 15th at Center415 in Manhattan. This will be our 10th in-person Jubilee and we can't wait to see you. Jubilee is always a beautiful day of connection and community and Jubilee also happens to be the largest gathering of women in and around the food space in the whole U.S. So, don't miss out. For tickets and more information, visit cherrybombe.com.
What else? We've launched a brand new podcast. It's called She's My Cherry Pie, and it's hosted by baker and author Jessie Sheehan and it drops every Saturday morning. Each week, Jessie talks to a world-class baker and does a deep dive into one of their signature baked goods. I love the show and I think you will too. The first two episodes of She's My Cherry Pie are live, so give a listen or check out the transcript. You can catch Jessie in conversation with the hugely influential pastry chef, Claudia Fleming, and then Jessie spreads some joy and buttercream frosting with none other than Joy the Baker. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or check out the transcripts on cherrybombe.com and happy baking. Back to our show.
Next, you opened SONA tortillas, right? Is that what came next?
Maria Mazon:
SONA, S-O is the Sonora, is where I started. N-A, Arizona is where I ended. I wanted to have a good tortilla. I was about to open and then the pandemic. So, that gave me time to think and to explore and learn more about mais, the corn. So, after a lot of trial run, and trial and run, and testing and all that, I invited my baby brother. My baby brother is nine years younger than me and I said, "Why not? Come on, let's do this together." And we opened SONA with a little bodega in the front and we sell anything and everything kitchen related and actually we host about 13 local Tucson brands there.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, how cool.
Maria Mazon:
So well, if somebody gave me a chance and that's what the world needs, more chances. Somebody gave me a chance, Tucson gave me a chance, my landlord gave me a chance 13 years ago, so why not to give those small creators chances of ... I have a mesquite flour for chocolate chip cookies, I have salt, I have rubs, I have many other things. So yeah, Miguel and I, which he just got married so it's perfect for him, and we just create the tortilla. Sometimes a pin- chitlepines, I did a green chia tortilla. But yes, we bring the mais from Oaxaca, we nixtamilize it ourselves, we grind it ourselves and we have the machine and cook it there.
Kerry Diamond:
So, for visitors to SONA, so they can shop in the front, buy a few things for their pantry. What's the go-to thing to get there? Like for me, I don't live there, so I've got to choose wisely on my first visit.
Maria Mazon:
Yes, I'm going to make you your care package, which is going to have tortillas, which they freeze amazing. You have no idea how many frozen tortillas I have. I like the people to take 10, freeze them and they thawed out perfect. Salsa, my Sonorita, it's called La Sonorita, which is a chiltepin salsa with agave. I just did a tattoo of a jar of chitlepines. Chiltepines is our mother chili, but it's what here in Tucson we're known for and Sonora as well. So my salsa, tortillas and a couple of rubs. There's good stuff there from other vendors. Oh, and of course barrio flour from Don Guerra from Barrio Bread.
Kerry Diamond:
And are you making food to eat there or it's all pantry and fridge stuff to take?
Maria Mazon:
It's all pantry and fridge stuff to take. Mind you, the shop, it's in my restaurant's courtyard.
Kerry Diamond:
Got it, okay.
Maria Mazon:
So, it's a one-stop shop, so you can be at BOCA, eat, have a margarita, walk to the courtyard, continue admiring my edible garden, which that was my escape during the pandemic. I'm growing chilis, I'm growing herbs, I'm growing a lot of things, and then you get to the store and that's it.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, I love that you've got all that in one space. That's fantastic.
Maria Mazon:
Little by little.
Kerry Diamond:
I love that you mentioned that you learned ... some of you are culinary instructors were TV teachers from you watching food television. You've been on TV several times, you've done Chopped, you were on season 18 of Top Chef. What do you like about being on TV, cooking on TV?
Maria Mazon:
Back in the day when I started BOCA, I needed to be on TV to be heard to because I still believe that I have a lot to offer, but it's a different ... Now I want to tell my story. Now I want to fix the problems with food. Now I want to showcase that Mexican cuisine is elegant. Now I want to show that a taco is compared to a truffle, or a pozole is the same as a duck, and that you want to test the menu, but you don't need to pay thousands and thousands of dollars. I personally don't eat like that.
I personally don't take out the tweezers and decor my food in my home. We need to teach food is approachable. We wonder why so many kids these days, they don't eat vegetables, they don't eat certain things. It's because we as creators, we are not approaching our right clientele.
It's funny because I don't have time to volunteer at my son's school when he was in elementary, so I took it upon myself to volunteer once a month to go to his class and cook for these kids. But I was cooking, yes, mac and cheese, but I was throwing the typical veggie in there, so I was teaching them that vegetables are good. I was letting them eat with their eyes, with color, with flavor, and they were part of me prepping. And that's what I want to do through Mexican cuisine. I want to try to break the stereotype of the donkeys and pinatas, and the restaurants and the certain beer and stuff like that. I want to show it's approachable, it's elegant, it's within reach.
Kerry Diamond:
Do you want to do more TV?
Maria Mazon:
Yes, yes, why not? I want to sit down with grownups and I want to make TV that makes sense, that I don't know, a Grandma Jennifer in Minnesota can understand what's going on with the world, with regular words. In Minnesota as well, can understand what's going on in her world with my words. I get lost in translation a lot because being English, my second language and having a ADHD ... all the good stuff, I have them. So, I want to be approachable and I think that TV, it's needed just to clean the world a little bit, but I don't know, it gives me a ... The other day people are asking me about a certain movie that is out, The Menu, and I said, I do not watch cooking shows or TV, movies related cooking because give me anxiety you wouldn't believe.
Kerry Diamond:
It's so funny that you say that. We did a little something with Rita and Jody. Do you know those two from Via Carota, and I Sodi, and Buvette?
Maria Mazon:
Yes, I know who they're, but I've never met them.
Kerry Diamond:
They're fantastic. And we did a live event to celebrate their new cookbook and someone asked what food TV they watch when they're home in their off hours. And I think it was ... I can't remember if it was Jody or Rita, but one of them said, "Are you kidding? I don't watch any of that when I go home. Do you think doctors go home and watch doctor shows?"
Maria Mazon:
No. Yeah, I was going to say I watch Grey's Anatomy. I'm almost a doctor because of Grey's Anatomy. So no, I watch anything that has to be remodeling shows. Right now, I'm set that I need to buy a van and convert it. My wife is going to retire in five years and we're going to travel the world.
Kerry Diamond:
Fun.
Maria Mazon:
And I want to cook fish and just not worry.
Kerry Diamond:
How old are your kids?
Maria Mazon:
Renee, my son, my one and only, he's 14 years old.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh wait, I mixed up the kids and the dogs? You have two dogs, one kids?
Maria Mazon:
Two dogs, yeah. Lola and Luca's my Weimaraner. And Lola, my deaf Bull Terrier and Renee, my teenager. I don't know if I have to say enough with a teenager. Yeah, I did things little backwards. I was married to a guy, my son's father, which I adore and he's one of my good friends and because I'm from Mexico, Catholic, I couldn't come out and I did. I found the courage and I wanted to be happy and I did. So, I met my wife, actually Lily, we've been together for almost 13 years, at a restaurant through a mutual friend, at BOCA, and the rest is history. I threw away those taboos and all that not good stuff that comes with coming out. Or teaching people, when people look at me it's like, "But really, you're gay? You look ... " And I'm like, "What? Normal? We are normal people."
So just, teaching through food, teaching through TV, teaching through all that, you have no idea the response I got through Top Chef. All the Latinas and Latinos that DM me saying, "Thank you. Now my grandma, my mom, they see you like a regular housewife that happens to be gay and you're happy. Thank you." Everything happens for a reason. I'm embracing that I have a voice in the cooking community and that I have a voice in the LGBT community and I have a voice as a Latina, and all I want to do in this world is to leave it better than I found it. I'm teaching my son how to recycle, teaching my son never be late on taxes, and teaching my son how to open the door, be respectful. I'm teaching my son to eat right. I always tell him it's three strikes. If you don't like one item three times that you tried it, prepare it differently, then you don't like it.
Kerry Diamond:
That's fair. Has he shown an interest in the restaurants?
Maria Mazon:
Not the restaurants, but he showed an interest in baking. Baking with papa, my ex father-in-law, which is also a retired firefighter, papa bakes beautifully. I do not have patience to bake. I don't follow recipes, but Renee does a beautiful oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that I offer him to pay to make me some for the restaurant to sell. He's like, "I'm going to think about it."
Kerry Diamond:
I love it. I would love to talk about the Tucson scene because I'm coming for the first time. I'm not super familiar with Tucson. I have a few different questions. I'm curious, how has Tucson been when it comes to women in food?
Maria Mazon:
That's a double-edge sword. I think we're still struggling. I think. I don't want to say it out loud. Wow, I'm putting it on a podcast, but it's a little bit hard. But we as women, I feel we don't care anymore. So we just, "Hey, here we are." We have a great Carlotta Flores, which is one of the oldest Mexican restaurant here in Tucson. So, we have her as an example, and then I come in and then we have other females trying to leave their mark. Not even here in Tucson, but I think in all the world, it's very boy world, or am I wrong?
Kerry Diamond:
I don't ask that question that much anymore because things have gotten better, but it's not the same in every city. There are just certain things that are different for women in kitchens and then to take it to the next step, the whole childcare issue. If you do have children, as you do. There's a great woman in our network named Camilla Marcus. Camilla's one of the only people I've ever heard talk about night care. You hear about daycare, you hear about parental leave, but I never heard about anyone talking about night care and that's when most restaurants are open.
Maria Mazon:
That's beautiful. It's one of those things that I was talking to my business partner now and I said, "Do you know what my only downfall is?" And they said, "What?" "Being a female." Because women, we're resilient. Childcare, don't worry, bring your kid. I have babysit my kids, my cook's kids. I love kids anyway, but downstairs at BOCA, I have a basement, I have a TV. They can bring their kids, we make them breakfast. Come in, you need to make money. It's not a taboo. I facilitate as much as I can with childcare and everything parentally. I try my best and I try, of course, I'm the only owner, so it's my pocket. I try to push it and stretch it as much as I can to take care of my own. One of my responsibilities is to take care of them, if they take care of me. But yeah, night care, I've never thought about it because I'm blessed enough that my son is older and grandparents always helped me take care of him. But yes, it's a big deal and as a community, we need to make it okay.
Kerry Diamond:
I think it still shuts a lot of women out of the industry and it's not talked about enough.
Maria Mazon:
Yes, you're right, because it was like, "Hey, what's your hours of availability?" "Well, I have to go home. I have a kid." "Well sorry, next." Instead of, "Okay, how can I help you?" Opening the restaurant, the grand opening's on Saturday, Greg, one of my main guy is like, "Oh, well I need to pick up my kid." And I'm like, "Bring him. We're not open. We open at four o'clock, bring him, he can chill, watch TV, make him some breakfast, or lunch, or whatever." And he's like, "Awesome. I love working with you." And when I say with you, I never say for you. Like, "Oh, he works for me." No, he works with me. That is difference.
Kerry Diamond:
I love that. So the new location, how is it going to be different? Special?
Maria Mazon:
It's special. Used to be a gas station back in the day. One of my best friends, that happens to be from Sonora, he owns a brewery for 10 years and the right location came about and we opened it. It's called Borderlands, which is their brewery. It says kitchen by chef Maria Mazon and I am normalizing the chilaquiles, the typical brunch food. I have mole, green chilaquiles, red chilaquiles, and bean chilaquiles, with beef, chicken, poached eggs. I have tacos dorados, Sonoran style, which it's with potato and beef in it, and they have a broth on the side with lettuce and crema. It's another story of tacos. It's delicious and it's their beer. The head brewer of the brewery is a female as well. It's one of the few female head brewers in the country. So, it's like a match made in heaven and that's it. I'm sharing my headaches. That's all I'm looking for.
Kerry Diamond:
You're sharing your headaches, did you say?
Maria Mazon:
Yes, yes. I'm sharing my headaches. I don't want to be the sole owner of a whole restaurant and just have my own headaches. No, I want to share them.
Kerry Diamond:
Knowing the little bit I know about you, you seem like a very spirited entrepreneur. I would imagine you have a lot of other ideas for businesses you'd like to open?
Maria Mazon:
Oh my God, yes. But seriously, when we were talking about TV, of course I have an idea for a TV show and I have an idea for this, and I have an idea for that. And my brain never shut off. I've learned now, thanks to my lovely wife and a lot of couples therapy, I started boxing. And I started punching things that were not going to punch me back and it feels freaking awesome. I love it. This is the longest I've worked out in my 41 years of life. I go three times a week. I've learned about intermittent fasting. It can be controversial. It's working for me because I don't ... I always describe myself, I do not have a floater. You know how the toilets have a floater, and they stop the water. Maria doesn't. So, if I don't eat all day, but if I'm going to eat a salad, I was going to eat a tub of a salad, which is not good for you either. So, I'm trying to control myself and I'm trying to help myself. So, boxing is where it's at.
Kerry Diamond:
That sounds like so much fun. Let's talk about Tucson a little bit more. So, like I said, I'm coming for the first time. Aside from visiting BOCA and SONA and bringing a empty suitcase so I can load it up with all the stuff I buy at SONA, what else do I need to do, see, eat in the city?
Maria Mazon:
Well, you have to see the sunset, Gates Pass. That sunset will take literally your breath away. It's unreal. When you're right there, you can see all the cacti and stuff, but you can hear literally the wings of the birds. It is amazing. Of course, I'm going to say it's Sonoran hotdogs. We're known for that. All that Mexican elotes, the corn of the cob, all that. Mexico and the United States pretty much.
Food-wise, I'm very ... I go to the same places over and over again because they know me already and I like it, we're known for ... I love Ethiopian food and we have a good place here, a couple good places. Steak, I love steak. I mean hotdogs, Mexican cuisine. I say you can find a little bit of everything. The other gentleman, chef Jon Martinez, Pep & Pastry, he left Tucson in ... I believe he went to New York and did the whole New York thing and then came back to his roots. Of course, Barrio Bread, you have to ... he's a ninja with bread. Don Guerra. You need to walk down Fourth Avenue. I love people watching.
Hopefully you'll catch the Gem Show. It's the biggest gem show in the world, I believe. I hope I'm not wrong. There's artists, you can find everything and anything. It takes over the city and there's people from France, everywhere, and it's so crowded and vibrant, and it's perfect.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, it sounds like a lot of fun. Is Tucson a walking city? I'm such a New York-
Maria Mazon:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
No, because I'm thinking of all this food.
Maria Mazon:
I know, I love New York. No.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm thinking of all this food I'm going to be eating and I'm like, "I need to do some walking."
Maria Mazon:
Well, you can walk. If you going to stay at The Graduate, which is the university, you're going to love the University Boulevard, you're going to love the U of A [University of Arizona]. It's just, we're such a college town. So, you can walk around there, you can walk all the way to BOCA, why not? So you can walk and then we can have a glass of wine there. Then walk to Fourth Avenue and stop at BOCA and go downtown, underpass. We can go out. I'll take you to the oldest bar, dive bar in history, which is The Buffet. We have a lot of bars too, a lot of speakeasies, a lot of mellow bars, which I love. I don't like crowded bars. So, right now they're opening a bunch of bars. Oh, I'm going to take you to Barrio Viejo. You can see all the artists there. I'm going to take you take the week off and the day off and I'll be you chauffeur. How about it?
Kerry Diamond:
I feel like I need to tack a few extra days onto this trip already.
Maria Mazon:
Oh, yes.
Kerry Diamond:
You mentioned you have so many bars. How's the mocktail scene there? Has that come to Tucson?
Maria Mazon:
Not yet, but I just saw literally online, that they're opening bar or a store of mocktails. I do have them up at the restaurant, but it's taken off little by little. Certain bars do have a mocktail menu, but it's not as huge as other places.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, it's such a big thing here right now. Do you ever get to New York?
Maria Mazon:
I do, and I love it. It's my only regret in life, I always say. When I discovered that I was good cooking, I should have gone. I should have packed my stuff and just knocked on doors. But life got in the way.
Kerry Diamond:
Maybe you can come here and do a guest chef stint or something? That would be fun.
Maria Mazon:
I want to do a pop-up in New York. That will be one of my bucket list.
Kerry Diamond:
We'll talk about that when I'm in town. I'm happy to help that happen anyway I can.
Maria Mazon:
Oh, thank you. I love New York, New York is ... I've been parts of the world, but New York takes the cake, man. Something about it.
Kerry Diamond:
We are going to do a speed round and then let you get back to your day. What is one of your favorite books on food?
Maria Mazon:
Doña Cuca, but right now I am obsessed with Larousse, that's how you say it? The Larousse, like the dictionary, but in for Mexican cuisine.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. What's your favorite kitchen tool?
Maria Mazon:
The blender.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh right, duh. One thing that's always in your fridge?
Maria Mazon:
Lime.
Kerry Diamond:
Lime, okay. Favorite childhood food?
Maria Mazon:
Hog dogs.
Kerry Diamond:
Snack food of choice?
Maria Mazon:
The papitas, like the snack, the Mexican chips, Doritos, but we call them papitas, Ruffles like the Mexican Ruffles though, with a lot of lime.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, how are they different?
Maria Mazon:
Oh my God. You know what? I'm going to make you papitas when you come here. I'll take you to the place. But anyway, papitas with chamoy and chili sauce. Oh, you're going to be Mexican by the time you're done here.
Kerry Diamond:
I can't wait. Footwear of choice in the kitchen?
Maria Mazon:
Always like running shoes. I have those cooking shoes, but I like to look semi cute, so I cook the ... running shoes. That's it.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. Any motto or mantra that you live by?
Maria Mazon:
No crying in baseball. That's it.
Kerry Diamond:
I love that, but I cry a lot.
Maria Mazon:
Oh no, I do too. I don't know if you watched my season, but I cried a lot. But we can cry after. After we are done with the chaos, we thrive ... Well, at least I do. I thrive on chaos. I go to my Jeep, close the door, turn the music, cry. Whew, it's good.
Kerry Diamond:
Instead of going into the walk-in?
Maria Mazon:
Yeah, no, nah. You don't have to show your weakness. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, but you never know.
Kerry Diamond:
All right, you gave us some hints as to what this answer might be, but if you had to be stuck on a desert island with one food celebrity, who would it be and why?
Maria Mazon:
It would be Ina, for sure. Padma, I would love to see Padma ... Well, I had the chance to host her here, but just no camera, nothing. Just shoot the ... you know what?
Kerry Diamond:
So wait, you're throwing Ina off your island already for Padma?
Maria Mazon:
No, no, no. Can I take two? No?
Kerry Diamond:
You know what? Because it's your first time on the show, I'm going to let you bring two people.
Maria Mazon:
Okay, if I have to choose between Padma and Ina, I'll choose Ina. I mean, my bad. I don't want to get my wife jealous, but just come on. I don't want any problems.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay, so Ina it is. Maria, you are amazing. I can't wait to see you in person. The panel at Graduate Hotel is going to be so much fun.
Maria Mazon:
And I don't know if people have tell you this, thank you for what you do in the community, on our level, on the female level, but thank you for what you do because not a lot of people have the ovaries to speak up, to say what they need to say and to celebrate us. So thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
It means the world that I get to come to Tucson and meet you in person and-
Maria Mazon:
Oh, I cannot wait.
Kerry Diamond:
... eat at BOCA and shop at SONA, and I don't take that for granted at all.
Maria Mazon:
Thank you, thank you. Many blessings. And I'll see you soon.
Kerry Diamond:
Maria, you're the Bombe. That's it for today's show. Thank you so much to Chef Maria Mazon of BOCA and SONA, for joining me today. Clearly, there are a lot of tacos in my immediate future. Don't forget, our event at the Graduate Hotel in Tucson is taking place February 23rd. Clearly, we are going to have a blast. Tickets are available now over at cherrybombe.com or click on the link in our show notes. I hope to see some of you in Tucson. Thanks to those of you who've already DMed me to let me know you're joining us. I can't wait to see you.
Radio Cherry Bombe is a production of Cherry Bombe Magazine. Our theme song is by the band Tralala. Thank you to our friends at City Vox Studios, and to our producer, Catherine Baker and associate producer Jenna Sadhu. And thanks to you for listening. You are the Bombe.