SERGIO OCHOA | CHEF
El Cholo’s chef, Sergio Ochoa, has worked for the restaurant for 41 years. Originally from Michoacán, Ochoa followed his father, who traveled to the U.S. in the 1960s and ’70s as a seasonal agricultural laborer. “In those years it was easy to travel,” he said.
The oldest of seven children, Ochoa wanted to make money for his family. At the end of 1980, when he was 17, he connected with a dishwashing job at El Cholo through a cousin.
That lasted for a week. He had skills from working in agriculture, and was moved up to prep cook. “I was able to handle a knife and learn fast,” he said.
“I was making $3.25 per hour when I started,” Ochoa said. But a manager noticed him and bumped him to $3.50. “He said, ‘I like the way you work.’ ” Ochoa began learning the skills that set him on a path to becoming a chef: “Cutting tomatoes, cutting peppers, making chips in the deep fryer, rolling taquitos, rolling chimichangas.”
Another opportunity arose when a line cook went to Mexico and didn’t return. Within a year, Ochoa had moved up from dishwasher to line cook. By 1992, he had become chef and was invited by the owners in 1997 to open the restaurant’s Santa Monica location.
Asked why he’s chosen to remain at El Cholo for so long, Ochoa paused. “When I came here to the United States,” he said, “in my mind I was like, I want a job where I can grow up. I want to find a job where I can make money to buy my mother’s house. Or my own house, or buy my own car.”
He’d had experiences working in jobs with little prospect for advancement. But at El Cholo, he felt the restaurant could help him meet his goals: “To sustain my family; to help my family.”
Now with a family of his own, Ochoa has no regrets about his path. “My dream came true. Because I’m still working here 40 years.”