Ex-firefighter returns to Guadalupe Street Coffee, West Side.
By Edmund Tijerina
Edward Garcia, a chef at the Guadalupe Street Coffee, grew up in the nearby West Side neighborhood. He is elevating the cuisine offered at the coffee shop and teaching young volunteers about eating healthy and job skills.
Photo: SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, BILLY CALZADA / gcalzada@express-news.net
Photo: SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, BILLY CALZADA / gcalzada@express-news.net
After spending four years in the Marine Corps, then fighting fires in Iraq, Edward Garcia has a new project: Taking some of the training that he received in culinary school and the Waldorf Astoria to fight obesity and diabetes in the neighborhood where he grew up.
He's the chef at Guadalupe Street Coffee, a West Side coffee shop with a purpose. More on the shop in a bit.
Garcia not only cooks the lunch menu and handles catering jobs for the quickly growing business, he also trains young people in the kitchen and is about to start programs relating to food and wellness.
“We want to bring in parents with young kids, teach different snack options, show them that McDonald's and carne guisada isn't the only thing you can eat that tastes good,” he said. “You can cook something, and it might take a little longer, and you can get the kids involved and it becomes a habit, and maybe in the future, maybe it will stop the obesity in this neighborhood, stop the diabetes.”
Garcia talks quickly, as though his thoughts are coming rapidly and he wants to try to get all of them out at the same time. He's not rushed, but he's in a hurry to get things done. In his life, it seems as though he's about to step off a cliff into the unknown when a new step suddenly appears. At the age of 30, he has lived more places than many people much older.
He's a native of the West Side, growing up not far from the coffee shop, attending De Zavala Elementary School and Tafolla Middle School and graduating from Lanier in 1999.
Growing up, cooking was just something he did. He enjoyed it but initially didn't want to do it professionally. After going to Palo Alto College for a year, he decided he wanted to follow his father's path in the Marines.
“I joined so I could see the world, but all I saw was the southwest part of the nation,” he said. “I went to boot camp in San Diego, fire academy in San Angelo and got stationed in Yuma, Ariz. I thought, ‘I could have done this myself.'”
When he and his fellow Marines weren't training or working, they would spend at least part of the time eating. For Garcia, it was natural to do the cooking. Then, toward the end of his four-year commitment, he had a moment that gave him the nudge he needed.
“I'm thinking, ‘I really love this firefighter thing, but I love to cook, too,'” he recounted. “I'm literally in the TV room and then I saw (an ad for) Le Cordon Bleu. I'm thinking, that has to be some kind of sign.”
The following week, after finishing with the Marines, he began classes at the Texas Culinary Academy in Austin, while working at Whole Foods, where he did his externship. That experience taught him that he could prepare healthy dishes that still tasted good.
Shortly before graduating, he called the owner of a restaurant in Arizona that he enjoyed visiting and asked her for a job. As it turned out, she was opening a place in two weeks and needed a sous chef.
From that job, he came back home and got a job at Azúca, working under chef René Fernandez. Through Fernandez, Garcia met Catarina Velásquez, then an owner of Ruta Maya coffeehouse downtown, who needed someone to run the kitchen there.
While working at Ruta Maya, he decided to go back into firefighting. He took some courses at San Antonio College and was able to get a job as a contract firefighter working at Tal Afar Airbase in northern Iraq.
“You get into this routine. You go and eat your chow, you go into the gym,” he said. “It shows you how ... not having luxuries that you have at home, how to appreciate what you have. ... I felt like we were really making a change over there.”
But he couldn't shake his desire to go back into the kitchen.
“He'd call and say, ‘Chef, I'm here, I'm making money, but I'm not happy.'” Fernandez of Azúca remembered. “I'd tell him, ‘You need to work in what you love and that will bring you success.'”
He's the chef at Guadalupe Street Coffee, a West Side coffee shop with a purpose. More on the shop in a bit.
Garcia not only cooks the lunch menu and handles catering jobs for the quickly growing business, he also trains young people in the kitchen and is about to start programs relating to food and wellness.
“We want to bring in parents with young kids, teach different snack options, show them that McDonald's and carne guisada isn't the only thing you can eat that tastes good,” he said. “You can cook something, and it might take a little longer, and you can get the kids involved and it becomes a habit, and maybe in the future, maybe it will stop the obesity in this neighborhood, stop the diabetes.”
Garcia talks quickly, as though his thoughts are coming rapidly and he wants to try to get all of them out at the same time. He's not rushed, but he's in a hurry to get things done. In his life, it seems as though he's about to step off a cliff into the unknown when a new step suddenly appears. At the age of 30, he has lived more places than many people much older.
He's a native of the West Side, growing up not far from the coffee shop, attending De Zavala Elementary School and Tafolla Middle School and graduating from Lanier in 1999.
Growing up, cooking was just something he did. He enjoyed it but initially didn't want to do it professionally. After going to Palo Alto College for a year, he decided he wanted to follow his father's path in the Marines.
“I joined so I could see the world, but all I saw was the southwest part of the nation,” he said. “I went to boot camp in San Diego, fire academy in San Angelo and got stationed in Yuma, Ariz. I thought, ‘I could have done this myself.'”
When he and his fellow Marines weren't training or working, they would spend at least part of the time eating. For Garcia, it was natural to do the cooking. Then, toward the end of his four-year commitment, he had a moment that gave him the nudge he needed.
“I'm thinking, ‘I really love this firefighter thing, but I love to cook, too,'” he recounted. “I'm literally in the TV room and then I saw (an ad for) Le Cordon Bleu. I'm thinking, that has to be some kind of sign.”
The following week, after finishing with the Marines, he began classes at the Texas Culinary Academy in Austin, while working at Whole Foods, where he did his externship. That experience taught him that he could prepare healthy dishes that still tasted good.
Shortly before graduating, he called the owner of a restaurant in Arizona that he enjoyed visiting and asked her for a job. As it turned out, she was opening a place in two weeks and needed a sous chef.
From that job, he came back home and got a job at Azúca, working under chef René Fernandez. Through Fernandez, Garcia met Catarina Velásquez, then an owner of Ruta Maya coffeehouse downtown, who needed someone to run the kitchen there.
While working at Ruta Maya, he decided to go back into firefighting. He took some courses at San Antonio College and was able to get a job as a contract firefighter working at Tal Afar Airbase in northern Iraq.
“You get into this routine. You go and eat your chow, you go into the gym,” he said. “It shows you how ... not having luxuries that you have at home, how to appreciate what you have. ... I felt like we were really making a change over there.”
But he couldn't shake his desire to go back into the kitchen.
“He'd call and say, ‘Chef, I'm here, I'm making money, but I'm not happy.'” Fernandez of Azúca remembered. “I'd tell him, ‘You need to work in what you love and that will bring you success.'”
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