HIGH-END RESTAURANTS FACE HEADWINDS POST-PANDEMIC

STORY BY STEVE CLARK | PHOTOS BY MICHAEL GONZALEZ

Operating a high-end restaurant successfully, much less three of them, is always a complex proposition, but it was a whole lot easier before the pandemic.

Ask chef Larry Delgado, whose McAllen-based Delgado Collective is made up of house.wine.&bistro., SALT and Salomé on Main, which he and his wife, Jessica, opened in 2008, 2013 and 2019, respectively. While COVID appears to be with us for good, quasi-normalcy has returned to many corners of daily life, but restaurants like the Delgados’ are still facing headwinds that largely weren’t a factor before the pandemic.

LARRY REMEMBERS THOSE DAYS WITH FONDNESS.

“It was great,” he says. “Business was fantastic. We were looking in Brownsville as a matter of fact. We were looking at Corpus Christi, and we kind of toyed with the notion of Austin or San Antonio. Pre-pandemic, business was pumping on all cylinders and we were looking for a way to scale our restaurants to expand.”

Enter the pandemic, shutdown and “survival mode” for the Delgado Collective. The situation demanded nimble adaptability. The Delgados, like so many other restaurant owners, got into the delivery business, setting up their own system rather than paying what the third-party delivery companies were asking. The company has also leaned much more heavily into catering as delivery has tapered off, Delgado says.

Supply chain issues and skyrocketing prices for food have forced some items off the menu, he says. The tuna from Honolulu Fish Co. first became hard to get. Now if it’s available, it’s unaffordable, Delgado says.

“Where we used to get free shipping, now we might have to pay a couple hundred dollars in shipping, and now I can’t offer a beautiful filet of ahi tuna or sashimi or Japanese sea bass,” he says. “I can’t do it for $35 anymore. I can’t even do it for $45. I have to sell it for $70.”

BEEF, SAME STORY.

“Beef came down to a manageable price and last week [went] right back up to $17.99 for ribeye,” Delgado says. “That’s double what it was pre-pandemic. We used to pay $9.99.”

Staffing is another headache. The Delgados are down to fewer than 90 from a peak of 145 across all three restaurants. These issues barely scratch the surface, though Delgado is loath to sound like a complainer. McAllen has been very good to his business over the years, he says, and for that he’s exceptionally grateful. At the same time, he’s hoping for a little understanding from customers who might balk at higher menu prices or extra credit card fees, none of which comes close to covering losses he’s experiencing.

On the bright side, the Delgados were coming off a terrific fourth quarter of 2022 after a “miserable year,” and Delgado had his fingers crossed for more of the same for the first quarter of this year.

Chef Adam Cavazos, who opened Bodega Tavern & Kitchen in McAllen seven years ago in November, originally aspired to a Delgado Collective-caliber experience, but ended up modifying his concept. The Mercado District was Bodega’s first home, and Cavazos says he’s grateful for the experience even if it didn’t pan out.

“We had lots of things on our menu that were what I was considering sort of more pushing the Valley’s culinary scene forward,” he says. “But the pandemic really changed all of that. We had to fight for survival during the closure.”

Bodega’s pivot to a less exclusive but nonetheless chef-driven concept has worked out well, Cavazos says. But he’s grappling with higher costs along with everyone else. It’s meant changes to the menu and substituting products when something gets too expensive or hard to come by.

“There’s a couple of things I pride myself on, and one of those things is finding lower priced items that are just as good in quality and dressing them up,” Cavazos says. “It’s how you treat the product, is my philosophy.”

He’d like to maintain Bodega’s reputation for being reasonably priced if higher end, though it’s hard to know how to handle ribeye going up from $12.99 to $19.99 a pound, especially since New York Strip was already on his menu, Cavazos says.

TERES MAJOR RIDES TO THE RESCUE.

“They call it the hanging tender,” Cavazos says. “It’s a tender that comes from the shoulder clod and it’s about maybe a foot long. Basically we made little steak medallions, and that was our other steak option. We sous vided it and we served it with the leak purée and the red wine jus. In other words, for us it was all about getting creative and finding ... items that had the quality but that were cheaper and that we could do them in our style, if you will.”

Rafael Lopez’s family has been riding the hospitality industry roller coaster since his grandparents ran a one-stop bar, restaurant, store, bus stop, barber shop, hotel and party venue in the center of their tiny village in northern Spain. Lopez and his brother Jose Antonio and sister Alicia opened La Pampa Argentinian Steak House in Brownsville in 2004 and Madeira, also in Brownsville, in 2011, after having success with the same concept in Toluca, Mexico.

La Pampa reopened in a new location (on Pablo Kisel Boulevard) only a few months before the pandemic arrived in the Rio Grande Valley. The family was on the verge of opening Antíca Gastrobar, a new watering hole next door to La Pampa, but then came the big shutdown. Madeira and La Pampa were eligible for forgivable loans through the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) since their employees had been receiving paychecks, but Antica hadn’t yet cut its first payroll check much less sold its first beer, and thus was ineligible.

“We had everything to open Antíca,” Lopez says. “We even had the servers, the bartenders, the bar backs, the chef — everything all ready to go, but we couldn’t open.”

La Pampa and Madeira found themselves in the takeout business, something the family was not prepared for, since the fare they’re famous for generally doesn’t travel well — especially steak.

“You take it to your home and it’s going to be cold,” Lopez says. “What are you going to do with it? Put it in the oven? You are killing the food.”

Still, it was a way to keep tips flowing to their servers at a time before PPP was announced. The family was determined to hang on to their valuable employees and succeeded for the most part.

“We wanted to keep the servers and the kitchen staff,” Lopez says. “After so many years your staff, well, it’s the most important part of any business. … We did the same at Madeira. We tried to sell food to go and we changed our menus to do it simpler, less expensive. But basically we didn’t make any money.”

Business came roaring back after restaurants were allowed to reopen and people had federal COVID-assistance money burning a hole in their pockets and a profound wish to get out of the house, he says.

“When the money started coming in, the restaurants went up like crazy, like the best sales in years,” Lopez says.

Fast forward a year to early February and things are “not perfect,” he concedes. Customers are still coming in but spending a little less extravagantly, toning down the celebrations a notch or two. Some who used to come twice a week maybe are only coming once a week. The last two weeks of January were unusually slow and Lopez’s suppliers were warning of coming beef price hikes, while some products sometimes become impossible to get.

“It’s not as consistent as before, and that’s something that we have to understand,” Lopez says.

Despite the obstacles, he believes the worst of the pandemic is over and that — barring a catastrophe — the restaurants can survive pretty much anything the next two decades throw at them. If not for the financial help, however, including assistance from the city of Brownsville, it might have been a been a grimmer outcome, Lopez says, expressing gratitude for “how the government managed things.”

“Without the help from the government, we couldn’t have done it,” he says. “Probably none of it would have survived. It would have been a struggle to survive.”

STORY AND PHOTOS BY DENISE CATHEY

The buzz of honeybees is in the air. Cool breezes off the coast waft through your hair. Days start and end with sunlight.

Spring is a heady time here, with all sorts of locally grown produce available to fill your kitchen table. However, there is one product that you might not have ever considered eating — flowers.

So in spring, let us leap into the proverbial flower garden together. There is more here than you might think.

EDIBLE FLOWERS?

Before you raid your garden for goodies, be aware that not all flowers are edible. Edible flowers can be consumed, either the whole flower head or the petals, but they must be free of pesticides and other chemicals that are unsafe for ingestion.

Popular flowers that do double duty in bouquets and on the plate this season are: marigolds, calendulas, nasturtiums, johnny jump ups, rose-scented geraniums, bachelor buttons, bee balms, cosmos, zinnias, mammoth sunflowers, roses and some varieties of hibiscus.

Flower grower Rebecca Rodriguez, of Bequita’s Blooms & Botanicals in Harlingen, enjoys bright orange marigolds on salads as a garnish or in cold margaritas on the rocks.

“I like marigolds. They are very fragrant, and they have almost a peppery spice to them,” she says.

For kitchen-produce gardeners, some of the plants you already grow often create edible flowers.

Zucchini, tatume squash, borage, broccoli, coriander, cilantro, garlic and onion chives, arugula and cucumber all produce flowers with unique tastes.

According to David Vasquez, the program manager of urban farms and community gardens at the Brownsville Wellness Coalition, cucumber blossoms are a treat that tastes like cucumbers.

“It is almost a delicacy because you have to catch it early,” he says, because of their short life.

Along with edibles in your garden, the Valley has a few native plants that you can enjoy if you know where to look for them, says Bianca Banda, a park ranger interpreter at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park in Mission. Every month, Banda leads programs and walking tours to help visitors experience the park and nature in new ways, including through taste.

Fans of the drink agua de Jamaica, made from hibiscus, will be pleased to know that the Valley has a native alternative to hibiscus with a similar taste, Banda says.

“Here we have something very closely related that you can do the same thing [with], called Turk’s cap,” she says.

The red flower mimics the look of an unopened hibiscus, which flowers year-round, but especially in summer.

The most famous of our native edible flowers, however, is the Spanish dagger, a species of yucca that flowers only once or twice a year between April and early August. The flowers, considered a delicacy, have the flavor and texture of sweet onion.

Traditionally these are eaten either opened or unopened, but if the flower has bloomed, just the petals should be consumed, not the entire flower. Usually, they are the breakfast companion of eggs and served with either tomatoes or salsa.

Grow Your Own

If you have the itch to create an edible flower garden, several plants are a cinch to grow, even for the most hopelessly black-thumbed among us.

Farmer Dave recommends planting chamomile, cilantro, zinnias, borages, marigolds and/or nasturtiums to start.

All of these plants require about 55 to 80 days to yield usable flowers, so there is plenty of time to enjoy them before the summer heat sets in. Just be sure not to spray them with pesticides, otherwise, they will not be safe to eat.

Denise Cathey is a reporter and photojournalist living in Brownsville. A native Texan, she has an ingrained love of whiskey, BBQ and the truly odd. Currently, she’s on a quest for the ultimate al pastor. Follow her on Instagram @denisecatheyphoto.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FLOWER FARM

If gardening is not your , say, cup of edible flower tea, you may purchase edible flowers from these local flower farmers:

Acres of Harmony Flower Farm

At the Brownsville Farmers’ Market or by phone at (956) 245-9989

Brownsville Wellness Coalition

At the Brownsville Farmers’ Market

Bequita’s Blooms & Botanicals

At 15516 Hwy. 107, Harlingen Fridays, 9AM-6PM, Saturdays, 10AM-4PM or by phone at (956) 320-8575

Wild August Nursery & Flower Farm

To inquire call (956) 535-2117 or email: Flowers@wildaugust.com

Clockwise: Edible calendula flowers at Bequita’s Blooms & Botanicals in Harlingen; Owner Rebecca Rodriguez holds a bouquet of edible marigolds and cosmos flowers at Bequita’s Blooms & Botanicals in Harlingen; Edible cosmos flowers at Bequita’s Blooms & Botanicals in Harlingen; Texas Master Gardener Debbie Cox holds an edible calendula flower growing in her Brownsville garden.

For the chamomile cream filling:

⅓ cup (67 grams) granulated sugar

2 tablespoons (18.7 grams) cornstarch

2 egg yolks

2 cups (473.2 milliliters) milk

2 teaspoons (9.8 milliliters) vanilla extract

3 tablespoons (9 grams) dried chamomile flowers

Mix the granulated sugar with the cornstarch in a medium-size saucepan.

Strain the milk and chamomile mixture to remove the chamomile flowers into a bowl. Whisk the egg yolks into the milkchamomile mixture.

Whisk the mixture into the pan containing the sugar and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens.

Once the mixture thickens, allow it to come to a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Cardamom Chamomile Cream Cupcakes with Strawberries and Nasturtiums

Recipe By Denise Cathey

For the cupcakes:

3 cups (345 grams) cake flour

5 teaspoons (20 grams) baking powder

½ teaspoon (3 grams) salt

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups (402 grams) granulated sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon (4.9 milliliters) vanilla extract

1 tablespoon (28 grams) cardamom

1¼ cups (296.2 milliliters) milk

The night before you make the cupcakes, infuse the milk with chamomile for the chamomile cream (see recipe that follows). In a medium saucepan on medium heat, bring the milk and chamomile flowers to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes. Then cover with a lid or place plastic wrap on the surface to prevent a skin and refrigerate overnight.

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease your cupcake cups or pan.

Sift the cake flour, salt and baking powder into a medium-size bowl. In a large bowl and using an electric mixer, cream the butter. Gradually add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture appears light and fluffy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating to incorporate each addition. Then add the vanilla and cardamom.

Alternate adding the milk and flour mixture, incorporating each addition.

Fill each cup in your pan with 2 tablespoons of mixture (or until cups are ¾ full).

Bake for 19 to 24 minutes, or until cupcakes appear golden and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove the cupcakes from the pan and place them on a rack to finish cooling completely. While cooling, make the chamomile cream filling.

Once the cupcakes are cool, take a knife or apple corer and remove a small section from the center of each cupcake to a depth of ¾ of the cupcake. Insert 3 to 4 pieces of chopped strawberry in the hole of each cupcake’s center, at the bottom. Fill the remaining space with the chamomile cream.

For the whipped cream frosting:

3 cups (709.77 milliliters) heavy cream

2 teaspoons (9.8 milliliters) vanilla extract

6 tablespoons (46.9 grams) powdered sugar

1 cup strawberries, finely chopped Nasturtium blossoms, pesticide free, for garnish

In a chilled metal bowl, beat together the heavy cream and vanilla at high speed until the mixture begins to hold its own shape. Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat until the mixture forms stiff peaks.

Place the frosting in a piping bag or use a frosting knife and frost each cupcake. Garnish each with nasturtium blossoms. Refrigerate until serving. These cupcakes are best eaten in the first 2 days they are made.