In the Kitchen With Cha’s Mario Borja

As I documented Mario and his crew in the early morning hours at Cha, I felt as though I was watching calculated choreography rather than chefs at work. They glided effortlessly around the kitchen, communicating through movement rather than words. The kitchen quickly filled with scents of sugar, spice and everything nice. My mouth watered as Mario put the finishing touches on the special of the week. If his look of concentration was any indication of how good the food was going to be, I knew I was in for a treat. Mario at work is pure and fine artistry. His precision, his attentiveness is unparalleled. As more and more orders started flowing in, Mario’s cool, calm and collected attitude held the kitchen together. The speed at which Mario and his team work, while paying close attention to detail and the presentation of his plates, is truly unbelievable. 

At just 28 years old, Mario has created what will likely become an empire. Located in Versailles, the up and coming neighborhood that mirrors the likes of Brooklyn in terms of art and food, Cha has found its home. Opening in October 2019, it has been a fast and steady start. Cha, which means freedom in the Mayan language, has become a hit for locals through word of mouth and social media. Everyday without fail, I see at least three stories of friends having breakfast at Cha. And it makes me want to run over for my regular; avocado toast, vegan option with a large mango, curcuma, and chia smoothies with coconut milk. 

Before changing locations during the pandemic, Cha started off down the street from where it now resides. It had an open patio with a direct view of the kitchen, as well as a boutique in the front that sold Hilo y El Mar, the clothing company owned by Mario’s wife, Linda. Though it was quaint and authentic, and helped Cha build a name for itself in the foody neighborhood of Versailles, the new location of Cha offers room for growth. As you are reading this, Mario is working on expansion to an out-back patio that will allow customers to walk past the kitchen and see the beauty that is Mario’s workstation. 

After shooting Mario in his element, we sat down to talk to him about, well, everything. 

J: Ok Mario, so when did you first start cooking?

M: I started very young, maybe when I was thirteen or fourteen years old. 

J: What’s the story on how you first got started?

M: The economic situation in my family was never the best, so at a certain point my mom told me “you’re going to have to go work” because I needed to buy school supplies. So I got a job at a local pizzeria. I am from Guadalajara, so the pizza shop was over there. I put the ingredients on top of the pizza, you know, the tomato sauce, the cheese. I put the pizza in the oven and that was all I did. That was my first contact with the kitchen. I can’t say that my grandmother taught me how to cook or that my mom taught me how to cook, no no. It was really more of an obligation, of a responsibility. That is where everything started. After the pizza place, I worked for a catering business with a Colombian chef. This introduced me a little bit more to the kitchen, but more formally. In small restaurants With this chef I learned a little more. At this point, I was sixteen, seventeen years old.

J: When did you realize cooking was your passion? 

M: I think at first it was an obligation but around fifteen or sixteen years old, I started to understand that I had a taste for food. I saw it less as a job and more as a passion.

J: At 18, you started working at restaurants and then what happened?

M: I was starting to work in restaurants and then I had the opportunity to study at a culinary school for three years. I think it is very important to learn food theory in school but in my professional opinion, the best thing is to put everything to practice. You can have a recipe and all of the ingredients but if you don’t move your hands and experiment, you will never find your own style. Practice, practice, practice. I think this makes a difference, because there are so many young chefs who study in school and say “I want to be a chef” and it’s not that easy. You have to work. School is theory but practice is the job. It is a very dedicated job. A normal job is like eight hours but in the kitchen there is no end. 

J: Where did you work after school?

M: I was working in two very important french restaurants in Guadalajara, and met some French chefs while working there. They taught me all the basic french techniques. In french cuisine, everything is very strict and meticulous, almost military-like. For me, French cuisine is the base of fine dining. For example, the omelette is a traditional breakfast, but I use a french way to make the omelette. It is fluffy, creamy inside. It's not crunchy outside. Another example is the alioli, we prepare our own mayonnaise, so it’s a mix of egg yolk with olive oil, which is a french technique. We try to use a lot of French techniques like poaching or braising. 

J: I can definitely see that. You guys use local foods, Meixcan foods, with an undertone of French technique. Where did you work when you got to Vallarta?

M: My first job in Vallarta was in Vidanta. I was working as a Chef de partie en Azur, a French restaurant. I worked for Vallarta adventures, on their Rhythms of the Night tour. I was the permanent chef for that specific tour. The record was 1200 people in one night. So that was where I learned to manage large amounts under a short amount of time. There is the first round of people, the early tour, who eat and then the second round comes. So it was a very fast turnover. I worked there for about a year and a half. Then I worked in Casa Caleta for about two years. It was a wonderful experience for me because it’s a personalized service, it’s different from a restaurant. Each group of guests is different, they have different tastes, and I would cook whatever they asked for, which most of the time, was Mexican food. For me, that experience was one of creativity and experimentation. 

J: When and how did you decide to open Cha?

M: Cha has always been a dream of mine. I had never conceptualized it as Cha, but it was always my dream to have my own food business. When you work in a lot of restaurants, it’s good, you learn a lot of things, but you always want to play around more with your ideas, experiment more. And having your own restaurant allows you to do this. 

So July of last year, I decided to take the leap. We opened Cha October 29th in the old location. It was a fun process to find a place. I had an idea of what I wanted it to be, to create a cuisine workshop. Not like a restaurant, I wanted more to offer brunch, dinners, workshops. This was my idea at first. But as things came together, we begin changing the idea a little.

J: What was your idea for the atmosphere of Cha? 

M: I have always loved the simple things in decorating, which I think is reflected in our dishes. There aren’t too many ingredients, we tend to use very little, and we created the same with the space. I like white, with a white sheet, you can create whatever you want. And the wood elements too, I love. It’s more rustic, more natural, like our food.

J: When you opened, how long did it take to gain traction in the neighborhood?

M: Before the opening, we offered a carne asada with friends which helped with the word of mouth. Fortunately, it was almost immediately. I remember that we were never empty.. Probably one day we had 6 or 8 customers but in general there was a lot of movement. My first project was to put Cha in downtown, but we were looking at different places. The first thing was the cost and downtown was very expensive. Luckily we never felt a connection with any of the spaces we saw downtown. My second option was Versailles and the third was bucerias. When we came to look in Versailles, we drove up and down all of the streets and that’s when I found the locale. It was very small but it had a great vibe, a homey vibe. 

J: Why did you guys change locales?

M: With the Covid-19 situation, we made different decisions to maintain the business. It’s a bit cheaper here, not as expensive as the old location. But also we had to think about growth and there was no room for expansion in the old locale. Another important thing is the weather. In the old space with the open garden, it was complicated. It rained a couple of times and we had to move all of the tables and chairs inside. Here, no. We have more control with the dust, with the flies, with the weather. This is just the first part of the project, because we have a space out back, which is connected by the kitchen. So to get to the outdoor seating in the back, customers will have to pass the kitchen. We would like to continue with the concept of open kitchen because that is really what we love.

J: What does Cha mean? Where does it come from?

M: The meaning of Cha is freedom or to free. It’s from the Mayan dictionary. Our idea is to cook with the stuff that we find in the market. Everything fresh, seasonal ingredients. For example, some guys passed by outside of Cha the other day selling blackberries and blueberries. So we bought them and thought about what we could whip up with them. This way, you can offer what’s fresh, and sometimes when you are tied down to one specific menu, there is no room for experimentation and it can get repetitive and boring for the chef. This gives us an opportunity to explore new dishes and new, different techniques. 

J: What do you think of the feedback of Cha?

M: I think In general, everything is going well. People receive the plates, the concept of Cha with a nice vibe. And I think our job is to maintain this quality, to maintain the freshness, for me this is most important. For me, Cha is not only about the food. It's about the full experience, the service, the place, the music. We have some collaborations with different brands such as Clorofila’s plants, a brand that does interior designing of plants. We want to make the space and Cha as a whole very interactive, very dynamic. We love that everyone shares pictures of our food on social media, and that is the representation of Cha, to share. We want to share the space, the food, the good vibes. This is your home. 

J: Where do you want to take Cha?

M: I don’t want Cha to be a place of more than 30 seats. In the future I would love to open another concept, a kind of brother or sister to Cha. I think that’s what I would like most; small places with a unique experience. I don’t think I am going to open another Cha, because there is only one Cha in the world. Perhaps cooking classes in the near future, private lessons. We are bringing back the pop-up dinners which was a huge hit so we are excited to be doing those again. 

J: Do you have any tips to keep everything in the kitchen running smoothly?

M: The key in the kitchen is to be organized, to have everything in order; your ingredients chopped and ready to go. Have your onions chopped, your cilantro chopped, everything ready to go. Wash your vegetables and put them in one area of the fridge, have your cheeses in another area of the fridge. That way, you know where everything goes. When you don’t prepare well, and a rush comes, it is a disaster. And to have good communication in the kitchen, to be on the same channel is very important. 

J: And of course I have to ask, what is your favorite meal?

M: For me, it’s the ingredients. I love bread. Everything with bread for me is incredible. I love the cheeses. For me in my cooking, everything is balance. I love to put a lot of greens, seeds, obviously a protein, either animal or vegetable. But overall, I’m good with bread and cheese...and wine! Which, speaking of, we’re working on obtaining our liquor license at the end of the year, so we can start doing wine pairings with dinners and cocktails for brunch. 

If you haven’t made it to Cha yet, the time is now!