Uzo Umeh, founder of El Padrino’s, a Nigerian-Mexican fusion pop-up restaurant in Lagos, famous for their legendary Taco Tuesdays. She tells us about the origin of El Padrino’s, her love for both Nigerian and Mexican food; and future plans for the movement of ‘Naija-Mex’ cuisine.

Tell me a bit about yourself. 

My name is Uzoamaka Umeh, I grew up in California and I am the last born in a legendary family of 5. I enjoy the outdoors, bringing people together, and talking (a lot).

Why did you decide to transition into the food business from being an events producer? 

There was never really a transition because I have always worked in the food space; I got my first job at In-n-Out Burger when I was 16 but working at restaurants was always what I did to make money. From high school till post-college, I always worked in a restaurant, but I never believed I would do it full time. Albeit, while in college I began an events production company called Loki Management so for over 7 years, I was fueling Loki with the money I was making working in restaurants. Eventually, I got a job working with VFD Group in Lagos. It was when I took that job, I realized I wanted to work in the food space full-time. It was also during my tenor at VFD, I got the idea for El Padrino.

Why Mexican food? Tell us a bit about why you chose that particular cuisine? 

A. I grew up in Los Angeles, California – which might as well be part of Mexico still.

B. Other than Nigerian cuisine, Mexican food is my absolute favourite. And in many ways, I admire the Mexican culture, not only in its richness but also in the pride they have for their cuisine.

You started El Padrino’s in 2017. Was there something that clinched it for you and made you decide to start? 

When I came to work for VFD Group in 2015, I couldn’t find the type of fresh food I was used to in California also the only people who were really serving Mexican at that time were a bit pricey and required reservations; that really bummed me out but pushed me to do mine. All I wanted was Mexican food that was fresh, affordable, and accessible in Lagos. So that’s what we are building.

Your menu is interesting, the food seems to be a fusion of Nigerian and Mexican food. Can you share how you developed your menu?

Trial and Error. Its Naija-Mex, gourmet Mexican food using Nigerian ingredients. The only local Nigerian word you’ll find on the menu is “Rodo” however when you see the ingredient lists you might start seeing local items like scent leaves, etc. I started developing my menu in California with a chef from Oaxaca called Guillermina; she taught me some basics using Mexican ingredients so when I got to Lagos I had to recreate everything using Nigerian ingredients. But all of it is (and continues to be) trial and error.

Your Taco Tuesday pop-ups are legendary in Lagos. Tell me about it: how it started, how it’s going, challenges, and how you worked through these issues? 

#EPTacoTuesday started in a small corridor of a coworking space called WorkBox (shout out Afolabi and Sannaz!); there is a lot to say about this story but all I will say for now is this, we are grateful for what we have built so far, and are hungrier than ever to do better. It is challenging right now because we don’t have our full-service space yet but we are working on it. So let’s come back to this question in August after we have celebrated our 5th year anniversary.

What is it like running a business in Nigeria, Lagos particularly? What parts do you enjoy, what parts you don’t particularly like?

There are too many forces beyond you that affect the progress of your business in Lagos. We all know them, we all experience them, but we all keep pushing. That is what I love; our resilience, not the forces that be.

We know that you recently moved the pop-up location from La Taverna to Bature Brewery. Is there a story there? 😁 

Chef Cristian gave us a platform to scale when no one else did, he came to us with that offer at a time when we were growing but did not have options for space. And for the two years, we were there, we worked as one family. The only story here is this: The sky is big enough for all the stars.

Congratulations are in order, for moving the pop-up to a bigger space. Are you working on anything new that we can look out for?

El Padrino’s first official restaurant location.

El Padrino’s Taco Tuesdays are now happening at Bature Brewery, every Tuesday!

You can get more details on their Instagram

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