interview with Parakeet: a restaurant created with heart, soul and family

 

Tell me about your background. Where are you from? What brought you to San Diego?

I was born and raised in Mexico City where I went to school for law. I envisioned this beautiful dream working as a lawyer in a high rise but found out quickly that that in fact was not my dream. I drifted away from that and started taking cooking school for fun while I slowed down to become a mother.

I’ll touch on this more shortly but my second daughter was born very sick so we moved to Houston, TX to seek specialists. We moved back to Mexico City and then eventually ended up in San Diego to seek a better environment for my children. I vacationed to SD a lot as a kid with my parents and have always loved it.

 

There‘s a lot of heart, soul and family behind Parakeet. Tell me the story about how and why it was created.

When our second baby was born she was very sick. She was in the NICU for 21 days and I  was only allowed to see her from 9am-1pm and 4pm-7pm. She was in isolation due to a rare disease (that she is thankfully now cured from) and it was the most challenging experience I’ve ever endured. She had something called Langerhans Cells Histiocytosis where she produced more white blood cells than needed so it formed tumors. No one knew what it was in the early days. Half of the story is totally blocked from my memory because I was in so much shock at the time. When she was finally diagnosed at 5 months old we went to Texas Children’s Hospital to get treatment from specialists. She started chemotherapy,  and while she responded right away she did relapse a few times. So we just did chemo again and again. It was hard because I felt like I never really knew my baby since she was so sick. I was determined to help her. But felt like she was completely in the hands of the doctors. We got her blood tested every week as part of the treatment and that’s when my passion for nutrition evolved. Based on her results I would research and adjust her diet accordingly. We immediately started to see results and the doctors were amazed.

Naturally I became very aware of food and environment. Some may say I became obsessed with food since I was learning everything I could. I even went into school at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to learn about diet and nutrition and started to make a lot of changes in my family food choices and lifestyle. The end result was so positive.

I fell into the business side of things when I studied spiritual psychology in LA for a period of time.  I was vegan then so I’d go to Juice Crafters often. I fell in love with it and ended up meeting the owners and offered them an opportunity to partner and open in San Diego.

We opened and I loved Juice Crafters because I felt I was sharing part of my journey in healthy eating with everyone that came to the store and it started giving more clarity and purpose to our journey. That’s how we started what we call a health food revolution. Over time we learned that people wanted more places where they can make healthier choices around food and also enjoy the pleasure of eating an amazing, flavorfull, nourishing meal. So the idea of starting a cafe came to life.

We started sharing our vision with the people that we thought would give us some guidance on how to make this happen, and in the most organic and sincronisational way, we created a team of highly talented and dedicated people that helped us make our dream a reality. The concept evolved trusting that we were just a conduit to create something amazing and surrendering to the timing and the universe. I think we were successful because we cared SO much, we created Parakeet Cafe to have a place to eat where we know everything is local, sustainable, non GMO, organic, and made from scratch,without anything weird added to it, but most importantly delicious. We care about everything we serve and where is it coming from, the coffee, the adaptogenic drinks, food and the pastries and we have a commitment to ourselves to never sacrifice the quality of what we serve. I think people notice that when they try our food and that’s why they like it.

How has mindful eating changed you (and/or your family‘s) life?

It dramatically changed my daughters life and ultimately enabled her to overcome her disease. While there was a time I thought my daughters eating a candy bar would kill them, I don’t think you have to approach eating that way. If you eat healthy most of the time, that’s totally fine! Your body has what it needs to be healthy and balance itself. As long as what you eat is clean and well sourced.

Our personal journey has lead us to explore the life altering powers of organic, whole foods and ethically sourced drinks. This goodness that makes us happier, healthier and lets us connect with our bodies and others.

I personally love all the falafel dishes, bowls and salads (ok everything)! Who comes up with the menu items? Is it a collaborative effort?

It is definitely a team effort. Our chef, Jeff Armstrong, is so talented and creative and a fundamental part of who we are. Thanks to him we serve fine dining quality food in a more casual cafe environment. Actually the falafel was one I actually used to make a lot home myself! but the chef perfected it. I gave the recipe to him and he made it a million times better, I couldn’t even believe it was the same recipe. And I think this is what happens when you surrender, know your limitations and trust in people that are actually more qualified to do what you can’t. I have a lot of ideas but Jeff develops them and executes the concepts. We are changing the menu for fall, and I am so excited for the new dishes. I told him I wanted a simple salad with tons of greens and maybe a turmeric dressing… so he whipped one up and let me tell you it is insane! I could have never done that myself.

 

Do you and your family eat at the restaurants often? What are your favorite dishes?

We eat all the time here. I have breakfast and lunch here almost daily. When I don’t I get upset and often ask myself, “why am I eating this if its not as good as Parakeet?”

My daughter Michelle’s favorite dish would be the grilled chicken sandwich and tortilla soup. My other daughter Natalie loves the avocado toast and green scramble. My favorite is the raw kale salad with falafel and I think Jonathan’s now into the farro salad.

Fact is food tastes better when it’s real, when is prepared with love and when is shared, that’s why we welcome the health conscious, non dieters, vegans, vegetarians, paleo, gluten-free eaters to gather around the table and enjoy a delicious meal made with ingredients you can trust.

 

How did you come up with the name, Parakeet?

I love it! The name was a combined effort with a creative agency called Sixteenfifty. We wanted something, fun appealing and happy. Parakeet Cafe it’s not only about the food but the environment and that starts with the name. It’s catchy and has a lot of fun potential too. We are starting to offer a lot of keto items so we are terming them “para-keto.”

Also, Parakeet birds eat a plant based diet so I love that aspect too.

When I first stepped into parakeet my mood was instantly lifted. You cant NOT smile in there What inspired the design and decor?

Again, our creative agency SixteenFifty! Our creative partner is so insanely talented! He is so much cooler than I am so I let him take the lead on this. His understanding of what we wanted to created exceeded my wildest dreams. I love everything about it! It is fun, happy, cute, and unique.

What‘s the best thing about owning a restaurant?

The impact  that we can have on people’s lives, it all starts by smiling at them when they first come in, sharing a kind word with them, followed by a wholesome delicious meal and coffee. I also love how many people we have touched so far without even realizing it. The relationship that we create with our customers and how we are creating our community of food lovers and conscious eaters.

 

How about the hardest part?

I would say the hardest part is that we have a million things going on at the same time. And there is no space for mistakes, and if we have learned something from our story is that things happen and not always in the way you want them to happen, so we need to be alert all the time and ready to make everything seem flawless in order to provide customers the best experience we can. But being honest I have to say that when they notice you care, everything is easier.

Where are the restaurants located?

La Jolla, One Paseo in Del Mar, & Little Italy.

 

Do you have plans to expand in the future?

It is my dream to get to LA one day. London, New York. I want to go as far as I can go. For now we are good though :)

 

I‘m so excited to support a non profit close to both of our hearts. Can you tell us about parakeets September promotion for NICU Awareness Month?
Yes! Buy a coffee (or drink of choice) any Monday in September between 7-9am and we will donate half the sale to Miracle Babies! The nonprofit supports families in the NICU and every little bit counts as they provide direct financial assistance and supportive services to parents during this challenging time.

 

Any closing remarks?

The worst thing that is to happen to you will bring out the best thing that is to happen to you. All in time of course. People told me this while my daughter was in the NICU and during her treatment, but when I was going through this I could never imagine something good would come from it. Looking back at this experience I know it made me and everyone in my family a better version of ourselves; we became more aware, more conscious and our purpose became very clear. For me my purpose is to share my personal journey and hope that other people can benefit from what I learned or maybe at least learn something new that may change their lives for the better.

 

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