A career in the restaurant business fell into the lap of Lorenzo Tejeda, one of two chef/owners at Catrina’s Cerveza & Mexican Grill.

Tejeda and his business partner Paul Marshall opened their third location of Catrina’s in August on Wabasha Street in downtown St. Paul. The counter-service restaurant has two other locations, in Oakdale and St. Anthony.

We chatted with Tejeda to see how he got into the food business.

What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be an NBA player like Michael Jordan, that was my first thing. But then I started playing guitar, so I wanted to be a heavy metal rock star.

What was your first job in food? I was a dishwasher in a restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. That was back in 1995. I didn’t have any experience at all — I mean you ask me to boil water and I’d burn it. I went to that restaurant one day with my friends and the kitchen manager hired my two friends. He said they had experience, but I didn’t. My friends were supposed to start the next week. Meanwhile, they went to the lake with their girlfriends and I stayed in the apartment. There was a phone call from the kitchen manager saying “I need somebody to start today.” So I called my friends and they said they were not coming back until later that night. So I went by myself to the restaurant and the kitchen manager told me no again. But then he gave me the job. That’s how I started.

How did you wind up in the restaurant business for good? That was with the dishwasher position. Once I started working there, I became the kitchen manager in a year and a half. The certified master chef took me under his wing, and he taught me a lot. I started developing the passion. I was like, “I can do this. I like it.”

What’s the last thing you cooked at home? I love steaks. I used to be a proprietor for Outback Steakhouse, and I worked for them for a long time. At home, I make a good steak. I also like to make good eggs with chorizo or a couple of tacos with chicken and flautas. My wife cooks, too. So when I come home she will cook for the family, which I’m OK with because the whole day I’m surrounded by food.

If you had to eat or drink only five things for the rest of your life, what would they be? Tacos for sure. I really like flautas. Soy beans. And steak. Beer for drinking.

What’s your favorite thing on your menu? My favorite thing at Catrina’s are the carnitas. The carnitas are slow roasted in the oven. It takes about seven hours to cook them. I will do a carnitas taco with cilantro and onions.

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Restaurant updates: Jameson’s Irish Bar debuts, Tria and others reopen for dining What are your future plans? We started the first Catrina’s four years ago in December and now we have three. We didn’t expect to grow like this. We would like a couple more restaurants and maybe get a food truck. We’ve had so many people asking us for a food truck, but it’s just busy. We want to do it right. We want to make sure everything is fresh. We don’t want to take over too much. We want to keep growing, but at a good pace.

Catrina’s, Cerveza & Mexican Grill