We recently connected with Edgar Victoria and have shared our conversation below.

Edgar, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I was born and raised in Mexico city 2 weeks after the pandemic I was craving some really good Mexican food while I respect what everyone does in the city …is not really what I was craving ,and the idea was born I decided to make alebrije happen ,Andale Mexican food that the city hasn’t seen yet it was different my childhood memories ,and what makes me who I am today ,but on a plate!

Edgar, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m edgar victoria originally from Mexico city moved to the states when I was 10 years old half of my family has been in the states since the 80’s I did start cooking at the age of 19 I did lie to get the job ,but got caught and became a dishwasher lol 4 weeks later I was a prep cook a week later I was a cook & 3 months in I was the AKM (assistant kitchen manager I fell in love with food at that job ,and I just kept going cooking at various local restaurants until I landed my fist EC(xevutive chef) job then during the pandemic I started my own business ALEBRIJE at first we were a pop up bringing heirloom corn from Mexico that was making tortillas from scratch by using the process called nixtamal partnered up with local farms and restaurants in order to bring something completely different to the city. A year and a half later we decided to open a food truck ,and changed the food a bit same love & same thought ,but with all the food truck vibes! How to bring a Mexico city “taqueria” to nashville ,but make it our own that was the concept is about.. So we decided to open a taqueria that made completely everything from scratch …tortillas ,mole,salsas,ceviches,pozoles,tamales,you name it! After that our partners at strategic hospitality gave us an opportunity to open 2 taco shop with them at the new soccer stadium ,and it was a no brainer we said yes! So then we took our cdmx alebrije taqueria to the stadium a month later our friend gabo at bar sovereign reached out to us to open another location at his spot “bar sovereign, and obviously said yes!! So here we are now! 2 years and several iconic pop ups later! Living the dream and changing the city 9ne taco at the time.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I was trying to hard in the beginning, and things didn’t seem to work…how do I engage with people?? That was the big question..so one day I just decided to post about my day ,and everything that was on my mind & that kinda changed everything I would say being real on social media & post or share what you love to do it’s a win win for everyone!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The kitchen mentality that I was raised with working in the industry where you put in time and hard work & you get treated the wrong way the long hours and depreciation that comes with it ,the toxic culture that’s something that I always always knew I wanted.to change we do the opposite here , we teach ,help out each other ,and we always treat each other as family.

Contact Info:

• Website: Alebrijenashville.square.site
• Instagram: Alebrijenash
• Facebook: Alebrijenash
• Youtube: Alebrije
• Yelp: Alebrije