We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jose Banuelos a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jose, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Urbano Mexican Kitchen in Pasadena is a small minority-owned and operated restaurant that fuses traditional and contemporary Mexican cuisine. Our flavors have evolved from the ranches of Zacatecas, Mexico, to the beaches of Baja, and now to the streets of Pasadena.

What we do differently centers around our focus on making each guest feel like family. With our open concept kitchen we invite each guest to see our team at work. We use only the freshest and highest quality ingredients in our recipes. Our corn tortillas are made fresh daily and all our sauces and salsas are made in-house.

We are passionate about providing our guests with fresh food, great craft beer and incredible selection of wine. We are extremely grateful to continue to serve the Pasadena community.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As a naturalized citizen originally from Mexico, I always dreamed about opening my own restaurant. I was raised in a family that loved cooking and eating traditional Zacatecas-style Mexican food. My passion for cooking came from helping, watching, and learning from my mother and grandmother. When I first started in the restaurant industry I worked as a prep cook for Marie Calendar’s. I eventually became a cook, then an assistant manager, and later a general manager. I took a short break from the restaurant industry and then came back as an assistant manager for Mimi’s Cafe. There I became a general manager and then a managing partner. After 30 years of working for corporations I decided to open my own restaurant, Urbano Mexican Kitchen. Urbano is located in Pasadena, California and we are known for our traditional homemade Mexican dishes created with high-quality ingredients. I strive to create fresh Mexican food and to provide an unforgettable dining experience.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Opening my own restaurant has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my entire life. I like to make people happy and create a community through Urbano where people can gather and have a good time. I feel very lucky to be located in Pasadena and despite the challenges of pandemic I’m hopeful about the future. The after effects of significantly reduced sales over the course of two plus years has tested our resilience to stay in business. Only because of the unwavering support from family, friends, and our guests have we been able to remain in business. So to them we say thank you for all that you have given us and we hope that we can continue to make fresh Mexican food and provide our guests with a great selection of wine and beer for everyone to enjoy.

Have you ever had to pivot?

The pandemic forced the Urbano family to pivot to take-out only and to grapple with unexpected closures and very low sales. We were only able to survive due to a series of grants and loans and the support of our guests. We thank everyone who supported us during the pandemic and hope to continue to provide the freshest Mexican food around.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://urbanomexicankitchen.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/urbanomexicankitchen?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urbanomexicankitchen/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/urbano-mexican-kitchen-pasadena-2