Last Friday, Challenge Detroit’s fourth year cohort gave its first presentation of the year. It was also the first ever project that our non-profit organization has worked on with the City of Detroit. For the project, fellows were split up into teams based on the seven districts and sent out to gather stories on small businesses in this expansive city. As you have hopefully already gathered through my previous blog entries, my team, which was assigned to District 6, met some really great people.

As District 2 Manager Kim Tandy mentioned at the end of our presentations last week, there were a bunch of adjectives that we used collectively as a cohort to describe our experiences and interactions with business owners throughout this five-week process. Two words that come to my mind when I think of the business community in District 6 are loyal and local. As our team mentioned during our presentation, there was no business owner we met that really believed in the importance of a loyal and local customer base more than El Asador’s owner and head chef, Luis Garza.

“I like to see people walk out of my restaurant happy and say ‘good meal,’” says El Asador Chef Luis Garza. “It makes you feel good and reminds me how much I love what I do.”

Garza cultivated his culinary career at Andiamo, a successful, high-end Italian restaurant chain. During his time at Andiamo, Garza amazed all with his unique creations and certain Mexican dishes that he perfected behind the scenes. It was only a matter of time before the ownership at Andiamo took notice of Garza’s talents and decided to make him the star and Executive Chef of their next entrepreneurial endeavor, Rojo Mexican Bistro.

Rojo became an instant success so the powers that be saw yet another opportunity to expand. To Garza, however, expansion meant less supervision of the dishes he had created. After 20 years with the Andiamo group, he made the decision to leave a budding success story to create his own, family-based enterprise.

In 2013, he opened El Asador Mexican Steakhouse.

As Garza says, he is “married to his restaurant,” working seven days per week perfecting his menu and providing his customers with a fresh, authentic meal. Even though he has made no attempts to advertise for El Asador, Garza says business is booming on word-of-mouth alone.

“If the food is good, people will follow it no matter where you are.”

Let this be a reminder for those who believe failure is an inevitable fate for those trying to start a business outside of Downtown and Midtown. For Garza, a lot of the restaurant’s success can be attributed to one key factor: family. Both his mother and brother are staples in kitchen at El Asador.

“I don’t want people who simply work for a paycheck. I want people who have a passion for food.”

Garza has several improvements planned for El Asador’s future including an outdoor patio. However, first on his agenda is how to accommodate the restaurant’s increasing popularity.

“Sometimes I scratch my head and wonder, ‘why do people come in here?’ They’re packed in like sardines, but they’re happy and they enjoy it.”

Even though a small dining room is not ideal for the restaurant’s increasing popularity, Garza says his customers really enjoy it.

If you’re in the market for an intimate, family-oriented atmosphere with great Mexican food prepared by a passionate chef, visit Luis Garza at El Asador in the Springwells neighborhood of Southwest Detroit.