As many restaurant lovers know, James Beard Awards are to chefs what Academy Awards are to actors. It’s a big deal to be nominated, let alone to win. Nominees are announced in March and winners in June. This year, Tucson Chef Wendy Garcia, known for her vegan restaurant Tumerico, is one of them.
Those of us who promote vegan eating—whether for health, environmental or animal welfare reasons—rejoice when meat-free cuisine steps further into the mainstream. So we’re rooting for Garcia. Plus, Tumerico is an awesome restaurant with delicious vegan food and vibrant Southwest décor. Garcia took a few minutes away from cooking to talk to Inhabitat about her love of food and how it feels to be a James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef in the Southwest.
Related: New York has the the first vegan restaurant 3-star Michelin
Rooted in the family
Garcia grew up in Chihuahua, Mexico. She learned to cook with her grandmother and father, so her cooking is rooted in her family. Some of her family members now work in her Tucson restaurants, Tumerico and La Chaiteria.
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Garcia started working in restaurants when she was only 17. After a variety of experiences, she decided to set out on her own. She started by selling butternut squash tamales at a farmers market in 2013. The following year, she opened Tumerico. While the menu draws on her roots in Chihuahua, she also incorporates flavors from India and other places.
She’s brought the family attitude into the workplace. Some of Tumerico’s workers are actual relatives — others are just treated like family. Garcia employs many women, including some refugees, and has a loyal employee base, which is something not every restaurant can say.
“Tumerico is all about these traditional recipes that I grew up with,” Garcia said. “It’s kind of like family. It reminds me of growing up, taking care of people.”
A small empire
Garcia now has three restaurants: Tumerico Café on East Sixth Street, Tumerico on 4th Street and La Chaiteria. All three restaurants feature foods made from scratch, including delicious salsas like adobo, mole, pistachio and cashew cream. There’s also an espresso menu. And yes, you can get turmeric shots at Tumerico.
The latest addition to the Tumerico empire, La Chaiteria, opened in December 2019 in Tucson’s Menlo Park neighborhood. Which turned out to be bad timing.
“The intention was to have a vegan menu at Menlo Park,” Garcia said. But then COVID hit. “I needed to either close the restaurant or improvise.” She decided to offer meat dishes as well as a full vegan menu.
La Chaiteria has something else few restaurants can boast: yoga. Monday through Friday, Tucson yogis show up early in the morning to practice Ashtanga yoga here. How does it feel to have owned and managed Tucson restaurants for a whole decade?
“Ten years is a lot!” said Garcia. “Lots of work, lots of burns, lots of people feed, lots of emotions, lots of food!”
Desert foods
One of the first things you’ll notice if you look at the Tumerico website is the lack of a menu.
“We don’t have a menu,” said Garcia. “We create a menu with what we have. Menu does not mean a big plan to me. I believe whatever is available today can be on a plate two hours later.”
Locally grown foods feature prominently. If you’re visiting from outside the area, you might not have even heard of some of the ingredients. Nopalitos? Cholla buds? Tepari beans? These are foods that thrive in Tucson’s desert environment.
“Tucson has a lot of unique ingredients and a lot of farmers,” Garcia said. “It’s just easy to find something local and turn it into a tasty plate.”
On my visit, tacos were on the daily menu, accompanied by beans, rice and cooked greens. Everything is fresh and perfectly cooked. Tacos and tamales are always customer favorites, said Garcia, along with nopalitos and tepari beans.
“And for some reason chiltepin salsas are very much liked,” she said. Those are some spicy customers, as the chiltepin pepper can be up to 40 times hotter than a jalapeno. Garcia’s favorite foods are tamales and nopales, the pads of the prickly pear cactus. “It takes me to my childhood, family time.”
Colorful Southwest decor
Mexican culture is known for its beautiful, bright colors. And Garcia brings that color into her restaurant décor.
“I love life and its intensity,” she said. “I’m a very passionate person about what I do and I love fire, the sun, the yellows, the curries, the red salsas, the desert, the sahuaros, the ocotillos, the coyotes. Tucson is full of life and intensity. Tumerico represents that through all different artists and chefs and people. We are a diverse community of fire, food, love, music, spiciness, mariachis. We have it all here.”
Being a James Beard nominee has injected new energy into the empire.
“I feel very humble to have had been on the list,” Garcia said. “My customers loved it and I got a lot of new curious customers who want to know about Tumerico food.”
Despite the accolades and national press, Garcia’s vision is clear and simple. When asked what else readers should know about Tumerico and her work, she said, “We would love to feed them!”
Images via Tumerico
