We had the good fortune of connecting with Paulina Chaidez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paulina, what do you attribute your success to?
We are so proud of our brand and our Cocina 35 family, we know that we owe our business to the love and pride that we put in to each meal/item that we sell at our locations. First of all, our brand means family, which is what we focus on with our team/staff, is impossible to have a great brand if our team is not on the same page, we focus on making our customers feel at home as soon as they walk in to any of our locations, and there is no way to make them feel that way if our team does not feel like family, we care for each other and we like to work together because at the end of the day we spend the same time here that the time we spend at home. Second we like to make everything from scratch the way our grandparents cooked back in Mexico, why? because now a days, most Mexican kitchens in the United States, make food just to sell, and not to make an impact on their customers, we want our customers to taste the great flavors of our mexican heritage, to smell the amazing aromas of our culture and we love to treat them the way we do in Mexico with that extra pinch of customer service, in our language, that means a lot to them and to us. We are a young brand that is trying to bring the old school back with the fresh life style of this era, so we are a modern Mexican restaurant with the roots of the old school, we think that even do we are a 100% Mexican restaurant we don’t have to be wearing our green, white and red (mexican flag colors) we decided to be different than the other Mexican restaurants in San Diego, we want to bring the life of young people, colors and branding to make our old school food great with a twist of our generation.

What should our readers know about your business?
We are the only restaurant in San Diego that specializes in Mexican Breakfast established in 2012 in Otay Mesa, Cocina 35 is known for having the Best Chilaquiles in Town. Our parents used to own restaurants in Mexico since the 90’s and trying to open a restaurant in the USA was completely a different world,our business has not been an easy road for our family, After a couple of unsuccessful restaurants in San Diego and working in different restaurants, we decided to try one more time and open what is now Cocina 35, which was not easy from the language barrier to the investment that we need to open our locations, but know we understand that every single thing that had happened to us thru the years was a lesson that we need it to learn to open another restaurant and have a road map of what is to come.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
i have been living in San Diego for the last 20 years and i think there is no better place in the world to live in, we have the beach 10 min away, LA 2 hrs away, Mexico is next to us and the beautiful mountains during the summer and winter. But while visiting san diego there is no better place than to visit Cabrillo and see the whole city,watch the sea lions at the cove in la Jolla, have a glass of wine at top of the Hyatt, take a stroll thru Balboa park, watch the sunset at the fish market or have dinner at Il Fornaio. and of course enjoying the best chilaquiles in san diego at Cocina 35! haha

 

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We will always be thankful for the dedication our parents, Cesar and Maria Dolores Chaidez, had put into making our family succeed the incredible-hard decision of wanting a better life for their kids and bringing us to the United States, to teach us that hard work always pays off and that no matter what, the most important thing in life is FAMILY!

Website: cocina35.com
Instagram: cocina35
Facebook: cocina35
Yelp: cocina35