Meet Alfredo Garcia | Home Cook & Content Creator

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

Hi Alfredo, career-wise, where do you want to be in the end?
The end goal is to have the freedom of autonomy. I want to be able to have my career take me a world full of making my own decisions and doing whatever I please whenever I want without having the worry of income, work, etc, getting in the way. By the end of my career I want to be able to have a business that will continue being profitable regardless of what I am doing with my life.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My art, or my creative cooking videos are always super easy to follow and get straight to the point, which is what people continuously say that they love about my content. The one thing that always makes me excited and proud about the work that I have done so far is the recognition that I have gotten from it. The biggest one and still the one that I can’t believe even happened to this day is getting a shout out from one of the biggest celebrities in the world, Cardi B, she shared a video on her Tik Tok making one of my recipes and put my username on display throughout the entire video. As soon as she posted that, my following on the platform grew by more than 50k followers in less than a week and ever since the recipe. an Avocado Jalapeño Dip, has been recreated by thousands of people, local news outlets and talk shows have created it on their shows calling it the Cardi B Dip, all because of one shout out. Getting to where I am today has taken a ton of hard work and determination to keep going. Being a content creator is full of highs and lows every single day. Unlike a lot of other influencers/content creators that gained overnight success with a couple of videos and hundreds of thousands of followers in a matter of weeks, it took me 8 months to even hit 10k followers and a full year from when I first started creating content to hit the 100k milestone. I have had a longer and slower growth than most which I have come to appreciate now because it has made me work harder to get to where I am now and it makes me appreciate everything I have earned since a whole lot more than had I had overnight success like most.

Along this journey I’ve learned to always keep working and doing what I love while ignoring the haters and ignoring the “success” of my content. I keep making content regardless of it it hits 1 million views or 10,000 views. Everything I create, I treat it as if it was the very first video I ever posted and give it my all. What I would love for people to know about my story is that it truly is possible to do what you love for a living. I always loved cooking, from a young age, I never thought I would be able to make a living out of it, but I am, and it is amazing how much hard work and determination can help make your passion your career.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My city is and always will be Chicago, I grew up there and absolutely love the food scene. My ideal week long trip for a best friend in Chicago would have tons of food options. There are tons of different neighborhoods all around the city with many options for dining & drinks.

Those neighborhoods being:
Pilsen is a predominantly latino community with many many restaurants. My all time favorite is Canton Regio, rustic BYOB place serving up skirt steak by the pound to build your own taco. Or 5 Rabanitos(5 Radishes), serving up delicious tacos, tortas and classic Mexican dinners such as Carne En Su Jugo, Mole & Barbacoa just to name a few. There’s so many other restaurants within walking distance of each other along with the National Museum of Mexican Art.
Little Village is known as the Mexico of the Midwest, with tons of authentic Mexican culture and cuisine. Some restaurants to check out is my parents favorite, La Casa de Samuel, which has traditional Mexican foods along with exotic meats like rattlesnake and alligator. Or Taqueria El Milagro, maker of the much loved El Milagro Corn Tortillas. Mi Tierra for the party atmosphere with drinks and delicious food.
Gage Park/West Lawn/Chicago Lawn, my stomping ground and where I was raised, all within a 5-10 minute drive of Midway Airport and the CTA Orange Line to easily get you downtown. It has my all time favorite taqueria EVER for tacos al pastor, Taqueria Atotonilco, they have a couple locations around the Chicago area, but you must get the Tacos Al Pastor, con la tortilla dorada(slightly fried tortilla), or get one of their delicious tortas with all of the toppings and take a milkshake for the drive home. Or another family favorite that is also BYOB, Taqueria La Haciendita, which has phenomenal Gorditas, Tacos and Burritos along with full dinner plates if you’re extra hungry, or just keep ordering different tacos and Gorditas until you are ready to explode.
Fulton Market, being a former Warehouse District, is now full with incredible restaurants to keep you busy for a whole week and still not be able to try everything. From spots by celebrity chef Stephanie Izard (Girl and the Goat, Little Goat, Duck Duck Goat), Bar Siena for mouth watering Italian food. To drinks at The Aviary which comes from The Alinea Group of Grant Achatz of Alinea fame. No matter what street you walk down, you will find a great plate of food and drinks.
Wicker Park, a very hip and trendy neighborhood with a huge nightlife, restaurants like Big Star, Antique Taco, drinks at the Emporium Arcade Bar, or visit many of the antique/thrift shops down Milwaukee Ave.

Aside from some of these neighborhoods I have pointed out, there are the many things to do all throughout downtown Chicago, from the Sears Tower (us locals will always call it the Sears Tower even though it is now called the Willis Tower), Millennium Park, Navy Pier, Magnificent Mile, some of the many museums such as The Art Institute, Field Museum & Shedd Aquarium. There’s also plenty of delicious food around downtown such as the famous Garretts Popcorn, get the Chicago Mix(Cheddar & Caramel Popcorn).

Every time I go back to Chicago I document everything and save all the places I frequent to my Instagram Story Highlights.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My shoutout goes to all of my family and friends that have always supported me and encouraged me to keep on going. They have been my biggest “hype man” when it came to growing my social media following. From my mom telling all of her coworkers to follow me and watch the latest recipe I made, to my cousins letting our server at restaurants know why I am taking pictures of every plate of food we are ordering, to my best friends always shouting me out to their friends and family without me having to ask them to do so. All of them hyping me up 24/7 is what keeps me going and wanting to succeed and grow bigger and better every single day.

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Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCXBLcGNLMDwzUNFyUDi7FPg