Meet Nick Camacho | Chef/Owner

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

Hi Nick, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I’ve always been someone who finds a passion or hobby and tries to take it as far as I can go with it. I think that with the combination of losing my job during the pandemic and my wife and I having our first child really pushed me to make Lucky Nick’s Pizza happen.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Never went to culinary school. I never trained under a big name chef. Oddly enough the only training I had was for ten years at Nordstrom Cafe (yes, they have a restaurant). I started out as a cashier as a way of having a job while my old band was trying to tour. That very cashier job eventually helped me meet my wife. Soon after I knew I wanted to get more involved with the food and take it seriously so i started moving my way up in the back of the house. From dishwasher to prep to line cook to lead to head chef for which my time was cut very short from the pandemic. Throughout those years I leaned a lot about the things that attracted me to food as well as what didn’t sit well with me. I’m definitely far from perfect and still get imposter syndrome but I like to think all those things helped guide me into turning LNP into what it is. A business filled with amazing chefs I admire. Some I met from being friends, some customers and some from other pop ups. I think together we’ve created a bit of a culture we’ve always wanted to bring to our area.

Popping up and catering can be extremely tiring mentally and physically and I totally understand why many of those who start don’t see it through. I think without our awesome community and customers who we’ve grown to know these last 5 years, we would have called it quits a long time ago but we’re still chugging along and it’s better than ever. From the product to brand recognition, we see the bigger picture and we’re excited for it.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Great question! I would say we would first and foremost start off our mornings at Iron & Kin in Claremont for some great coffee. It doesn’t hurt that the staff is great and the owners are some of our closest friends. I’m usually double fisting drinks cause my kids wake up at 5am 😅 .

We would def have to check out Vince’s spaghetti. It’s not the best by any means but it’s a spot a lot of us in the area have grown up on and the original location in Ontario is a VIBE. Find me crushing cheese bread and meat sauce in a dimly lit booth.

We would find some time to go to Omo Mercado in Upland for a great natural
Wine selection and there’s usually a great food pop up there. Well also more than likely run into friends here.

And we gotta catch a show at the Fox or glasshouse in Pomona. Maybe pregame with a beer at Homage and somehow we always find ourselves ending the night at ODonovans pub.

I’m a huge baseball guy so ideally we’ll find time to catch a quakes game down the road and if there’s still time we can go back to my place and jam on my gear that hasn’t seen the light of day in ages. I call drums!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First and foremost my wife and kids. Having a husband and dad that chose a career that takes up as much time as the food industry isn’t easy but they make me feel like I’m doing the right thing. I’d also like to shout out my father and mother in law for helping me the way they did when I started out.

Website: Luckynickspizza@gmail.com

Instagram: Luckynickspizza

Twitter: Luckynickspizza

Yelp: Lucky Nicks Pizza

Image Credits
Kell Lorenz