17 March 23rd–March 29th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | cONTeNTs | feeDBacK | OPiNiON | NeWs | feaTuRe | NighT+Day | culTuRe | film | cafe | music | restaurant thrived. The original Tacos Chiwas marked the beginning of a series of restaurants that would embed the couple in the Valley’s dining scene, endear them to diners, and allow them to tell their story of Mexican cuisine. “Every day for the last seven years has been nonstop for myself and for Nadia,” Hernandez says as he looks around Cocina Chiwas. In that time, they’ve opened and closed different restaurants, started their family, gave birth to their now-4-year-old daughter, and have another child on the way. “From our standpoint, we have no other choice than to succeed,” Hernandez says. And, “blissful ignorance” didn’t hurt either, he adds. A Phoenix Staple Renowned Valley chef Rene Andrade, who worked at House Brasserie with Holguin under chef Matt Carter, remembers hearing the buzz about Tacos Chiwas. The first time he tried to go there, the line was so long that he left. When Andrade went back a second time, he ordered everything on the menu and was blown away. “It was one of those restaurants that became a staple of the city within a year,” Andrade says. In the years that followed, Hernandez and Holguin took on a series of lauded but ultimately short-lived ventures. Cafe Chiwas, which served coffee, pastries, and tamales, opened next to Tacos Chiwas on McDowell Road in 2017 but closed a few months later. In 2018, Hernandez and Holguin launched the critically acclaimed Roland’s Cafe Market Bar and The Normal with restaurateur and pizzaiolo supreme Chris Bianco. Hernandez previously worked front-of-house for Bianco at Pizzeria Bianco and Pane Bianco. Roland’s was “the convergence of culi- nary philosophies,” Phoenix New Times writer Chris Malloy opined in February 2019. It married regional Mexican cuisine with Italian accents. Holguin was nomi- nated for a James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Southwest for her work at Roland’s on the heels of the restaurant’s closure in 2019. The Normal, a modern diner and bar inside the Graduate Hotel in Tempe, likewise closed in 2019. That year also ushered in a second Tacos Chiwas in Chandler. The original location moved from McDowell to its current home on Indian School Road in May 2021. With each opportunity, the duo learned and kept pressing forward, Hernandez says. Then, they met Andrade. He and Hernandez quickly bonded over their love of food. “I would say I’m pretty crazy about food in general, so when you find other people who speak the same language, it’s almost like an instant connection to them,” Hernandez says. Once Hernandez learned that Andrade was opening a restaurant, he and Holguin jumped in as partners. The result: Bacanora. The Grand Avenue bistro cele- brates Sonoran cuisine. The grill tucked next to the end of the bar serves up cara- melos, which is a small, Dynamic from p 14 Above: The inviting patio at Cocina Chiwas on Apache Boulevard in Tempe. Below: With Cocina Chiwas, “I want to be more open-minded, I want to be more adventurous,” says Nadia Holguin. >> p 19 Sara Crocker Jacob Tyler Dunn
